5 Things To Know About IHG

Personal Finance Digest wrote a post about Three Things To Know About IHG. The post was very informative, but he missed some very important parts about IHG.

    1.  IHG Credit Card Gets You Platinum Status 

         Yes, there is a secret 80,000 point card offer. However, one of the secondary benefits of
         the card is Platinum Status.

          Platinum Status is the top status of the IHG chain. It doesn't get you great benefits, but its
          better than nothing:

    2.  Intercontinental Hotels Have Their Own Status

            While Platinum status is the top status for most of the IHG hotels, Intercontinental
            hotels have their own status: Ambassador Status. Unlike Platinum Status earned
            from getting the credit card, Ambassador status must be purchased.

            In November, I wrote about how I was wavering on purchasing Ambassador
            Status. In the end, I decided to shell out the 32,000 points for it. With only two
            stays under my belt, I so far think it was a great decision to buy Ambassador status.

           The benefits of Ambassador status are numerous:

         
          Also, it gives you Platinum Status with IHG. A Win, Win, Win!


      3. Ambassador Status Could Be Bought for 23,800 Points

           Wait, didn't I say that I purchased Ambassador Status for 32,000 points? Yes, but my net
           cost of getting Ambassador status came out to only 23,800 and the same could happen
           for you.

           First, if you have the IHG credit card, you get a 10% rebate on all point redemption
           including buying Ambassador Status. 32,000 x 10% = 3,200 points.

       
           Next, one of the benefits of getting Ambassador Status is a 5,000 points certificate.

         
           Ambassador Status for 23,800 points:

                   32,000 - 3,200 (10% Credit Card Rebate) -5,000 (Points Certificate) = 23,800 points


       4. IHG Members Get Free Internet

           Starting this year, any member of the IHG's membership program will be given free
           internet, during any stay.

          Unlike other hotels, there is no minimum membership level to get the free internet.
          Any member of the program, even basic members, can get free internet access.

       5.  A Worldly Hotel Chain

           IHG hotels has 4,400 hotels in 100 countries. That's a little over 50% of UN
           member counties.

•     Hilton has only 540 hotels in 78 countries
•     Hyatt has 548 hotels in 48 countries
•     Marriott has 3,800 hotels in 72 countries
•     Choice Hotels has 6,300 hotels in 30 countries

           The IHG brand is a true world wide brand. If you are traveling to a country,
           you have a 50/50 chance that an IHG hotel will be there. 

           

There it is 5 Things To Know About IHG. 

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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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Earning Free Hotel Nights Without Credit Cards

A few months back, a reader left the following comment:

"This is a little random--but do you guys have any tips or tricks on booking hotels in NYC? Unfortunately, i'm still in the paying off my credit card debt stages in terms of point earning and cannot even qualify for a card with free nights, etc (probably a bad idea even if I did). I was just wondering since DC is so close and thought maybe you'd have ideas. Thanks! -c" 

I haven't responded to this comment, because I didn't have an answer to the question. Credit cards are the easiest way to get free nights:

• Chase Hyatt Visa = 2 Free Nights At Any NYC Hotel
• Chase Marriott = 50,000 or 60,000 Points = 1 Free Nights At Any NYC Hotel
• Citi Hilton HHonors = 2 Free Weekend Nights At Most NYC Hotel     
• Chase IHG Visa = 60,000 Points = 1 or 2 Free Nights At Any NYC Hotel
• Starwoood AMEX = 25,000 Points = 1 or 2 Free Nights At Any NYC Hotel

Like the reader states in the comment, not everyone is able to earn points via credit cards. "C" is doing the right thing by paying off credit card debt before applying for more credit cards in the name of points. No number of points or miles is worth damaging your credit score.

So, we are all back to square one? How do we earn points to trade for free nights in New York City?

My first thought was participating in Marriott's Unexpected Bonus or Mega Bonus.

Stay twice at any Marriott hotel, earn a free night at any category 1-5 hotel. I completed a $50 mattress run to earn my free night. Sounds like a great way to stay for free in New York, right? However, all of the hotels in New York City proper are category 7 and above. Therefore, MegaBonus free nights can't be used. However, there are a few Marriott's located near the City that are category 5, thus the free nights could be used there.

My next thought was IHG's The Big Win, which I wrote about here. Complete stays at IHG hotels like Holiday Inn, Candlewood Suites, Intercontinental and earn from 50,000 to 150,000 points. IHG points can be turned into free nights a multiple of ways:

• All Points
• Cash & Points
• PointBreaks (5,000 a Night Hotels)
• Flash Sales for points      

Here is a sample of availability at two NYC IHG hotels on a random Friday night:
    

50,000 points will get you a $450 a night room at the Intercontinental on a Friday night. Pay $40 and the amount of points drops to 45,000. Pay $30 more ($70 total) and you only need 40,000 points for that night.

If you don't have any stays at IHG branded hotels, the only way to succeed is to complete mattress runs. Mattress runs are throwing money out the door. Money the could be used to pay down credit card debt.

Again, I am back at zero. My last idea is to think small. Companies like eRewards, eMiles, Dining Rewards have options to transfer points at hotels. You won't earn a ton of points from these options, but its a start.

As I have stated before, small steady will help you win the marathon. The points game is a marathon, not a race.

