New Priority Club Points Break list from 1st July 2013, and how to take full advantage

At 5000 points per night, Priority Club's Points Break are amongst the best value hotel redemptions you can make. At its most expensive, reward nights at an Intercontinental Hotel can cost 50 000 points per night, so this is a way to get the room for a tenth of its usual points cost.

If you bought all the points required for a night's stay, you're still effectively buying a room for $35USD. Some of the rooms  sell for 200EUR+, so this can be a real steal.

The list of hotels participating in the next round of Points Breaks is published in the Priority Club community forum. Stays must be between 1st July – 31st August 2013.

To take full advantage, and if you don't have enough points to book as many nights as you want, here's a well-known trick on how to buy the points necessary to book your stay.

Step 0: (Only required if you have fewer than 5000 points in your account. If you have more, then skip this step) You need to have at least 5000 points in your account. You'll have to buy them at rack rate of $13.50USD per 1000 points. Make sure you take this cost into account when considering whether it's worth doing this route. Take a look at the picture below to see how:

Step 1: Find a cheap Holiday Inn and look for a date in the distant future. You need to find one where the full points rate is precisely 15 000 points, like this room in Slough, UK in the middle of October 2013.

Select the rate of 5000 points plus $70USD. In 99% of cases the rates are cancellable without penalty. Check the final booking screen to check for cancellation terms…I'm saying this as a disclaimer if one day someone screws this up. I won't be held liable! Go ahead and purchase the rate.

Step 2: Cancel your booking after it's been confirmed. You are in effect buying 10 000 points for $70USD. That's two nights at Points Break rates. When you cancel you won't get your $70 back, but your account will be 10 000 points richer.

Step 3: Find your desired Points Break room and you'll see that it costs only 5000 points. I've taken an example from an old Points Break room which expires in 3 days (Holiday Inn Nicosia, Cyprus). Be sure to choose one that's on the new list though.

 

And once it's booked, you can sit back, relax and enjoy your room when the day comes. If you play it right, you'll have booked a room at 10-20% of its rack rate. You won't be earning any points on these reward nights, but this is a case where cash is king.

(Thanks to Mommy Points for reminding me!)