Not much gets blogged about IHG Rewards Club’s Hotels Anywhere, but like the Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal it can be a great way to save points and cash on hotel stays/redeem points for discounted hotel stays. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Hotels Anywhere, it’s a travel portal where IHG members can redeem their IHG points for (lack of a better word) hotels anywhere. Regardless of whether they are IHG-affiliated or even available on points.
Redemption rates vary, but there are several instances where redeeming points through Hotels Anywhere can save you points and cash:
No Standard Award Availability at IHG Hotels
The great thing about Hotels Anywhere is that members can still book IHG hotels with points when standard awards are not available. In some cases, this actually works out cheaper. IHG’s award chart is pretty inflated, with free nights ranging from 10,000 – 60,000 points per night.
With Hotels Anywhere, you can sometimes pay less for an IHG award night, depending on the paid rate of the hotel.
For example, I randomly searched for rates at The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas for March 27 – 28. Paid rates were $209 while IHG award rates were 60,000 points per night. Points + Cash rates were 40,000 + $125. Meanwhile, Hotels Anywhere had rooms available for 47,000 points. It’s still steep, but significantly less than the IHG rates.
IHG Point Rates are Too High
One of the problems with IHG Rewards Club is that outside of a top-tier award, it can be difficult to get value out of your points. When rates at a Holiday Inn in Anaheim are $100 or 30,000 points per night, most people will opt to save their points. The point rates on Hotels Anywhere depend on the paid rate, so there are instances where you’ll find more reasonable award redemption rates this way. Take, for example, the Palazzo
3. Booking Non-Standard Hotels Rooms. The problem with reward nights is that they only get you a standard room. That’s not so bad when you’re redeeming IHG points for a hotel like the Intercontinental Le Moana Bora Bora, but there are hotels where shelling out 30,000+ points per night seems like a bit of a rip-off. With Hotels Anywhere, points can be redeemed for standard rooms, suites, and even apartments.
A great example of this is in Kuala Lumpur, where a standard room at the Intercontinental is 30,000 points per night. A family of four would have to redeem 60,000 points per night for two rooms at this hotel. A better alternative may be to book a 2-bedroom apartment at E&O Residence for 44,000 points through Hotels Anywhere.
Another example is the Chatrium Residence Bangkok Sathorn, where 2-bedroom suites (including breakfast) can be booked for 53,000 points per night through Hotels Anywhere. Meanwhile, the Intercontinental Bangkok requires 35,000 points per night for a standard room, excluding breakfast. For a group of four people traveling together, the Chatrium Residence is a much better alternative to the Intercontinental – not to mention cheaper.
Book Kimpton Hotels with Hotels Anywhere
IHG announced the acquisition of Kimpton over two years ago, vowing to keep the boutique chain just that. This has meant keeping Kimpton Karma Rewards separate from IHG Rewards Club, which has made Kimpton loyalists happy while irking IHG members.
As a result, it’s still not possible to redeem IHG points for Kimpton hotels…unless you book through Hotels Anywhere. Redemption rates depend on paid rates and can either be a great or ridiculously high. But if you’re looking to redeem points for Kimpton hotels, it’s definitely worth checking out the alternative.
Booking Non-IHG Hotels with Hotels Anywhere
If you want to book hotels outside of the IHG portfolio but don’t have enough points with that particular program (i.e. Hilton HHonors), Hotels Anywhere might be a good alternative. You may not always get the same quality hotel, but in major cities you’ll likely get something similar in terms of location and rating.
Instead of redeeming 60,000 points per night at the Intercontinental New York Times Square, consider booking the DoubleTree New York Times Square West for 40,000 points through Hotels Anywhere instead. It’s cheaper and just a couple of blocks from the Intercontinental.
Regardless of whether you’re looking to redeem free nights with IHG Hotels or another chain, this program can save you a ton of points. It’s always good to explore your options and make booking decisions based on how you value your points. Hotels Anywhere helps you do just that.
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Thanks for the great post
Sure thing!
Nice. Thank you!
You’re welcome! 🙂
How do you get to and use hotels anywhere?
The link is in the first sentence.
Just so you know, I was able to use my IHG points for only 35000 points per night in Marco Island IHG 3 bedroom Timeshare Sunset Cove during Christmas week which would normally cost about $700 per night. That’s a great use of points.
Nice! That is a great use of points.
Fascinating, helpful post, Ariana. I’d known about the Chase UR travel site — and often it really does have super discounts on point reservations. But this IHG Hotels Anywhere was “news” to me! (so thanks & will definitely add to my IHG tool kit.)
Curious though about the pricing…. In preliminary checks, I was noticing what appears to be severely (often) inflated prices, only to followed by “OMG!”-style price slashing. Take the Holiday Inn Resort at Montego Bay — ordinarily via conventional IHG reservations at 40k for basic all-inclusive rooms. (half that during May & October promos)
But via this IHG “Hotels Anywhere” site, the same “double-standard all-inclusive” base room goes like this:
153,000 Points (the alleged regular price — a lie — ok, “alt-facts”)
55,000 Points (the OMG! price)
Avg room/night
Not impressed there
Some of the prices are indeed absurd. But in my experience non-IHG hotels offer better value. It also depends on the travel season and rates. I once found rates at the Rio Hotel Las Vegas (an all-suite hotel) for just 15,000 IHG points. Much cheaper than the IHG-operated Venetian, which was 60,000 points per night. I wouldn’t depend on Hotels Anywhere entirely, but it’s still worth checking before you redeem points for a hotel.
It is extremely difficult to modify a reservation once you have booked a non-IHG hotel/resort. I have been trying for three days and have been unable to get through the phone number provided in my confirmation email and website. I may have to call the hotel directly which will not credit my account back with the points.
Thanks for the feedback, Victor. I didn’t realize it would be so difficult. Have you tried reaching out to IHG via Twitter? The Twitter team tends to be more savvy and able to resolve things quickly, in my experience.