(EXPIRED) IHG offering 15% off on award night redemptions for elites & cardholders

IHG One Rewards is offering a 15% discount on award stays for Platinum & Diamond elite members as well as IHG credit card holders. The 15% discount won’t stack with a 4th-night-free deal, so cardholders will get the discount on stays of 3 or fewer nights while Platinum and Diamond members get the discount on stays of any available length.

The Deal

• Chase IHG One Rewards Credit Cardmembers will receive early access to a 15 percent discount when booking a Reward Night at any participating IHG property between April 22, 2024 and April 27, 2024. IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite and Diamond Elite members will be able to receive a 15 percent discount on Reward Nights booked between April 24, 2024 and April 27, 2024. All stays must be completed by June 10, 2024 to qualify for the 15 percent discount offer.
• No special code is required. You’ll see the discount reflected in search results when logged in to the website or app.

Key Terms

• Valid for bookings made April 22-27, 2024 for IHG credit card holders or April 24-27 for IHG One Rewards Platinum & Diamond members
• Valid for travel until June 10, 2024
• This can not stack with the 4th night free benefit from the newer IHG credit cards, so it is valid on a stay of up to 3 nights for Chase IHG cardholders

Quick Thoughts

This could certainly make for some good deals for those looking to book a short stay. A 15% discount can obviously save you some points. If you have an IHG free night certificate that can not be topped off with points (like the certificate from the old and no-longer-available $49 card), then I believe that this discount will make some properties bookable with a certificate that would otherwise cost too many points.

If you book a cash & points rate, be aware that the 15% discount only applies to the cash portion of the booking. Still, that typically presents the opportunity to buy points indirectly at a cost of 0.58c per point in most cases (I saw some situations where you could effectively buy points as low as 0.55c per point). That’s because if you make a booking for a hotel that costs 20,000 points for a free night award but you are instead paying 10,000 points + $58, you’re effectively buying 10,000 points for $58 (0.58cpp). If you later cancel that reservation, you will not get your $58 back but instead your account will get 20,000 points — you’ll have turned $58 into 10K IHG points. Since IHG very frequently sells points for 0.5c per point, it wouldn’t make sense to “buy” points this way unless you need points at a time when they aren’t on sale or you need more points than the annual maximum that IHG sells directly.

The deal won’t stack with the 4th night free benefit offered on cards like the IHG Rewards Premier card, so cardholders will only see the discount reflected on stays of up to 3 nights. That seems a bit awkward in the marketing because it makes it feel like IHG is encouraging members to check out early / book shorter stays. However, the overall discount offered by the 4th night free benefit is larger, so cardholders already get a better deal than 15% off on stays of 4 nights or longer.

This deal probably won’t get me to book any stays that I wouldn’t have already, but if you have an IHG booking in mind, it would definitely make sense to look at booking it over the next few days if you qualify for the discounts.

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