I got the IHG Platinum card earlier this year and have been learning how to maximize its benefits.
Perhaps only interesting to me (and maybe @Ksyrup), my goal was to find out how many nights (and cost) I could stay at an IHG hotel assuming maxing out points bought.
Assumptions:
- 500,000 points bought @$2,500. IHG often has 100% bonus sales, so $2,500 will get me 250,000 x 2 = 500,000 points to spend in a year. I've heard others may get benefit to purchase up to 300,000 x 2 but I only got the 250,000 last year.
- 4,000 points per night is the cheapest I've found. This is for a Holiday Inn Express in China.
- If you stay 4 nights with points, IHG will give you the 4th night free or essentially, 4 nights for the price of 3.
Conclusion:
Quote:
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If I did the math correctly, this means I can stay in this hotel for approx. 4.5 months or 135 nights at approx $19 per night. It's approx because IHG will give you additional points as you hit 20, 40 nights etc. which can be turned into nights.
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Or in other words, if you choose to, you can spend $2,500 to stay at a HI Express in China for 4.5 months. Breakfast is included but not Lunch or Dinner. And from what I've seen in other countries, the hotel does not charge you tax for using points.
Also, another thing to note. The HI Express that I've stayed at in Asia is nothing like the one's here. It can be just as small, but it's nicer maintained and the front desk are ... higher quality. Overall, a much better experience overseas.
Spoke to the wife about this. I've been thinking about immersing myself in a country for multiple months. Doesn't have to be China but figured IHG hotels were near the cheapest there. She's a little concerned that I've done this research.
Edit: should have mentioned this above. The 4,000 pt HI Express has list price of $39. So, with my calculated price of $19, it's effectively 50% discount from list price using IHG points and "4 nights for the price of 3".