Shortcut to IHG Status: Buying Bonus Points
Diamond Elite is the top status level of the IHG One Rewards program. Reaching this level requires 70 nights at IHG hotels, or 120,000 base points, which is equal to $12,000 of spending, excluding taxes. This is a high bar to reach, but there is an interesting alternative strategy which could be much easier.
Buying Bonus Points
During the process of booking a stay at an IHG hotel, you might be presented with the option to buy bonus points. There are usually three or four different amounts to choose from, with varying prices. If you select one of these bonus points packages, the extra cost is simply added to your room rate and you recieve the points after your stay, along with the standard points.
Elite Qualifying Points
A notable feature of these bonus points is that they are elite qualifying – meaning they count towards the annual targets for reaching higher status levels. This means you could effectively buy Diamond status, providing you stay enough nights and receive the offer to buy bonus points.
How Much Do The Points Cost?
The prices offered to buy points seem to vary widely but are often close to the accepted value of 0.6 cents per IHG point. This means you should be able to get good value from redeeming the points for stays. However, you will need to check the prices you get are good value and select the best option. There is of course a risk that the points could be devalued before you have a chance to use them.
Comparing the Options
Here’s an example of how this would work. Go to the IHG web site, or open the app and start a new hotel search. When the hotel list appears, select the option to show prices with taxes and fees included (usually at the top right of the screen/app.)
Select your chosen hotel and select a room rate. You might then be presented with this screen:
In this example there are four options with different amounts and prices. Lets break them down and examine the prices in detail:
| Bonus Points | Price (USD) | Price per Point (cents) |
|---|---|---|
| 1000 | 6 | 0.6 |
| 2000 | 12 | 0.6 |
| 3000 | 18 | 0.6 |
| 5000 | 24 | 0.48 |
The last option is clearly the best, with a price per point of 0.48 cents, which is below the generally accepted value for IHG points of 0.5-0.6 cents. This is also below the lowest price it is usually possible to buy IHG points, which is 0.5 cents during a 100% bonus sale. It should be possible to redeem the points for hotel stays and get at least this value or more.
Get Diamond Status in 20 Nights (Instead of 70)
As an experiment, lets consider how to maximize this opportunity and buy enough bonus points to reach the top Diamond status level. Assuming you get the same offer as in the example above, you would need 24 nights to buy the required 120,000 bonus points. Of course, you would also earn standard elite qualifying points for the hotel stays.
With an average cost of $100 per night, excluding taxes and fees, you could stay 20 nights, earning 20,000 standard points and buying an additional 100,000 bonus points. This would get you to Diamond status in 20 nights instead of the usual 70, at a cost of $480, which could be recouped via hotel stays booked with the purchased points.
While this example is not going to be practical for most people, it illustrates the potential of this method to reach a higher IHG status level than you otherwise could with regular stays.
Downsides to Consider
While Diamond status is valuable, getting you free breakfast and potential upgrades, it does not include lounge access. This is only available via Milestone Rewards – these require staying actual nights. To get lounge access you would need to stay 40 nights in a year.
There is another potential issue to be aware of. In the past, the IHG web site explicity stated that the bonus points were elite qualifying, but this text has since been removed. Although the points are still posting as elite quaifying, there is a risk that could change in the future.
