Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Make big hotel savings: IHG and Hyatt ‘buy points’ offers ending, Hilton launches a new deal

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

There are three bits of hotel ‘buy points’ news to note today if you want to try to save some money on your next stay.

I recently used 9,000 World of Hyatt points per night to upgrade a standard room at Andaz Amsterdam to one of their top suites for a stay next week so there is – as regular readers will know – real value in some of these deals.

My wife got a similar deal at a Lindner hotel in Germany (one of the nicher Hyatt brands) two weeks ago. I discuss Hyatt suite upgrades in more detail here.

Last day for a bonus buying IHG One Rewards hotel points

IHG One Rewards – ends TODAY

Until tonight, Saturday 5th October, you can buy IHG One Rewards – the InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza etc hotel scheme – points with a ‘mystery’ bonus, which is 100% for most people.

You will see your offer when you log in.

The bonus kicks in with a minimum purchase of 11,000 points unless you have been targetted for a different deal. The maximum purchase is 150,000 points, which is 300,000 including the bonus, for $1,500.

You would be paying 0.37p per point. This is better than our target value of IHG One Rewards points of 0.4p and it isn’t difficult to beat 0.4p on a good day. If you are planning a half term or Christmas break you may find that buying all the points you need is cheaper than paying cash.

The page to buy points is here.

Get a 20% discount when you buy World of Hyatt hotel points

World of Hyatt – ends Tuesday

World of Hyatt is offering a 20% discount (equivalent to a 25% bonus) when you buy 3,000+ World of Hyatt points via this link. The offer ends on Tuesday 8th October.

This is obviously worth a look if you need to top up your account.  It may also be worthwhile if you are considering a stay in a top tier Park Hyatt such as Paris, where buying the points may be cheaper than paying cash – here’s my Park Hyatt New York review where I did just that.

There is no change to the annual ‘buy points’ cap so you are restricted to 55,000 points, assuming you haven’t already bought some this year. This will only get you one night at the very top hotels but 2-3 nights elsewhere.

This deal clearly won’t make sense at all Hyatt properties.  However, if you are visiting an expensive city at peak season it is definitely worth doing the maths.

There are two snags with this offer though:

  • a 20% discount (equivalent to a 25% bonus) is not the best offer that Hyatt runs – you would expect to see a 30% / 33% bonus at some point during the year
  • more importantly, buying with a discount rather than with a bonus means that you are not maximising the number of points you can purchase each year. This offer lets you buy 55,000 points at 20% off. Arguably (although the price per point would be the same) it would be better to wait for when you can buy 55,000 points with a 25% bonus – because you’d be picking up 68,750 points, and the more the merrier with Hyatt points. There is no guarantee we will see another offer before year end, of course.

We value Hyatt points at 1.2p. At the top end you are paying $1,056 for 55,000 points, which is 1.52p each. This means that it isn’t a no-brainer but you should still come out on top at a good hotel on an expensive night. It’s also fair to say that, given current hotel prices, our 1.2p valuation is very conservative.

The Hyatt ‘buy points’ site is here. The offer ends on 8th October.

Hilton Honors – new offer

Hilton Honors has launched (another) new bonus for buying Hilton Honors points.

There appear to be various permutations of this deal. Some people are seeing an 80% bonus whilst others see 100%. Some people see their annual target doubled and other tripled.

The Hilton ‘buy points’ page is here. 

I seem to have the weakest combination, with my annual purchase cap ‘only’ doubled to 160,000 points with an 80% bonus on top.

With a 100% bonus you would be paying 0.41p per point. This is above our target valuation for a Hilton Honors points at 0.33p but the deal can still work well.

Here’s an example of how to save 59% on a 2025 holiday

Let’s look at Conrad Chia Laguna Sardinia from 12th to 17th July 2025 as an example. The semi-refundable cash rate is €866 per night for a standard room, so €4,330 for five nights.

For points, five nights will cost you (if you have status and get 5-4-4) 360,000 Hilton Honors points. You could buy these for £1,485 (€1,770) with a 100% bonus and a tripled annual limit. You would save 59%.

Do note that Hilton restricts new members from buying points immediately. The rule is:

“A new Hilton Honors Member may purchase Points 30 days after enrollment if the account reflects activity including a stay (as defined herein) or earning Hilton Honors Points through a Hilton Hilton Honors Marketing Partner. After 90 days of enrollment, a new Member is eligible to purchase Points regardless of their account activity.“

Oddly there is no closing date given for the offer. All we know is “This offer is subject to end at any time.”

The page to buy Hilton points is here.

PS. If you don’t have Hilton Honors elite status and so don’t qualify for ‘5 for the points of 4’ deals on redemptions, remember that you get instant Hilton Honors Silver status with the new £60 Hilton Honors debit card. Apply here.

Even better value would be paying £150 for the new Hilton Honors Plus debit card because you get Gold status – and this gets you free breakfast on every stay. You can learn more about the new Hilton debit cards here.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

best hotel loyalty promotions

Hotel offers update – April 2025:

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

Want to buy hotel points?

