This Week Only: Buy IHG Points With a 100% Bonus

Earning points and miles via the traditional method (actually staying in hotels or flying) is just one way to boost your account balance. Fortunately, travel providers make it relatively easy to accrue points and miles without traveling, whether through top credit card offers or by utilizing shopping portals and dining reward programs. You can also purchase points or miles directly from the hotel or airline.

If you’re in need of some extra IHG points for an upcoming redemption, you’re in luck. Now through September 30 (this Friday), you can buy IHG points and receive a 100% bonus. After factoring in the bonus, you’ll pay just 0.575 cents per point for IHG points.

Usually, buy miles promotions like this require a sizable purchase in order to get the best rate. Not true for this promotion: You’ll get a 100% bonus on all points purchases — from the minimum 1,000 points all the way up to the maximum allowed purchase of 60,000 points.

Here’s how to take advantage of the promotion:

1. Visit IHG’s Buy Points link.
2. Enter your information, select the number of points you want to purchase and click Continue.
3. Select the number of points you want to purchase (your name, account number and e-mail address should be pre-populated) and click Continue.
4. Enter your credit card information and billing address and click Continue.
5. Confirm the details, check the box to agree to the Terms and Conditions and click Buy Now.

Keep in mind that the usual restrictions for purchasing IHG Rewards points apply to these transactions, including:

• You must have a positive account balance and have been active in the program within the last 30 days.
• You can purchase points in increments of 1,000 points up to a maximum of 60,000 points per transaction/calendar year (you can also receive an additional 60,000 points per calendar year).
• The points will post within 24-48 hours and do not count toward earning elite status.

Is It Worth It?

In his most recent valuation, TPG values IHG points at 0.7 cents each. So, buy buying points at 0.575 cents, you’re paying nearly 20% less than the value you can reasonable expect to get from a redemption. This means that this is a great deal — but only if you’re going to use the points soon. Remember, points and miles are a bad long-term investment, so we wouldn’t recommend stashing up on IHG points during this promotion unless you have a plan to use the points.

While there aren’t many IHG PointBreaks hotels still available on the current list, we can expect a new list of hotels to be released in about a month. For those spoiled by snagging incredible IHG hotels for just 5,000 points per night, the last few PointBreaks lists have been a bit disappointing. That said, there are still some excellent values on the PointBreaks list — especially when you consider that these hotels cost less than $29 per night when you buy points at 0.575 cents each.

If you’re in need of a few more United miles, you can combine this IHG promotion with the 50% transfer bonus running through October 10 to effectively buy United miles for 1.92 cents apiece. Just beware that the points might not transfer in time for a United booking before October 6.

Bottom Line

This is a great promotion to take advantage of if you’re in need of IHG points — or just a few United miles. Since IHG provides a 100% bonus on purchases of as few as 1,000 points, you can utilize this promotion to get just the right amount of points for your situation.

Source: thepointsguy.com