IHG launched its latest points sale yesterday. As has been the case for as long as I can remember, I was unable to log in to Points.com in order to see the terms of the sale.
I’m evidently not the only one.
Reader John commented to share that he was unable to log in to Points.com, while both Nick and Tim shared that they were unable to log in to their accounts, despite never having a problem doing so in the past.
If you’re encountering the same roadblock and want to buy IHG points, there are a few workarounds. Here’s what they are.
Provided you haven’t opted out of receiving marketing emails from IHG, whenever there’s a points sale you should receive an email about it. If you click through from that email, it should automatically be logged in to your IHG account on Points.com, thereby enabling you to buy points.
Website
Another option is to go to IHG.com and log in to your IHG One Rewards account there. Once you’ve done that, click on this link and that should redirect you to Points.com where you’ll be logged in by virtue of having been logged in to your IHG account on their own website.
App
Similarly, you can log in to the IHG app, then click on Account > Account activity > Purchase points
How to stack with shopping portal rewards
One of the downsides of all three of these approaches is that it means you can’t click through to Points.com from a shopping portal in order to earn cashback or other rewards. There are a couple of workarounds for this too, although one is a safer bet than the other.
The less safe bet is to use the email or website technique above to get to Points.com. Then, in a separate tab, go to your shopping portal of choice and click through to Points.com. Once you’ve done that, a purchase in the original Points.com tab will hopefully track.
A way to be more certain about the purchase tracking is to do the initial step of getting to Points.com via an email from IHG or via their website. Once you’re on that page, activate shopping portal rewards from that portal’s browser extension. That obviously requires having the extension installed before that, but this should almost certainly track.
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for the 3rd sale in a row i was not targeted 100%. i had to have a friend gift me them. luckily they’re not a points person anyway. they also had issue logging in, but the 3rd attempt worked
99.9% of the issues I have buying points from IHG (or Hilton, Marriott etc..) at Points.com is because I’m using a VPN. As soon as you turn off the VPN, refresh screen and you’re in.
In many posts you always reference http://www.points.com but that URL is a page that is for corporate customers that manage loyalty programs.
Points.com is the company that manages points & miles purchases for most loyalty programs. e.g. IHG points sales are at https://storefront.points.com/IHG-rewards-club/sso/mv-delegate/buy?
That is useful. It was especially confusing when posts say to use a portal and I would find portal offers for http://www.points.com but then not see where to buy IHG points from that site.
The way portals list them can vary. I think some just list Points.com, while others say ‘IHG Rewards Club- Points.com’ and others says ‘IHG One Rewards – Points’.