Despite the delay in transferring my points from Chase to IHG, I booked 2 nights with points and cash at the Palazzo in Las Vegas. The hotel is an all suite hotel on the strip and the suite I booked was 45,000 IHG Rewards points plus $40 per night.
Recall that recently I got a limited time 70,000 IHG Rewards point bonus because I got the Chase IHG Rewards Club Select Credit Card and satisfied the bonus terms of spending $1,000 in the first 3 months. Easy! I transferred the remaining points needed from my Chase Ultimate Rewards account. Transfers to IHG are on a 1:1 basis like all Chase transfers to partners.
The suite would have cost about $220 a night. With the $80 I spent with the points plus cash rate, I saved only about $360 here.
Based on this low price, economically, we would have likely been better off just paying for the room instead of using the 90,000 IHG Rewards points, about 20,000 of which came from Chase. But in my mind, 70,000 of these points fell into my lap from just getting and using the credit card. We have never stayed at an IHG Resort nor do I have our sights set on any IHG Resorts in the future. I wanted to use the points now! So I did!
And now BTW, I got back 10,000 Rewards points on my point redemption as this is a benefit of having the card. This was something that I forgot about in my initial calculation above. My deal was even a little bit better!