I love Priority Club — the hotel loyalty program for Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) — which includes familiar hotels like Holiday Inn, InterContinental and many others.
Why? Because they make earning points so darned easy.
For example, I earned over 200,000 Priority Club points and 2 free nights at any IHG hotel for only $70 out of pocket which I used at the Williard InterContinental in Washington, DC a few weeks ago!
Buying Priority Club Points
Priority Club sells their hotel points for between 1.15 and 1.35 cents per point (depending on the quantity purchased) up to a limit of 50,000 per year.
That’s not a great deal, because:
Firstly, 50,000 points is not a lot of points, especially when you consider that 1 night at some InterContinentals is 30,000 to 50,000 points.
Secondly, there is a known way to get unlimited (really 40,000 points a day) Priority Club points for 0.60 cents per point!
You can then use these points, for example, to stay at ANY IHG hotel for, at most, $300 a night.
Or as subsection 15 of the Rewards Night sub-chapter of the Priority Club Terms & Conditions puts it:
Priority Club Rewards “Points & Cash” is an option for obtaining a Reward Night. You may choose to redeem Priority Club points for a Reward Night in three ways: using your existing points for all required points for the desired Reward Night; using your existing points and 5,000 points purchased for US $40 to total the required points; or using your existing points and 10,000 points purchased for US $60 to total the required points. The total purchase on any single day may not exceed $240 US.
Aren’t you glad that I like reading complex Terms & Conditions!
You’d get a good value by redeeming 50,000 points bought for $300 at the expensive InterContinentals in London, Paris, and Amsterdam which routinely sell for $500+, or the fancy Willard in Washington DC, or the InterContinental in Bora Bora which costs $1000 a night!
That’s a 76% discount for a room in Bora Bora. That’s truly Big Travel with Small Money!
Have a look at the table below to see what a GREAT value this can be. You can stay at any InterContinental hotel for $180 to $300 or any Crowne Plaza Hotel for $150 to $210!
You can also use these points to redeem for PointsBreaks nights, where you can redeem a hotel night for only 5,000 points, which is perhaps the BEST redemption rate of any hotel reward program. That’s $30 per hotel night if you buy Priority Club points using the Points & Cash trick!
Use Priority Club “Cash and Points” Reservations To Buy Points at 0.6 cents Per Point
Priority Club also offers you the option to make “cash and points” reservations. Here’s how it works:
1) When you make the “cash and points” reservation, the CASH part of your reservation is used to buy points (at 0.6 cents per point) which are then used towards your reservation.
2) Now – here’s the trick! - when you CANCEL your “cash and points” reservation (before the cancellation deadline) you don’t get your money back, but you do get your points back, INCLUDING the points which you bought in step 1) above!
So the net result of making a Priority Club “Points & Cash” reservation and later cancelling that same reservation is that you’re buying points for the price of the cash component of your reservation. This works out to 0.6 cent per point or a 48% reduction over the price which Priority Club themselves sell points.
However, you do need to have at least 5,000 points in your Priority Club account before you can make a cash and points reservation.
It does take anywhere from a few hours to a few days for the points to appear back into your account, so this “trick” may not work if you need a last minute reservation.
If you don’t have 5,000 Priority Club points you can either buy them from Priority Club for $67.50 (at the regular price) or sign-up for the Priority Club credit card which gives you 60,000 free Priority Club points.
This is a great card to have because you get 1 free night at any IHG hotel which alone is worth the fee for the credit card. Keep a look out for my review later on! Be aware that there is a targeted version of the Priority Club Credit card, which is emailed to selected members, which offers 80,000 bonus Priority Club points, instead of 60,000 points in the link above.
“Point & Cash Trick” Example With Screenshots:
Remember that the goal of this exercise is to buy Priority Club points at a much lower rate (0.6 cents per mile). If this is tricky — and it is! — please stay the course. I promise it will be worth your time by the end!
Step 1
Log into your Priority Club account, click on “Reservations” and enter any city, say Indianapolis, IN for a 1 night stay. Under “Rate Preference,” select “Rewards Nights” and then click “Find Hotels.”
Step 2
You will see a list of hotels which looks like this. I’ve highlighted the cash and points options in red below (click image to enlarge).
