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

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.

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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.