Tag Archives: IHG Hotels

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Hotel Hack: Book Award Night When Only Cash Rates Available (YMMV)

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Good morning everyone.  This is a hotel hack that I have used a few times to various degrees of success.  It is definitely in the “gray area” of travel hacking (read Frequent Miler’s Blogging the Line post), but all’s fair in love, war, and award redemptions, right?  I don’t want to state any specific hotel chains or specific hotels that have worked for me, but this should technically be possible everywhere, but your mileage may vary (YMMV).  For this hotel hack, let me paint you a picture…

You are in the middle of planning your trip, the award flights are booked, the discounted rental car is booked, your activities are all planned out, but the hotel you have your eye on is not available on points.  Bummer!  Not to worry, there may be a way to book the hotel on points for the night you want.

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Image source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0795957/mediaviewer/rm3400816384

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Should you Mattress Run to Complete IHG Accelerate Promo?

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Updated at 6:30am PT on 8/22: The new IHG Accelerate promo is announced and will run from September 1 through December 31.

Good afternoon everyone.  The current IHG Accelerate promo ends on August 31, 2019 so there are only 9 days left to complete the requirements to earn your bonus IHG Points.  Everyone’s requirements and bonus will be different, but my Accelerate offer was for up to 34,200 IHG Points.  Let’s look closer at the requirements and see how close I am to earning the full bonus.

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Buy Miles/Points Promos Ending Soon: Southwest Airlines (40%), British Airways (45%), Choice Hotels (25%) & IHG Hotels (100%)

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Good afternoon everyone.  I was working on my Buy Miles & Points Page and found a few offers ending soon.  Always check the math to make sure that buying miles & points makes sense for you.  Do not buy miles & points speculatively unless you have a use in mind.  With that said, here are 4 offers that end in the next 10 days.  Up first, Southwest Airlines is offering a 40% discount, when you purchase at least 5,000 Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Points.  This offer expires tomorrow – August 14.

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Hotel Review: Kimpton Sir Francis Drake Hotel near San Francisco’s Union Square (55K IHG Points)

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Good morning everyone.  Last Saturday, Laura and I did a mini San Francisco honeymoon.  We stayed at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins a few months ago, so we wanted to check out the Kimpton Sir Francis Drake hotel near San Francisco’s Union Square.  As part of IHG’s current Accelerate Promo, I needed to book a Points and Cash reservation to complete part of the promo.  The Kimpton Sir Francis Drake is normally 55,000 IHG Points, but I did a booking for 50,000 IHG Points + $28 cash.  Here is what the hotel lobby looked like when we arrived (with a few more guests and people working):

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Image source: https://www.booking.com/hotel/us/sir-francis-drake.html

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Keep, Cancel or Convert? Chase IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card ($89 Annual Fee)

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  Last week, I was checking my Chase IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card (currently offering a sign up bonus of 125,000 IHG Rewards Points after spending $3,000 in 3 months) statement and saw that the $89 annual fee posted to my account.  As part of my “Keep, Cancel or Convert?” series, I like to evaluate and reevaluate credit cards to make sure they still deserve a spot in my wallet (or credit card drawer).  There are 3 main reasons to keep this credit card: 1 free night certificate good for any IHG property up to 40,000 IHG Rewards Points, 4th night free when you pay for your entire stay with IHG Rewards Points, and 10x IHG Rewards Points when paying for IHG hotels (if you are a new credit card holder, you will get 25x at IHG Hotels for the first 12 months).

This card is a keeper for me, but I decided to call Chase and see if they had any retention offers available.  I mentioned to the Chase rep that I also have the Chase IHG Rewards Select Credit Card and was hoping they would waive the annual fee on this credit card.  The rep looked at my account and said there were no retention offers available.  At that time, I thanked her for looking and told her I would keep the credit card open.

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