Points system being run down!

[Enzo3601]

Am I the only Ambassador, Diamond Elite member for 20 years aware of IHG, changes being made to run done the Loyalty program ie, closing down UK Creation card from 27th June 2023 with no alternative, increasing points required to stay by 100%+ at IHG hotels world wide.
It seems they want us all to migrate over to Marriot or Hilton although, it’s impossible at the moment to find a way of applying for a Hilton card in the UK.
It seems Head For Points are not coming up with any updates which is frustrating.

Any thoughts please guys .

[Super Secret Stuff]

Has been discussed at length in the forums. In particular creation credit cards. It’s a mess and they may or may not be launching a new credit card, depends if you believe a survey they sent out to me Evers which even included card designs.

They do run discount promos and many of the other hotel schemes are moving to dynamic pricing, which can sometimes make things dirt cheap.

Hilton credit card, the Barclays one, has been closed for years I think.

[NorthernLass]

Do you mean run down?!

But yes, points prices are all over the place and often change after you’ve booked so you might lose out if you don’t check this. I think the Diamond benefits are currently strong enough to keep me coming back but I’ll go with Hilton without hesitation if they offer something better.

[Peter K]

I think you’ll find Marriott (and less so Hilton) are giving IHG a run for their money on making the loyalty scheme not with having loyalty towards. As for Radisson….

[blueghostuk]

You’ve posted this many times on one of the Facebook groups, never backing up any of these claims. How have the prices increased 100%+ recently? Dynamic pricing has been around for almost 3 years now, it’s not recent

[Andrew J]

I actually think that IHG One Rewards is going from strength to strength, the free breakfast is very valuable to me, and the milestone rewards such as suite upgrades are too, as well as the free lounge access. No complaints here.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

Goodbye cruel hotel chain! Though the grass isn’t always greener.

Both the introduction of dynamic pricing and the end of the IHG creation card both has extensive articles by Rob and also many forum threads and posts.

As to dynamic pricing many of us are finding that it can work in our favour by regularly checking the rates and cancelling and rebooking as necessary. It’s certainly gotten me a lot of points back.

[Rob]

There is no doubt that, for anyone who does the nights, IHG One Rewards is a huge improvement. Suite upgrades (which always clear) for 20 nights, lounge pass for 40 nights … this is generous stuff.

IHG points are still worth 0.4p each on average but what IS true is that the range has narrowed – your chance of getting 1p or 0.1p per point is now a lot lower.

This is no difference to what Marriott has done though.

Hilton still has outsized value at top resorts due to the 120k cap but below that its hard to get excessive value. Hyatt is still the best for outsized value but even that has been reduced to peak / off-peak prices and the new top category.