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In a recent email I received from the hotel loyalty program, IHG promised a mystery bonus if I bought a large amount of points through them. And when I opened my “mystery bonus,” I found a 100 percent matching offer on up to 60,000 IHG points. So in the end, I could theoretically buy 120,000 IHG points for $690. That’s a value of a little over a half a cent per point, which is pretty sweet.
However, this deal was targeted, and not everyone got an offer to match 100 percent of any points they purchased. And as someone pointed out in the comments, there is another easy way to buy IHG points for around $.007 each if you don’t mind a few extra steps. Here’s how it works.
To buy IHG points super cheap and on-demand, you need to be willing to book a fake, dummy reservation and cancel it when you’re ready.
Here are the four steps you should take to buy IHG points cheaply and safely:
- Step 1: Sign up for a free IHG account, or get the IHG Rewards Credit Card: If you aren’t an IHG member already, you can sign up for the loyalty program for free. Conversely, signing up for the IHG Rewards Club Select credit card will help you become an IHG member with Platinum status by default.
- Step 2: Book a hotel directly with IHG, choosing the “points and cash” option. Using the “points and cash option” with IHG lets you “buy” an additional 10,000 points for $70. That’s just $.007 per point, which is a steal. It doesn’t really matter what hotel you book either; you just need to determine your rate is fully refundable.
- Step 3: Cancel your reservation. Since you booked your room with a fully refundable fare, you can go ahead and cancel your reservation with no penalty.
- Step 4: Your points will be redeposited into your account. Once you “buy” your points using IHG’s points and cash option, you’re stuck with them. So even though you just cancelled your reservation, the new points you just purchased will land safely in IHG account.
As a side note, you’ll need to pay $.007 per point with this trick most of the time. However, there are certain properties that make the prospect of buying points slightly cheaper. For example, I’ve seen some that let you “buy” 15,000 points for $99, which works out to $.0066 per point, but you may need to get into the IHG website and dig around.
Also remember, it doesn’t matter where you book your dummy reservation. You’re going to cancel it anyway, so you might as well get the best rate you can find.
Reasons to Buy IHG Points
There are myriad reasons to buy IHG points, but the biggest reason is to boost your point total for a really big trip. Maybe you are just 10,000 or 20,000 points short of a big travel goal using IHG points and need a boost. Whatever the goal, it’s best to buy your points as cheaply as you can.
You can definitely buy points during one of IHG’s amazing matching promotions, but it’s nice to know you can buy points cheaply year-round if you really want. With this trick, it’s easy to boost your point balance at any time with a few easy steps.
Have you ever purchased IHG points? Why or why not?
[Image via Getty]
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