IHG Priority Club points just became even more flexible with a new Hotels Anywhere award. Similar to the program’s Flights Anywhere, members can redeem points or a combination of points and cash to redeem for a hotel almost anywhere, even at hotels that aren’t part of the IHG family. For example, a night at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort and Spa can be booked for 61,000 points and a night at the Fairmont Orchid in Mauna Lani is 79,000 points. You can search for hotels by price in points, TripAdvisor star rating, hotel name or recommended hotels.
Hotels Anywhere awards start at 20,000 points and at the higher end, we found hotel stays for around 500,000 points per night. A stay in a bungalow with all meals included at the Kona Village Resort is 473,000 points, which is the point equivalent of 11 nights at an InterContinental at the 40,000-point level. Visit http://www.priorityclub.com/hotelsanywhere to search for hotels.
Bottom line: Priority Club members now have two ways to redeem points at competitor hotels. American Express pre-paid lodging cards are available starting at 29,000 points for a $100 gift card that can used worldwide to pay for hotels anywhere American Express is accepted. Hotels Anywhere awards are not limited by American Express and can be redeemed instantly online. In general, you will get a better value using points for stays at Priority Club hotels. But if you want to stay somewhere else, you now have two options to stay nearly anywhere in the world.