Let’s scroll down until we find, for example, the Candlewood Suites in the “Indianapolis Dwtn Medical Dist”
It offers us the following choices:
“15000 Priority Club Points
or 10000 Points + $40
or 5000 Points + $60
per night ”
This means that you can book 1 room for 1 night at the Indianapolis Downtown Candlewood Suite for either:
- 15,000 Priority Club points or
- 10,000 Priority Club points + $40 or
- 5,000 Priority Club points + $60 (this is what we’re interested in)
Option 1 is a simple redemption of Priority Club points for a free hotel night.
But, option 3 is another way of saying that you’re paying $60 (the cash in “points & cash” ) for 10,000 Priority Club points or 0.6 cents per point.
These 10,000 purchased points + the 5,000 points which you need to get started when using the points & cash trick = 15,000 points.
And 15,000 points is enough to book a room at the Candlewood Suites using only points (per option 1 above)!
Note: If you reserve the room for 10,000 points + $40, you are, in effect, buying the 5,000 points for 0.8 cents per point.
0.8 cents per point is a good price, but you can get 1 Priority Club point for 0.6 cents per point by by selecting option 3 above (5,000 Priority Club points + $60)!
Tricky, isn’t it! But we can use it to our advantage 
Step 3
Select the “5,000 Priority Club points + $60” option.
You are then prompted to choose a room.
Step 4
After you have selected a room, you move to the final step which is to PAY for the 10,000 points which you have purchased. Note that this is a NON-REFUNDABLE transaction.
If you cancel your reservation (before the cancellation deadline, of course), you will NOT get your money back.
Instead you will get the full point redemption value of your hotel night back (in our example, 10,000 purchased points + 5,000 for a total of 15,000 points).
But that’s exactly what we want since by cancelling your reservation, you have, in effect, bought 10,000 Priority Club points for $60 or 0.6 cents per point!
Step 5
Cancel your Points and Cash reservation and get 15,000 Priority Club points back in your account - 10,000 (purchased) Priority Clubs points + the 5,000 points which you had initially.
Step 6
Keep on making points and cash reservations and cancellations until you have accumulated the number of points you require. The Priority Club redemption chart is here.
Note that there is a limit of $240 worth of points purchase per day, per the Priority Club Terms and Conditions. That means that you can’t buy more than 40,000 Priority Club points per day, so plan ahead for multiple night stays!
Step 7
Once you have accumulated enough Priority Club points, redeem them for the hotels you want. See the chart at the beginning of this post to see just how much you save by using the Priority Club Points & Cash trick!
Be sure to check that there is a reward night available BEFORE you buy points using the Points and Cash trick.
What’s Next?
I’ve placed a link to Hotel Reward Night Charts ” in the ‘Mile and Point Resources” section to make it easy for you to look up different airline and hotel award charts and figure out where your miles and points will take you. Just bookmark Million Mile Secrets instead of the gazillion different airline and hotel award charts in your browser!
I shared this trick with my friend Mike who saved $300 for a 2 night stay at a Holiday Inn in Omaha. All the hotels had hiked their rates because of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting this May, but Priority Club reward nights were available!
*If you liked this post, why don’t you sign-up to receive free blog posts in your email or in a RSS reader …because that way you’ll never miss out on a way to go to Bora Bora for less!
Have you used the Priority Club trick before? Tell us about it in the comments!
Related Posts:
- Use The 2-Browser Trick To Earn 150,000 Free AAdvantage Miles
- 3 Steps To Save Up To 30% Off Hotels With The IHG Friends & Family Rate
- 40+ Powerful Ways To Complete Your Credit Card Minimum Spending Requirements
I have earned and redeemed millions of airline miles and hotel points to travel the world for free. Now I'm blogging to help more people do the same! 
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Thanks! This is a nice tip. I love these funky arbitrage ideas. So I just created an PC account, transferred in 5k from Amex, and made and then canceled immediately a booking at my local Holiday Inn Express. The balance is still showing as 5000. Do you know how long it takes to update itself?
This “trick” has been known for a longgggg time. PC have been known to suspend the accounts of folks who do this often.
Please use proper judgement before posting any other “tricks”, because this will be shutdown in the near future.
Anon – can you point to any FT threads or reports of accounts being closed? I don’t actually see any violation of the T&Cs and the T&Cs state account can only be suspended for specific reasons that I do not see would cover this. So they may suspend your account but looks like legally they can’t and this would put them in a tough spot when you call lawyer on it
Phil: yes accounts have been cancelled for abuse of this and PC is aware of this problem. Go search.
