Bits: 100% IHG buy points bonus, Marriott to AA bonus, Hyatt New York deal

News in brief:

100% bonus when you buy IHG Rewards Club points

IHG Rewards Club – the InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza etc scheme – has brought back its ‘100% buy points bonus’ promotion.  It is as generous an offer as you will ever see for IHG points.

The page to buy points is here.  The deal runs until 3rd November.

The offer is targetted but very widely targetted, so it is very likely you will see it on your account.

Here are the standard purchase rates which do NOT include the bonus:

• 1,000 – 10,000 points for $13.50 per 1,000 points
• 11,000 – 25,000 points for $12.50 per 1,000 points
• 26,000 – 60,000 points for $11.50 per 1,000 points

I receive a 100% bonus with any order of 5,000 points or more.  Some people seem to have a higher minimum, as high as 25,000. Some people also seem to have been offered a cash discount on top of double points for buying the full 60,000 points, although I did not receive that.

With a 100% bonus, you would be able to buy 120,000 IHG points for (at current exchange rates for $690) £525.  This assumes your credit card has 0% FX fees.

Here are a few examples of how this deal may work.

At the top end of the IHG Rewards Club portfolio, you have InterContinental properties which top out at 50,000 – 60,000 points per night. That’s what you would pay for InterContinental Le Grand in Paris or the InterContinental Amstel in Amsterdam.

With a 100% bonus, IHG is effectively selling you a night at a 50,000 point property for £219 all-in.  A 60,000 point hotel would be £262.  At the bottom end, the points for a 5,000 point PointBreaks night would cost just £22.

You should look at this if you have a ‘buy points’ target for your Accelerate promotion – although it makes more sense to buy 5,000 and get the bonus than buy 1,000 for no bonus.  If you are topping off your account, it is also a good deal irrespective of the exact cents per point cost.  The maximum number of points you can buy per year is 120,000 (ie 60,000 plus the 60,000 bonus).

You can buy via this link.

30% bonus on Marriott Rewards transfers to American Airlines

Until 5th December, American Airlines is offering a 30% bonus if you transfer your Marriott Rewards points into AAdvantage miles.

Full details can be found on the American Airlines site here.

This is NOT necessarily a good deal.  There are two reasons why:

Miles transferred to American as part of a Marriott Rewards Travel Package do not qualify for the bonus.  As a Travel Package is probably the best use of Marriott Rewards points, this is clearly an issue.  You can learn more about Travel Packages in my article here.

As you can now move Marriott Rewards points to Starwood Preferred Guest at 3:1, and since 20,000 Starwood points convert into 25,000 American Airlines miles on a permanent basis, you may find little extra benefit from this offer.

That said, if you’ve got a few orphan Marriott Rewards points and have an American Airlines miles balance, this is a decent chance to use them up.

Interesting Hyatt redemption deal in New York

If you have a small number of World of Hyatt points, you might be interested in a new Hyatt Place hotel which has opened in Long Island City.  Located on the western edge of Queens, this is VERY close to Manhattan, just one subway stop away.

The key benefit is that you can book a free night here for just 8,000 World of Hyatt points.  I tend to value a Hyatt point at 1p and this property clearly exceeds that by a long way given that midweek dates are $230 including tax.  You even get free breakfast.

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World of Hyatt update – April 2024:

Get bonus points: World of Hyatt is not currently running a global promotion

New to World of Hyatt?  Read our overview of World of Hyatt here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our article on what we think World of Hyatt points are worth is here.

Buy points: If you need additional World of Hyatt points, you can buy them here.

Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from Hyatt and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.