IHG Reward rolled out dynamic award pricing in 2020 in several stages, first starting at select hotels in Asia before rolling it out globally.
The value of an award point had deen relatively stagnant under dynamic award pricing at roughly at 0.5 to 0.6 cents each. This all changed on April 1st when the lower end went to 0.34 to – 38, roughly devaluing points at many properties by 30%.
You can access IHG Rewards here.
READ MORE: IHG Rewards Rate & Bonus Points And Miles Promotions
Here’s a statement we received from the IHG spokesperson on Monday morning:
We rolled out our Dynamic Pricing models to our hotels around the world last year which enabled the amount of points required for IHG Rewards members to redeem a Reward Night to flex up and down, just like cash rates.
Previously, Reward Night point amounts were static throughout the year. This model allows point amounts to decrease when demand is lower, providing greater value to our members.
Conversely, redemption amounts may also increase based on demand and other factors and can update as often as daily. Reward Nights are not defined by categories or with minimum and maximum point amounts.
Under our new model, the number of points required for Reward Nights will vary with demand and seasonality.
Here’s what happened last week:
IHG Rewards Devalues Dynamic Award Pricing By 30%
Here’s what took place earlier:
IHG started to roll out this function back in April 2020:
And there was already one previous dynamic award massacre in June 2020:
There have been previous issues with Dynamic Award pricing:
Conclusion
Previously, under dynamic pricing, the value of a point was set at 0.5 to 0.6 cents each against the cash rates. Now it is all over the map, starting at just a third of a cent and can change daily and varies between properties.
This makes any planning practically impossible for those staying at IHG affiliated hotels and collect IHG Rewards points. When the underlying paid rate stays the same, the points ones can vary 100% between properties.
IHG has made millions yearly selling its IHG Rewards points to members. How can it make any sense to buy point event at their highest bonus (0.5 cents each) when the redemption value in most cases is 30% less?
![Airfare of the Day [Business Class] FINNAIR Barcelona to Bangkok from 598€ OW](https://cdn3.loyaltylobby.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/xboat-gd237054bb_1280-BANGKOK-120x86.jpg.pagespeed.ic.I0r7bR-CZs.jpg)
![Airfare of the Day [Business Class] AEROMEXICO Madrid to Sao Paulo from 898€](https://cdn3.loyaltylobby.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/xbuilding-ga29091764_1280-sao-paulo-120x86.jpg.pagespeed.ic.VQ8lWfmLI6.jpg)
I just feel incredibly lucky not renewing my AMB status last year. I would be kicking myself today as they turned my loyalty points into rubbish overnight. They practically voided my weekend night certificate as I couldn’t travel during the validity of it. And to top it all, the only IC hotel I managed to stay last year right before the pandemic in FEB was IC Doral and they didn’t give me 1 benefit claiming they were already full. hence my 200 USD were also thrown to the bin. What a lovely program it was. I will continue to value my Hilton. HH is still the best for my needs.
I am done with IHG.
First they got rid of pointbreaks. Then dynamic award pricing. Then an insufficient response to the covid-19 crisis (my Amb expired with free night unused because I can hardly travel, certainly not to the Intercontis I was frequenting).
The current promotions are also considerably less attractive than the “Accelerate” promotions of 2019 and earlier. They had one good promo that I found attractive in all of 2020-21 (the first of the quadruple points promos).
And now a devaluation of roughly 30%. Sure, some properties have been devalued more strongly than others. Still find it hard to see enough value with this programme.
Think of IHG as a Filipino program to save labor costs and those managing it may not have even stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, left alone flying on a plane. They are good at talking on the phone but don’t expect any common sense out of their statements or actions.
IHG Reward is a joke!
How would you like to have been the person who purchased points on 31 March and woke up on 1 April with a 30 percent haircut?! Scammers. I will use my points and never look back at IHG. They are good at chasing elites away from their program.
Starting to think that straight cash bonus are the way to go as this was a complete slap in the face to any long standing IHG member — Started with point breaks 5,000 points (all hotels) and that ended up diluted and then gone. IHG made a push to sell points at 50 cents on the dollar and then devalued them to .35 cents on the dollar overnight leaving long standing customers holding the bag. Already started looking at shifting our business over to independents and the lesser of all evils on the big chains. Hopefully this comes to bite IHG in the backside as the rollout was simply awful and I am left with 300,000 points at a $900 loss. I have a few choice 4 letter words for IHG as to whether they can stick their reward program where the sun doesn’t shine.
After the Marriott and SPG merger, a lot of people said “I am done with Marriott” and now they say “I am done with IHG”. I would like to know how many people are honest about this or just outraged, but then will come crawling back when the next hip property or points offer pops up…
Lol we’re all at Hilton dude.
My Hilton stash has gone up by 1.5 million points since that merger. And I don’t churn credit cards.
And I’m at the Hilton right now. I won’t be back to IHG. Hilton and Hyatt are my only two hotel providers now who get my loyalty.
Yup Hilton has been the best option for a while now. Hilton Diamond has delivered more upgrades, club access, free breakfasts than any other program. I don’t use Bonvoy but I know friends who do quite well with it despite it being harder to earn points on. I’ve also been done with IHG for a while, but some business spend is on an IHG card so still got around 600k points per year so at the moment got around 1.1m points. So this year as many others have said, I’ll be burning through them all and moving on. There really is no good reason to show loyalty to IHG now.
Sounds like they’re trying to reduce their exposure, and push people to pay cash. Central London hotel now 95k points?? My regular CP gone from 25k to 59k overnight. If they don’t extend out status beyond this year I’m giving up my loyalty they’ve had for 20 years. Benefits have been eroded and hatcheted over the years but this is brutal.
Spire Elite / Ambassador for five years now… Ang I’m finally burning all my points down as fast as reasonably possible. IHG just sucks re: points and loyalty. Why earn and save for future splurges when points get so regularly devalued? At least other chains will reward my loyalty with free breakfast…
a new slogan for them “Stay with us We give You less GUARANTEED”…
I was sitting on 1.6 million points accumulated over years,i never redeemed for a single night/i just converted 600.000 to Emirates last month,will convert another 500.000 to Singapore and rest to Virgin at least with airlines i am guaranteed with all perks and services,unlike IHG reward night.
This company and their loyalty are jokes,i ve never stayed with Hilton and got gold status from Amex and my first stay i got upgrade to club room with club access and one of my benefit is free breakfast,even being spire with IHG you will never dream for free breakfast and all benefits arent guaranteed bye bye IHG.
Cancelling my reward credit card and moving to another hotel program. You lost my loyalty IHG.
How dare we not thank them for providing us the opportunity to pay more for points than we can possibly redeem them for? /s
Unlike others I do think IHG used to offer a valuable program, even if elite benefits vary widely by property. The key was to stick with the properties with the best recognition. Sadly IHG seems to be going the way of Qatar Airways, with awards reaching ridiculous points amount. On the same night a stay at Six Senses would cost USD 330 (taxes and service included) or 120,000 points, a value of just 0.275 cents/point which is roughly half of what I would pay if I purchased points during a 100% bonus promotion. However this didn’t work out well for QR I suppose since they had to reverse their policy a few months ago, I expect IHG will eventually have to do the same. For now I too am getting rid of my points as much as possible.
Holiday Inn Wrightsville Beach was selling rooms for 924.00 per night or 80,000 points a night. Holiday Inn Express Nags Head was about the same. Thats 2X what it has been in past years, The Chase Certificates are of no real value. I can use them at remote, small market hotels but with my State Employee Discount, the rate is less that the Credit Card Annual Fee. Thanks IHG…your properties will only be visited if I have no other options.