From now till 28 November 2020 12:59 p.m (SGT), IHG Rewards Club is offering a 100% bonus on purchased points. This is the highest public sale we see for IHG points, and works out to 0.5 US cents per point.
Buy IHG Rewards Club Points at a 100% bonus here
Unlocking the 100% bonus requires purchasing a minimum of 3,000 points. Here’s how the bonus tiers:
- 1,000-2,000 points: No bonus
- 3,000-250,000 points: 100% bonus
You can normally buy a maximum of 100,000 points a year (before bonus), but for this sale they’ve increased the cap to 250,000 points. With a 100% bonus, you could buy up to 500,000 points for US$2,500 (from where we get the 0.5 US cents/point figure)
IHG Points do not expire so long as there is at least one earning or redemption activity in your account every 12 months.
What can I do with IHG Rewards Club points?
IHG no longer publishes an official award chart, and award nights are priced dynamically based on demand. We do know that the old award chart looked like this, however:
| Category | Points Per Night |
| Category 1 | 10,000 |
| Category 2 | 15,000 |
| Category 3 | 20,000 |
| Category 4 | 25,000 |
| Category 5 | 30,000 |
| Category 6 | 35,000 |
| Category 7 | 40,000 |
| Category 8 | 45,000 |
| Category 9 | 50,000 |
| Category 10 | 55,000 |
| Category 11 | 60,000 |
| Category 12 | 65,000 |
| Category 13 | 70,000 |
| There are a few hotels in Macau and the Maldives that cost in excess of 75,000-100,000 points on certain nights |
But dynamic pricing cuts both ways. Now that room rates are so low, have award night prices come down too?
Let’s look at Singapore for example, for a random date in January:
| Points | Buy Points | Pay Cash (Nett) | |
| InterContinental Bugis | 35,000 | S$234 | S$286 |
| InterContinental Robertson Quay | 35,000 | S$234 | S$384 |
| Crowne Plaza Changi Airport | 25,000 | S$167 | S$255 |
| Hotel Indigo | 20,000 | S$134 | S$212 |
| Holiday Inn Orchard | 22,500 | S$151 | S$233 |
At a cost of 0.5 US cents per point, these hotels could potentially be good candidates for buying points. However, be sure to check out the Cyber Sale first, as I saw some cheap rates there too depending on the date you’re looking at.
Do keep in mind that points redemptions are usually room-only, with no other inclusions. This isn’t so important if you’re an IHG elite member, but otherwise you’ll need to do some comparison shopping and see whether the math works out in your favor.
What card should I use to purchase IHG Rewards Club points?
IHG Rewards Club points purchases are processed by Points.com in USD, which means you can use the following cards for the most miles:
| Earn Rate | Remarks | |
 Citi RewardsApply here |
4 mpd | Cap of S$1K per s. month |
 UOB Visa SignatureApply here |
4 mpd | Min S$1K Max S$2K FCY spend per s. month |
 SCB Visa Infinite |
3 mpd | Min spend S$2K per s. month |
 UOB PRVI MilesApply here |
2.4 mpd | |
| S. Month= Statement Month | C. Month= Calendar Month | ||
I personally don’t recommending the DBS Woman’s World Card for Points.com purchases, as many people have reported issues with getting the bonus points credited.
Conclusion
IHG offers a 100% bonus on points purchases several times a year, so I’m sure we’ll see this return again. For those of you with upcoming staycation plans, it’s worth checking how much you could save through buying points instead, but otherwise don’t buy them speculatively.
the minimum is 30k points, not 3k points
I think it depends on your account