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IHG Rewards Club dynamic hotel reward pricing hits the UK – a good reason to buy points?

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A couple of weeks ago we covered how IHG Rewards Club, the loyalty scheme for Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, InterContinental etc, had launched revenue-based redemption pricing in Europe and parts of the USA.

The UK was not included at that point.  It is now – and there are some FANTASTIC bargains to be had.

Until Monday night, 15th June, you can buy IHG Rewards Club points with a 100% bonus via this link.  The price is 0.5 cents (0.39p) per point.  As you can see below, you can get FAR more than 0.39p at some hotels when you redeem.

IHG Rewards Club

If you need any hotel bookings for the next 12 months, especially in London, there may be a unique opportunity here to buy IHG points and immediately book a redemption.

If you have any existing IHG Rewards Club redemptions booked in the UK, you should check your pricing – you may make a big saving by rebooking.  Do not rebook unless you can see reward nights still available as there is no guarantee that a cancelled night will go back into reward availability.

IHG Rewards Club revenue-based redemptions in the UK in action

Let’s look at London for an October break.  I looked at 13th October as a random midweek date.

Pricing is both:

exceptionally good in some places and

erratic, when you compare hotels

For clarity, no hotels are priced higher than their previous maximum.  This won’t last, of course, but it does mean that – overall – you are genuinely better off under this new structure for now.

InterContinental London Park Lane, which is the UK flagship (albeit not really the best) is 45,000 points on 13th October.  This is a huge drop from the usual 70,000 points:

InterContinental London O2 is not available on this night, but there are many dates where it shows at under 30,000 points per night.  If you want a new hotel with a big swimming pool, this is a great choice.

Compared to InterContinental Park Lane, some poorer hotels are more expensive:

Crowne Plaza Albert Embankment – 55,000 points

Hotel Indigo Paddington – 55,000 points

Some very average hotels are the same or similar price:

Holiday Inn Bloomsbury – 45,000 points

Holiday Inn Regents Park – 45,000 points

Holiday Inn Kensington Forum – 45,000 points

Holiday Inn Express City – 40,000 points

And some hotels on the same night are exceptionally cheap:

Kimpton Fitzroy – review here (the nicest IHG hotel in London) – 40,000 points

Holiday Inn Express Victoria – 17,500 points

Holiday Inn Camden Lock – 20,000 points

IHG Rewards Club dynamic pricing London

Holiday Inn Kensington High Street – 17,500 points

Holiday Inn Express Earls Court – 17,500 points

Holiday Inn Express Stratford – 15,000 points

Holiday Inn Brent Cross – 12,500 points

Holiday Inn Wembley – review here – 15,000 points

Here is some bizarre dynamic pricing in action.  The Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn Express at Heathrow Terminal 4 share the same building and you can cross-charge.  The Crowne Plaza has bigger and more luxurious rooms.  For 13th October:

Crowne Plaza Heathrow Terminal 4 – review here – 12,500 points

Holiday Inn Express Heathrow Terminal 4 – review here – 20,000 points!

IHG Rewards Club dynamic pricing London

Similar, the Holiday Inn and Staybridge Suites on Bath Road share a building – these are both brand new and very nice:

Holiday Inn Bath Road – review here – 25,000 points

Staybridge Suites Bath Road – review here – 15,000 points!

What value am I getting per IHG Rewards Club point?

Here is the list of hotels mentioned above with pricing for 13th October:

InterContinental Park Lane – 45,000 points (£337, 0.75p per point)

Crowne Plaza Albert Embankment – 55,000 points (£183, 0.33p per point)

Hotel Indigo Paddington – 55,000 points (£193, 0.35p per point)

Holiday Inn Bloomsbury – 45,000 points (£226, 0.50p per point)

Holiday Inn Regents Park – 45,000 points (£164, 0.36p per point)

Holiday Inn Kensington Forum – 45,000 points (£166, 0.37p per point)

Holiday Inn Express City – 40,000 points (£132, 0.33p per point)

Kimpton Fitzroy (the nicest IHG hotel in London) – 40,000 points (£285, 0.71p per point)

Holiday Inn Express Victoria – 17,500 points (£143, 0.82p per point)

Holiday Inn Camden Lock – 20,000 points (£174, 0.87p per point)

Holiday Inn Kensington High Street – 17,500 points (£137, 0.78p per point)

Holiday Inn Express Earls Court – 17,500 points (£129, 0.74p per point)

Holiday Inn Express Stratford – 15,000 points (£99, 0.66p per point)

Holiday Inn Brent Cross – 12,500 points (£89, 0.71p per point)

Holiday Inn Wembley – 15,000 points (£99, 0.66p per point)

Crowne Plaza Heathrow Terminal 4 – 12,500 points (£85, 0.68p per point)

Holiday Inn Express Heathrow Terminal 4 – 20,000 points (£77, 0.38p per point)

Holiday Inn Bath Road – 25,000 points (£91, 0.36p per point)

Staybridge Suites Bath Road – 15,000 points (£99, 0.66p per point)

There is clearly no direct correlation between the cash price and points price – at all.

For this random day in October, the best deal on a pence per point basis is Holiday Inn Camden Lock – home of two HFP parties! – where you are getting well over 0.8p of value per point.

There are plenty of hotels where you get above 0.7p per point.  Remember that my ‘base valuation’ is just 0.4p per IHG Rewards Club point.

Will this last?

No.  Obviously this situation won’t last.

As you can see above, there are lots of hotels clustering around 0.35p to 0.4p per point.  This is where I expect things to average out, long term.  At present, IHG Reward Club seems to be throwing us a few bones with some high value redemptions.

It is very unlikely that you will see a lot of hotels at around 0.7p given that IHG Rewards Club sells points for 0.4p much of the time.  If IHG WAS to keep offering lots of hotels at 0.7p, transferring Virgin Flying Club miles into IHG Rewards Club at 1:1 would become an outstanding opportunity.

Should you buy IHG hotel points this weekend with a 100% bonus?

IHG Rewards Club has been running a 100% ‘buy points’ bonus for the last few weeks, which is as generous as you ever see.  It ends on Monday.

IHG has increased the maximum number of points you can buy to a whopping 500,000 points (ie 250,000 plus the 250,000 bonus).

The page to buy points is here.

The price, with bonus, is $5 per 1,000, so 0.39p per point. With a 100% bonus, you would be able to buy up to 500,000 IHG points for (at current exchange rates for $2,500) £1,951.

If you look at the points prices above, there is some real value here.  For example, Holiday Inn Victoria at 17,500 points (for 13th October) would work out at £68.25 (17,500 x 0.39p per point) instead of £143 cash.

Have a look at potential pricing for dates you might want to travel – not just in the UK, but globally – and look at the cost of buying points instead.  You can buy here and the 100% bonus ends on Monday night.


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.

Comments (161)

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

  • guesswho2000 says:

    This also came to Australia yesterday, IC Sydney Double Bay and CP Canberra both halved in points required…I promptly cancelled my cash stays and rebooked (which were already cheap, given the current situation), fantastic value.

    • chris says:

      thanks for heads up on aus. just rebooked and got 150k back on ic melbourne 🙂

  • Andrew says:

    Most of Asian is now covered by this too. I booked IC Singapore in Feb for 22,000 (previously 50,000). But you’re right hotel prices are at an all time low even for bookings way in the future due to the current situation, so these bargains won’t last. But as I’ve got a few hundred thousand points in my account already, it makes no different to put those into future bookings which I’ll hopefully stay in, but due to the travel uncertainty, far from guaranteed to, but fully cancellable.

    • Roy says:

      I wouldn’t agree that cash prices are consistently cheap. Seems to very much depend on the hotel. Some hotels are being very optimistic about how soon they will be able to charge normal prices again.

  • DANi says:

    Bargains galore….Holiday Inn Flinders Melbourne..15k, Holiday Inn Darling Harbour 15k…. Just sorted next year… 😁

  • Genghis says:

    “ If IHG WAS to keep offering lots of hotels at 0.7p, transferring Virgin Flying Club miles into IHG Rewards Club at 1:1 would become an outstanding opportunity.)”

