I just got a targeted Email from IHG thanking me for holding the IHG Rewards Club credit card, and welcoming me to their new Spire Elite membership tier. This came with the offer of either 25,000 free Rewards Cub points, or gifting Platinum Elite status to a friend. As I am trying to save up for a week at the famous Intercontinental Bora Bora Resort Thalasso Spa, I took the points, as it gets me that much closer to the goal!
25,000 IHG Rewards Club points are extremely valuable, and on their own can get you one night in any of their Category 4 hotels, such as the Hotel Indigo San Diego Del Mar, or the Holiday Inn Aruba Beach Resort & Casino.
If you’re feeling a little ambitious, you could even use IHG’s Points + Cash program where you can add 10,000 points for $70 and get yourself up to one of their Category 6 hotels. A couple great values in this category are the Holiday Inn Express New York City Fifth Avenue, which often goes for more than $400 per night, or the Holiday Inn Express Monterey-Cannery Row, just a few minutes walk from the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium.
As you can see, 25,000 points can either top off a balance for a vacation, or on its own be enough for a nice weekend getaway. If you are a holder of the IHG Rewards Club credit card, be sure to check your Email to see if you were selected for this amazing offer. Even if you weren’t targeted, don’t hesitate to call IHG to see if you can be included in this offer, because it never hurts to ask – you just might get it.
Michael Prodanovich is a contributor to Point Me to the Plane, and author of The Ultimate Guide to Free Travel.
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9 comments
Weak post. This is clearly an error where your sign up bonus posted as elite points, as discussed in other blogs. Let’s maybe not encourage people to email in?
No, I got the full 80,000 point sign-up bonus about six months ago, and this just came in today. It is separate and additional.
Thanks. Turns out I also got an email in addition to the push notification on my app. I went through the links to get my points. (I got the signup bonus for the credit card a few months ago as well.)
Thanks!
You’re welcome!
How do you accept the 25,000 points? Do I have to do anything now? (I received the offer via the IHG App.)
You do have to do something proactive to make the decision to accept the points rather than gift the status. I’m not sure how it works on the app, but on the computer, I just clicked to go to the webpage and log in, and there was a link which took me directly to the page where it asked me to make a selection. On the computer it was pretty easy to follow – I hope it is on the app too!
RE: Comments about this being a real thing, it’s a mistake. My gf just signed up for the card and we didn’t see the Spire status (even though she has 82k points). We called in and I was told twice that this is only for points from actual reservations. Just be glad their mistake benefited you, since it didn’t benefit everyone. I also have earned over 75k points this year, but a lot from spending bonus on my card, they didn’t give it to me either.
This isn’t a mistake, it’s just like Southwest CC bonus counting toward the companion pass. I just got my email for becoming a Spire elite level mostly from my 70k sign up bonus from the Chase IHG card from March of this year.
Anecdotal evidence suggests (from everyone that is posting that they got the Spire level) that people who earned 75k points mostly through CC bonus points got their card and bonus credited BEFORE IHG decided to add another level (I think around April/May?) like me. Those people who are saying that they did not get the Spire level are those who got their card after whenever IHG set the Spire level qualification.
That’s just the my observation. People who got the Chase IHG card from January to April this year are all saying yes to Spire qualification. More recent card recipients are not getting their bonuses credit toward the qualification.
Yup, I can confirm Juno’s post to be true — I applied for the IHG Rewards Club credit card in March so I just received the welcome e-mail to the new Spire Elite level. I just selected my annual choice benefit to be 25K bonus points and it posted to my account instantly.