IHG Cash and Point Stays do not Earn Bonus IHG Points

My Chase IHG Rewards Club Visa credit card statement closed a few days ago and I just wanted to share some of my findings with you.  This is in reference to 2 Cash and Points stays.  I am planning a trip to Utah over Memorial Day Weekend and have plans to stay at the Holiday Inn Price, Utah, and Holiday Inn Express Moab, Utah.  Both reservations are 1 night stays on Cash and Points.

Here is a breakdown of my IHG Rewards Club Visa credit card.  I earned 5pts/$ at my recent stay at the Holiday Inn Express Tusayan, AZ (right by the Grand Canyon) since I paid for that entire stay (trip report coming soon?).  But the other 2 charges are showing up as general purchases earning 1pt/$.

I sent an email/tweet to IHG and this is their response:

Dear Mr. Thomas,

Thank you for contacting IHGCare regarding your IHG Rewards Club Account. We appreciate the opportunity to assist you.

Further to your tweet, the stay in question was a Points+Cash reservation which is also considered as a Reward Night redemption. Reward Nights are defined as a stay in which a member redeems points in lieu of payment of the regular rate. The $70 that was charged to your card was used to purchase the additional points needed to complete the Reward Night reservation. This is considered under a regular purchase. As such, we are unable to apply 5x Hotel Bonus Points to your account. We hope this clarifies your inquiry.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to contact us as we value your patronage. Should you require further assistance, please feel free to contact the IHG Rewards Club Service Center.

Sincerely,

Karen Catchuela
eMedia Coordinator
IHGCare

Their approach makes sense, you are essentially buying 10,000 IHG Rewards Points for $70.  If you add those IHG Points you just bought to the IHG Points already in your account, it appears that you are redeeming points for the entire stay.  You do not earn IHG Rewards Points on stays where you redeem points.

However, I was using the same logic as SPG Cash and Points and Hilton Cash and Points.  I thought IHG Cash and Points stays were basically paid cash stays where you can subsidize some of the cost by redeeming points.  I guess IHG doesn’t follow that same logic.  SPG Cash and Points stays also earn bonus SPG points on the cash portion of the stay.

Moral of the story: do not use your IHG Rewards Club Visa credit card to pay for IHG Cash and Points stays.  You are better off using your Chase Sapphire Preferred or any other credit card that earns 1% cash back or more.  If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.  Have a great day everyone!