Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Can you arbitrage IHG Rewards Club’s 75% ‘buy points’ bonus with the new PointBreaks?

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

As we first mentioned a couple of weeks ago, until 28th February you can buy IHG Rewards Club – the InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza etc scheme – points with a bonus of up to 75%.

The page to buy points is here – log in and see what is available.

We have seen bigger bonuses in the past, although there is no guarantee they will return.  The deal is:

  • Buy 5,000-19,000 points, get a 50% bonus
  • Buy 20,000+ points, get a 75% bonus

Even if you have no IHG points at present, you can possibly combine this deal with the new list of PointBreaks discounted redemptions to get yourself some good value stays.

What is PointBreaks?

Every three months, IHG Rewards Club releases a list of hotels that can be booked at discounted points rates.

Historically all of the hotels included cost just 5,000 IHG Rewards Club points.  This was, in theory, a great deal but the problem was that the quality of hotels included had got worse and worse.

When the new list launched two weeks ago, IHG spiced it up.  There were 200 hotels on the list, costing either 5,000, 10,000 or 15,000 points per night.  This is a discount of at least 50%.

Some of the 200 hotels hit their target for PointBreaks bookings very quickly.  As of yesterday afternoon, 160 hotels still had discounted rooms available.

The list is here.  It is valid for stays until 30th April.

How much are you paying if you buy points just to book PointBreaks rooms?

The maximum purchase you can make is 60,000 points, with a bonus of 45,000 points, for $690 (£497).

For ease of maths, you are paying £23.66 per 5,000 points.

Here are a few examples of PointBreaks redemptions you could book.  I have mainly focused on hotels in Europe but as you can see here there are many, many hotels in the Americas too.

At 5,000 points (£23.66)

Crowne Plaza Antalya (Turkey)
Holiday Inn Express Istanbul Airport (Turkey)
Holiday Inn Express & Suites Fort Saskatchewan (Canada)

At 10,000 points  (£47.33)

Holiday Inn St. Petersburg – Moskovskye V.  (Russia)
Staybridge Suites St. Petersburg  (Russia)
Holiday Inn Express Aberdeen City Centre  (UK)
Holiday Inn Express London – Dartford  (UK)
Holiday Inn Express St. Albans – M25, Jct.22  (UK)
Holiday Inn Dresden – City South  (Germany)

At 15,000 points (£70.98)

Holiday Inn Express & Suites Calgary  (Canada)
Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Regina  (Canada)
Crowne Plaza Helsinki  (Finland)
Holiday Inn Express Munich – Messe  (Germany)
Crowne Plaza Venice East – Quarto D’Altino  (Italy)
Holiday Inn Express Luzern – Neuenkirch  (Switzerland)
Crowne Plaza Abu Dhabi  (UAE, picture above)
Crowne Plaza Gerrards Cross  (UK)
Crowne Plaza Felbridge  (UK)

Remember that this is just a sample of the 160 hotels still bookable at discounted rates.

This is not a totally risk free game of course.  You need to check if PointBreaks rooms are still there on the dates you want, buy the points from IHG and then hope you can still book when they arrive in a day or so.

The upside is that, as a points booking, it is refundable if your plans change (although you can’t sell back the points for a cash refund).  In the worse case scenario you would have some IHG Rewards Club points to use when the next list of PointBreaks is released in late April.

Many of the better hotels disappeared quickly this time, including two Holiday Inn Express properties in Central London, but you would be better placed next time with points already in the bank.

The current bonus of up to 75% when you buy IHG Rewards Club points runs until 28th February.  The page to buy is here.

IHG One Rewards update – April 2024:

Get bonus points: IHG One Rewards is offering 2,000 bonus points for every two cash nights you stay (not necessarily consecutive) between 1st April and 31st May 2024. You can read our full article here and you can register here.

New to IHG One Rewards?  Read our overview of IHG One Rewards here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our article on ‘What are IHG One Rewards points worth?’ is here.

Buy points: If you need additional IHG One Rewards points, you can buy them here.

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

Category

IHG One Rewards

Comments (34)

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

  • TripRep says:
    16 Feb16 February 05:47

    Doubtful the Aberdeen one is worth it, still plenty of decent hotels available for cash around £50 that would earn points/status and get you breakfast. Think the Hilton group has 5 there if I remember correctly…

    But as you say might be worth it for London in the summer, would be nice to see Florida feature on the next list too.

  • JamesB says:
    16 Feb16 February 06:31

    I believe it is now possible to use the points and cash option on 10000 and 15000 PointBreaks. Therefore if somebody has few stays and doesn’t want to buy the maximum number of points to yield the best discount Rob refers to then buying less points at a lower rate combined with points and cash could also be a good option as that reduces 5000 points to about £28.78 at the most.

