Last night I gave a heads up that IHG Rewards Club — the points program for Intercontinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, and related brands — would be adjusting the redemption prices at about 8% of participating hotels.
They’re giving a modest amount of advance notice — changes go into effect February 17. That lets you make any future date bookings now at the old price for hotels that are going up.
The web page listing hotel changes is now live. Here’s the shift:
- It literally is exactly 400 hotels changing price, that wasn’t just an order of magnitude
- 12 hotels drop in price by 10,000 points per night
- 188 drop in price by 5000 points per night
- 158 go up by 5000 points per night
- 42 go up by 10,000 points per night
All told, 200 hotels go up in price and 200 go down — although the heavy increasers outnumber the heavy decreasers 3.5 to 1.
What’s more concerning is the introduction of new higher redemption levels.
IHS Rewards Club (then Priority Club) went to 9 redemption categories 3 years ago. The maximum redemption price was 50,000 points per night. Now with 55,000 and 60,000 point redemptions they’ve got 11 categories. So they didn’t just add one new higher tier, they added two new higher tiers.
The new 60,000 point hotels are:
| InterContinental | Carlton Cannes |
| InterContinental | Paris – Avenue Marceau |
| InterContinental | Paris – Le Grand |
| InterContinental | Le Moana Bora Bora |
| InterContinental | Bora Bora Resort Thalasso Spa |
| InterContinental | Hong Kong |
| InterContinental | London Park Lane |
| InterContinental | The Clement Monterey |
| InterContinental | Mark Hopkins San Francisco |
| InterContinental | San Francisco |
| IC Alliance Resorts | The Venetian |
| IC Alliance Resorts | The Palazzo |
| InterContinental | New York Times Square |
And the 55,000 point hotels are:
| InterContinental | Sydney |
| InterContinental | Melbourne The Rialto |
| InterContinental | De La Ville Roma |
| InterContinental | The Willard Washington D.C. |
| InterContinental | Boston |
Intercontinental Boston
You can bet these two higher categories will only gain more hotels when the next update is announced. One disheartening thing I saw was that all NYC hotels went to 40K or higher. I don’t think they left a single one out. And LOL at Venetian and Palazzo.
makes you wonder why they include Roma, given it closes on March 26th.
Looks like Bora Bora has blacked out all of their dates currently for the duration of the schedule so no award nights left at the 50,000 level. I bet they open up again after the devaluation occurs.
I have stayed in Le Grand, Park Lane and Times Square ICs and let me tell you, Times Square does not belong in the same category as the other two.
Curious how it will affect the points and dollars ? Right now the Willard in DC is 40,000 points and $70. They are increasing the basic from 50 to 55, so will the points and dollars change also? Of course we were waiting for contest points to post to make June reservation. As they say, timing is everything! You have to wonder if the overall exposure from the contest write in’s has lead to the increase?
There will always be changes to the different programs.
I just burned my last IHG miles on a 2*1 and 3*1 nights stay in the Holiday Inn hotel in Cavemagh Road in Singapore.
However, I can barely remember signing a Re-Imbursement-shceme towards IHG (centrally) upon my check-out.
I think this hotel might be re-branded or leaving the chain.
The cost for an “award-stay” was priced at USD$ 200 ++, hopefully this will not appear on my CC-note.
The Venetian and Palazzo are laughable. I’ve never paid more than $119 on Priceline for either. Times Square seems a bit much too, though we try to avoid in any case.
Stayed at the IC Carlton a few years ago- needs refurbishment. But we used our credit card free nights. Those are a good workaround still, as the free nights are not category constrained, unlike Marriott or Hyatt.
Good thing we used our free night at the IC SF and 2nd night for 50 k is already booked.
The SFO and NYC hotels are way over priced $$ and for points. The point to room rate ratio do not make sense. At the SF South HI it is 35,000 points or you can rent for $149+tax
We gave stated at the IC in NYC and it is not a 50k room. I have been in larger HI Express than at the IC in NYC with a better view!
They lost the IC in Scottsdale when it rebranded also !
@Geoff great price but you also had to pay resort fees too, right?
@Rob, In most cases no. I usually ask nicely as a “platinum” member(I know that means almost nothing) and I’ve had it waived about 75% of my visits.
Quite frankly in this rare case, I actually use one of the “benefits” that their silly resort contemplates: The use of their Canyon Ranch Spa/Gym. They are both both excellent with a ton of equipment and very nice staff.