Edit (07/01/2018) : New Points redemption prices take effect 16 January 2018. [HT : Loyaltylobby and mommypoints.]
IHG Rewards Club, the loyalty program of the IHG Group of hotels which include the Intercontinental, Holiday Inn, Hotel Indigo and so on, just announced their new Rewards Night pricing revisions for 2018 and boy it does not look good.
Note that as of now (2nd Jan 2018) , the points required for a night in the list of hotels having their points revised have not changed yet. So if you have an upcoming holiday and was thinking of using IHG points to redeem nights, better do it sooner rather than later as there is no exact date specified by IHG as to when the changes will be effected.
Devaluations Spree
I’ve combed through the Points Changes list released by IHG which can be found here, and below are some of the properties in the region and popular holiday destinations which have seen the number of points needed for a Reward Night go up
| Hotel | City | 2017 Point Requirement | 2018 Point Requirement | Points Change |
| InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong | Hong Kong | 50,000 | 60,000 | 10,000 |
| InterContinental Hong Kong | Hong Kong | 60,000 | 70,000 | 10,000 |
| Holiday Inn Golden Mile Hong Kong | Hong Kong | 40,000 | 45,000 | 5,000 |
| Holiday Inn Osaka Namba | Osaka | 30,000 | 40,000 | 10,000 |
| Holiday Inn – ANA Sendai | Sendai-shi | 10,000 | 15,000 | 5,000 |
| InterContinental – ANA The Strings Tokyo | Tokyo | 50,000 | 55,000 | 5,000 |
| Crowne Plaza – ANA Hotel Grand Court Nagoya | Nagoya-shi | 20,000 | 25,000 | 5,000 |
| InterContinental Osaka | Osaka | 50,000 | 60,000 | 10,000 |
| Crowne Plaza – ANA Osaka | Osaka-shi | 25,000 | 30,000 | 5,000 |
| InterContinental – ANA Manza Beach Resort | Okinawa | 60,000 | 70,000 | 10,000 |
| InterContinental – ANA Ishigaki Resort | Ishigaki-shi | 50,000 | 60,000 | 10,000 |
| Holiday Inn Macao Cotai Central | Macao S.A.R. | 35,000 | 40,000 | 5,000 |
| Crowne Plaza Queenstown | Queenstown | 40,000 | 50,000 | 10,000 |
| Crowne Plaza Terrigal Pacific | Terrigal | 40,000 | 50,000 | 10,000 |
| Holiday Inn Potts Point-Sydney | Sydney | 30,000 | 40,000 | 10,000 |
| Crowne Plaza Auckland | Auckland | 30,000 | 40,000 | 10,000 |
| Holiday Inn Auckland Airport | Auckland | 20,000 | 25,000 | 5,000 |
| Holiday Inn Singapore Orchard City Centre | Singapore | 40,000 | 45,000 | 5,000 |
| Holiday Inn Express Singapore Orchard Road | Singapore | 30,000 | 35,000 | 5,000 |
| InterContinental Bangkok | Bangkok | 35,000 | 40,000 | 5,000 |
| Holiday Inn ChiangMai | Chiangmai | 10,000 | 20,000 | 10,000 |
| Holiday Inn Express Bangkok Sathorn | Bangkok | 15,000 | 20,000 | 5,000 |
| Holiday Inn Express Bangkok Siam | Bangkok | 15,000 | 20,000 | 5,000 |
| InterContinental Beijing Sanlitun | Beijing | 50,000 | 60,000 | 10,000 |
| InterContinental Paris – Le Grand | Paris | 60,000 | 70,000 | 10,000 |
| InterContinental Bordeaux – Le Grand Hotel | Bordeaux | 45,000 | 55,000 | 10,000 |
| Hotel Indigo Paris – Opera | Paris | 45,000 | 55,000 | 10,000 |
| Holiday Inn Nice – Saint Laurent du Var | Nice | 35,000 | 40,000 | 5,000 |
| Intercontinental Bora Bora Resort Thalasso Spa | Bora Bora | 60,000 | 70,000 | 10,000 |
| InterContinental Le Moana Bora Bora | Bora Bora | 60,000 | 70,000 | 10,000 |
| Holiday Inn Frankfurt – Alte Oper | Frankfurt Am Main | 30,000 | 40,000 | 10,000 |
| Crowne Plaza Milan City | Milan | 30,000 | 40,000 | 10,000 |
| InterContinental Amstel Amsterdam | Amsterdam | 50,000 | 60,000 | 10,000 |
| InterContinental London Park Lane | London | 60,000 | 70,000 | 10,000 |
| InterContinental New York Times Square | New York | 60,000 | 70,000 | 10,000 |
| Candlewood Suites New York City- Times Square | New York | 40,000 | 50,000 | 10,000 |
| Intercontinental San Francisco | San Francisco | 60,000 | 70,000 | 10,000 |
| Holiday Inn Express Mountain View – S Palo Alto | Mountain View | 40,000 | 50,000 | 10,000 |
| InterContinental The Willard Washington D.C. | Washington D.C. | 60,000 | 70,000 | 10,000 |
Thankfully back home, the Intercontinental Singapore, Hotel Indigo Katong, Holiday Inn Atrium and the Crowne Plaza Changi Airport (for the AV Geeks who want to have a staycation there) has been spared from this devaluation.