Lawyer? seriously? Please look at the terms and conditions for any loyalty program. They are permitted to do anything they want including canceling your account they believe you are doing something detrimental to the overall program. They don’t have to give you any reasons. Clearly, what you are advocating here goes beyond the spirit of their points and cash offer.
In this case, I want to point you to section 8 that covers this unethical trick:
“Membership Cancellation. SCH reserves the right to cancel any Priority Club membership and revoke any and all unredeemed Priority Club® points collected by any member for reasons that include, but are not limited to:
…
or
action, in any other way, to the detriment of the Program or any of its alliances; all as may be determined by SCH in its sole discretion.”
@Phil – You’re welcome – I love sharing my tips! In my experience, I usually have to log-out of my account and then log back in after a few hours for the points to re-appear.
@Anon - Sharing any deal risks closing the deal. My policy is to FREELY share known deals which are in the public domain with my readers. After all, we were all beginners once!
In general, yes, Priority Club can suspend accounts for abusing this trick, but my opinion is that making a “Point & Cash” reservation for a few nights a year should be fine!
Also, I’m not a lawyer, but my understanding is that just because there is a provision in the Terms & Conditions, does not necessarily mean that the specific provision will stand-up in court.
I don’t think it was necessary to publish screenshots of this well-known maneuver. That does increase the likelihood it will be shut down, IMHO. Next time, try to exhibit less flamboyance and show more restraint.
I am still thinking about 70$ total for sweet dilemma for 2 free nights??
so 4 stays at $17.5 $ each???
@Explore – It might be well-known to certain folks, but it certainly isn’t apparent to folks new to the mileage game. As long as the knowledge is in the public domain, it is fair game for discussion. What was Flamboyance to you, was sharing my knowledge with other – let’s agree to disagree. Just remember, we were all beginners once!
@dracs – I had 3 stays complete through work and personal travel, so the cost of my incremental stay (where I checked into a hotel nearby for only 1 night) to complete the Crack The Case and Sweet Dilemma promotions was $70.
Got it thanks…I was wondering how come somebody beat mine 20$ / night rate
.
@dracs - Where did you get the $20 rate? Was it an expedia booking?
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Your comment that ” just because it is in the T & C’S” doesn’t mean it will stand up in court” is truly shooting yourself in the foot. I had read that you quit your full time job to do this blog. How exactly are you going to provide useful information to your readers if you provide “tricks” that 1) can get you kicked out of a rewards program so you are “persona no grata” with a WHOLE CHAIN and 2) get YOUR READERS rewards accounts closed. Priority Club closed members accounts for abusing their recent ” Win it in a minute” promo. Just because something CAN be done, doesn’t mean you should. Good luck explaining to IC your publicly exposing how to defraud them.
Hi Dariaus,
Last year there was deal/price mistake for crowne plaza omaha for 20$. So took full advantage of that between me and my family collected 8 free nights.
Good fortune I guess, without applying for credits cards finished the promotion.
@Perk Princess – I’m not sure where you read that I quit my full-time job. Are you confusing me with The Points Guy? My blog has no advertisements or paid referral links to credit cards and doesn’t generate any income for me. As my “About” page indicates, I’m happily employed and I’m blogging as a hobby!
This topic is widely known shared on the Internet, and I’m just explaining it to my readers! But I agree with you that, in general, just because something can be done, doesn’t mean that one should do it.
This “trick” is a fraud as it uses fictitious transcations to obtain PC points at a price substantially below market cost. There is a fine line between a “trick” and a “loophole” and a “fraud” and you have crossed it made things worse by blazenly rubbing it in the face of PC. As a CPA/Auditor you should know better. I hope they ban you.
Shame on you for promoting a fraudulent scheme which utilizes fictitious transactions for the express purpose of obtaining a PC Points at a price point well below the official price that was never the intent of the PC. There is a fine line between a “trick” and a “loophole” and a “fraud” and you have crossed it. As a CPA/Auditor you should know better. And you make things worse for yourself by brazenly “rubbing it in the face” of PC with your step by step directions. I hope you get banned by PC and their group.
@Avi – Firstly, I am no longer a practicing accountant/auditor (I mention it here).
I’m not sure how you come to the conclusion that “I am rubbing it in the face” of Priority Club. In fact, by reading about it here, PC has an opportunity to better evaluate their system of internal controls. Also, as I’ve said before, this method is widely publicized online in other forums as well.
