Besides traveling and writing about traveling, one of my favorite pastimes is reading. I’ll read pretty much anything, and last year, I made it a goal to read 52 books over the course of the year. So consider me pleasantly surprised when I logged into my IHG account and saw this:
Ka-ching! I love free! But free doesn’t always mean good, so is this a benefit worth looking into?
The offer
By having status with IHG, you can earn up to 12 free e-books a year! Here’s the breakdown:
- Club member: 1 Kindle Single bi-annually (2 per year)
- Gold Elite member: 1 Kindle Single quarterly (4 per year)
- Platinum Elite member: 2 Kindle Singles quarterly (8 per year)
- Spire Elite member: 3 Kindle Singles quarterly (12 per year)
What’s a Kindle Single?
Per Amazon:
Kindle Singles is here to offer a vast spectrum of reporting, essays, memoirs, narratives, and short stories presented to educate, entertain, excite, and inform. Our writers take you places you can’t get to any other way, on journeys of fact and fiction that share these common threads: they’re the highest-quality work we can find, and at a length best suited to the ideas they present.
Is the selection any good?
I have to say, I was going in with low expectations, but there were a few things in there that caught my eye and/or had been on my “to read” list. Some of these include From Rocket Boys to October Sky by Homer Hickam, Act of War: The Sinking of the Lusitania by Diana & Michael Preston, and Last Train to Istanbul by Ayse Kulin. Overall, I’d give the selection a once-over — you might find something worth reading!
What’s the value?
Kindle Singles are generally priced between 99 cents and $3.99, so if you have Spire Elite status and max out this promotion, you could save yourself roughly $12 to $48 on books in the coming year. Not a huge savings, but that’s up to $48 more to spend on your trip!
(READ MORE: The 14 best travel books that will inspire wanderlust and a roadtrip)
(SEE ALSO: 5 Books for Traveling)
Conclusion
It’s always good to re-explore the benefits of chain status, hotel or otherwise! While I probably won’t use all eight books I’m allotted this year, it’s good to know that if I’m in a pinch without a book, I can just go to the IHG app and download something in a jiffy!
Did you know about this “under the radar” benefit? Read anything good through it? Let us know below!
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Any lonely planet or other travel guides on the list?
How does one actually access and download these books?
What’s the best way to get good deals on hotel rooms?