You’ve done it before. You’ve skimped on the hotel room and purchased a room at the local Howard Johnson Inn for $49. You were too cheap to rent the Holiday Inn Express down the road for $89. The minute you open the door to the room regret fills your soul. You stare at the bedspread that was first placed on the bed in 1989. The bathroom has more mold in the corners than the block of cheese that’s been in the fridge for 6 months.
Don’t let yourself be caught in this trap. Sleeping in your clothes isn’t going to produce the best night’s sleep. You need to find a way to save on your hotel stays to make you feel more justified in picking the nicer hotels. Follow our blog to learn about saving on your nights in a hotel!
IHG Rewards Credit Card
Today you’re going to learn how awesome the IHG Rewards Card is, and why you need to get this card, and keep it forever.
Link: IHG Rewards Credit Card
Chase issues this credit card (like the majority of the best travel credit cards). This thing has made a way to the “permanent” spot in my portfolio. Here are some of the benefits of this card.
- 70,000 Bonus Points after spending $1000 on purchases within the first 3 months. This is an increase from the 60,000 they used to offer.
- Platinum Elite Status (This is their highest tier) This doesn’t usually mean too much, but sometimes they’ll upgrade your room to a suite, provide some snacks, or just tell you how cool you are.
- Free Night- Every year (after the first year) they’ll provide a free night at ANY IHG hotel.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- 10% back on all points redemptions
Using the 70,000 Points
Thanks to Loyalty Lobby, who is a fellow blogger that focuses on hotel points. He has listed all IHG properties with their required number of points per night. Check out his hard work here.
Their properties range from 10,000 points per night on up to 40,000 points per night. Ideally you can use the points on hotels that only charge 10,000 points per night, but they are hard to find. Realistically you’ll be using about 20,000 points per night, which gives you between 7-4 free nights the first year.
You also have to remember how sweet it is when you can book a PointBreak hotel too. Read more about the PointBreak hotels here.
Using the Free Night Certificate
Last year I used this benefit to pay for a hotel in Cedar City, UT. The hotel normally would have cost around $120, so it saved me over 50% on the hotel. I was satisfied that it had saved me so much, while also providing a delicious cinnamon roll in the morning after we awoke.
This year I decided to go much bigger. I wanted to get a better value for my $49, which is something I seek to do on a daily basis. Brad and I laugh about finding what we call “menu inefficiencies.” This is when you search the menu high and low, not for what you actually want, but for whatever provides the best value. Some people call it a sickness, I call it saving money.
Paris Le Grand Intercontinental
I’ve had this card for over two years now. I was just charged a $49 annual fee, but I paid it with a smirk. One of those smirks where you know you got the better end of the deal.
This hotel looks ridiculous. It is opulent beyond any room in which I’ve ever stayed. The hotel is right close to the Paris Opera House, and just a few blocks from the famous Louvre.
Yes, it was a good day when I booked a single night at the Paris Le Grand Intercontinental hotel for $49. You normally can’t find this place for under $300 per night. Paying 1/6th the cost of the hotel room is freaking awesome.
Fortunately it is across the street from the Park Hyatt Vendome, which will house us for two nights on our upcoming trip to Paris. Staying three nights right in the action would easily cost us $1000. Instead I chose to pay $49. You should do so too! Pick up this card today and start planning your next vacation.
flying in and out of Paris! How amazing! Now since this is my first time traveling to France I did decided to go big and spoil myself by using my Hyatt rewards and getting a two free nights in the Park Hyatt in Paris. 
Don’t have any Hyatt or Best Western points? Dang. It eliminates them from your options, but at least you don’t have to sort through all their hotels on this site. You can simply check or uncheck the hotel chains with whom you have points. That way you know you’re just seeing the hotels that you could potentially use for your upcoming trip.
The map is valuable too as it makes sure you know how far the hotels are from the sights you want to see. Depending on the city, it may be worth staying a small distance from the things you want to see in an effort to make your points last longer.
