IHG One Rewards is once again giving members the opportunity to buy Elite Qualifying Points in order to qualify – or requalify – for elite status. Depending on your travel needs there’s some good value available, but it might not be as good as it was 24 hours ago, but perhaps it is.
The Deal
- Purchase Elite Qualifying Points to earn IHG One Rewards status.
- Direct link to offer.
Key Terms
- This Offer is available to IHG One Rewards members for qualifying purchases of IHG One Rewards points made during the period from 12:00 AM ET December 16, 2024 and 11:59 PM ET December 31, 2024 inclusive (“Offer Period”).
- A member may only make a singular points purchase under this promotion.
- Purchased EQPs (Elite Qualifying Points) will count toward a Member’s Year-To-Date EQP balance.
- The Member will have the opportunity to either maintain their current status or upgrade to the next tier.
- The Member’s purchase level is dependent upon their current status as of December 6, 2024.
- If the Member purchases enough to cross the Elite Qualifying Points thresholds to maintain their status, that status will be granted automatically.
- EQPs will be awarded upon completion of the transaction, and new elite status will be reflected within 5-10 business days after the purchase.
- Renewed and Upgraded status gained from the purchase of EQPs will be valid for the remainder of 2024 and all of the 2025 calendar year.
- EQP points and resulting status will be awarded to the recipient of the EQP purchase only.
- Price includes all applicable fees.
- EQP Points are not refundable and are applicable toward all IHG One Rewards redemptions.
- Elite Qualifying Nights are not part of this offer and cannot be purchased.
- This is an exclusive, non-transferable offer for intended recipients only and may not be forwarded.
Quick Thoughts
Although I have more than 40 elite nights with IHG this year, very few of those were paid nights – most were booked with points. As a result, if I want to retain Diamond status for 2025 I’d have to buy 120,000 IHG points. Note that the Elite Qualifying Points you buy with this deal are also redeemable points that can be used for award stays.
When I received the email from IHG about this deal yesterday, I almost filed it away without any interest. IHG normally sells its points for 1cpp (cent per point), but several times throughout the year they’ll offer a 100% bonus which means you can buy their points for 0.5cpp. Their most recent sale ended a few days ago, so it didn’t seem worth buying 120,000 points at the elevated cost just for Diamond status.
However, this offer is much better value than it initially appeared. I’m an IHG Premier cardholder which means I get a 20% discount on purchased points when they’re not offering a bonus on purchased points. I knew that would be the case, but figured that would mean I’d be buying them for 0.8cpp instead which I still wasn’t interested in.
When clicking through though, I noticed that 120,000 points could be purchased for only $640. That’s a cost of 0.53cpp, just slightly higher than when IHG sells points with a 100% bonus. I value 120,000 points as being worth $600 on that basis, so this would be like buying Diamond status for $40. While I wasn’t convinced that I needed an extra 120,000 points, I figured I could make good use of them eventually, with the $40 investment in Diamond status paying off very quickly with free breakfast for me and my wife after a couple of nights at a Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, InterContinental, etc.
As a result, I was planning on buying the points but hadn’t gotten around to it yet as we went out for a hike yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately, when clicking through to the offer page last night (when I scheduled this post), IHG appears to have repriced the cost of 120,000 points. Rather than charging only $640, it now shows a cost of $800. At an effective cost of $40 for Diamond status, I was a buyer. At an effective cost of $200, I wasn’t so sure.
Our 50 state road trip is wrapping up and so in a few months we’ll no longer be living in hotels. In the meantime, I’m planning on prioritizing stays at Hyatt properties to more easily retain Globalist status next year, so our IHG stays in 2025 will likely be few and far between. We’ll therefore gain minimal benefit from getting free breakfast at IHG properties – the main benefit of Diamond status.
Having said all that, it might be that the $640 price is still available. When first clicking through yesterday, the various prices displayed in the screenshot above were struck through and showed prices that were 20% lower next to them. The 20% discount on purchased points is only when paying with an eligible IHG credit card. As a result, while the cost of 120,000 points is initially showing as $800, if paying with an IHG card then it should only charge $640 based on the terms of how the credit card benefit should work. The problem is that the 20% discount doesn’t get displayed even when entering my IHG Premier credit card number.
On that note, the email from IHG states the following:
Save at least 20% on points purchases when you pay for those points with your IHG One Rewards Premier, Premier Business or Traveler Credit Cards. Point purchase amounts are subject to change by IHG One Rewards. Upon completion of the points purchase, you agree that the total dollar price of the points, minus the discount, will be immediately charged to your credit card. The cost for the points purchased is non-refundable. Point purchase transactions managed by Points.com.
