With the holiday season at its peak (can you believe there’s only 12 days left of the year?), a little birdie inside told me it was time to check in and see where I stand as Q4 hotel promos come to an end… Marriott MegaBonus (check), Hyatt Diamond Trial fulfillment (I’m working on it), IHG Big Win (…gotta look into it!).
My 2013 “Big Win” offer was pretty generous so to say – a potential to earn up to 77,900 points by completion (in addition to the stackable points we get with each and every IHG stay).
Since the promotion started back in September, I have had two IHG stays – one at the Chicago Seminars in October, and one while in Seattle recently. Those two stays have helped me earn 9,000 points from the Big Win, and I wasn’t even “trying”.
When I logged into my account last night, I saw that if I just completed just one more stay, I could earn 22,400 just in Big Win bonuses alone by earning the “Live the city life” badge and the “Explore our brands” badge. I would also register for other booking bonuses, allowing me to potentially earn over 25,000 IHG points.
Since I don’t have any travel plans within the next 12 days, this booking would solely have to be a mattress run. I thought about it. And thought about it some more. I already have tons of hotel points, did I really need to do this? Curiosity still overcame me.
A quick search lead me to discover that there was a $69 room available this weekend at a participating property less than 30 minutes from my home. I was still hesitant, but I know I would feel too guilty to let the thought of earning 25,000 points slip away. I especially love IHG points because you can redeem just 5,000 points per night at properties listed under the “PointBreaks” category that gets updated several times a year, and every so often there are real gems on the list.
25,000 points is worth 5 nights to me in IHG world. Simple math proves that this $69 stay will get me 5 nights at less than $15 a pop.
I guess this goes to show you that I am totally a sucker for points…
How did you make out this year with the Big Win? Have you ever did a mattress run to earn points? Please share your stories below!
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The very first time I cashed in using PointsBreak was Beijing. We spent 3 nights at 5k per night, saving me a boatload of Starwood points (that I intended to use).
My requirements are 4 nights with 3 of them are Saturday stay. I will do 3 mattress runs and the last one is the only stay that I need. Do you know how long it will take for the tracker to update? I ‘stayed’ at a Holiday Inn last Saturday and it hasn’t updated yet.
I prolly know where you are heading over the weekend for “live the city life” I am heading there as well to cover few BIG WINS myself namely live the big city life, saturday stay and explore our brands.It is the cheapest I found near NYC. Does the town name starts with S?
Dang, give it 10 days! I stayed on Dec 8th and mine was updated just couple of days back.
@Dahn: Give it 1-2 weeks. My Seattle stay from Dec 7 posted a few days ago.
@Ali: How funny if we were going to the same one! Mine is in NJ and town starts with an M. What is your rate? Maybe I’ll switch if it’s closer/cheaper. I live in Bergen County.
I have booked a mattress run for around $78 including taxes in somerset. I live in south jersey but need to complete this live the city life challege to finish up the big win for 135k IHG points
Ebates will make your stay a but cheaper. I mean since $69 this time of year is another $70 that we would all rather not spend, at least get some cash back.