One of the best uses of IHG points is when IHG is running a PointBreaks promotion. On April 30 the current PointBreaks locations were announced. And the current IHG 80% bonus promotion is available for purchases of IHG points made until May 31, 2018. Continue reading
Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend. I am happy to report that I avoided a potentially very bad weekend because I found out that my IHG Rewards Club account was hacked on Friday! This is not the first time IHG accounts were hacked. Travel Codex covered a similar story where 2/3 of his IHG points were stolen from his account and IHG would not help him. I will show you how I found out that my IHG account was hacked and what I did next to protect my account. It all started on Friday afternoon around 2:30pm PT when I received these 2 emails from IHG. Wait a second… I didn’t cancel an IHG hotel reservation or update my email address. Uhh oh…
Free is a great price! Do you read ebooks on a Kindle? If so, make sure you’re not missing out on this benefit. Since getting my Chase IHG Credit Card last year, I’ve been busy trying to use all the IHG points I’ve accrued, so I totally missed this extra goodie. Have you been using this Kindle deal? Even if it’s only 2 free ebooks a quarter, free is still a great price! What’s the best Kindle ebook you’ve read this year?
Good morning everyone, I apologize for my lack of blog posts recently, but I’ve found myself in somewhat of a miles and points funk. Usually, I’m in an upbeat, positive mood, but lately, I’ve found it hard to get excited about the miles and points game. It seems that everything that I once loved has changed for the worse (that might be a tad dramatic). Let me share what’s on my mind so you can see where I’m coming from. Let’s start with hotels first.
I recently spent 100,000 Radisson Rewards points for 2 nights at the Radisson Blu Crete, and I’m not impressed by the new Radisson Rewards program. Since the free night certificates for spending $10,000 (and $20,000 and $30,000) on the US Bank Club Carlson credit cards are only valid at hotels in the US, it’s not worth spending money on those credit cards. I tried to rally my fellow readers and travel blogger friends by sharing my dissa-point-ment with US Bank and Radisson Rewards on Twitter, but I got no response from either company. I plan on keeping both of my Club Carlson credit cards just for the 40,000 points on my cardmember anniversary.
Image source: https://www.fantasiescometrue.com/product/winnie_the_pooh_with_eeyore_under_rain_cloud_pin/
Whether or not you buy hotel points when promotions are running, it’s good to know about your options. We all like to travel more, for less! Topping up accounts for an upcoming stay can serve us well when we can get more value from the cost of the stays than we spend on buying those points. I use up my SPG points and Hyatt points way faster than I drink my flat whites, so I keep a list of hotel point promos handy to see if they’ll work for me. Currently, three of the four major hotel chains are running their buy points promotions. Depending on your travel plans, these might be worth checking out.
I find I can never have enough SPG points. They are extra valuable because when you transfer them to airlines rather than use them for hotel stays, for every 20,000 points transferred, you get an extra 5,000 points. That’s an inexpensive way to buy airline miles. Many people, given their allegiance to Marriott, use these points for Marriott stays as well. They transfer to Marriott in a 1:3 ratio. That’s another good value for these points. Starwood is currently running a 35% off promotion so you can buy the maximum amount of points for $682. And don’t forget, you can gift Starwood points as well. The 35% offer seems to be their standard offer. Starwood has a yearly purchase limit of 30,000 points per account. The offer runs through March 16, 2018.