That sort of sounds like the discount will be applied by the time your eligible IHG card is charged, but it’s strange that you basically just have to trust that’ll be the case. I suspect what happened is that IHG was inadvertently showing the prices if someone paid with an IHG card, but that it was misleading because someone paying with a different card could reasonably expect to pay that same price that was displayed. As a result, they fixed the prices so that they didn’t display the 20% discount anymore, but that the $640 price when buying 120,000 points is still available if paying with one of the three eligible types of IHG credit cards.
Update: My struck-through theory above was sadly incorrect. IHG/Points.com now shows a base price of $1,000 for 120,000 points for those with no IHG credit card and a reduced price of $800 for those with an eligible IHG card.
Regardless, I’m still tempted by this even if it does cost $800. I’ve no idea what Frequent Miler challenge we’ll be doing in 2025, but if it has a hotel focus then it could be useful being the only member of the FM team with IHG Diamond status. That said, I still need to pick my 40 night Milestone Reward from this year. One of the options is a Lounge membership, so if I choose that benefit and stay at properties with a lounge, I might have breakfast available through that route anyway.
If you’ve bought 120,000 points with an IHG credit card from this offer when it showed a cost of $800, did you only end up being charged $640? Please let us know in the comments below.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
I also did not click through right away and was ultimately shown an offer of 120k points for 1000 USD (800 with the card discount). On a whim this morning I clicked on the email using my phone — yesterday was the laptop — and the offer was 40 bucks lower. Go figure. So: try different devices and see what happens. Maybe you’ll get some $ knocked off.
This is the second time this year where points.com has doubled up the discount offered on a points sale by mistake. Hyatt points were sold for about 1.5 cents for a few hours last spring.
There’s a different way to Diamond status that I like more. If you have their credit card, you can MS $40k with Staples Visas. (Provided you can unload them, of course) Do that in January/February, and you have the status through the end of 2026, and you get 200k points, not 120k. Sure it’s more work than just buying it, but you can save $800.
Where/how you unload 40k worth of staples visas ?
Not all in one day of course. It would take several months, and yes it’s a lot of work. Or I guess as they say… do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.
If one can unload that much Staples Visas they should focus on CICs instead.
How the Free Breakfast benefit applies at properties like Holiday Inn, Crown Plaza, and other sub-brands that don’t have lounge (and with lounge). Any data points in US and Europe about it?
When we’ve used it, it’s either been free buffet breakfast if the hotel has a buffet, or a free entrée and drink for up to two people.
Not eligible – I have no IHG credit card or stays this year though, last stay was a few nights November 2023 for work. You might need to be a cardholder or have a certain amount of stays to qualify.
I almost never stay at IHG properties but at $40 for Diamond would have been a buyer – would be worth it just for a single award stay with the accompanying points from the purchase.
It’s up and running again showing elevated prices and the 20% discount on those. Great for those who got in at yesterday’s price!
As a Hyatt Globalist, IHG is sort of my back up program. I have been a Diamond before and I liked that, but this year I’ve probably only missed out on 2 free breakfasts. Had l been a Diamond, I would have booked a few more nice IHG properties — but less than 6 additional nights. As a credit card platinum already, the diamond status really isn’t worth more than $200 to me.
Showed as $800 for me yesterday. $1000 today. Does the ambassador trick still work for earned diamond? Granted that went up in price too.
Alas, no. That ended effective last year, and my own renewal did NOT extend it for another year.
We’re sorry, but you are not currently eligible for this promotion.
Here’s a data point: the 120,000 points and Diamond status appeared in my account instantly — no wait. I’m not going to gloat on getting the $640 deal, but I did jump on it because I’ve been kicking myself since missing their last Diamond deal.
This is literally gloating lol +5 Internet points
Can you get this if you didn’t get the email?
I’m not sure – if you click through to the offer page, I’m assuming you’d have to log in. Does it display the offer when you do? If so, I suspect you’d be eligible.
I didn’t get the email but I was eligible (log into your account and you may see an offer “maintain your status” or something similar)
I’m showing the full amount also. I would totally have done it if I could have done it for $800!
I spoke to them on the phone. The $640 price was an error. Corrected price is $800 (20 percent off regular $1000).
Irfan, who / which department did you speak with, please?
They kill the deal currently because I believe they expected reg $1k with 20% off $800. But some have reported like you to have seen reg $800 with 20% off $640. These were the deal. I saw the first one. But I hesitated. When I was about to pull the trigger it was no longer to be seen. I emailed them and they say to check back in 72 hours. Will report back at that time
I think everyone wants to know that, myself included. 🙂 I was going to pull the trigger yesterday as the 20% showed, but now it shows the full amount. Not sure I want to deal with the hassle of getting the 20% refunded if it doesn’t properly credit.