A New Benefit for Intercontinental Ambassadors

Last year, I wrote about my apprehension about paying for Intercontinental Ambassador status.

Eventually, I decided to use points for the status and my experiences using it have been overall positive. I used them at the Intercontinental Miami Doral and Buenos Aries Intercontinental. In both stays, we were upgraded to rooms on the club level, which impressed my mom.

Yesterday, I received an email notifying me that come July, Ambassadors will earn 10 points per $1 spent at Intercontinental hotels worldwide.

Later this year, I have to decided if I want to pay to renew my status. This new benefit will definitely play into my decision.

After last year devaluation slaughter, any change for the positive by a company needs to be cheered.


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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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I Won Big, But Don't Think I'll Play Again

One of the biggest promotions of the end of 2013 was IHG's The Big Win. I wrote here about how my planned travel worked with this promotion and how I was going to "win."

Shortly after returning from my trip to Buenos Aires, I got an email stating that I "Won Big"

By winning, I earned 107,700 points off the promotion. However, I earned alot more points than 107,700. Alot more:

As a wrote here, I earned 22,917 points with my first stay. While that was my highest earn, I did pretty good with my other four stays:

2nd - 14,675
3rd - 7,275
4th - 5,248
5th - 5.085

My five stays earn me about 55,200 points.

Add that into the 107,700 points from the promotion, I earned 162,900. Amazing haul for 5 stays!

The good news is that The Big Win is back for Quarter 1 of 2014.

So after earning 162,900 last time, I don't think that I am going to participate this time. Why you might ask?

First, my possible win total is 20% less than last time, at only 86,100.

Second, my travel schedule does not work with this promotion. At the moment, I have very few planned hotel stays and those I do have aren't at IHG hotels. In addition, my tasks aren't easy:

Here are my tasks to win again:

1) Stay a total of 5 nights

2) Stay at 3 different brands

3) Book 1 stay through the Best Flexible Rate with Breakfast

4) Book 3 separate stays directly with IHG.com

5) Stay 2 Saturday Nights

6) Stay at 2 Holiday Inn hotels

7) Take a survey

Therefore, I would need to make 4 stays (3 different brands + Holiday Inn again) and pay for 5 nights. What I am not positive of is if Holiday Inn Express would count for # 6"Stay at 2 Holiday Inn Hotels." If it does, they I only need 3 stays, which could be done. 

At the moment, I have one trip that I could stay at a Holiday Inn, but it wouldn't be convenient.  Even if I did that one stay, I would still have complete mattress runs.

For these reasons, I think I am going to pass this round. I had fun IHG, but I am think I am going to sit out this dance.


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IHG's The Big Win: Status Update

IHG's The Big Win Promotion is a little less than half way over, so I thought that a status update was due.

Since the beginning of the promotion, I have made 3 stays at IHG hotels:

Crowne Plaza - National Airport

Candlewood Suites - Hampton, VA

Holiday Inn Express - Riverwood, IL

Those three stays have accomplished about 75% of the requirements of the promotion.

All that I have left is 2 more stays, one of which needs to be on Saturday. There is still 68,000 points available for me to earn. How do I know this?

IHG has been sending me emails letting me know that I have completed a task. Every time I completed a task, I got an email with the heading "Nice Work. You Just Earned Another Win." 

IHG should be applauded for there proactive notifications. One of the biggest gripes of our community is the lack of notification during contests. During the no defunct US Airway's Grandslam, one of the biggest complaint was that you never knew what tasks you completed. You had to have blind faith in US Airways. That isn't the case with this IHG promotion.

If the emails were not enough, the promotion has its own webpage tracking your progress. 

The webpage has a section for each promotion requirements:

Overall, this is a great promotion. It requires strategy, offers a big reward and provides a tracking system. I wish all promotions were like this one.

How are you doing with the promotion?

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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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