As of May 1st, IHG Rewards will be making some changes to their hotel award category list, with 452 hotels changing categories. Of the 452 hotels, 299 hotels will move up in category, which means an increase by 5,000 – 10,000 points required for an award night, and 153 hotels will be moving down in category which means fewer points for an award redemption. If you book a hotel that’s moving up in category before the changes take effect on May 1st, you will lock in the lower rate an it’ll cost you less points. Most hotel award bookings can be canceled with no penalty until a short amount of time before the booked stay, but just be sure to read the fine print for the particular hotel to make sure of their cancellation policy.

Click here to view the full list of IHG hotel category changes.

IHG Hotel brands include: InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Candlewood Suites, Crowne Plaza,  Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Hotel Indigo and Staybridge Suites Hotels.

IHG has also instituted a change to their points expiration policy. Whereas up until now, points never expired regardless of activity, IHG points will now expire after 12 months if there is no activity in your account. Though if you have the IHG Rewards Club Select Credit Card, this new policy will not effect you, as you will have elite status, and your points will not expire.

— Remember you can quickly earn IHG Reward Points points and an annual FREE night in any IHG hotel, through the sign-up bonus on the IHG Rewards Club Select Credit Card which is issued by Chase bank.  All credit card offers can be viewed via the links in the credit cards tab. After clicking on the “Credit Cards By Issuing Bank” link, you can view all credit card offers by the bank of your choice, by scrolling down and clicking on their logo.