Should I Pay For Ambassador Status?

In the next 6 months, I have a few paid stays at Intercontinental hotels. As some of you might know and others probably don't, Holiday Inn and Intercontinental Hotels are owned by the same hotel chain: IHG or Intercontinental Hotel Group.

IHG has two loyalty programs: IHG Reward Club and Intercontinental Ambassador. The reward club covers the lower level hotels.

I currently have Platinum Status due to having the Priority Club Visa. Platinum status gets me a variety of benefits:

The Ambassador Program is devoted specifically to Intercontinental Hotels.

Unlike the IHG Reward Club, you can't really earn status in the Ambassador Program. Instead, you need to pay a $200 membership fee or 32,000 points or be invited to join the program.

The benefits of being an Ambassador are:

I come back to the main question of the post: do I pay to join the ranks of Ambassador?

Follow-up question: pay cash or use points?

My searches online have come up with mixed results. Some people wholly endorse paying for Ambassador status stating great upgrades. Others state that the status is absolutely useless.

Have you had success with Intercontinental Ambassador Status? Is it worth the money?


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