There has been a little bit of excitement in the points/miles world recently due to IHG Rewards Club expanding its new ‘dynamic pricing’ for award nights to much of the USA and Europe. The vast majority of the coverage so far has been positive, because you can now book stays at many properties (on some dates) for fewer points than was previously required.

For example, you can even find 5* Intercontinental hotels in European capitals like Vienna for as little as 17,500 points per night:

Is this really a good thing?

On the face of it, yes.

Although rates now vary from day to day, I haven’t yet spotted any hotels that are charging more points than they previously did – and that is reassuring.

The big problem is the lack of transparency. The points required vary from date to date, but they don’t seem to closely follow the cash rates, so it’s now very difficult to work out what an IHG Rewards Club Point is actually worth.

Global demand for hotels is currently on its knees and is unlikely to reach pre-Corona levels for some time. While the market is soft, it makes a lot of sense for IHG to incentivize stays by offering ‘bargain’ points rates. When demand picks up though, will that same reasoning still exist? Obviously not.

In the medium/long term, I would be very surprised if the move to dynamic pricing works out well for IHG Rewards Club members…

What do you think – is the change a welcome one, or do you think there will be a sting in the tail?