IHG Into the Night Promo

InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) is a great secondary or tertiary hotel chain to have in your rotation. While my parents and I prefer Starwood as our primary, the simple facts are:

(a) They don't always have a hotel you want to stay at in every location you want to go

(b) Free/easy points from another chain shouldn't be overlooked out of "loyalty"

I know...I know... No one loves staying at a Holiday Inn, but I have to say, the brand is quite stellar outside the United States. For example, we had a great one-night stay at the Chiang Mai Holiday Inn in Thailand last year. And since we had Platinum status (that came with the Chase IHG credit card), we were upgraded to a massive suite.

But of course, IHG has more premier brands, including their higher end InterContinental Hotels. This is the IHG brand that we usually stay at when we don't find a Starwood or Hyatt. For example, we were lucky enough to stay at the InterContinental Hotels at Berchtesgaden (Germany), San Juan Puerto Rico, Hong Kong and De La Ville Rome.

 Most of these stays were on points or free night certificates. But how did we get all those points?

1. Chase IHG Visa (80,000 points plus a free night award certificate every year)
2. IHG Seasonal Promotions (~150,000 points)

The biggest promotion of 2013 was called the IHG Big Win. From signing up and completing a series of customized challenges (staying 5 nights at 3 different hotel brands in 2 cities), my father earned 91,700 IHG points - with about half of them as a super bonus for completing all the tasks. We used those points to stay 2 nights at the InterContinental De La Ville in Rome (worth ~$1,000 at $499/night).

This year, IHG kept the same concept but called it their "Into the Night" Promotion. This year, my father has an opportunity to earn 30,000 points PLUS either (a) 30,000 bonus points or (b) 2 free nights. Assuming the Free Nights are not restricted, that's probably the better bet than the 30k points, given my family's travel patterns often take us to hotels that cost over 15,000 points/night.

Unfortunately, this year, my father's personal challenges require (a) 7 nights instead of last year's 5 nights and (b) 2 international stays. Given we're not planning to travel internationally in the next several months, it looks like my father won't be able to complete the full list. And the smaller individual bonuses aren't worth going out of our way for.

My mother's challenges, however, were a lot better. First, she only had to complete 4 of 5 tasks to win, and second, a single $113 (including tax) stay at the EVEN Hotel in Norwalk, CT could net her 27,700 IHG points. Then one more Saturday night stay anywhere else (let's just say at $100/night), would get us another 8,000 IHG points + 2 free nights.

However, if someone were to sign up for a completely new IHG account with a different email address, then they would receive the "standard" offer for all new IHG members (see below), which is a lot easier to achieve for those coveted 2 free nights.

So under this "new member" scheme, staying just 3 nights at 2 different Holiday Inns (for about $100/night) over a few Saturdays  would earn us 2 free nights at any IHG property, including those expensive amazing InterContinentals we mentioned above or even the one in Bora Bora. Sounds pretty compelling now, doesn't it?

What scheme were you given this year? Are you going for it?

Amex Platinum

Yesterday, my parents cancelled each of their American Express Platinum charge cards. You may recall that they applied for the card last January 8, 2013 when there was a limited offer for an incredible 100,000 Amex Membership Rewards sign up bonus.

While 100k MR points is a major haul from 1 credit card application, the Platinum card came with an equally incredible $450 annual fee, not waived the first year! So for two cards (one for each of my parents), that ran $900 in fees alone!

However, through the many benefits offered by this Booty Call Card (a card you get for the benefits, but don't really use for actual spending), we were able to recoup more value than the annual fees cost us. In fact, here's a link to see/enroll in all the benefits for being a Platinum cardholder. In case you're not a link type of person, I will highlight a few for your LCD readers below.

