IHG - 100% BUY & GIFT BONUS

Expiration Date – February 26, 2016

Act fast! Until midnight EST on February 26, 2016, IHG is offering a 100% bonus on points purchases to keep or gift. That’s double the points! IHG's 100% bonus is the biggest bonus we see from IHG, so don’t miss out!

And don’t worry, we’ll also show you how to determine if buying IHG points during this or any bonus offer is a good deal in the first place.

IHG Rewards Club members are permitted to buy or receive a maximum of 60,000 points each calendar year (not including bonuses). You must buy points in increments of 1,000 points. All point purchases are doubled during this promotion. And the more you buy, the more you save!

Typically, IHG points cost between 1.15 to 1.35 cents per point, so this is quite a sale. With this double points bonus offer, you’re effectively acquiring points at half price:

• Buy 1,000 - 10,000 to receive double the points at 0.675 cents per point

• Buy 11,000 - 25,000 to receive double the points at 0.625 cents per point

• Buy 26,000 - 60,000 points to receive double the points at 0.575 cents per point

As you know from prior trvlvip Perks and Tips, we believe the value of an IHG Rewards Club point is 0.7 cents per point, which is the value we would be willing to pay for IHG Rewards Club points if we could buy them for cash. It is also the minimum value we feel you should expect before redeeming your points.

So you are essentially buying points during this sale for less than we believe they are worth and the more you buy the better the value.

So does a purchase make sense?

Maybe – we don’t suggest buying points speculatively, but rather advise you to purchase only with a specific award stay in mind.

Here is a quick calculation to help you decide:

1. Find an award stay.

2. Determine the full price of that stay if you were to pay cash including all taxes and fees.

3. Divide that amount by the number of IHG Rewards Club points required for the award stay (for Points & Cash award stays subtract the cash outlay for the stay from the total in #2 before dividing by the points required).

4. If the value per point exceeds the price of each purchased point (in this case 0.575 to 0.675 cents per point) you’ve found a good deal and if not, we don’t suggest you buy the points.

A special note on Points & Cash awards:

IHG handles Points & Cash award stays in a unique way compared to the other major hotel companies.

When you book your stay using Points & Cash, you have three options and are basically buying IHG Rewards Club points for the points portion of your stay:

• If you choose the option to pay 5,000 less rewards points and $40 per night, you are paying 0.8 cents per point

• If you choose the option to pay 10,000 less rewards points and $70 per night, you are paying 0.7 cents per point

• If you choose the option to pay 15,000 less rewards points and $90 per night, you are paying 0.6 cents per point (this is a fantastic option to buy points all year long for less than we believe they are worth!)

The Wrap-Up:

While IHG’s 100% bonus sale is their best of the year, it rarely makes sense to buy points until you’ve chosen a location, picked your dates and have taken the steps to ensure award availability. Make the small effort to crunch the numbers to ensure the point purchase makes good economic sense - you will be very happy you did!

And if trvlvip helped you gain a better understanding about buying IHG Rewards Club points on sale, we’d love a nice note on Facebook and Twitter!

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