Every few months IHG releases an incredible deal that is worth taking advantage of called Point Breaks. Basically it’s a list of hotels that comes out every 2 months where you can book IHG hotels for only 5,000 points.
During Point Breaks, IHG releases a selection of hotels, some lower tier and some luxury 5 star hotels, all over the world for only 5,000 Priority Club points per night. This is an extremely great deal if you have plans to travel or are just looking for an excuse to stay at any IHG hotels (especially an InterContinental).
Since the new Point Breaks offer begins TODAY, I thought it would be perfect to explain how Point Breaks works.
What are Point Breaks
The current Point Breaks hotel list is available and ready to book from January 27 until March 31, 2014. You can book award nights at any of the hotels on the list for only 5,000 points per night regardless of its tier. While you may think that you have two months to book your stays for incredibly low rates, you should make your reservation as soon as the list is released because there are only so many Point Breaks nights available per hotel. Once a hotel runs out of Point Breaks promotional availabilities, then that’s it.
Hotels that are available include InterContinental hotels, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, and Holiday Inns. The best deals are booking stays at an InterContinental property that normally costs 30,000 to 50,000 points per night.
Rules for Booking Point Breaks Stays
- You must make your reservation when the promo is live. If you make your reservation before the time frame of the Point Breaks promotion, then you will not get the 5,000 point offer. Click through here to make Point Breaks reservations.
- Stays must be completed within the promotion period.
- You must be logged into your IHG account and have enough points to book your stay.
Even if you’re not sure if you’ll go through with your reservation, it’s better to be safe than lucked out. You can always cancel your reservation without a penalty later. For the same reason, you should also make a separate reservation for each night so if you need to make a change, your entire reservation is not affected.
Your stay also has to be completed during the Point Breaks promotional period. If you don’t see a location that interests you, you can always hold off until the next Point Breaks offer in case you see something you like then.
During every new Point Breaks promotional period, there is a new selection of hotels and you never really know what to expect. Normally the majority of them are lower-tier properties but there are always a handful of InterContinental hotels and Crowne Plazas thrown into the mix. Award nights at InterContinentals normally run for 30,000 to 50,000 points per night--so this is your best bang-for-your-buck. I would also add that is really comes down to where you are traveling and if there is a hotel that fits your needs. Or you can always book a trip to wherever you can get a points break hotel stay!
How to Earn IHG Points
There are a few methods to earn IHG points to book Point Breaks nights with:
- Purchasing IHG Points
- Reserve and Refund a Points + Cash nights
- IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card 80,000 Welcome Offer
- Paid Stays
If you don’t already have IHG points, you can purchase them during their Flash Sales for up to a 100% bonus on purchased points. There are more often Flash Sales for a 75% bonus. You can learn when these sales are going to happen on IHG’s forum. This can be a cheap way to get IHG points, but not necessarily the best.
Another option would be to take advantage of the IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card 80,000 welcome bonus. Redeeming 80,000 points during the Point Breaks promo for 5,000 points per night would get you 16 free nights. This could easily be worth ~$4,000 worth of stays at an InterContinental hotel!
Additionally, to earn points you can purchase IHG points for 0.7 cents each through a loophole. When you book an award night at the Points and Cash level for a refundable stay, you can cancel the reservation later on and will get refunded points instead of money. You should aim for the option requiring the least amount of points which should be 10,000 points plus $70. After making your reservation, cancel the reservation and your $70 will be refunded as 10,000 points back into your IHG account. With the 10,000 points refunded into your account, you’re essentially paying $35 per night if you redeem the points for Point Breaks stays.
The Bottom Line
IHG's Point Breaks can offer an incredible value if you are traveling or planning a short weekend getaway to any of the included destinations. 5,000 points per night at an IHG property is steal, especially if you’re booking a stay at an InterContinental hotel that would normally cost around 50,000 points per night.
✈ If you enjoyed reading this you can sign-up to receive blog posts via email (max of 1 email per day) or like us on Facebook! And as always feel free to ask questions in the comments below or email me.
