IHG Rewards has rolled out dynamic reward pricing across all IHG hotels & resorts in Australasia and Japan. As a result, the number of points you need for a reward night redemption can move up or down.
Dynamic pricing represents a shift away from setting a specific number of points for each hotel. The rollout in Australia follows the rollout in a number of other countries such as China.
What is Dynamic Pricing?
Dynamic Pricing is a new model that will see the number of points required for a Reward Night move up and down. As a result, you will see this move much the same as cash prices for a room night.
Is this a good thing?
In theory, that could mean that you may need more, or less, points than under the current system. However, in the current environment, most point requirements appear to have moved down.
Indeed, IHG has noted that at the rollout in China:
- Points remained flat to 2019 point amounts or were lowered for the next 50 weeks of stay dates
- More than 65 percent of hotels in Greater China rolled out with a reduction of point amounts due to Dynamic Reward Nights, with some hotels lowered up to 30,000 points from their previous point amounts
Examples
Having had a look at reward nights over the next 12 months, there are some good deals to be had. For example, the Intercontinental Perth has reward nights available for as few as 20,000 points.
On the other side of the country, Intercontinental Melbourne has reward nights ranging from 30,000 to 60,000 points, depending on the date. This compares favourably to the fixed rate of 60,000 points per night.
Thoughts
Members could look across the following 12 months to have a look at possible bargains that may be around. If you are in a position to book reward nights ahead of time, this could be a good time to snap up a bargain or two.