1. $200 in Airline Fee Reimbursement (per calendar year)
If you're good with calendars, which at age 2 I'm still learning, you can actually recoup $400 of value in this single perk alone. This benefit is intended to offset any ancillary airline fees such as checked bags, in-flight drinks, lounge day passes, etc. Of course, my parents having Platinum & Gold elite status with United get many of these benefits for free anyway. While you're not supposed to use this $200 reimbursement for purchasing tickets, there are loopholes (my father LOVES loopholes). Here's how:

My parents received their cards in mid-January 2013. They immediately went online here and selected United Airlines as their preferred airline for this credit. This first step is very important because you will not be reimbursed if your airline is not selected first. Every January 1, you have an opportunity to choose another airline if you want. But otherwise, the default setting will be to retain the same airline as the year before, so no need to re-select if you want to keep your airline constant.



A few weeks later, they each went to United.com and purchased a $200 e-gift certificate to use within the next 5 years for United.com purchases, including flights! (IMPORTANT NOTE: As of December 2013, United Gift Certificate purchases no longer seem to be reimbursed by Amex, per this FlyerTalk thread. Continue reading below to see the next loophole.)

 

About 2 days later (Jan 17), the $200 charges posted on their American Express accounts. Then 2-3 days after that (Jan 20), their $200 Airline Fee reimbursements posted as well, cancelling out the purchase charges. A free $200 to use on future United flights!

Fast forward 12 months to January 1, 2014. A new year means a new $200 credit becomes available if you still hold the card.

Per the FlyerTalk thread (my father always does his research before), it appeared that GC's were no longer being recognized by Amex as reimbursable. However, the same FlyerTalk thread had reports of users successfully being reimbursed for purchases of Gift Registry credits (kind of like a wedding registry where you can contribute to an account allowing the beneficiary to use as they want), which appears right below Gift Certificate in the drop down menu.

The main difference between a GC and a GR is that the GC lasts for 5 years and can only be used to redeem for flights on United. Additionally, if you have multiple GCs, you can only use a single one per transaction. So since my parents had 2 GC's from 2013, they needed to book at least 2 separate bookings with United to use them. Clearly, it wasn't a problem for us in 2013.

However, multiple Gift Registry contributions can be combined into a single "Travel Bank" account and then used to purchase anything on United.com, including flights on other partner airlines. These features make Gift Registry purchases so much more flexible and easier to use. However, they only last for 2 years (after the most recent transaction), so you may have a shorter time frame to use the $200 in GR value if you let them sit idle.

So on January 1, 2014, my parents used their Amex Platinum cards to each purchase $200 in Gift Registry contributions and put my father as the beneficiary. So between the two Platinum cards, my father now had $400 in total Gift Registry contributions to use by January 1, 2016.

On January 3, the $200 charges posted to my parents Amex accounts as well as the second year's $450 annual fees. Total balance due of $650 for each Platinum card.

On January 5, the $200 fee reimbursement credit posted to their Amex accounts. Balance due was now $450 each. My father then called that afternoon to American Express customer service and asked to cancel the cards, because he didn't want to pay the next annual fee. The representative made a few counter offers to persuade my father to keeping the card (statement credits, free MR points, etc), but my father didn't find them compelling enough for a second year of $450 in annual fees, so the cards were closed.

On January 6, the $450 in annual fees (2nd year) were removed from the Amex accounts. $0 balance due!

So for timing the purchases of travel credit (in the form of Gift Certificate and Gift Registry contributions), we recouped $400 of value from the first year's $450 annual fee on each card and avoided the second year's $450 annual fee.

2. $100 Global Entry Reimbursement (one-time)
Another benefit of having the American Express Platinum card is having your Global Entry enrollment fee reimbursed. As you may recall, Global Entry is a U.S. program that allows cleared individual travelers to fast track through Airport Immigration when arriving from a foreign country. My father likes to think of it like a VIP line. Here's an account of my personal experience applying/being interviewed for Global Entry as a 1.5 year old child.

The cost to apply is $100, even if you somehow get rejected. However, if accepted, the Global Entry benefit lasts 5 years before having to renew and also makes you eligible for TSA Pre-Check which allows passengers to go through the super fast TSA security line (without having to open your carry-on bags or take off your shoes).

And thanks to American Express, if you use your Platinum card to pay for the enrollment fee, it too will be reimbursed! Another $100 benefit per card!

So now we've received $400 in travel credit for future flights and $100 of Global Entry benefits for $500 of value for each of our Platinum cards.