    Not really. Prob better off keeping the Virgin points and use points there and then buy IHG points for 0.4p. You’re still swapping something for value of 1p for 0.4p (replacement cost).

    • Peter K says:

      Agreed. I think Rob was possibly getting a little confused with the 3 for 2 swap of Virgin to Hilton and the 0.7p for IHG (which is only 1:1 of course).

      • Rob says:

        No, I meant what I wrote, but only after Monday when the 100% bonus offer goes.

        Plenty of people would be OK accepting 0.7p per Virgin mile.

    • Rob says:

      Only if the 100% bonuses stay – something has to give, either the 0.7p deals or the 100% bonuses.

      • Genghis says:

        Points and cash remains c.0.4p right? Ie 0.4p still replacement cost. Yes, if replacement cost moves up, then it’s all change.

  • Scotg Mac says:

    Thx, just rebooked for Berlin Alexanders Platz for Octobef & got 30k back, shame that IHG don’t update bookings automatically if there is a lower points offer.

    • Roy says:

      Next you’ll be wanting them to auto-enroll you for any promotions…

  • AmandaB says:

    Can these points be converted to Avios? Is this a good use of them?
    TIA

    • Andrew says:

      No you can’t.

    • Alex W says:

      Yes but terrible value at 5 to 1. Hotel points are best used for hotels. Marriott is the least worst deal but still rarely worth transferring to miles.
      When you stay at hotels it is almost always better to collect the hotel’s own points and not credit them to an airline. Focussing on Avios was one of the biggest mistakes of my points career!

      • Peter K says:

        Diversity is where it is at. I’ve had some cheap holidays using Avios and or hotel points.

        • Genghis says:

          My colleague was amazed when we travelled around Spain and Portugal for 8 days spending only £200 or so cash getting there, for all hotels and getting around. Only had to buy food etc.

          • Genghis says:

            Eating and drinking! It’s a perfect weekend break.

            This time we’re going for a week though with a few nights in a villa with pool in Douro Valley next to the river. Six senses still not opened on points…

  • Dezbez says:

    Not overly familiar with the IHG scheme, is there ever opportunity to use points to book some of the better rooms (or suites), or to upgrade? From a few random searches, it looks like only basic rooms are eligible for points bookings?

    • Alex W says:

      You are stuck with the basic room unfortunately. Some hotels might sell you an upgrade if you contact them.

      • Alex W says:

        One strategy is to make a cash booking for the 1st night in the room you want, followed by reward booking(s). They may upgrade you a level or two so you can keep the same room, but this is obviously not guaranteed. Shorter stays and status helps.
        Beware doing this with Hilton, if you mix cash and points bookings you will not earn points on the cash booking.

    • BP says:

      I just booked IC Lisbon at 22,500 a night which is great value. My booking confirmation had an upgrade link which let me request some excellent value upgrades.

      Suites at 680euro a night can be had for 170 euros. Club can be had for 34 euros.

      I’m not sure if the suites would come with club access via this route though.

      • Roy says:

        You mean I now have to *read* my booking confirmations? 🙂

      • Genghis says:

        Cheers. Didn’t realise that existed.
        E.g. Porto wanting €170/n to upgrade to the Duplex Suite (which they normally give to SE AMBs for free). Same with Lisbon FYI. @Alan reports he had a good time there with the free suite.

    • Leafwarbler says:

      Usually no – but I’ve just booked 6 nights in a suite at a Crowne Plaza with points.

      • Rob says:

        Some hotels put ‘better’ rooms up for redemption. This was usually done when cash prices are low and redemptions were looking poor value. We may see less of this now that points prices are lower anyway (and it was always rare).

        For eg, HI Camden used to put their penthouse loft suites up for redemptions but I didn’t see them when researching this article.

      • Alex W says:

        @Leafwarbler sounds ideal, which CP was this?

  • TB says:

    Had Kimpton Nine Zero In Boston booked at 60,000 points per night. Now 32,500 points a night 🙂

    • Froggitt says:

      cancel and rebook

      • ChrisC says:

        If you have the points make the new booking for the rooms that are there and then cancel the old booking.

        Just in case your old rooms don’t go straight back into inventory.

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