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

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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.

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.

Category

American Airlines and AAdvantage, IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, World of Hyatt

Comments (76)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Graham Walsh says:
    29 Oct29 October 14:01

    Do buying IHG points count towards Elite Qualifying Points for status?

  • Gary says:
    29 Oct29 October 14:13

    Not sure if it’s account-specific but I’m looking at the following price bands:

    1,000 – 10,000 points for $13.50 per 1,000 points
    11,000 – 25,000 points for $11.50 per 1,000 points
    26,000 – 60,000 points for $10.00 per 1,000 points

    With a 100% bonus for >25k points, it’s basically $5.00 per 1,000 points which is excellent value!

    • Rob says:
      29 Oct29 October 14:57

      Some people have had this – a price cut – it is a great deal for them.

      • Tracy says:
        29 Oct29 October 18:00

        I have this offer, is it that good a deal? 52k points for $260? If I want to book an IC at 60k points, thats $300. Or is it a better deal at other IHG brands?

        • Alex W says:
          29 Oct29 October 19:49

          It must be one of the best buy points deals ever. There are lots of intercons going for >$300 per night.

        • Tracy says:
          29 Oct29 October 22:22

          Might buy some points speculatively, got a big trip to US planned next year…

        • Yan says:
          29 Oct29 October 22:57

          Hmm…the 25% C+P flash sale was certainly a better deal than this

    • Liz says:
      29 Oct29 October 16:22

      So are some people getting offered a better bonus? I am all bought up on my account for the year but hubby’s offer is $11.50 per 1000 from 26000 upwards which is the normal price.

      • Rob says:
        29 Oct29 October 17:59

        Some are getting $10 on 25k+. Not me.

        • Liz says:
          29 Oct29 October 18:10

          I wish I had it. It would be great for our USA road trips as I try and book rooms around the 20k mark – saves me a lot of money.

  • Liz says:
    29 Oct29 October 16:04

    OT Update on the Tesco Premium Credit Card – we cancelled the card on 17/10 as our anniversary was 16/10. 5000 Clubcard points have appeared in our account on 25/10 on not 45 days after anniversary as stated. We were told the fee for one day was 49p which they agreed to waive but they appear to have added a fee credit of £12.74 instead. It might sort itself out by next month, if not I will need to call them.

  • Nick says:
    29 Oct29 October 16:22

    OT it appears Tesco has added National Express at 3x… Has anyone tried using it? Is it easy to book, and does it include all fares (including saver prices) or just the expensive ones? Thinking it could be useful to get to/from Heathrow, or even between Heathrow and Gatwick…

  • thehornets says:
    29 Oct29 October 17:53

    O/T: just like the last few weeks, there are 1,000 free Marriott Rewards points TODAY for those on Twitter. Just answer today’s question (the answer is 10ft) and within the day you will have 1,000 points in your Marriott Rewards account.

    Click here:
    https://twitter.com/MarriottRewards/status/924682296300466179

    There is a new (easy) competition each sunday to tie in with the NFL season = at least 8,000 free Marriott points, although some people think this is going on for much longer!

  • Choons says:
    29 Oct29 October 18:35

    Thanks, but how do they know my account number? I guess you need to connect it to Twitter somehow or NFL?

    • G says:
      29 Oct29 October 19:07

      You need to go here and link your twitter account to Marriott

      • Choons says:
        29 Oct29 October 19:09

        thanks

      • Liz says:
        29 Oct29 October 21:40

        I have spent most of the evening trying to get my hubby’s Marriott and twitter accounts linked but it keeps saying he is already registered even though we have never registered it. The form keeps taking me round in circles. Twitter has acknowledged the tweet but says the accounts are not linked. Marriott says the account is linked. Marriott have now referred it to the chirpify team so have to wait for a response back from them.

  • Gavin says:
    30 Oct30 October 00:56

    Having burnt 80% of my IHG Stash on hotels for visiting Inlaws / bridesmaids rooms i am questioning whether it is worth still collecting now I don’t stay at hotels enough to get an accelerate target and can’t get that many points from spending. Maybe time to cancel my card and wait for another increased signup bonus

  • kathy (will run for miles) says:
    30 Oct30 October 01:30

    Thanks for the HT!

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