IHG has dynamic pricing which means that as the cash price increases, so does the points price. While we prefer the predictability of an award chart, the nice thing about IHG is that if the points price decreases, you can modify your booking and get points back! It’s basically like re-booking flights on Southwest Airlines but for hotels. Here’s how to do it…

Step One: Confirm Points Decrease

Before modifying your booking, you want to confirm that the room you booked is still available to be booked on points and that the points cost has in fact decreased. To do this, you’ll simply do an award search for the same room/dates/number of occupants as the reservation you currently have booked. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my two nights at the Kimpton Fitzroy London decreased from 88,500 IHG points/night to 85,500 IHG points/night (I know it’s not a lot, but points are points)!

Step Two: Modify Existing Reservation

Navigate to your stays and select “Manage your stay.”

I was not be able to modify the reservation using the current dates selected, but once I altered the dates by one day, I was able to modify (don’t worry, we’ll go back to the original dates in the next step). Select “Confirm Changes.”

Step Three: Modify Back to Original Dates

Once you’ve confirmed changes, go back into your stay and again select “Manage your stay.” This time, change the dates back to your original stay dates. Select “Confirm Changes.” My original booking was 177K IHG points and by modifying the booking, I ended up getting 6K IHG points back. Not only that, I had two rooms booked, so I actually got 12K points back total!

Bottom Line

Checking your IHG stays periodically can really pay off! If the points required have decreased, you can easily modify your stay to get those points redeposited back into your account instantly. I am planning to check again as the dates draw closer to see if I can get even more points back!