I’m a huge fan of IHG PointBreaks hotels and I eagerly await them coming out every couple of months. For those of you who don’t know — IHG PointBreaks are IHG (Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, InterContinental, etc) hotels that can be booked for only 5,000 points. Keep in mind, you can flat out buy 5,000 points for about $35 using the “Points & Cash Trick.” The trick is detailed under ‘Purchasing Points’ of that post.

Recently, the lists have not been overly impressive, but for a cost of 5,000 points I will pretty much book anything that fits my travel plans.

This past list there was a gem though… The Holiday Inn Express & Suites Fraser, CO. This location is a short shuttle ride away from Winter Park Resort — where I just so happened to have a day left on my ski pass for and I was planning to return anyway to ski that last day. The hotel normally costs 20,000 points per night.

Since it is very much still ski season, this hotel is quite expensive. On the weekend, rooms are running $250+, and during the week they are running $170+ for flexible rates. Even at the full price of 20,000 points, this hotel is a pretty good value, but at 5,000 points it’s a steal! We likely wouldn’t have stayed at this hotel if it hadn’t been for the PointBreaks, as there are some hotels in the low 100s range nearby.

Value-wise, this is the best IHG PointBreaks I’ve ever booked… even though it’s not an InterContinental! I have booked an InterContinental though PointBreaks before, and it was a very nice hotel, but not in as great of a location, and there were also many other inexpensive options in the area.

So remember, just because there isn’t an InterContinental on the PointBreaks List in the places you’re planning to travel, doesn’t mean that there aren’t some incredible values!