-Hilton: Get 100% bonus points through 06/17.
160,000 points would cost $800 (0.5 cents per point).

-Hyatt: Get 40% bonus points through 05/31.
77K points would cost $1,320 (1.71 cents per point).

-Starwood: Get 25% off purchased bonus points through 05/31.
20K points would cost $525 (2.625 cents per Starpoint/2.1 cents per airline mile).

Are these a good deal? They can be, especially if you’re close to an award. But for some redemptions they can make sense even if you’re not close to an award.

Of course it’s cheaper to get points by opening credit cards and manufacturing spend, but there can be deals for the lazy.

The key is to only purchase if you have a specific redemption in mind where it can make sense to pay for points.

Hilton:
Take the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem for example, probably the nicest hotel in the entire country. A 5 night stay from July 1-6 for example would run $750/night (plus 18% VAT for locals). However it’s just 64K points per night with a 5 night stay or 80K points per night without a 5 night stay.
When buying points for 0.5 cents each that’s just $320 per night on a 5 night stay or $400 per night without a 5 night stay.

Need the full 320K points for a 5 night stay? Just open 2 Hilton accounts in your name, purchase 160K points in each, and then merge the accounts via this link.

Hyatt:
The Park Hyatt Maldives charges a whopping $2383.76 after tax for a Park Villa on 01/01/16. The Park Hyatt Sydney charges $1,550 per night. Hyatt’s top category 7 hotels (like those and Park Hyatt hotels in cities like Milan, NYC, Paris, Tokyo, and Zurich) are 30K points per night with no capacity controls. When buying points for 1.71 cents each, rooms at the top-tier Hyatt hotels are just $513 per night.

A category 6 Hyatt hotel like the Grand Hyatt Kauai or Andaz 5th Avenue go for 25K points or 12.5K points+$125 per night.

A category 1 Hyatt is just 5K points even though a paid room can cost $150.

Need more than 77K points? Just buy them from multiple accounts and use this form to transfer points all into one account.

Starwood:
A 5 night stay at the S. Regis Bal Harbour from 01/24-01/29 is $1,342/night with tax. However it’s just 24K points per night with a 5 night stay or 30K points per night without a 5 night stay. When buying points for 2.625 cents each that’s $630 per night on a 5 night stay or $787 per night without a 5 night stay.

The Le Meridien Chiang Mai, Thailand is a great modern hotel in an awesome city.  While paid rates can reach $200/night with tax, it only costs 3K Starpoints for weekend nights and 4K points for weekday nights.  That’s just $78-$105 when buying points for 2.626 cents each.

JAL charges 150K miles to fly Emirates First Class round-trip from JFK to the Maldives on an A380 with walled suites and a shower onboard. You can even stopover for free in cities like Milan or Dubai. Every 20K Starpoints transfers into 25K miles on dozens of airlines such as JAL, American, Alaska, and more.  120K Starpoints transfers into 150K JAL miles at a cost of $3,150. Sure beats paying $30,000 for that suite.

Need more than 20K points? Just buy them from multiple accounts located at the same address and you can transfer points freely between the accounts via this link.

IHG Booking Linky

IHG PointBreaks Linky

-The current list is valid for stays through 07/31.
-Hotels can sell out of discounted rooms quickly and only a limited amount of rooms is available per night.

You can book up to 2 reservations per hotel. There’s no limit to how long each of the stays can be.

You can stay in any PointBreaks hotel for 5,000 IHG points. If you already have 5,000 IHG points in your account then you can buy increments of 10,000 points for $70 as described below.

If you don’t have points yet IHG sells 5,000 points for $67.50. If those points don’t post instantly you can call IHG to get a points loan based on your purchase confirmation number in order to quickly grab a room. Alternatively you can transfer 5,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to IHG, though transfers are not instant. It’s a terrible use of Ultimate Rewards points (as they’re were more than twice that to brokers or when transferred to other airlines, hotels, or Amtrak), but it allows you to start buying points for 0.7 cents each.

You can also get 70K points for signing up for their credit card by 05/31.  That’s not as strong as bonuses from cards with more valuable point currencies, though it does come with an annual certificate good for a free stay in any IHG hotel. Those are best utilized at Intercontinental hotels where a night can set you back 50K points or $800/night in places like Bora Bora. The card is free for the first year and then $49/year. 
 

After you have 5,000 points in your account there is a “trick” to buy additional points for 0.7 cents each. You can book any cancellable 15,000 point hotel stay using cash and points for $70+5,000 points.

All you need to do is search for reward points stays in any metro area and you should find a hotel for 5,000 points+$70 like the one below. The room is normally 15,000 points but with IHG points and cash option you can buy 10,000 points for $70 when making a reservation. Just select the 5,000 points+$70 option to complete this purchase.

The $70 that you pay is nonrefundable so when you cancel the hotel you will actually get back 15,000 points in your account. Effectively you are buying 10,000 IHG points with this method for $70 or 0.7 cents per points.

Be sure to click on the rules during the checkout process to make sure that the room is fully refundable (almost all are):

In other words the cost per each 5,000 point PointBreaks stay is just $35 once you already have 5,000 initial points in your account.

Sample hotels for 5,000 points ($35) per night through 07/31:
-Holiday Inn Carlsbad, CA
-Holiday Inn Mount Prospect – Chicago, IL
-Crowne Plaza Indianapolis-Airport, IN
-Holiday Inn Express Boston North, MA
-Candlewood Suites Kansas City Airport, MO
-Holiday Inn Express & Suites Geneva Finger Lakes, NY
-Hotel Indigo Cleveland-Beachwood, OH
-Holiday Inn Express & Suites Portland-Jantzen Beach, OR
-Candlewood Suites Washington DC-Fairfax, VA

-Crowne Plaza Panama
-Holiday Inn Express Madrid – Leganes, Spain
-InterContinental Nha Trang, Vietnam