Tag Archives: IHG Hotels

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My 2025 Travel Predictions Midyear Review: Hits, Misses & Lots of Wild Guesses

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is going well. As we approach the midpoint of the year, I thought it would be a good time to check in on My Overly Ambitious 2025 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card PredictionsCorrect predictions are in green, incorrect predictions are in red, and half correct predictions are in orange.  Without further ado, here is my midyear review for my 2025 predictions:

Airline Predictions:

  • Alaska Airlines or Southwest Airlines will bring back their “convert travel funds to airline miles” feature.
    • No, these “convert travel funds to airline miles” have not returned yet in 2025.
  • Alaska Airlines will let you use the Companion Fare to book Hawaiian Airlines flights.
    • No, but I am still optimistic that we will see this happen before the end of the year.
  • American Airlines will return as a Citi ThankYou Points transfer partner.
    • No, not yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see this happen in the next few months.
  • British Airways will lower their partner redemption prices for American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
    • No, the redemption prices have not changed for American Airlines or Alaska Airlines.
  • Delta will increase the annual fee on their credit cards and increase the Delta SkyMiles discount to 20%-25%.
    • No, but the rumored super-duper-ultra-premium AMEX Delta credit card could have this benefit (link).
  • JetBlue will allow you to redeem points on a new partner airline (besides Etihad Airways, Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airways).
    • Yes! With the United Airlines and JetBlue “Blue Sky” partnership, you can redeem JetBlue points on United Airlines and vice versa (link).
  • United Airlines will bring back their “family pooling” feature.
    • Yes! You can pool United Airlines miles, but they can only be used for United and United Express flights, not Star Alliance partners (link).

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Miles & Points Mantra #1: “Use Hotel Free Night Certificates ASAP”

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. I’m kicking off a new series on the blog called Miles & Points Mantra, where I’ll be sharing the personal “rules” I follow when it comes to using airline miles, hotel points, credit card rewards, and all things travel.  I try to follow these rules 100% of the time, but I have been known to break the rules from time to time.  Whether you’re brand new to travel hacking or a seasoned pro, I’d love to hear if you agree or disagree with these “rules.”  I have a long list of mantras to share, but if you have one you swear by (or want me to cover), please share it in the comments section below.  Let’s get started…

Miles & Points Mantra #1: “Use Hotel Free Night Certificates ASAP”

If you are just starting out and only have 1 or 2 hotel Free Night Certificates (FNCs), it might not be too difficult to remember to use them before they expire.  Fortunately / unfortunately, between Laura and myself, we have earned / received 15 FNCs in the last 12 months from various credit card sign up bonuses, paying renewal annual fees on our hotel credit cards, and from completing a Hyatt Brand Explorer challenge.  15 FNCs means we have to spend at least 15 nights in hotels throughout the year in 4 different hotel brands (Hilton, Hyatt. IHG, and Marriott) within certain categories and point limitations.  The only way I can manage these FNCs is in a spreadsheet.

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PSA: IHG Points Sharing / Transferring Between Accounts IS NOT Instant (Mine Took 2 Days)

Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday!  Last weekend, I needed to book a last minute IHG hotel stay that cost 47,000 IHG Points.  Laura had a 40K Free Night Certificate and 3,000 IHG Points in her account.  Since we are both IHG Business Rewards Members (free membership), I decided the *easiest* and *quickest* option would be to transfer 4,000 IHG Points from my account to her account.  I submitted the points transfer request and planned on booking the hotel stay right away.  Unfortunately, IHG had other plans.  After submitting the request, the confirmation message said “Your order has been received and will be processed in the next 72 hours.”  72 hours?!  I was planning on checking into the hotel tomorrow afternoon…

Long story short, instead of transferring valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards Points or Bilt Rewards Points to Laura’s IHG account, she bought 5,000 IHG Points since IHG was running a 100% bonus on IHG Points.  In case you are wondering, the IHG Points sharing / transfer took about 2 days (~46 hours to be precise).

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My 2024 Travel Recap: Elite Statuses, Flights & Hotel Nights

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  I thought it would be cool to share the hotel and airline elite statuses I earned (and matched to) in 2024 along with the number of flights I flew and the number of nights I stayed in hotels.  Fun fact: I might be the only travel blogger without Hyatt Globalist Elite Status (I actually don’t have any Hyatt status).  Read on to learn more interesting facts about my 2024 travel recap.

2024 Flights & Airline Elite Statuses

  • Alaska Airlines is the only airline status that I earned (and care about).  I took 14 flights and earned 13,658 elite miles.  I also earned 8,000 elite miles from spending $20,000 on my Bank of America Alaska Airlines Credit Card.  I am looking forward to earning Alaska Airlines MVP Elite Status in 2025 with several Companion Fare flights and awards booked with Alaska Airlines miles.
  • SFO is my nearest international airport, but I only flew United Airlines 3x last year.
  • Before the end of 2024, I status matched to Hawaiian Airlines Pualani Gold (allows better seat assignments on Hawaiian Airlines) and Southwest Airlines A List, but I don’t have any Southwest Airlines flights planned in 2025 since all my favorite routes were moved from SFO to OAK.
Loyalty Program Status Status from Credit Card Notes Flights
Alaska Airlines MVP 13,658 Elite Miles from flying + 8,000 Elite Miles from credit card spend 14
Delta Airlines 3 trips: SFO-ATL-DAB, DAB-ATL-SFO, and MIA-JFK 5
United Airlines 3 trips: SFO-SNA, SNA-SFO, and SFO-DEN 3
Air France / KLM 1 Business Class Award: ARN-AMS-LAX 2
Avelo Airlines 2 trips: STS-BOI and BOI-STS 2
Finnair 2 trips: DUB-HEL and HEL-ARN 2
Aer Lingus 1 Business Class Award: DEN-DUB 1
JetBlue 1 trip: SFO-FLL 1
Hawaiian Airlines Pualani Gold Status matched from Alaska Airlines MVP Elite Status (Dec 2024) 0
Southwest Airlines A List Status matched from Alaska Airlines MVP Elite Status (Dec 2024) 0
Total Flights:  30

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My Overly Ambitious 2025 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions

Good morning everyone, happy Sunday!  Not to be deterred by my abysmal 2024 results (How Right (& Wrong) were my 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions?), 2025 is a fresh year and the year all most some a few of my predictions will come true.  Without further ado, here are my predictions for 2025:

My 2025 Airline Predictions:

  • Alaska Airlines or Southwest Airlines will bring back their “convert travel funds to airline miles” feature.
  • Alaska Airlines will let you use the Companion Fare to book Hawaiian Airlines flights.
  • American Airlines will return as a Citi ThankYou Points transfer partner.
  • British Airways will lower their partner redemption prices for American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
  • Delta will increase the annual fee on their credit cards and increase the Delta SkyMiles discount to 20%-25%.
  • JetBlue will allow you to redeem points on a new partner airline (besides Etihad Airways, Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airways).
  • Southwest Airlines will do a status match once they start selling seat assignments.
  • United Airlines will bring back their “family pooling” feature.

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