3. Airport Lounge Access
While this benefit is being reduced starting March 22, 2014, we did benefit from accessing some American Airlines and US Airways lounges during our travels last year. In particular, we used our Platinum cards to get access to the American Airlines Admirals lounges (both JFK and SJU airports) on our recent trip to Puerto Rico. While we would never actually pay $50 / person in cash for the benefit of comfortable seating, better bathroom and complimentary snacks, we still received some amount of value for having our Platinum cards with us.

While American Airlines (and thus US Airways) lounges will no longer participate in this American Express program, Amex is adding new high end Centurion Lounges in select airports across the country. Reports so far are that these Centurion Lounges are amazing (think luxury hotel lobbies), especially compared to the basic spartan offerings of the domestic airlines (think nice waiting rooms at doctor offices).

UPDATE (1/7/14):  There have been reports that current Platinum cardholders have been contacted about this future loss of airport lounge benefit and received the following NEW ADDITIONAL benefit starting March 22:

As of March 22, 2014, Platinum Card Members will no longer receive complimentary access to American Airlines® Admirals Club lounges and US Airways® Club locations.

We recognize the inconvenience this may cause you as someone who travels frequently, so we have included you in a special offer. You will receive up to $200 in statement credits toward American Airlines and US Airways incidental fees charged to your Card from March 22, 2014 to December 31, 2014.

You can use these credits toward:

• Membership fees in the Admirals Club program and US Airways Club

• One-day passes to Admirals Club lounges and US Airways Clubs

• Other American Airlines and US Airways incidental fees like baggage fees or flight change fees

There’s no enrollment required, and purchases made by both the Basic and Additional Card Members on the Card account are eligible for the promotion. These statement credits are in addition to the $200 Airline Fee Credit benefit already included in your Membership.

Had we kept our Platinum cards for another year, perhaps we could have earned another $200 each in AA gift certificates from their "other" category. However, I can't vouch for this tactic, though, so keep in mind that your individual results may vary.

4. Hotel Status Upgrades

Another travel benefit from having the Platinum card is that you can call Amex and upgrade your hotel status with both Starwood (Gold) and Hilton (Gold) for free. While Starwood Gold only gets you upgrades to enhanced rooms (better views), free wifi and late checkout, Hilton Gold also gets you free breakfasts each morning on top of occasional room upgrades, free wifi and late checkout.

While we didn't benefit from these hotel perks ourselves in 2013 (my father already has Starwood top tier Platinum status and Hilton Gold), we were able to gift the Starwood Gold status to friends of ours who didn't have status yet.

5. Regular Amex Benefits
And finally, for having two American Express cards (Platinum or other), we were able to enroll each of them in special Amex promotions including Small Business Saturday ($10 spending credit per card) and the $25 Credit from Amazon ($25 statement credit for spending $75 on Amazon). So another $35 of benefits for each Platinum card, on top of the $500+ from the above items

Conclusion

2013 Annual Fee Charged = ($450) x 2 = ($900)
2014 Annual Fee Charged = $0 due to card cancellation

2013 United Airline Gift Certificates = $200 x 2 = $400
2014 United Airline Gift Registry = $200 x 2 = $400
2013 Global Entry Reimbursement = $100 x 2 = $200
AA Airport Lounge Access
Hilton & Starwood Gold Status
2013 Small Business Saturday = $10 x 2 = $20
2013 Amazon Discount = $25 x 2 = $50
Total Benefits = $535+ x 2 = $1,070+

Then, we can't forget the 100,000 Membership Reward points we received as a sign on bonus for each card. After hitting the $3,000 of minimum spend on each card, we earned over 206,000 in total Amex MR points, which we ultimately used to help my Aunt and her boyfriend get to Hawaii (by transferring some MR to Hawaiian Airline miles) in July as well as pay for 4 flights to Puerto Rico (by transferring MR to British Airways Avios) this past December - which was clearly over $2,000 of total value.

And we still had a lot of Amex MR points leftover, so we transferred the remaining MR over to British Airways Avios in December before closing our Platinum cards (because we'd lose our the rest of our Amex MR balances when closing the cards out).

