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

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.

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

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!

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.

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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.