I decided to purchase Diamond Elite status for 2025 with IHG One Rewards — but if you have an IHG One Rewards Premier credit card from Chase and are eligible to do so, today, Tuesday, December 31, 2024 is the last day to take advantage of this opportunity.
Okay. I Bit. Diamond Elite Status For 2025 With IHG One Rewards.
This article that was posted here at The Gate With Brian Cohen broke the news on Monday, December 16, 2024 about how I received an offer via e-mail message with which I could get Diamond Elite status for 2025 when purchasing points with IHG One Rewards — but I did not know whether this offer was targeted to me and select other members of IHG One Rewards as “intended recipients”.
This offer apparently is targeted, as some members of the IHG One Rewards membership program who already hold an IHG One Rewards Premier credit card from Chase found that they were ineligible to take advantage of this offer.
The offer which I received as a holder of the IHG One Rewards Premier credit card is that if I purchased 110,000 elite qualifying points for a total of $768.00 — which is a savings of $192.00 with a discount of 20 percent off of the regular price of $960.00 — by today, Tuesday, December 31, 2024, I would secure Diamond Elite status through 2025.
I thought about it for some time; and I decided that the combination of the purchase of the points and the benefits of Diamond Elite status would be worth the money. I figured that:
- I should be able to redeem 100,000 IHG One Rewards points for at least $450.00 worth of lodging in 2025
- I would earn 40 percent more bonus points than with Platinum Elite status even if I stayed at Holiday Inn Express hotel properties; and
- Breakfast for two people in the morning becomes an option at hotel and resort properties that do not offer complimentary breakfast as part of the room rate that could potentially save me money and time while offering convenience
- I would give myself more options when I travel in 2025
I figured that at the very least, I should break even on the $768.00 — and I can potentially save money during the course of the year while enjoying the benefits of IHG One Rewards Diamond elite status, of which only three main differences separate Diamond Elite status from Platinum Elite status:
- 100 percent bonus points instead of 60 percent bonus points
- Breakfast for two people at no additional charge
- Dedicated support line for guests with Diamond Elite status
A fourth benefit is that even though guests with Diamond Elite status and Platinum Elite status can enjoy complimentary upgrades when available, a guest with Diamond Elite status would have priority for the upgrade over a guest who has Platinum Elite status…
…but although room upgrades are nice to receive, they are usually not all that important to me.
One other benefit is that I used my IHG One Rewards Premier credit card to pay for the points. I received an extra 2,304 IHG One Rewards points for the purchase.
If you do not have an IHG One Rewards Premier credit card, you can apply now — and no, this is not an affiliate link. The annual fee is $99.00; and you can earn 140,000 bonus points after spending $3,000.00 within three months of opening the credit card account. 140,000 IHG One Rewards points is equivalent to up to four nights. You are not guaranteed to qualify for this promotion once you are approved for the credit card.
Final Boarding Call
I received both Diamond Elite status and the 110,000 points in my IHG One Rewards membership account almost immediately, which I found to be impressive.
Now all I need to do is try to take advantage of Diamond Elite status whenever possible during my travels in 2025…
All photographs ©2024 by Brian Cohen.