Properties in Malaysia have been spared the devaluations as well. (although you’ll find little reason to redeem points for hotels in Malaysia)
Most notably, all the prominent Intercontinental (IC) hotels like the IC London Park Lane, IC New York Times Square, IC Bora Bora and the IC Hong Kong have been promoted to 70,000 Rewards Points a night(!!). Making it now even more expensive to have stays on points purchased during IHGs points sales.
For comparisons sake, if you had purchased IHG points at their 100% bonus sales, your net cost per point would be roughly S$0.008. At the 2017 rates for IC Hong Kong, a stay on points over a weekend would only cost you S$480 at 60,000 points used. While at the 2018 rates, it would now cost you S$560. A whopping S$80 more.
If you were to book a night on their Flexible Rate however, your cost would only be at S$495, meaning it would be cheaper to book the room outright with cash after the devaluation.
Intercontinental Hong Kong Photo Credits : IHG
Hotels which have gone down in points
While the list of devaluated hotels are aplenty, there are some hotels which have went down in points. Below are a few that I selected :
| Hotel | City | 2017 Point Requirement | 2018 Point Requirement | Points Change |
| Staybridge Suites Baku | Baku | 25,000 | 20,000 | -5,000 |
| InterContinental Wuhan | Wuhan | 35,000 | 30,000 | -5,000 |
| InterContinental Nantong | Nantong | 35,000 | 30,000 | -5,000 |
| Holiday Inn Express Stuttgart Airport | Leinfelden-Echterdingen | 25,000 | 20,000 | -5,000 |
| Crowne Plaza Bandung | Bandung | 25,000 | 20,000 | -5,000 |
| Holiday Inn Express Baruna Bali | Bali | 20,000 | 15,000 | -5,000 |
| Holiday Inn Cikarang Jababeka | Cikarang | 20,000 | 15,000 | -5,000 |
| Holiday Inn Bandung Pasteur | Bandung | 20,000 | 15,000 | -5,000 |
| Crowne Plaza Milan – Linate | San Donato Milanese | 30,000 | 25,000 | -5,000 |
| Crowne Plaza Vientiane | Vientiane | 30,000 | 25,000 | -5,000 |
| Crowne Plaza Tainan | Tainan | 30,000 | 25,000 | -5,000 |
| Crowne Plaza Istanbul – Harbiye | Istanbul | 25,000 | 20,000 | -5,000 |
| Holiday Inn Istanbul – Sisli | Istanbul | 25,000 | 20,000 | -5,000 |
| Holiday Inn Antalya – Lara | Antalya | 20,000 | 15,000 | -5,000 |
| Holiday Inn Kayseri – Duvenonu | Kayseri | 20,000 | 15,000 | -5,000 |
| Holiday Inn Istanbul – Kadikoy | Istanbul | 20,000 | 15,000 | -5,000 |
| Crowne Plaza Basingstoke | Basingstoke | 30,000 | 25,000 | -5,000 |
| Crowne Plaza Felbridge | West Sussex | 30,000 | 25,000 | -5,000 |
| Crowne Plaza Belfast | Belfast | 30,000 | 25,000 | -5,000 |
| Holiday Inn Express Southampton M27, Jct.7 | Southampton | 30,000 | 25,000 | -5,000 |
| Crowne Plaza Aberdeen Airport | Aberdeen | 30,000 | 25,000 | -5,000 |
| Holiday Inn Express Chester – Racecourse | Chester | 30,000 | 25,000 | -5,000 |
| Holiday Inn Express London – Golders Green (A406) | London | 30,000 | 25,000 | -5,000 |
| Holiday Inn Northampton | Northampton | 25,000 | 20,000 | -5,000 |
| Holiday Inn Preston | Preston | 20,000 | 15,000 | -5,000 |
| Holiday Inn Express & Suites Orlando At Seaworld | Orlando | 20,000 | 15,000 | -5,000 |
Many of the hotels that had their points lowered for redemption are not in tourist hotspots. The Holiday Inn Express & Suites Orlando at Seaworld however, is an exception. A quick Google Map search shows its located very near to Seaworld. Seeing that the area is dominated by Marriott and Hilton, my guess is that they lowered the points required to encourage more people to stay with them.
The Indonesian hotels that have gone down a notch are also nowhere near the touristy area. The Holiday Inn Express Baruna Bali is a good 2.7km walk from Bali’s famed Kuta Beach.
Staybridges Suites Baku is another interesting property which has gone down in points as it’s located right smack in the city centre and in close proximity to the Formula 1 Street Circuit which hosts the annual Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. (F1 fanboy alert)
Yet another devaluation
With devaluations like this happening annually, it has become even more important that we adopt the “earn and burn” mentality towards the points we have. For us here who frequently purchase IHG points during their sales, it has also now become more expensive to book nights via this route, so check the paid rates before utilizing points for a redemption at IHG. You could come out ahead with using cash now instead of points.
[HT: Point Me To The Plane]
