The Points Tool You've Always Wanted

IHG has a new promotion offering up to 3X points on qualifying paid stays through December 31, 2026. 3X is always better than 1X, but IHG is underselling the potential of this promo. IHG members normally earn 10 points per dollar at most properties. With this promotion, you'll earn 3X the normal amount, so that means you'll earn 30 points per dollar when booking through the IHG app. It gets better if you hold an IHG-branded credit card. IHG Premier or Premier Business cardholders will earn another 10 points per dollar by paying with the card, while the Platinum status included with both cards adds another 6 points per dollar. Add it all together and you can earn 46 IHG points per dollar on qualifying stays!

There are several caveats to be aware of. You must register first, only stays booked after October 1 qualify, and your first qualifying stay does not earn the promo bonus! Starting with your second stay, you'll earn 2X the normal points when booking through an eligible IHG direct channel or 3X when booking through the IHG app. Reward Nights and Points + Cash stays do not qualify, but bonus earning is unlimited. If you have an expensive IHG stay planned later in the promotion period, it might even make sense to do a cheap mattress run to get the non-bonused first stay out of the way and allow your more expensive stay to earn the full 3X rate. For anyone with substantial IHG spending planned between October and December, that could make this promotion significantly more valuable.

Iberia is offering 10%-20% off select award flights when you book by todya, September 23, 2026, for travel through March 18, 2027. The sale excludes holiday travel from December 18 through January 12. You can find 20% off economy awards from Boston, New York, and Washington; 15% off economy from cities including Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, Orlando, San Juan, and Toronto; and 10% off select business-class awards from Boston, New York, Chicago, Orlando, San Juan, and Toronto. The most interesting opportunity is stacking the sale with the current 30% Amex Membership Rewards transfer bonus to Avios. For example, an off-peak Boston-to-Madrid business-class award that normally costs 40,500 Avios drops to 36,450 Avios with the sale, requiring only about 28,039 Amex points with the transfer bonus. Economy awards from the East Coast can also drop below 10,000 Amex points one way after stacking both promotions. The catch is that the award sale ends today, so this is one to act on quickly if you find availability that works.

Wyndham is offering targeted bonuses that include 4,000 bonus points or 10 elite night credits after completing a qualifying stay. These are technically targeted offers, but we were able to access and register for both offers after logging into our Wyndham account, so it's worth checking both even if you didn't receive an email. You can check your eligibility for the 10 elite night credits here and the 4,000 bonus points here. Make sure you log in to your account first. If you're eligible, you must register before booking, book a qualifying stay within 14 days of receiving the offer, and complete that stay within 90 days of receiving the offer. The terms don't make it clear whether members who are eligible for both offers can earn both bonuses from the same stay, so we wouldn't count on that until we see data points. The 4,000 points are worth about $40 based on our Wyndham valuation, while 10 elite nights could provide a significant shortcut if you're pursuing a higher Wyndham status level.

The Chase Freedom Flex has an elevated welcome offer and several new features. New cardholders can earn $250 after spending $500 in the first three months, up from the standard $200 bonus with the same spending requirement. Chase has also eliminated foreign transaction fees on the Freedom Flex, a nice upgrade for a card with no annual fee. They did eliminate cell phone protection, though, and that change applies to both current and new cardholders. You can now also preview upcoming 5% rotating categories earlier in the Chase app, and Q4 2026 categories include grocery stores, dining, and donations to the Red Cross. Because the card already earns 3% back on dining, the quarterly bonus stacks to provide a total of 7% back on dining in Q4. There is a $1,500 limit in combined purchases across the quarterly 5% bonus categories. Chase has also added Points Boost offers that can increase the value of points by up to 10% on select hotel bookings through Chase Travel. Remember that although the Freedom Flex is marketed as a cash-back card, you can combine the rewards with Ultimate Rewards from an eligible Sapphire or Ink card and transfer them to Chase's airline and hotel partners.