IHG 100% promotion - Is it Worth It?

IHG's 100% matching bonus promotion ends June 15th. So you might want to take a look and see if it makes sense for you to buy some points. 
I'm not usually a fan of buying points or miles, but if you need to top off an account, better to do it when there's a promotion going on. 

IHG 100% promotion - Is it Worth It?

IHG includes 14 different brands like Kimpton, Crowne Plaza, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites, Holiday Inn, and Holiday Inn Express. Only Staybridge Suites, Avid, and Holiday Inn Express offer FREE breakfast. Reward nights start at just 10,000 points. You can also use the cash + points option to stretch your points even further and if you have an IHG credit card, your 4th night is FREE. Since IHG introduced dynamic pricing, the actual 4th night in your reservation is the FREEbie instead of the system using an average. So if you are flexible on your dates, you can get the most expensive night FREE. 

Me in front of Buckingham Palace

I checked hotels in London to get an idea of what you could buy with IHG points. Hotels ranged from 25,000-70,000 points per night with lots of options. If you paid cash, the hotels ranged from $75 - $250 per night. National Travel Blogger Gototravelgal.com says she buys the max IHG points on this promotion each year.

With the 100% promotion, you can buy as few as 3,000 points and as many as 250,000 points and get 100% matching bonus. 3,000 points cost $40.50 so each point costs just .007. 250,000 points cost $2,500 making each point cost  just .005.

So is the 100% promotion worth it? As with most buy points options, if you are starting at zero, then it's probably not worth it. But if you have some points and want to top off for a reward then it makes sense. The other way to use the points is to extend the expiration deadline. IHG points expire after 12 months of inactivity.

Another way to use the IHG points is to transfer them to more than two dozen different partner airlines. The points transfer 10,000 IHG points for 2,000 airline miles.
So if you were to purchase 250,000 IHG points for $2,500, you would get 500,000 points that would transfer into 100,000 airline miles. The question is can you squeeze more than $2,500 value out of 100,000 airline miles. The answer is probably yes if you leaned on Turkish Airlines and Avianca. But I would plan this one out very carefully before jumping.
The promotion ends on June 15th, 2020 so you have some time to firm up plans.