You are rubbing it in their face by blasting an illustrated step by step manual on how to rip them off on the web for all to see and emulate. Your whole article is saying “look how easy it is to rip them off”. And now you are telling me that you are actually helping them by giving them the opportunity to evaluate their system of internal controls. Maybe they should reward you for what you are doing? How disingenious can you get? The whole point of your article was to encourage people to cheat the system. As I said in my earlier post you should be banned by the PC and I just hope you don’t take too many naive people down with you who could get really hurt by losing their accounts.
@ avi4– Yikes! If PC didnt want this revenue stream, they would have shut down this method 18 mos ago when I first saw screen shots of how to do it!!
Thanks for sharing. Sorry to see some of this flame action directed toward you. One person’s travel hacking is apparently another person’s flamboyant fraudulently face rubbing. Glad to see you are shaking them off and know that plenty of other people didn’t know about this maneuver and will certainly take advantage.
Anyway, my question I hope you can answer is that if I am starting from scratch and want to stay at a 20K hotel for 5 nights and thus need 100K in points. How many reservations will I need to make and cancel to make the numbers work?
I totally agree with Nic. PC has the option to take this down and has not. As you have stated this is obviously in many other posts and blogs on the internet. Keep up the great work I look forward to learning about more ways that I can save in travel. Thanks again!
@Johnny – I agree with you. They did make some changes to ensure that you couldn’t get Gold or Platinum status by buying points, so it is likely that they do know about this.
@Nic – Before you get the points, be sure to check that Reward Nights are available at the hotel! If you’re starting from scratch you’ll have to buy 5K points, and then make 1 reservation at the 5,000 points + $60 level which will get you 15,000 points back in your account when you cancel. After that, it depends on which hotels you select to make reservations.
@Jeremy – Thanks and keep checking back for more ways to save on travel!
If you have 15000 miles, why don’t u just reserve a nite for 10000 plus $40 instead of the $60?
Keep up the great work! As long as a person doesn’t abuse this ‘trick’ it should not pose any problems. I have talked to a friend of mine who works for ICH and they want the business. That’s why they have not shut down the web address. If someone went out and booked 100 nights at the rate they might contact you, but most of us would not do that (would anyone?). Meanwhile, MMS keep up the great work! I’m a daily reader.
I love all of your tips, but I particularly like this one and just may give it a try. Thanks for all that you do in providing great tips.
@ Rosie - Sorry for the delay in getting back to you – I just saw your post! If you reserve the room for 10,000 points + $40, you are, in effect, buying the 5,000 points for 0.8 cents per point.
But if you choose the 15,000 points + $60, you are buying 10,000 points for $60 or 0.6 cents per point, which is a MUCH better value!
@agape2travel – Thanks for checking with your friend! As long as this method is not abused it is profitable for IHG and the folks who use it!
@maccascruff – Do let us know how it goes for you!
Thanks for this post! Some of the comments are mind boggling! yikes! I agree with NIC: One person’s travel hacking is apparently another person’s flamboyant fraudulently face rubbing. What a joke some of these other travel hackers are, since you know they are doing it, they just don’t want others to do it!
See you in Chicago!
@worldtraveller2 – Thanks for your support. Looking forward to meeting in Chicago!
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Thanks for the great info MMS. This trick may be dead as I just tried it again this morning and was unsuccessful.
@Audy – What happened? Did the points not come back into your account?
@MMS – yep, the points didn’t come back yet. I’ve waited a couple of days now. I got some points last week and it was pretty quick. Don’t know whats going on this time but maybe I just need to be patient. Perhaps my reservation city matters….
Update: The points just posted after 3 days…..phew…
@Audy – Thanks for the update! It has taken up to 2 days for the points to come back to my account.
great tip, i was about 3000 miles short, and this will put me over the top on a hotel reward booking!
@ Gary - Glad you found it useful!
Great post
I do have one question: do the points purchased via “Points & Cash” count towards points required for different membership status levels?
@Simon – Thanks! They used to count towards elite status levels, but not any longer! I suspect that Priority Club is okay with selling discounted points, but didn’t want to dilute (further) the value of their status levels!
Unfortunately the Holiday Inn Express in Flagstaff, AZ retails for $139 and at 25,000 points it will cost $150 to but points
Hi Daraius, thanks for the tip! Do I have to wait until the $ 60 charge posts to my credit card before I cancel the reservation? I booked a room using this method a week ago, but still don’t see the $ 60 appear on my credit card. So I’m wondering how long I need to wait before I can cancel it and get 10K points in my account? Thanks~
@mike – Sometimes the hotel may be more expensive when you use cash and points! You want to also check out the 20% off friends and family rate or the $75 mastercard if you stay for 2 nights before August 31, 2011 to see if you can get a lower rate!
