In what has become a bit of an annual tradition, IHG Rewards are making adjustments to Award Night prices in 2018. The changes, quietly added a page to their website, sees almost 500 hotels going up in price, with less than 200 falling in price. The highest Award Nights now come in at a massive 70,000 points per night.
Changes in Detail
On my count, there are 499 hotels going up by either 5,000 or 10,000 points per night. In the other direction we see 192 hotels decreasing by 5,000 points per night.
There are also a number of hotels increasing to the new maximum of 70,000 points. This is up from the previous maximum of 60,000 points, introduced 2 years ago. More hotels reached the maximum during last years round of changes.
At the new 70,000 points level we find the following Intercontinental Hotels:
- Bora Bora Resort Thalasso Spa
- Le Moana Bora Bora
- New York Barclay
- New York Times Square
- The Clement Monterey
- San Francisco
- Mark Hopkins San Francisco
- Park Lane (London)
- Paris – Le Grand
- Hong Kong
Country Changes
IHG Rewards have published charts for individual countries, and these are worth referring to if you are travelling abroad. The changes for hotels close to home are detailed below.
Here in Australia
Australia see changes in 4 hotels, with three going up in price and one coming down. The following table shows these
| Hotel | City | State/ Province |
2017 Point Requirement | 2018 Point Requirement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crowne Plaza Terrigal Pacific | Terrigal | NW | 40,000 | 50,000 |
| Holiday Inn Potts Point-Sydney | Sydney | NW | 30,000 | 40,000 |
| Holiday Inn Express Sydney Macquarie Park | Sydney | NW | 20,000 | 25,000 |
| Crowne Plaza Alice Springs Lasseters | Alice Springs | 30,000 | 25,000 |
..and in New Zealand
New Zealand sees a similar set of changes
| Hotel | City | State/ Province |
2017 Point Requirement | 2018 Point Requirement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crowne Plaza Queenstown | Queenstown | 40,000 | 50,000 | |
| Crowne Plaza Auckland | Auckland | 30,000 | 40,000 | |
| Holiday Inn Auckland Airport | Auckland | 20,000 | 25,000 | |
| Crowne Plaza Christchurch | Christchurch | 30,000 | 25,000 |
Throughout Asia there are also a number of changes. This includes hotels in Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand and Laos. Malaysia seems to have been spared of any changes
There has not been a public announcement of this as yet – a Flyertalk poster (Lionheart) seems to have stumbled upon it. As a result, there is no real known date for the change. If you see a hotel you are interested in, that is on the list to increase, you’d be well advised to get on to it.