  • Jake says:
    16 Feb16 February 06:57

    Will these points expire, if so when?

    • JamesB says:
      16 Feb16 February 07:07

      They will expire after 12 months if there is no activity on your account.

      • Peter K says:
        16 Feb16 February 07:36

        They is correct for basic club level membership.
        Also, if you have status with IHG of gold, platinum or spire then they don’t expire all the time you hold that status.

      • Alan Young says:
        16 Feb16 February 07:45

        What’s the easiest way to keep my club level points ticking over without having a stay or buying points?

      • Jake says:
        16 Feb16 February 12:23

        On the website i think the prices quoted are only valid for end of April?

  • xcalx says:
    16 Feb16 February 07:52

    If you have points book a room then cancel.

  • Simon says:
    16 Feb16 February 08:06

    That’s not a good value purchase for CP Felbridge. Often see it for c£60.

  • Alan Kipling says:
    16 Feb16 February 09:29

    OT, did anyone get the 500 Avios with last September’s IHG new members sign up bonus

    • JamesB says:
      16 Feb16 February 09:50

      I got them from Iberia version.

      • Alan Kipling says:
        16 Feb16 February 16:18

        Hi James, When did you receive them? neither my wife or myself got them, contacted IHG on twitter and they said to call Iberia

  • Phil says:
    16 Feb16 February 10:24

    ROB – OT- I am currently in the process of applying for a mortgage. Already had agreement in principle and mortgage advisor is doing the leg work.

    Would it be unwise to apply now for the AMEX Preferred Rewards Gold card? Given that it’s a charge card I’m unclear as to whether or not it will affect my credit score, and therefore mortgage application.

    Keen to get the AMEX gold again before the 6m period potentially increases! Note I’m a first time buyer.

    • Rob says:
      16 Feb16 February 11:14

      I very much doubt that one card application, credit or charge, makes the slightest difference. Applying for 5 cards on the other hand …

      In theory a charge card should have less of an impact than a credit card because you aren’t actually borrowing money. You still get a ‘ding’ on your credit report but one isn’t going to change much. You get the same ding from a car loan, new mobile contract etc.

      • Phil says:
        16 Feb16 February 12:18

        Thanks! It’s difficult to find concrete information on the impacts since it all seems shrouded in secrecy and varies depending on who you ask!

        • will says:
          16 Feb16 February 15:07

          Well one thing that shocked me when changing current accounts is that even with zero overdraft it leaves a significant negative impact on your credit file!

        • Genghis says:
          18 Feb18 February 15:37

          @will a debit card is actually a temporary credit product due to the way payments on it are processed

      • RIccatti says:
        16 Feb16 February 18:26

        Will, closing your oldest current account is what makes a dent on credit score, not transferring to new one.

        Same applies wrt your oldest credit card.

    • RIccatti says:
      16 Feb16 February 18:20

      Many things can disturb a mortgage application.

      Agreement in principle does not mean much. Wait at the very least until the full underwriting completed and you are holding a firm mortgage offer in your hands.

      Even with that, I would wait until your solicitor received the mortgage advance from the lender. This is usually on the day before/day of exchange.

      There were cases in the past, that even application for utilities for the new property disturbed mortgage application.

      • RIccatti says:
        16 Feb16 February 18:20

        This is usually on the day before/day of completion (not exchange) of course.

        • Boris says:
          16 Feb16 February 21:40

          If you have a poor credit score in general – yes. If you are buying a run-of-the-mill property – yes. If you have an average salary to house price ratio – yes. If you have an established relationship with a proper bank – I’d suggest HSBC is one of the last of those in the UK – a decent salary, a decent set of assets, then an application for a credit card, or to buy a zoo full of exotic animals, for that matter, won’t make a blind bit of difference. So many armchair ‘experts’ on here. Go back to MoneySavingExpert and start paying for flights if you want airmiles and start paying for hotels if you want hotel points! You MandS Yellow Label Crowd!!

  • Jeremy I says:
    16 Feb16 February 10:28

    thanks for this rob. we just did exactly this for the crowne plaza kochi which was a lovely hotel – x2 nights for 10,000 a night (as compared to £110 online).

    on a separate note we used AA miles to fly back in Etihad First Apartment. As a couple I didn’t find it as lonely as Rob has in the past and the food was amazing. service style was much less formal than Lufthansa, which we liked. only problem was that the power to my seat died a couple of hours into the flight. have raised a complaint so we’ll see what they offer (if anything!).

    would thoroughly recommend Kerala, by the way.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

NEW: Sign-up bonuses boosted to 3,000 and 18,000 points

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? SPECIAL OFFER TO 12TH MAY EARN POINTS WORTH 30,000 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!