American Airline Perks on BA Avios Awards

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how we took advantage of a transfer bonus to transfer 100,000 of our American Express Membership Reward points to convert into 135,000 British Airways Avios Miles.

Then we redeemed 80,000 of those BA Avios Miles for 4 free flights on American Airlines. The reason we could do this part was because both airlines are partners within the same alliance, OneWorld.

Basically, BA Avios can be used to redeem flights on just about any OneWorld Airline. We've only done this for our AA flight from New York to San Juan, but it's been a great way to redeem our Amex MR points from our Amex Platinum cards before we close them next month before their $450 annual fees hit.

In addition to finding great awards for domestic short haul flights, using BA Avios gets you a handful of useful extra benefits as well. Now, these are not officially stated benefits, so you should not expect to be entitled to them, but multiple people have also corroborated their own similar experiences from BA Avios redemptions on American Airlines.

1. Free Checked Bag. After checking our online reservations on AA.com, we confirmed we were able to check 1 bag each for free, saving us the $25/bag that regular passengers need to pay. Unfortunately, we didn't get a bright orange tag on our checked luggage. Not sure if that was an oversight or if we're not entitled to that privilege, but we didn't make a fuss. Truth be told, though, my father forgot to check/ask. Also, you also definitely get this benefit if you have the American Airlines co-branded credit card from Citi.

2. Priority Security Lane. For both our flights at JFK and SJU, the regular TSA security line was really long. Fortunately, our boarding passes printed out with "PRIORITY AACCESS" on them, so we were able to bypass the regular passengers and go into the much shorter line. With that extra time we saved, we went to get some food for our flight since it would go through our regular dinner time and land way too late to eat anything upon arrival.

Interestingly enough, my grandmother (who had no status with American or British Airways) and wasn't a U.S. citizen received "TSA Pre-Check" clearance on her boarding pass. That meant she had access to an even more exclusive line she could enter with basically no one in it. And when it came time to x-ray her carry-on luggage, she didn't have to remove anything from her bag nor take off her shoes. I wasn't around then, but my father says Pre-Check today is like how flying was in the 1990's before 9/11.

3. Priority Boarding. And when it was time to board the plane, the first call was for First Class/Uniformed Military passengers, followed immediately after by Priority AAccess, then Group 1, 2, 3... I think technically, Priority AAccess passengers should be after all the American Elites, but we weren't complaining. If you have the American Airlines credit card, then you get Group 1 boarding privileges.

Aside from the childish urge to be "first," boarding early has it's distinct advantages, because when the airline charges extra fees for checking your bag, everyone tries to bring a carry on. Then oftentimes there's not enough overhead bin space for everyone. So getting on early means securing your overhead bin space. A petty victory, but a victory nonetheless.

4. No Lounge Access Though.  Unfortunately, access to American Admiral's lounges was not a part of the BA Avios package. However, we were able to get in anyway by flashing our American Express Platinum cards.

Seems like it all starts and ends with the American Express Platinum card.

American Admirals Club Lounge

The San Juan Airport is the busiest airport in the Caribbean region. Most of the airlines, however, operate out of 2 of the 5 concourses (A and D). Concourse A is dominated by Jet Blue while D is shared by American, Delta, Southwest, Spirit, United and US Airways.

Fortunately for us, we were flying on American Airlines (using our British Airways Avios to book the award) and had American Express Platinum Cards. While the benefit is going away in March 2014, for the time being, Platinum card holders get complimentary access to AA airport lounges for themselves and 1 extra person. Between my two parents (who each had their own cards), we could guest in the four of us. The lounge entrance is actually not easy to see if you're not looking for it (as you can see from the photo). Thankfully, my father knew where to find it.

At check in, the desk agent was very familiar with the Platinum Amex benefit and didn't even have any issues allowing all of us to enter under just my father's card. As soon as we walked in, we saw a 10 foot Christmas tree and tons of open space.