@Jenny - You can cancel the room after a few days and the points should up in your account after a few days. I”m not sure why the charge hasn’t hit your credit card statement, though!
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If I want to get 20,000 additional points using your method, am I better off reserving 2 nights @ 10,000 points +$60 each night ($120 for one reservation), or is it better to make two separate reservations at $60 each, then cancel? It seems like it wouldn’t make a difference, but I just wanted to check. Thanks!
@Nichole - You’re right – it doesn’t really matter whether you choose 2 nights or 1 night. It may be easier to just make 1 reservation and then cancel it later!
Have you been able to get this to work for Intercon? Thanks.
@Solomon – You can use points to book at any hotel including the InterContinentals. Just be sure to check whether there is availability before you buy the points.
@Darius — I havent been able to book Intercon. with points and cash. Have you?
@Solomon - I tried recently, and I could make a cash and points booking at the InterContinental. However, I didn’t actually complete the booking. Are you trying to redeem points for an InterContinental, or just make a cash and points booking?
@Darius — I am trying to redeem points and cash for an Intercontinental booking. I am trying at the Venetian or the Palazzo in Vegas but it only gives me points OR cash as options, not a mix of both. Thanks.
@Solomon – I checked, and you are correct. There doesn’t seem to be a cash and points option. I wonder if this is because the Venetian and Palazzo are considered “Alliance Resorts.” I was able to see cash and points at other InterContinentals.
Hey Darius, Thanks for this.
In working this out, a question not addressed is hotel taxes. For example, a 5 night stay at the NYC Indigo would either cost $750 using 125k points that you buy using the C+P method, or it could cost $750 using 75k points (that you collected via the C+P for $450) and $300 cash using C+P to actually stay at the hotel Indigo. What, if any, taxes are charged in these two cases? My theory is that you will pay taxes on $300 in one case and no taxes in the other case. Hotel taxes can be a lot and could make a difference.
Thanks,
Brin
@Brin – I suspect that you are right. You will likely be charged taxes on the $300 component. I do know that Starwood hotels charges tax on the “cash” portion of the “cash & points” reservations, so I would expect Priority Club to do the same as well.
Thank you. My dream is to go the Bora Bora Island. A few days ago, I heard about Priority Club. That’s so amazing to me. If I have 40,000 points, I can save about 700$ (??) per night in BoraBora.
But I can’t find the way to buy 10,000 points for 60 $. Cuz, I dind’t know details in website. Very sad.ㅜㅜ But NOW I’m so happy. Your information saved me. I hope you always happy.^^*
Wow, what a bunch of haters on this post! Darius, ignore these people and THANK you for educating us newbies and not-so-newbies. Your enthusiasm is wonderful, and education priceless.
@BORA - You should be able to save in Bora Bora if you have points for the hotel stay. However, there is not a lot of award nights available, so check in advance before you buy the points since the point transaction is non-refundable.
@Jenny – Thanks for your support!
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hey there, i just stumbled upon this website! i wanted to know if you have the priority club rewards visa card if you do the cash and points option and pay with your visa will you get 5x the points on the cash that you spend in addition to the points that you buy? have you ever tried that before? so will that $60 turn into 300 extra points?
@clarie – Welcome! I do have the Priority Club Visa, but I haven’t made a cash and points booking with it. But I am curious to see if you’ll get the 5X bonus on the cash component of the transaction. It sounds like you should be able to get the 5X points for the cash component of the transaction.
My wife and I have booked a stay in Bora Bora at both the Moana and the Thalasso using priority club points. We were able to do this by both of us applying for the priority club visa card and receiving a combined 120K priority club points. Then we used the 30K +$60 to get us 4 free nights. A value of almost $4k.
Here is my question. At then end of our first year we will each receive the coupon for one free night at any of the hotels. Are we able to use our certificate in place of our points? This would save us two nights and 60,000 points (Return of 80,000 points)
I was told this is definitely possible if the resort still has award travel available as you can book the new room with your certificate and then cancel the points stay I made earlier. Are you able to convert a points stay into a certificate stay over the phone to save your points?
