IHG Rewards Club made an announcement on April 14th about the number of hotels moving up and down in awards categories on May 1 (read more here) and then released the official list of properties past Friday (read more here).
I have now gone through more in-depth the changes. There are total of 301 hotels requiring more points on May 1st. 130 hotels requiring 5,000 points more and 171 hotels requiring 10,000 points more. Total of 153 hotels are requiring 5,000 points less come May 1.
You can access IHG Rewards Club web page for these changes here.
READ MORE: IHG Rewards Club Rate & Bonus Points And Miles Promotions
Here’s the PDF provided by IHG Rewards Club about these changes.
IHG Rewards Club Award Category Changes 2015 Up By 5,000 Points
IHG Rewards Club Award Category Changes 2015 Up By 10,000 Points
IHG Rewards Club Award Category Changes 2015 Down By 5,000 Points
Observations
The InterContinental Amstel in Amsterdam jumps 10,000 points from 40,000 to 50,000. Not surprising considering the price in euros for this hotel.
The InterContinental Hong Kong that has been 45,000 moves to 50,000 points. Holiday Inn Express Soho and Crowne Plaza Kowloon East both move up by 10,000 points to 30,000 points per night.
InterContinental resorts in Hua Hin and Koh Samui in Thailand both jump 10,000 points from 25,000 points per night to 35,000. These can be pricey hotels so no surprises here.
There are quite a few changes in point requirements around San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Conclusion
You have to bear in mind that IHG has close to 5,000 hotels under its umbrella. The number of properties moving up is somewhere between 6% to 7% and those going down represent 3% of all the IHG affiliated hotels. This is not a drastic change.
Considering that the current ceiling is 50,000 points per night, it wouldn’t surprise me if IHG would introduce new award categories in 2016 or 2017.
When you compare the number of points required for award nights between various hotel loyalty programs, you always must factor in the number of points that you earn from your stays. What may look like a low point requirement (SPG), is actually very expensive after factoring in the number of points that you earn from your stays.