The lounge was actually quite nice and had a bar offering complimentary beer, house wine and coffee (as well as premium spirits and wine for a charge). You could also order sandwiches for cash. There were tons of seating (with or without tables) and free WiFi access. We found some empty seats without any other travelers right in front of the 60" LCD flatscreen TV showing the new Spiderman on BlueRay.

 

There were stairs leading to another floor, but they seemed to have closed off that area since they were significantly under capacity on the first floor. In fact, going around the corner, you found complimentary snacks as well as another seating area with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the tarmac.

We had about an hour to kill before we were scheduled to board. While they had complimentary snacks (crackers, cookies and dried fruit) and soft drinks (water, sodas, juices), we decided to leave a little early and find ourselves some more substantive meal options to take on the flight with us. Sitting in economy seating for 4 hours, we weren't going to be served meals on our 2PM flight, so we wouldn't have a chance to eat anything until at least 7PM by the time we drove an hour from JFK Airport to our Manhattan apartment.

InterContinental San Juan

Hotel Stay Details
Hotel: InterContinental San Juan
Dates: December 17-19, 2013
Rate Paid: $181/night (incl. taxes and fees)
Stay Points Earned: 6,630 IHG Points
Regular Promo Points: 6,000 IHG Points
Big Win Promo Points: 74,700 IHG Points

For our final two nights, we went back to the InterContinental San Juan where we first started our Puerto Rican vacation a week earlier after first arriving on a late flight from New York City.

While we could have had Starwood benefits if we stayed at the Sheraton Old San Juan, we had read that Sheraton property was in quite shoddy condition, even if it were located ideally in Old San Juan. Having already achieved Starwood Platinum status for 2014, we didn't really need any more Starwood stays this year, but IHG (InterContinental Hotel Group) had an attractive promotion going on for Q4 2013 called The Big Win, where my father would earn up to 91,700 IHG points (worth up to $900 to him). So booking two nights at the IC San Juan was a no brainer.

As mentioned in another post, my father's customized Big Win promotion (from August to December 2013) was structured as follows:

1. Try 1 & Done: 1,000 points for staying at any IHG hotel
2. Stay More & Earn More: 6,700 points for staying a total of 5 nights
3. Explore Our Brands:  22,000 points for staying at 3 different IHG brands
4. Book With Us: 2,400 points for booking 2 stays on IHG's website/mobile app
5. Survey the Win: 100 points for taking a 5 minute online survey
6. Live the City Life: 12,000 points for staying in 2 of select city/metro locations
7. Spend It To Get It: 1,500 points for paying for 1 stay on your IHG credit card
8. Big Win: 46,000 points for completing all 7 tasks

By the time we were heading to Puerto Rico, he already had completed 3 nights at a Holiday Inn Express and a Hotel Indigo, thereby completing #1, #4, #5, #6 and #7. He also had partially completed #2, #3 and #8. Upon completion of the 2 nights at the IC San Juan, he would complete all the tasks and earn the rest of the bonus (a whopping 74,700 IHG points).

Location
Location of the IC San Juan was ideal for a stay the night before your flight as it's a 5 minute taxi drive to SJU Airport (fare is fixed at $12 + $1 fee/bag). In fact, you can see flights landing on the runway from your room if you're facing the lagoon side.

The hotel is located right next to the El San Juan Hotel (a Hilton hotel) and Casino and a 10 minute walk down Isla Verde Avenue to reach the glamorous Ritz Carlton San Juan (a Marriott hotel). There's plenty of small restaurants, bars and shops along that street, including a convenience store and a decent diner right across the street.

To get to Old San Juan, you can either take a $21 taxi or take the public bus (just $0.75 per person). We decided to take the bus into town and then a taxi back. Thankfully, the IC Hotel concierge informed us we needed exact change, so we exchanged $3 for 12 quarters before we left.

Check In

We arrived early from our Vieques flight/drive from Ceiba Airport, so it was only 1:30PM when we arrived to the InterContinental. Official check-in wasn't until 4PM, but they accommodated our early arrival (perhaps due to my father's IHG Platinum status) and checked us into a room. The front desk agent had my father sign a few things and initial our rate and departure dates and then handed him the room keys.

Unfortunately, the room that they assigned us was a King Bed and we needed Double Beds. After going back down, the front desk agent seemed confused and flustered, but eventually talked with a supervisor and told us we could just relax in that King Bed room until a Double Bed room became available.

Also due to my father's Platinum status with IHG, we received a few coupons to welcome us to the hotel. First, we received a 10% off coupon for dining at the hotel restaurant (no thanks!). Second, we received a $25 Match Play coupon for their casino downstairs. While my father originally thought it was $25 worth of free gambling, it was actually $25 in MATCH, meaning if he bet $25, he could double the bet to $50 using the coupon.

Wireless internet was free for everyone. Though we had the option of paying extra for "High Speed," the regular wireless was just fine for our needs (and much much better than the wifi at the W Vieques).

Since our actual room wasn't going to be ready for a while, we left our luggage in the temporary room and went to have a quick lunch at Mi Casita across the street. After a traditional Puerto Rican lunch (pork chops and beef mofongo), my father and I decided to check out the InterContinental pool and beach scene.

Pool & Beach
Unlike the W Vieques which really catered to young couples on a romantic luxury vacation, the IC was more accommodating of all traveler types, including the four college women's basketball teams that were staying at the hotel. The place was full of giant amazon women from Oklahoma State, Michigan State, Georgetown and Georgia Tech. Thankfully, the players didn't hang out by the pool because that would have made my abnormally short father feel even more inadequate.

As you can see from the photos, the pool area is massive and there were plenty of seats for everyone to enjoy without having to play the "put your towel down" game. However, the weather was slightly too cold (only 80 degrees) to truly enjoy an unheated pool. We did spend a lot of time laying on the beach and in the hot tub though!

The property is more kid friendly than our W Vieques was. In fact, they have a playground right by the pool area as well as a Kid's Club, though it was closed and only for kids 4+ years old.

Our Room
Around 3PM we received a call from the Front Desk letting us know that our Double Bed room was available. We went upstairs and moved our luggage to the new room. As you can see, it was pretty basic and clean. The hotel wouldn't be my first choice for a vacation getaway with so many other (better) properties nearby, but for our 2 night stay to earn our IHG Promotional points, it was just fine. In fact, our AAA rates were pretty attractive ($97 for the first night and $171 for the second), but after taxes it ended up averaging $181/night all-in.

Property
We did have a chance to check out the casino (but no photos allowed). It was rather basic - as if they never planned to have a casino, but realized all their competition did, so they retrofitted one into the property. They had 8 tables (including blackjack, roulette and poker) and a lot of slot machines. To be honest, we don't really enjoy gambling (well, I'm only 2 years old, so I'm speaking for my parents). But if we did, the InterContinental's casino isn't where we'd go unless we wanted an airport casino type of experience.

We didn't try the hotel restaurant (given we had Mi Casita for cheap breakfasts), but we did have dinner at the attached Ruth's Chris Steakhouse just outside the lobby. Fortunately for my father, he could put the Ruth's Chris tab on his room, so he earned hotel points for his steak dinner.

The lobby was quite nice and welcoming. Despite the amazon women all over the place with their over-sized baggy shorts and ginormous sneakers, the hotel had a beautiful Christmas tree and nice bar areas as well as a wine bar on the side.

Check Out
We did have an issue with our bill on the final day. Instead of using the $171 rate we booked, they applied a random $333 rate, which made our bill a lot higher than expected. Upon checking on the cards that my father initialed/signed when he checked in, the agent confirmed that our rate should have been $171 for the final night. She adjusted the bill, but thankfully my father was anal enough to check the bill carefully and also sign/initial for the correct rate when he checked in. Though, to be honest, he didn't really look at the details when he initialed the rate.

And when we arrived home, my father got an email from IHG. Now, we were 74,700 IHG points richer!

For booking the 2 nights (that we'd need anyway) at the IC San Juan (as opposed to other hotel chains), we will now earned enough points to stay almost 3 free nights at a $250-300/night hotel like the InterContinental Berchtesgaden that we stayed at this past May.