When booking a hotel, you have many choices. Why choose one over another? It could be location, price, or reviews. Another factor comes into play if you’re into points and miles: can you use points to book the room, or will paying for the stay earn enough points to cover a future booking?
With all the major brands out there, which one best suits our travel needs? Hyatt? Marriott? Hilton? Surprisingly, it’s Holiday Inn.
If this is what you think a Holiday Inn is, you need to get with the program – IHG One Rewards, that is. Photo courtesy of my father’s slide collection
IHG’s Vast Hotel Portfolio
IHG Hotels & Resorts, which owns 19 brands, including the iconic Holiday Inn, has a vast portfolio. It includes Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Staybridge Suites, Kimpton, and Intercontinental Hotels.
Through the IHG One Rewards loyalty program, you can redeem points for free nights or stretch them further with a combination of cash and points. Rooms tend to have availability on points if you plan ahead.
Why IHG Points Are So Useful
IHG points are incredibly useful for several reasons. First, IHG hotels are everywhere. IHG has 6,000 properties in over 100 countries. Whatever your destination, chances are good there’s an IHG hotel nearby. No other chain at every price level has served us more in our travels than IHG.
The IHG® Rewards Premier Credit Card: An Added Boost
IHG also offers the IHG® Rewards Premier Credit Card through Chase. Our link provides a bonus of four free nights, each valued at up to 40,000 points. Other offers are available for up to 140,000 points, so if that’s more appealing, feel free to search for it while supporting your favorite website through a referral link. The annual fee is $99. (You can read my full review of this card here.)
The card includes automatic Platinum status, leading to room upgrades and amenity gifts (or at least avoids rooms over the dumpster!). Some hotels, like Crowne Plaza Changi Airport, make a special effort to welcome IHG Platinum guests.
My Best IHG Redemption Ever
I also love IHG points for their value. In 2016, I scored a room during Desert Trip in Palm Desert, CA, to see Paul McCartney, The Who, The Rolling Stones, and more. It’s still my best redemption—worth almost three times the usual value of 0.5¢–0.7¢ per point!
This might not initially appear to be the best redemption in the world but a room at this Holiday Inn Express – Palm Desert was worth over 2 Cents Per Point (CPP). Beat that for an IHG point stay!
Final Thought
IHG hotels might not offer the flashiest redemptions, but they’re functional and offer fantastic value, especially with the IHG credit card. Occasionally, IHG sells points at half a cent each. This makes it possible to book stays like the InterContinental Miami for 49,000 points per night (about $245) instead of paying the typical cash rate, which can be much higher.
While some bloggers recommend booking Hyatts or Hiltons because they can redeem upgrade certificates for suites, I prefer booking with IHG. Whether it’s a Holiday Inn Express for a quick stop or splurging on a Kimpton, IHG One Rewards points perfectly meet our travel needs.
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6 comments
IHG points are only good if you can use them
More often than not they have no reward nights available. If you can’t use them they are worthless. I have never had an issue with the others. Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott etc.
I agree, but I’d like to add another overlooked chain to the mix. Choice hotels.
Choice has 6 or 7 thousand hotels to their brand. And if you travel includes smaller towns like mine does, there are choice hotels where even IHG doesn’t have a presence.
Another advantage, to my mind, of Choice hotels is that their pricing seems irrational. Why do I consider it an advantage? Because if there is a hotel where the points are undervalued I’ll pay cash. But when I can get 1+ cent value for points that I value at 0.6 to 0.7 cents, I’ll jump all over it.
Like Holiday Inn, there are very few aspirational properties in the entire chain, but sometimes I just want a clean room at a good price and that’s where Holiday Inn and Choice Hotels shine.
I’m booked to do Candlewood in Las Vegas for four nights in October. Since I get the 4th night free with the card (no points) the room will average 16K a night (total 64K), Right now the the best flexible rate would total $1,433.63 (it’s over a weekend). I wouldn’t pay that rate, but that’s what the web sites says. I.m glad I booked when I did because no point nights are available now. The cash rate then was about $1,000,. For what it’s worth they seem to have great ratings and reviews,
Luckily I have a little in excess of a million IHG points, Before I retired it was where I did a lot of my business travel stays,
I used to use IHG as my primary “go to” chain. But this was back when they had the pointbreaks. Now that point prices have soared, pointbreaks is long gone, and prices seem exorbitantly higher even when using money and points, I find more value at the other brands/hotel chains. I ran my points down to zero, and I’m pretty much done with them. But I do use then 1X per year for the free chase night. Thumbs up to the post that found the 16K/night Candlewood. I used to like Candlewoods.
IHG too expensive
I would generally agree, but would put in a caveat. If you actually have a bunch of paid stays, Bonvoy is the better program. It has better promotions and more high end hotels. The point value is actually higher than IHG Points. The downside is almost never make sense to buy Bonvoy Points. It also doesn’t make much sense to put any spend on Bonvoy cards other than when you stay at Bonvoy properties. For someone who buys and burns, IHG is the better program. For those who stay and earn Bonvoy is the better program.