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We have written in the past about the ability to cheaply buy IHG points with Points & Cash bookings. In a nutshell, when booking a Points & Cash rate with IHG, you are actually buying points with the cash co-pay — your card is immediately charged. If you later cancel your reservation, you are refunded in points rather than cash.
We reported last month about some properties where it was possible to use this method to buy points from just .506 cents per point. The deal has gotten better. Charlie at Running with Miles reported this morning on the ability to buy points for as little as .5 cents each at some properties. We have since found some hotels where it is possible to buy points for just .46 cents each!
As an example, this Crowne Plaza in San Francisco normally costs 45,000 points. If you book the last points + cash option, you must pay 25,000 points and $92 in cash. This means you are “buying” 20,000 points (45,000 – 25,000) for $92 — or .46 cents per point.
IHG makes it very clear that you are buying the points for the transaction, like in this example reserving 2 nights — buying 40,000 points for $184:
That hotel isn’t the only option. We also see some properties in Chicago with these rates:
Note that the text above the Points & Cash rates states that this is an offer for Platinum Elite members. Those who are IHG Credit Card holders automatically receive Platinum status. However, Charlie reports that he has no elite status and was able to see discounted Points & Cash rates.
There are surely plenty of other examples if you hunt around. My initial searches in May tuned up these rates, but searches in June did not show the discount. Look for dates with award availability in May.
Remember that the PointBreaks list will be live for bookings today — meaning that through this deal, you could buy the 5,000 points required per night for just $23. While many of the PointBreaks hotels are not luxury vacation destinations, I’m sure that many are an absolute steal at $23 a night.
H/T: Running with Miles
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I assume this also extends your account expiration date. Is that correct? Thanks.
[…] have written about past promotions to buy IHG points for less than half a penny each. It appears that a similar promotion is back, but it is targeted. A couple of days ago, reader […]
[…] they will redeposit the full points value rather than points + cash. I know you used to be able to purchase points using this method at 0.46¢ (when they are offering this 20% discount) but I can’t seem to find any hotels this works for […]
Wasn’t looking for the $0.0046 (0.46 cents) per point purchases, but happened to stumble into one at IC Boston. Look in September.
[…] inspiration but rather where I can save a few bucks on planned stays (due in no small part to the cheap points I’ve purchased). Remember that members are limited in number of reservations at each property (I believe you can […]
Is this loophole still possible? I can’t seem to find any.
[…] per point (to be clear, that’s just over half a cent per point). We recently wrote about buying IHG points for just .46 cents per point, but that promotion has […]
YOu’re a genius!
I understand that you have to book a res in May, but do you know how long this offer will last?
Also, I paid a bit more to renew my Ambassador status and got a 10% rebate on reward stays. Will it apply to a points and cash res that one cancels since they originally took the points out?
How soon can you cancel the reservation? I just don’t like to have extra things to remember so it would be lovely if you can cancel it right after making it or the next day.
I have the IHG chase card, and I’m a platinum elite, but I did not see that discount on my accnt. Did the discount only work for a day?
But you need to have points in order to buy more points.
That’s true
[…] H/T: FrequentMiler […]
[…] with Miles and Frequent Miler posted a great deal today for buying cheap IHG Rewards Club points through a Points + Cash 20% […]
Will you also get points for using IHG credit card on top of this deal?
Yes