Do you have any suggestions for reader "C"?
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European Holiday: Intercontinental Geneva

Introduction 
DCA - JFK
Radisson Martinique on Broadway 

JFK - Milan Maplensa 

Lake Como and Dinner in Milan

Park Hyatt Zurich

Zurich (Uetilberg Look Out and Lake Zurich Cruise)

We woke up early the next morning and headed to the train station in Zurich and hopped on a local train to Geneva. The train takes around three and a half hours and stopped 7-10 times along the way. The regional train stops quite a bit more than other trains so if you want a shorter journey, look for a route with less stops. Fair warning though, it is likely to be much more expensive. Our tickets were only around 45 Francs per person. When purchasing go directly to the Swiss Rail website because they often have discounted tickets that you won't find on other sites, like Rail Europe.

Once we arrived in Geneva we headed to the tourist office which is on Rue Du Mont-Blanc about two blocks from the station. There you can pick up maps and book tickets to sites if needed.

One of the greatest things about being a tourist in Geneva is if you are staying at a hotel, hostel or campsite you are eligible to receive a Geneva Transport Card which gives you free transit for your time in Geneva. Only bad part about this is you won't get the benefits right away unless you go directly to the hotel in a taxi or pick up an 80-minute free transit card at the airport. Since we arrived on the train we had to pay for a single-ride on the bus to our hotel, The Intercontinental Geneva.

The hotel is accessible from the number 5 bus. If you are coming from the train station it is toward the Airport and if you are coming from the airport it is toward Thônex-Vallard.

The hotel is an average looking building on the outside, but you can tell when you get up close it has the elegance of a high end hotel and really lives up what you would expect an Intercontinental to look like. The hotel is located just up the road from the United Nations building and once inside the many many languages on signs indicates that their clients must often be Diplomats here for work. 

We were staying one night at the hotel using 40,000 points that Kelsey received when she signed up for the Priority Club Select Visa card and received 80,000 points after spending 1,000 dollars in the first three months. As a product of the card she was given Platinum Elite status in Priority Club, their highest status. 

We were warmly greeted by the staff at the door and escorted to the check-in area. The woman behind the desk gave us a weird look almost as if we were at the wrong hotel and no one this young could possibly be staying at an Intercontinental. But when Kelsey's name came up she became a little warmer to us and slowly slowly checked us in. She indicated after about five minutes of waiting that we had been upgraded to a Junior Suite with a great view. At this point her colleague, who was checking someone else in, interjected and started speaking in rapid French. She then asked us if either of us spoke French and when we indicated no began chatting with him again. At this point we had a suspicion that something wasn't quite right, but I was still sick and just wanted to go up and take a nap. So after another five minutes or so she finally handed us our keys and we headed to the elevator. We quickly realized when we opened the room that this was no Junior Suite....and not even an upgraded room. We had been placed in a regular king room on one of the middle floors. Our "great view" was of the Canadian Embassy and if you took care to tilt your head just right, you could see a couple of mountains and a light sparkle of Lake Geneva in the distance. 

At this point I was completely sick and wanted nothing but to sleep and get rid of my migrane and head cold that was keeping me in a fog and since we were leaving at 4:45 am the next morning tide with our less than welcome reception we didn't feel like raising too much of a stink so we didn't complain. 

Don't get me wrong, the room was nice, it had a comfy bed and an interesting sitting area in the living room. But the sitting area was overtaken by a table and lamp that encroached on one side of the bed making it hard to get in and out on that side. The bathroom was high class, but tiny. The room was just average...something you could find at any hotel, nothing remarkable. The worst part was the fact that the windows had absolutely no insulation so it was cold and you could hear every car go by on the highway outside of the window. 

King Bed

Slight View 

Shower

Bathroom

The bad part of the hotel is that it's not even located anywhere near any of the tourist areas of Geneva. It was on the outskirts of the city and halfway to the airport. On the way back at around 9:30 pm we noticed that only about five rooms in the whole hotel had lights on and since we never saw another guest staying at the hotel during our whole stay we think we very easily could have been upgraded, but something fishy was up.

Empty Lobby

Empty Lobby 2 

Hello? 

After a quick nap I struggled to get up and we headed down into Geneva and walked around for a couple of hours to visit the famous flower clock, Jet d' Eau (Water Jet) and the St. Pierre Cathedral. When you are in the Cathedral make sure you take the climb up the steps to the top of the steeples for a few Francs. The climb is tough and it's hard to find the door to actually start the climb, but just follow the crowd for some amazing views of Geneva.

Flower Clock

Jet D' Eau

St. Pierre 

We headed to grab dinner at a crepe place that Kelsey found online called La Creperie des Paquis . The restaurant is small and intimate and has just a great loung vibe to it. The coolest thing is a candelabra on one of the main tables that has wax from all of the previous candles dried all over it. It was so cool to look at and see all of the different colors and how the wax dried.

Creperie 

Awesome Candleabra 

The food was absolutely amazing, we both got a savory crepe and meant to share, but they ended up being too good to share ;). We also had an amazing cider called "Cidre doux Rhuys" which was served in a coffee cup. The meal was so good and I wish I would have saved room to eat another crepe!

By this time I was completely zonked and my sickness was taking control so we headed back to the hotel so I could get some sleep before our 6:00 am EasyJet flight to London.