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IHG is back with its best-ever 100% bonus on buying points. Through August 22, you’ll double your points purchase when you buy at least 5,000 IHG points.
Although the promotion page doesn’t explicitly state the cost per point, the bonus is tiered, and at the very top tier you can purchase IHG points for as little as 0.5 cents apiece. Here’s how the pricing breaks down:
- Buy 1,000-4,000 points for 1.35 cents per point
- Buy 5,000-10,000 points + 100% bonus points for 0.675 cents per point
- Buy 11,000-25,000 points + 100% bonus points for 0.575 cents per point
- Buy 26,000-100,000 points + 100% bonus points for 0.5 cents per point
That means you can maximize this bonus by buying 100,000 points at a time, which will net you 200,000 points for $1,000:
As part of its April 2018 buy points promotion, IHG increased the number of points you can buy in a year to 100,000 base points, and thankfully bonus points don’t count toward this limit. Since the optimal 0.5 cents per point purchase rate begins at 26,000 points, make sure that you’re buying at least that many points in each purchase if you’re making multiple purchases.
While buying points without a bonus (almost) never makes sense, buying points through this promotion could make sense for some IHG Rewards members. The optimal 0.5 cents per point purchase rate is less than TPG’s 0.6 cents per point valuation, which means there’s potential value to be gained.
For instance, at a 0.5 cent purchase rate and with IHG PointBreaks still available for 5,000 points per night, you can score hotel nights for just $25 per night using this promotion. One hotel available now is the Candlewood Suites San Antonio Downtown. While it’s no InterContinental, I know from staying there myself that it’s centrally located and makes for a great budget stay for anyone looking to visit San Antonio for just $25 a night.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, you can buy points through this promotion to get a beach bungalow at the InterContinental Le Moana Bora Bora for just $350 per night. That’s not bad for a room that typically goes for $800+ after taxes.
How to Buy Points
Which Credit Card Should You Use
We put this exact question to the test recently. Here’s our full results.
Since the purchase is processed by Points.com, you won’t earn a travel category bonus from this purchase on most cards. The only card that we tested that got a bonus was the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, which earned 3x Ultimate Rewards points – netting the best 6.3% return on your purchase based on TPG valuations. The runners up were The Blue Business℠ Plus Credit Card from American Express 2x Membership Rewards points (3.8%) or the Chase Freedom Unlimited‘s 1.5x Ultimate Rewards points (3.15%).
If you don’t have it yet, the IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card is a much cheaper and easier way of scoring IHG points. Sign up today and spend $2,000 in the first three months to score a 80,000-point bonus. The card also comes with a free anniversary night, fourth-night free award stays and IHG Platinum Elite status — which has gotten me countless upgrades during my one year living on the road.
Source: thepointsguy.com