IHG was expected to launch a new PointsBreak list today (with properties costing 5,000/10,000 or 15,000 points per night), but no new list has been posted. Loyalty Lobby reached out to IHG and they responded that not only is no new list being released today but they do not have a new IHG Rewards Club PointBreaks promotion planned currently. I’ve personally found these lists becoming less and less useful, especially since they moved from all properties costing 5,000 points to the different tiers of 10,000/15,000. That being said it was still possible to find some incredible value sometimes so it’s disappointing to see them gone. It’ll be interesting to see if IHG brings PointsBreak back or replaces it with something else.
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I hope IHG comes out with better promotions. They can do better to make their customers happier!
Man Im so glad I got to milk this card during the glory days. Between 5K point ‘road trip pit stops’ and 15K Puerto Rico HIE’s, and 6 tremendous value ‘Unrestricted’ FNs – 2014-2018 was a great ROI for this $49 card. Also got to enjoy the ‘Postcard sweepstakes’ run which netted me and P2 45K IHG points each… So long, sweet prince.
Those were the halcyon days. Did a week at the Sandpoint ID HIX which was basically next to Schwetizer Moutnain for a ski trip on a points break promo. Great deal. And all our FN’s were used at Intercontinentals in expensive cities.
Don’t send many paid nights to IHG anymore though. Maybe 1 is planned for 2020.
Ditto on Sandpoint (minus the skiing)
That postcard sweepstakes was fun!
That postcard sweepstakes was a lot of work. Spent two entire evenings on that. One set of postcards for me and another for my wife. Can you just see that fulfillment center processing all those hand written postcards?
It’s also possible that due to the virus quarantines in China, the Point Break list lost a significant number of participating properties so IHG decided to cancel this promotion for the time being.
Now we understand why Chase is offerIng a new high of 140K IHG sign up bonus points for the IHG card.
Looks like Hyatt is the only one left with 5K per night redemptions.
I booked the Hilton Garden Inn in Bali for 5k points, tremendous value.
I just booked a 5k marriott. Newish residence inn with high ratings. Was pretty happy about that!
Indeed…. and yet those Hyatt 5k points always were worth a LOT more than 5k anywhere else…. (and thus harder to earn too)
ps, to muddy the “point,” I’ve actually been coming across quite a few Marriott properties in recent weeks costing just 5k Marriott points…. (category 1 properties to be sure — yet often discounted during this off-peak season from 7,500 down to 5,000 points…. some nice places too for travelers) Imagine.
I knew something was up with that. 140k IHG Premier SUB. 25k a night is the standard for a passable property now.
This. When I started I could find 10k hotels in the suburbs of big cities most of the time. I don’t know if they have even have a 10k category anymore because I have’t seen one in at least a year.
I find I have no reason to stay and pay for an IHG hotel just to earn points when I can be more satisfied earning points with Hyatt and Hilton. I only stay with them because I have to use up my anniversary night but even that has been devalued in recent years. Now they are getting rid of this. And they still don’t have good elite program. Why do people earn IHG points is what I seriously want to know?
IHG in Winter Park, Colorado is 20K/Night with 4th Night Free brings it to 60K for 4. That’s pretty amazing.
I’ve been gaming this the last couple years on the Ikon Ski Pass.
I spent 4 nights at a SLC hotel near Alta/Snowbird. Cost me 20k total. The sweetness of pre-deval PB.
It all depends on what your points goal is and where you’re going. If you count the points as discounts and want lots of locations to redeem with, IHG’s program does a pretty good job!
The points aren’t hard to get. Someone holding one of the IHG cards (at least 5x) and booking the stay via a portal (typically 5-10%) during an Accelerate (usually at least 1500 pts are awarded for using the credit card) can come away with a solid return for even a single night’s stay.
They’re also not the hardest to use. There isn’t as much clear upside as some programs, but finding 1/cpp nights isn’t impossible and 0.5/cpp is normal. Losing PointsBreaks doesn’t help, but there are plenty of 10-15k properties that can come in handy. Think about road-trips, airport hotels or seasonal redemptions (especially when cash rates temporarily bump up).
The elite program isn’t much, but again, offers a multiplier that’s useful if you’re focused on discounts in the form of points for nights later.
I guess now we know exactly why IHG gradually devalued their Pointsbreak. Their intention was to get rid of it entirely and have people not disappointed.
This is obviously sad news, but since it’s gotten increasingly difficult to find PointBreaks properties — much less one at great value — it’s hard to get too worked up about the news. Hopefully it returns new-and-improved at some point. That said, I was beginning to wonder when the new list would come out and I’d be again disappointed. 🙂
While it was difficult to find destination properties, I was able stay 2-4 nights each year over the last four years on road trips. In some places, I’ve literally stayed at every HIX in an area over the years.
Program was doomed once they went to the new format. Interesting to see what they come back with. The old program was best in class The revised program was nowhere near the top.
If this is, in fact, the end; it was quite a long run. PointsBreaks started in 2008. But keep in mind that IHG has taken a beak before, so PB may yet return.
really, when? oh wait, slipped my mind. *tic
Yah, sour grapes on IHG…. Remember well when L.L.’s Olila long ago said (his client’s) IHG point breaks @ 5k just had to go…. and so it did. (didn’t stop the card salespeople from touting pb’s to varnish a long tarnished program.)
In the IHG press release, we flagrantly see the flip side of all the recently upped IHG credit card promos…… make the easily wowed think they’re getting more points, get Drew et. al. to sing again the stale praises for IHG, then what the one hand giveth, the other hand taketh away…. and so it goes. Yah, point breaks was good while it lasted — but that was a long, long time ago.
ps, speaking of Drew of TIF, anybody seen him since he went over to TPG….. ? Five months ago, we heard a new TPG app would be his baby — to be released … well, about now….. eh? Maybe not.)