Thanks for your time and I love your blog,
Jeremy
@Jeremy H – That’s awesome! I haven’t got my free night certificate as yet, but it is valid for a free night anywhere, so I don’t see why you can’t use it at any hotel. However, I’m not sure if the timing would work, since you can book award nights only up to a year in advance, but you’d get the free night stay certificate only AFTER the first year of cardmembership.
I’ve never converted a point stay into a certificate stay, but you could make the bookings for individual days so that you could just cancel one day of the reservation and swap it with the free night. That said, you should probably let the hotel know ahead of time so that they can have you stay in just 1 room.
I’m so glad I saw this before I booked my points+pay for an upcoming DC trip. So it sounds as if you aren’t actually staying at the hotel. Would you recommend me doing your option then rebooking using the points I bought?
@Krys – I’m not actually staying at the hotel. But the net effect of making a cash and points reservation and then cancelling is to purchase points at a lower price and I use these to make award bookings. You should check to see if making the reservation using points is cheaper than the regular room rate of the hotel.
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thank you Daraius for this valuable information,
I was using this cash & points then cancel trek myself, and amazed when I have found someone else doing the same method.
I have little question or advise since you are very expert on priority club points, which would be more beneficial on gaining more points, Staying 10 nights at Intercontinental Dubai Festival City, or 10 nights at Crown Plaza Festival City? it’s a business trip, but I could book the hotels myself.
the other thing I was thinking of, would it be possible to split my stay in ICH, as you know it points granted per stay 2000 points, is it possible to do several check out & check in again on the same period? just to gain more points and counted more than one stay at the same hotel?
i am a royal ambassador member.
@Hameed - There are lots of folks using that method! You can’t check in on Monday and check out on Tuesday at the IC and get extra points since they will roll those stays together. But you can check in at the IC on Monday, check out on Tuesday, and then check in on Tuesday at the Crowne Plaza and have them count as separate stays.
But that is inconvenient.
For a 10 day stay you will likely get more points staying at the Crowne Plaza since even at $100 a day, the total bill is $1,000 which will earn you 10,000 base points + 5,000 Platinum bonus versus the 2,000 at the IC.
I initially thought it a bit brazen to post this trick in a blog. After just finding the trick spelled out so clearly, but with less hand holding and no graphics, in a 2009 InsideFlyer article that is findable via google, I am on the verge of reconsidering my thoughts. I learned of this trick on flyertalk a while ago but haven’t hit a pointbreaks hotel that coincided with my travel intentions. I do think that over-using this technique for high-redemption properties for many nights is pushing things and likely to cause loopholes to eventually be closed, though.
Do the points basically purchased thru cash+points trick and then returned to your account count against this limit: “Members may purchase a maximum of 50,000 points per calendar year” ? Suppose I have 20k points now – can I get 40K points added to my account using this trick at $240, then make a two night reservation I intend to keep at 30K + $60 night which would equate to purchasing an additional $20K? Or would I not be allowed to use points and cash anymore because I am now exceeding 50K purchased per year?
@Melissa – I don’t believe it counts toward the limit of 50K points a year, but the rules could have changed recently!
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Hi,
I just signed up for the PC and purchased 5k points ie 6k with 20% bonus.
I checked the 5000 + $60 option before points are in my a/c but the alert said I need 10000 points to choose this option. Am I doing something wrong?
~Manik
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Can I use those points from the 60K to book a flight with a reward partner? My PC account has the option to change earnings preference. So instead of using the 60K for hotels, I assume I can transfer to flight program. 1:1 ? right? Thanks!!!!
Thank you very much for this tip!! I was able to racked up enough points using this method for use on my recent Sydney NYE trip. The rooms prices were outrageous! I spoke to one person who paid $1000 on New Year Eve, I paid with points which only cost me $150 using your tip. Thanks again, it gave me great location to view the fireworks as the Holiday Inn Old Sydney has a rooftop terrace.
@Bucketowater48 – I know that you can transfer points to airline partners, but don’t believe that the ratio is 1:1
@MichaelP – Thanks for sharing your success story! I love reading it and glad you had a great New Year’s Eve in Sydney.
Daraius, if I don’t have 5000 points in my PC account, and cannot apply for their credit card yet (too many Chase cards), should I purchase the points, transfer from UR points (both seem to terrible value) or is there another inexpensive way to get to the 5000 points balance? Thanks.
