Where Can I Stay For 10000 IHG Points?

If you’ve been looking to sign up for the IHG Rewards Club Credit Card you might be wondering what the sign-up bonus of 10000 IHG points is worth? (You’ll need to spend £200 within 3 months to get it.) Or where you could stay for 10000 IHG points? Read on to find out!

Am I eligible for the 10000 IHG points sign-up bonus?

If you haven’t had an IHG card before and you sign-up and meet the required spend of £200 in 3 months you will get the bonus. There is no ‘official’ data on whether you can get the bonus if you’ve had it previously, close the card and then later reapply. I’ve heard mixed reports of some individuals being able to get the card and bonus again and others that can’t. You can apply for the card here – https://www.creation.co.uk/credit-cards/ihg-rewards-credit-card

Please note…

This is my experience using the points system and is not a recommendation of any financial product. There are other credit cards which can earn you travel points including American Express cards, Tesco Credit Cards (by exchanging Clubcard points for avios, hotel stays and more) & Virgin Atlantic credit card. If you use my link for a referral to an American Express card upon you being accepted I will receive points, this varies between 9,000 – 18,000 depending on the card I refer you from.

IHG

IHG Rewards Club is the loyalty scheme for Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Crowne Plaza, InterContinental, Hotel Indigo, Kimpton, Regent, voco, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites. In a similar fashion to Avios where you earn points for flying, here you earn points via staying in an IHG Hotel. Perhaps more importantly, you can also earn points via other means including credit cards!

To calculate how many points you will need for a redemption simply go onto the IHG website. – https://www.ihg.com

Here you need to fill in a destination, dates and guests. Then under the dropdown menu that says Rate Preference select Reward Nights. Finally, click Search! Here you can see a list of hotels in the destination you’ve selected and their price in IHG points.

Recently IHG has brought in dynamic pricing, this means the price you pay can vary depending on availability. IHG still has a maximum points cap on hotels so on peak dates you could potentially get a great return on your IHG points. There is also the benefit of when cash rates are low points rates are lower too.

One of my favourite things about hotel bookings with points is that free actually means free! (there is some exceptions such as resort fees and city taxes due at some locations.)

So let’s see where 10000 IHG points could get you…

You could spend a night in the Holiday Inn Berlin – City West (Germany.) Cash prices were around 75 euros at the time of looking.  The hotel is a 5-minute walk from a U-Bahn station and 20 minutes from Berlin Central Station. Berlin-Tegel Airport (TXL) is a 7-minute drive away, and they offer an airport shuttle.

10000 IHG points will get you a night in the Holiday Inn Budapest – Budaörs (Hungary.) Cash prices were around 62 euros at the time of looking. The hotel has good public transport links to the metro and city centre. Numerous companies can be found in the surrounding Budaörs commercial zone, including Ingersol, TESCO, Grundfos, Metro, Tetra Pak, Knauf and IKEA.

With your points, you could stay a night at the Holiday Inn Skopje (Macedonia.) Cash prices were around 55 euros at the time of looking. The hotel overlooks the River Vardar, a two-minute walk from the iconic Stone Bridge. The bus stop facing the hotel offers city links, and it’s 20 minutes’ drive to Skopje Alexander the Great Airport (SKP).

How can I earn more IHG Points on my card?

Unforunately the IHG credit card doesn’t have any referral bonuses for referring friends/family members. So the only option you have to earn extra points is by spending more on the card!

Can I earn IHG points in any other way?

As well as staying in IHG hotels for points there is also some partner offers available to will allow you to earn additional points. Unfortunately, IHG isn’t a transfer partner for American Express so you can’t earn from their cards or by referral bonuses etc.

What value should I be aiming to get on an IHG redemption?

I value points at 0.4p and aim for at least that in value when I redeem. Although depending on how you earn your points/how you often you stay in IHG hotels you may have a different valuation of your points.

As is the same with any point redemption it’s worthwhile checking the pence per point value you are getting. Particularly with the possibility of paying a variety of prices in points with dynamic pricing depending on the dates. Always divide the cash rate on the dates of your booking to the total cost in points.

Don’t forget…

If you are unlikely to ever stay in an IHG hotel or earn enough points for the redemption you want you can transfer IHG points out to other Airlines, including British Airways for Avios at a rate of 5:1 – https://www.ihg.com/rewardsclub/content/us/en/redeem-rewards/miles