  • Hilton Honors is offering a 100% bonus when you buy points by 29th May 2025. The annual purchase limit is also increased to 240,000 points pre-bonus. Click here to buy.
Category

Hilton Honors, IHG One Rewards, World of Hyatt

Comments (35)

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

  • OnTheRun says:
    5 Oct5 October 06:05

    @Rob, do you have an article on the best (and worst) IHG redemptions?

    I am often tempted by these points sales, but with no redemption chart and loyalty schemes being unpredictable, my concern is that a points purchase will be a waste of money

    Thank you

    • NorthernLass says:
      5 Oct5 October 07:00

      With dynamic pricing now, I don’t think such a chart exists. But with a decent number of hotels offering redemption values of 0.5p per point, you’re not losing out by buying at this price.

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      5 Oct5 October 07:27

      I bought points in the last 100% bonus sale in July.

      But I only did so because I had specific plans on using them within the next 6 months or so.

      But I also calculated that it was actually cheaper to buy the points than to pay cash for the room.

    • Ken says:
      5 Oct5 October 08:26

      Agree with 2 above…

      I have bought speculatively in the past.
      Don’t think I would now.
      The sales are fairly frequent anyway.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        5 Oct5 October 08:36

        Unless you have some large future redemption planned like 7 nights in Maldives or something then absolutely agree. I would speculatively by IHG points. Especially when they do cash and points rates where they’ll sell you points for pretty much this price.

  • Nick G says:
    5 Oct5 October 07:29

    I’m seeing my cap up to 160k points with no bonus at all. I’m gold so no idea what or where the logic is.

  • Bervios says:
    5 Oct5 October 07:51

    Does anyone know if the Amex £100 off £250 offer on Hyatt work on pre purchased rates ?

    • Rob says:
      5 Oct5 October 08:28

      Very likely but no come back if not – or if hotel decides not to bother charging you until arrival.

      • Domo1915 says:
        5 Oct5 October 11:16

        I tried paying in advance by contacting hotel likely won’t work as they send you a payment link that is third party. I was also told they don’t take payments over phone when I asked.

        • NorthernLass says:
          5 Oct5 October 14:54

          If you book a pre-paid rate, they take the payment within a couple of days, IME. These are not refundable, though, so you need to have fixed plans.

  • Man of Kent says:
    5 Oct5 October 08:51

    Do the annual points buying limits run per calendar year or are they on a rolling 12 months from when you make your first purchase?

  • Tiberius says:
    5 Oct5 October 09:15

    Looking at IHG points for an upcoming stay, it looks like i can save around £120 on a £300 stay by going via points. But I have no status and want to add breakfast to the booking. As I don’t have the points already purchased I can’t click to checkout to see if its an add on (and what the price is). Does anyone know how IHG works? This is for an Intercontinental. Thanks

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      5 Oct5 October 09:43

      I’ve not any ‘add on’ options when booking a points stay

  • davedent says:
    5 Oct5 October 09:32

    Example of value from buying IHG points 160K points £610 – which will get you 2 nights at the Regent Hong Kong which costs £876.
    Do not at the moment get a cash plus points rate at the moment its far cheaper to buy the points !

  • Sean says:
    5 Oct5 October 09:33

    As someone who has not purchased points before and who books most travel through my small business I have one question. Do you get a receipt when buying points like a normal hotel stay. I don’t expect a VAT receipt, just a receipt.

    • Rob says:
      5 Oct5 October 10:24

      Nothing that looks like a receipt, in general, just your usual email confirmation. Not that it matters. You should see the guff that goes through the HfP accounts.

  • NorthernLass says:
    5 Oct5 October 11:07

    Rather niche, but I purchase points each year with the specific intention of redeeming at the Kimpton Seafire. For now 🤞 it’s about the only hotel left where redemptions are fixed at 70k ppn. I’ve got 3 reward nights booked next March when it’s $1500 pn for cash.

    • davestat says:
      5 Oct5 October 13:49

      Have you tried any of the other hotels in GCM ? I did think there was an Indigo being built near the Kimpton. We stayed at the Marriott a few years ago but pictures suggest the beach in front of it has long been washed away and the hotel way too crowded when it did have a beach. Looked at prices for the Westin but soooo expensive (affordable for the US visitors no doubt)

      • NorthernLass says:
        5 Oct5 October 14:56

        Yes, did 5 nights at the Indigo in July, with the suite upgrade certificate. It’s a lovely property (I put a short post plus pics on FT). Marriott has no beach. We have stayed at several hotels, but cash prices are pretty outrageous so we do a week in our timeshare as well.

    • jannis says:
      6 Oct6 October 13:50

      more than 110 dollars per 10k pts is an astonishingly good redemption value!

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.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 80,000 bonus points (worth 80,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card (Offer ends 27th May)

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

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

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

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? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 30,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold (ends 27th May)

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!