@Kroozer
I received 3000 points from Netflix for $8, I was a previous subscriber but I use a different email address and a different credit card. This way you won’t have to transfer or buy all 5000 points.
http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/pc/1/en/c/2/content/dec/pc/0/en/partners/us/netflix.html
The points post for me after a few days, YMMV.
@Kroozer – Michael P has a great suggestion. I would purchase the points from Priority Club since it is cheaper than buying them through Ultimate Rewards and transferring them.
@MichaelP – That’s a terrific idea! Thanks for sharing.
Another idea for accruing or topping up to 5k PC points is to use TopGuest. I’ve gotten to 5K over the last few months by “checking in” with foursquare most every day over the last few months, on top of signing up for some of their surveys & promos.
@MJLouise – That’s another good way to get to 5K. Thanks for sharing!
I just made a res for 6 nights and cancelled, which should net me 60k, but I just noticed you said there’s a max of 40k per day? What will happen to my reservation/points?
@Ken – I don’t know because I’ve never gone beyond 40K a day. I’m guessing that if you were able to complete the transaction, the points should post, but would love to know what actually happens!
Hey @Ken, what happened with your reservation here? Did you get all 60K?
Can we still buy and cancel and get points towards GOLD/PLAT status?
I got the PC Visa last year and got PLAT status with the bonus 60k….I need 49k to get PLAT again
@Fumi – Unfortunately the points don’t count towards elite status. It used to count, but then got fixed.
Hi Dararius…As you know this might not work anymore since the rewards redemption has increased. I just booked online using points and cash at the new rate. I then called customer service and they credited the increase rate portion to my account as Goodwill. I was told the goodwill points count towards my status. You can do this until March 18.
Just ran into your web site. Going to honeymoon in Bora Bora in late November. Thanks for the tip. About to try it out now.
After reading about the nonsense that people were defrauding PC thru the cash and points arbitrage , I really dont understand the uproar. First of all you are paying for something that falls directly to the companies bottom line WITHOUT using any of their services. When you cancel they keep your money and exchange them for a half hearted promise that you may actually stay in a room in the future if they deem it to be available. (capacity controls)
We think we are getting a great deal by spending $240 in points to stay in a $500 room but who is defrauding who here ? Charging $500 for a room ? Have you ever noticed the daily price creep that these hotel chains employ on their customers ? $110 – 120 – 130 – 150- 200- 300 sold out. Is that fair to a family ? NO ! Are we being ripped off ? YES
But it is OK for hotels to overcharge when they their computer algos say so , and it is OK to only block off a few rooms for rewards, but to say that we are ripping them off in a arbitrage is silly.
In the arbitrage YOU pay the hotel NOW. They promise you a future stay IF AVAILABLE. You will NOT get the room if all the reward rooms are taking. A reward room can be taking by someone who PAID NOTHING for their points. OR YOU you can pay for in advance for a room that would have probably gone empty.
GREAT ARTICLE BY THE BLOGGER
does this trick work spg as well? ty
@Krys – You can still buy points for 0.6 cents per point, but the redemption level have increased. I’ll update the table in the post.
@Vinh – Good Luck!
@Charles – Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
@hh – Unfortunately, it does not.
Just curious has anyone ran across any room less then .6 cents per point for IHG? I plan to use this method if I’m a bit short on points
I tried to get 40,000 points but was only able to get 30,000 because I earned 50 points today through Topguest. Will I get the refunded 10,000 points tomorrow? Also, has anyone tried going through the Ultimate Rewards portal, clicking through Holiday Inn link while using the Sapphire? I wonder if the “purchase” will qualify and if the bonus points will stack. Thanks!
@Justin that might be a loophole you found $60 a night at 2.7% with the sapphire preferred and purchase the 10k at .006 a pt?
@Grant - I’ve not found a way to get the points for less than 0.6 cents per points.
@Justin – Interesting idea and worth trying out!
Hi Darius, I just tried to book a night with 5000 points + $60 but before I paid, I read that it says if I were to cancel before the actual date booked, I will not be charged. So, my question is if I were to NOT cancel before and cancel on the date booked, will I get back my 5000 points? Thanks!
I’m having a question: It says, the Hotels cost about 40.000 Points a night. But i tried booking the IC-Hotel in New York and that costs 50.000 Points a night! Why is that? Am i doing something wrong?
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@ay – You get charged when you make the booking, so you’ll get the points.
@Karl – You’re not doing anything wrong. Priority Club changed their award chart and increased the points required for certain hotels.