Yesterday we were still talking about IHG’s major devaluation, and I’m still pretty bitter about it. I hadn’t checked my IHG elite status in a long time, but when I looked today, I was surprised to find that the IHG Spire status I got for free back then via a Hilton Diamond match was somehow counted as successfully renewed. I can now choose either 25,000 points or gift a friend one year of Platinum status. You can check here:

  • https://www.ihg.com/rewardsclub/us/en/account-mgmt/home

I saw “2 awards available”:

Click in and you can see the options:

Considering that gifting Platinum status is worth basically 0, I chose the points. Even though IHG points have been devalued, it’s still better than nothing. After selecting it, the points posted instantly. We can also see that this “renewal reward” was issued on March 24.

This IHG Spire status originally came from a 2019 Hilton Diamond match. [Holding the AMEX Aspire gives you Diamond automatically, and Hilton Diamond is useful not just for breakfast, but also for status matches.] At the time, the requirement was 10 paid nights within three months after matching. I only used the IHG Greater China weekend offer for a few stays I actually needed, nowhere close to the required 10 nights.

So I basically coasted the whole way and still got a free 25,000 points. Pretty sweet. Quick recap:

  • In 2019, via an official IHG link, I matched Hilton Diamond to IHG Spire. [Originally it only lasted three months, and you needed 10 qualifying nights to renew.]
  • Then came the “instant Spire” incident and the “match to China Southern Gold” incident.
  • Because of a combination of bugs, COVID-19, and other factors, matched Spire status was renewed through December 31, 2019 with no stay requirement.
  • Under COVID-19 status extension policies, the matched China Southern Gold status was extended through February 28, 2021. (If you had no flight segments, that was it; with segments, you could continue to requalify.)
  • IHG was slow to update status in its system, and then in June 2020 extended matched Spire through December 31, 2021. (Another free 2 years.)
  • On March 24, 2021, the Spire “renewal” reward arrived.

[Below is the original 101 newsflash from 2020/06/28]

Later, there was also the instant Spire and match to China Southern Gold incident. Then the pandemic hit. During that whole period, IHG never updated the elite status. A few months earlier, it still showed that Spire status would expire on December 31, 2019 [which had already passed by several months]. Then, around the previous month, that expiration date finally changed to December 31, 2021.

So in short, not only did I coast into China Southern Gold the whole way [China Southern Gold was also extended because of the pandemic], I also coasted into keeping IHG Spire through the end of next year. At the same time, my LD’s IHG Platinum, which had been matched back then from Hilton Gold, was also extended through the end of next year [Platinum was probably supposed to require 5 nights, and LD stayed zero nights]. IHG was actually pretty generous here.

If you’re in the same situation as I am, and you’ve been following this site closely and coasting along the whole way, remember to check your elite status in the IHG app. Maybe yours was also extended through the end of 2021. [Note: this needs to be a matched Spire; the instant-upgrade one does not count.]

IHG Spire actually isn’t very useful in North America and doesn’t come with many meaningful perks, but it’s still quite useful in Asia-Pacific. The Greater China-specific benefits in particular are worth a look; see below: