IHG One Rewards Program: Everything You Need to Know

The story of InterContinental Hotels Group, also known as IHG Hotels & Resorts, goes all the way back to 1777 in the United Kingdom when a man named William Bass decided to use his small brewery as a hotel.

This operation would turn into a company called Bass Hotels, the company that would purchase the international division of the Holiday Inn chain in 1988 and then the North American division in 1990. In 1998, Bass Hotels acquired the InterContinental Hotels chain.

In 2003, these brands were consolidated under the InterContinental Hotels Group umbrella alongside the newly formed Holiday Inn Express, Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites brands.

Today, IHG consists of 17 brands with a total of more than 6,000 properties across six continents, making it one of the largest hotel chains in the world. With so many different properties scattered across the globe, there are ample opportunities to earn IHG points, the rewards currency of the IHG One Rewards program.

Since joining IHG One Rewards is free, there’s no reason not to sign up, especially if you stay at IHG-owned properties often. You can earn IHG points to redeem for hotel stays, transfer to airline partners and much more. IHG also has its own co-branded credit cards, which are a great way to rack up IHG points quickly.

Let’s take a look at all of the different aspects of the IHG One Rewards program and how you can get the maximum benefit out of it.

IHG One Rewards Overview

IHG owns 17 different brands that range from budget motels to luxury resorts. So, no matter what your income is, it’s worth enrolling in the IHG One Rewards program. Here are all of the different hotel brands under the IHG that you can earn IHG points at:

Of course, within IHG’s portfolio, you’ll find ultra-luxurious locations, such as the InterContinental Maldives Maamunagau Resort, as well as budget options, such as your average side-of-the-highway Holiday Inn. Plus, you can earn IHG points for staying at any hotel in the IHG portfolio and then use those points to save money on travel in the future.

However, staying at IHG-owned hotels is far from the only way to earn IHG points. You also can earn points by spending on IHG co-branded credit cards, dining at restaurants that participate in the IHG One Rewards Dining program or transferring points from another loyalty program. Then, once you rack up a sizable balance of points, you can redeem them for hotel stays, merchandise, gift cards or convert them into airline miles with one of IHG’s airline partners.

IHG One Elite Status

In addition to awarding points for hotel stays, IHG also allows its loyal customers to earn elite status within the IHG One Rewards program. Each elite status tier has different prerequisites and different benefits, some of which can dramatically increase the number of IHG points that you’ll earn or the perks you’ll get when staying at IHG-owned properties.

How to Earn IHG Elite Status

There are four basic ways to earn elite status with IHG:

• Complete enough elite qualifying nights within a calendar year.
• Earn enough elite qualifying points within a calendar year.
• Sign up for the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (which comes with automatic IHG Platinum Elite status) or the IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card (which comes with automatic IHG Silver Elite status).
• Purchase an InterContinental Ambassador membership for $200 per year and receive automatic IHG Platinum Elite status.

If you spend a lot of nights at low-cost IHG hotels, then completing qualifying nights is probably your best bet for earning elite status. If you stay at high-end IHG properties, then you’ll be more likely to achieve elite status by earning elite qualifying points.

If you’re in the market for a new credit card anyway and you tend to stay with IHG more than other hotel chains, getting an IHG co-branded credit card could be worthwhile, especially when the annual fee for the IHG One Rewards Premier card is just $99. And, while the $200 annual fee for an InterContinental Ambassador membership is a bit pricey, it could be worth it if you mostly stay at InterContinental-branded hotels.

Elite qualifying nights are earned on nights booked at non-discounted or corporate rates and booked directly through IHG. Here are some of the rates that don’t earn elite qualifying nights:

• Employee discount rates
• Hotel-provided complimentary rooms
• Rooms booked through online travel agencies or other third parties
• Rates provided by a tour operator or wholesaler

It’s worth noting that members of the IHG One Rewards program will receive elite qualifying nights for award nights.

Elite qualifying points are slightly more complicated. They include points earned on rates paid for qualifying nights (per the criteria above for elite qualifying nights), points earned through spending on IHG co-branded credit cards, points earned through spending with IHG Business Rewards and points earned from bonus points packages.

If you’re planning on earning elite status by accumulating elite qualifying nights or elite qualifying points, here’s how many you’ll need to achieve each tier.

Signing up for an IHG co-branded credit card is probably the simplest and cheapest way to achieve elite status with IHG. However, elite status earned this way won’t get you any closer to the higher tier levels.

For instance, if you have Platinum Elite status because you have the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card, you would still need to complete 70 elite qualifying nights or earn 120,000 elite qualifying points starting from zero to achieve Diamond Elite status.

Benefits of IHG Elite Status

All members of IHG One Rewards, even Club-level members, receive certain perks, including free internet, access to member rates and member promotions and 2 p.m. checkout (subject to availability).

Silver Elite status members with IHG One Rewards earn a 20% bonus on base points earned. Points earned by elite members also never expire (whereas points earned by Club-level members will expire if your account becomes inactive for a period of 12 months or longer). Silver Elite status members also receive priority check-in.

Gold Elite status members earn a 40% bonus on base points earned plus all of the perks that come with Silver Elite status. On top of that, Gold Elite members can rollover nights toward next year’s status.

Platinum Elite status members earn a 60% bonus on base points earned plus all of the perks that come with Gold Elite status. On top of that, they also receive reward night discounts, guaranteed room availability (up to 72 hours), complimentary room upgrades (subject to availability), a welcome amenity at check-in (either bonus points or a drink/snack) and early check-in (subject to availability).

Diamond Elite status members earn a 100% bonus on base points earned plus all of the perks that come with Platinum Elite status. On top of that, they also receive dedicated Diamond support, exclusive Hertz Gold Plus Rewards® Five Star® Upgrade and free breakfast (at full-service hotels and resorts).

InterContinental Ambassador Program

Another way to earn elite status with the IHG One Rewards program is to enroll in the InterContinental Ambassador program. As mentioned before, this membership has an annual fee of $200 and comes with automatic IHG Platinum Elite status. It’s also worth noting that IHG One Rewards members can purchase an InterContinental Ambassador membership for 40,000 IHG points per year. However, this membership is worth paying attention to for more than just IHG elite status.

The best benefit that comes with Ambassador status is probably the complimentary weekend night certificate. This certificate can be used on the second night of a minimum two-night paid weekend stay, based on the Ambassador Complimentary Weekend Night Rate at most InterContinental properties worldwide. Generally, weekend nights are considered Friday, Saturday or Sunday night.

To be clear, the complimentary weekend night certificate that comes with Ambassador status can be used only at three brands in IHG’s portfolio: InterContinental, Kimpton and Regent. Originally, the complimentary weekend night certificate could be used only at InterContinental Hotels & Resorts properties on weekend nights. However, in 2020, IHG expanded this perk so that it could be used at Kimpton and Regent properties any day of the week.

All complimentary weekend nights are valid for 12 months from the date they’re issued (which should be the same day that you enroll in the program). You can use these complimentary weekend night certificates to book rooms that would otherwise cost $200 or more, meaning that this perk alone can offset the annual fee charged for an InterContinental Ambassador membership immediately.

Here are some of the other perks available at InterContinental Hotels & Resorts that come with the membership:

• Guaranteed one-category room upgrade
• Automatic IHG Platinum Elite status
• Guaranteed 4 p.m. checkout
• Complimentary mineral water and internet
• Single room rate for double occupancy

All of the previously listed perks apply only to InterContinental Hotels & Resorts locations and may not be honored at Regent or Kimpton properties. However, InterContinental Ambassadors are entitled to the following perks at any property in IHG’s portfolio:

• Complimentary room upgrades (subject to availability)
• Guaranteed room availability
• Extended checkout (subject to availability)
• Elite rollover nights
• 50% bonus earnings on top of base points
• Free internet

On top of that, Ambassador status members are entitled to some special perks at Six Senses, a chain of luxury five-star hotels, resorts and spas that was acquired by IHG in 2019:

• Complimentary breakfast every day in the main restaurant
• A signature amenity of either a complimentary 50-minute massage for two or a local experience once per stay
• Complimentary one-category room upgrade (subject to availability)
• 4 p.m. checkout (subject to availability)
• 10 a.m. check-in (subject to availability)

The InterContinental Ambassador program is unique in the hotel loyalty industry as it’s the only elite status that you can purchase. And, as you can see, you can easily offset the $200 annual fee if you take advantage of all the perks offered through this program.

How to Earn IHG Points

To earn IHG points, the very first thing you’ll need to do is go to the IHG One Rewards website and sign up for an account. Enrolling in the IHG One Rewards program is free and takes only a few minutes.

Once you’ve signed up, you can start earning IHG points by staying at IHG-owned properties, through special promotions, with IHG partners, by spending on IHG co-branded credit cards and more.

Hotel Stays with IHG Properties

All IHG One Rewards members earn 10X base IHG points per dollar spent on qualifying stays at most IHG hotels, except Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites, where you earn 5X base IHG points.

If you have elite status with IHG, you’ll earn a percentage bonus on the base points. Here are the points bonuses for each elite status tier:

• Silver Elite – 20%
• Gold Elite – 40%
• Platinum Elite – 60%
• Diamond Elite – 100%

On top of the bonus points that you earn by being an elite member, you also earn even more rewards with a program feature that was introduced earlier in 2022 known as Milestone Rewards. These are rewards that all IHG One Rewards members can earn every time that they complete 10 qualifying nights at IHG locations, starting at 20 nights.

Here are the different reward options for each 10 nights:

Any nights that are considered elite qualifying nights will be counted toward your Milestone Rewards. When it comes to choosing your Milestone Rewards, you should consider that IHG points are typically valued at around 0.5 cent apiece.

So, given the choice between 5,000 bonus points (a value of $25) or two $20 food and beverage rewards (a value of $40), the food and beverage rewards would be the more valuable option.

Likewise, given the choice between 10,000 bonus points (a value of $50) and five $20 food and beverage rewards (a value of $100), the food and beverage awards would still be the more valuable option.

Promotions

IHG sometimes offers promotions that can help IHG One Rewards members accumulate points quickly for meeting a certain set of conditions. Usually, the promotion will offer a certain number of bonus points for staying a certain number of nights at IHG-owned hotels. However, they’ll occasionally also offer promotions that offer bonus points for other things, such as booking tours or activities through IHG.

To take advantage of these promotions, you can go to IHG’s website and click on the “Offers” tab on the top of the homepage. Then, you’ll need to register for whatever promotion you’re interested in to receive any bonus points.

Spending with IHG Credit Cards

Another fantastic way to nab IHG points quickly is to sign up for an IHG co-branded credit card and get the welcome bonus that each of their cards offers for hitting certain spending thresholds. IHG is currently offering three credit cards (two personal cards and one business card), all of which are issued by Chase.

Here are the three IHG co-branded credit cards and their main features:

The IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card certainly offers some great benefits for a card with no annual fee, particularly the ability to achieve Silver Elite status instantly. Plus, the IHG One Rewards Traveler card offers some great spending bonuses.

Unfortunately, in the world of hotel loyalty points, IHG points aren’t all that valuable, meaning that the points you earn with these cards aren’t worth as much as with some other hotel loyalty credit cards.

With that being said, the $99 IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card offers some perks that can easily offset its cost. For one, the annual free night award worth up to 40,000 points can easily be redeemed for a value of over $99. You can also combine IHG points from your account with the free night award to exceed the 40,000-point limit.

Additionally, the reimbursement of up to $100 for TSA PreCheck, Global Entry or Nexus applications and the $50 United Airlines TravelBank cash instantly offset the annual fee. On top of all that, the IHG Rewards Premier card comes with automatic Platinum Elite status, which comes with a 60% bonus to your IHG points earnings.

For any small business owners out there, the IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card is also a solid option. It’s essentially the same thing as the IHG One Rewards Premier personal card, except that you’ll earn 3X points on social media and search engine advertising as well as office supply stores, and you’ll also have the ability to earn a second free night award by spending $60,000 each a calendar year.

Finally, if you’re interested in signing up for an IHG co-branded credit card, you should check where you are regarding Chase’s 5/24 rule first. If you’re over the 5/24 limit, then you may be rejected for one of these cards even if you have qualifying credit.

Earn with Partners

You can also earn IHG points by spending money with certain partners. For instance, as an IHG One Rewards member, you can earn points for booking stays at The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas (as well as receive a discounted room rate). You can also earn 10,000 IHG points by booking a getaway with Holiday Inn Club Vacations.

You can earn 1,500 IHG points for each qualifying car rental through Hertz plus even more points per day. You can earn up to 500 on qualifying food deliveries from Grubhub. And, finally, you can earn up to 500 points for completed dining reservations with OpenTable.

Also, if you have Chase Ultimate Rewards points, you can transfer them to IHG One Rewards at a ratio of 1:1. While this isn’t generally the best way to redeem Chase points, it could be a good way to top off your IHG points balance for a specific redemption.

IHG One Rewards Dine & Earn

Like most hotel loyalty programs, IHG One Rewards has its own dining program that allows you to earn points for dining at partnered restaurants known as IHG One Rewards Dine & Earn. The program is free to join. All you have to do is sign up and link a credit card. Then, every time you make a purchase at a partnered restaurant, you’ll earn IHG points. You can also go on the IHG One Rewards Dine & Earn website and search for partnered restaurants.

When you join the program, you will be a basic member and earn 1X IHG point per dollar spent at participating restaurants. However, if you simply opt in to receive emails from IHG Rewards Club Dining, you can quickly become a Select member and boost your earnings to 5X points per dollar. If you opt in for emails and complete 11 qualifying transactions in a year, you’ll become a VIP member and start earning 8X points per dollar.

It’s worth noting that any IHG points you earn through IHG One Rewards Dine & Earn will be in addition to whatever points or miles you’re earning with your linked credit card. So, when setting up your IHG One Rewards Dine & Earn account, you should link the card with the best dining rewards.

Purchase Apple Products

Unlike other hotel loyalty programs, IHG doesn’t have its own dedicated shopping portal. However, they do have a partnership with Apple that allows you to earn 4X IHG points per dollar on Apple products.

To do so, you can simply navigate to this link for the partnership offer, enter your IHG One Rewards credentials and shop Apple’s online store as usual. If you make a purchase, your IHG points should post to your account within 30 days.

Buying IHG Points

IHG One Rewards members can purchase up to 150,000 points every year. Note that you can also gift up to 150,000 points per year, and there’s no limit to how many points you can receive.

Buying points (from IHG One Rewards or any other rewards program) is typically not a good deal. The normal price at which IHG sells points is 1 cent per point. Considering that IHG points are valued at 0.5 cent per point, you’re actually losing a lot of value on this deal. Plus, since all points sales are processed by Points.com, purchasing points won’t trigger any travel-related spending bonuses.

Occasionally, IHG runs promotions offering bonus points or discounts when you purchase points, but we’d still recommend not purchasing points in these cases.

How to Redeem IHG Points

Of course, the most obvious way to redeem IHG points is for hotel stays. However, there are several other ways to redeem your IHG points that you may want to consider. And while the IHG One Rewards program doesn’t have as many redemption options as some other hotel loyalty programs, there are definitely still some places where you can find real value within the program.

Hotel Stays

IHG has done away with its award chart, meaning that redemption rates are now tied much more closely to cash rates. However, it’s still possible to find some high-value room redemptions within the IHG One Rewards program.

Because IHG uses dynamic award pricing, the redemption rates for the same hotel room can vary heavily throughout the year. For instance, we conducted a search that showed that a room at the Holiday Inn Express New York City Times Square cost 46,000 points on Dec. 22, 2022.

However, the exact same room cost 11,000 more points on April 11, 2023. So, as you can tell, redemption rates will depend on the day of the week and time of the year.

If you want to find the cheapest possible redemption rates, it’s better to search for award stays during off-peak times.

When you’re searching for award stays, you should always compare the redemption rate to the cash rate to see if you’re getting good value for your points. In general, if you’re getting a value of more than 0.7 cent per point, then it’s a good value.

To search for award stays, you can simply navigate to the IHG website, put in your desired dates and location and click the “Search” button. Once the results are displayed, you need to click on the “Display Price in” drop-down menu and select the “Points” option. You will then be shown the rates in points for your results.

Points + Cash

In addition to booking hotel rooms entirely with points or entirely with cash, IHG also gives you the option to book stays with a combination of points and cash. To do so, instead of selecting “Points” from the “Display Price in” drop-down menu, select “Points + Cash.”

You can then pick your desired hotel and see your different options for paying with points and cash.

While this is a good way to get a higher-priced hotel room if you don’t have enough IHG points in your account to cover it, using the Points + Cash option is typically not the best way to get the most value out of your points. We recommend crunching the numbers first.

Convert to Airline Miles

If you have a bunch of IHG points in your account and you don’t plan on booking any hotel stays in the future, you might consider converting your IHG points into airline miles. Unfortunately, this is a low-value redemption option as the transfer ratio between IHG and nearly all of its airline partners is 5:1. Click this link to see a full list of the airlines that you can transfer your IHG miles to.

If you want to convert your IHG points into airline miles, you must initiate the process over the phone. You can do so by calling IHG customer service at 1-888-211-9874. The miles may take as long as six weeks to appear in your account, so you should plan for that.

As a side note, with all of the airlines on that list, you can elect to earn miles instead of IHG One Rewards points for your stays at IHG-owned hotels. In most cases, you’re better off earning airline miles on your stays in the first place rather than earning IHG points and then converting them into airline miles.

Gift Cards

You also can redeem IHG points for gift cards. However, the value of this redemption method is usually much lower than redeeming for an award stay. Still, if you don’t have any other uses for your IHG points, this could be a decent option.

For instance, you could redeem 5,500 points for a $10 gift card to Starbucks, which yields a value per point of less than 0.2 cent per point. That’s a low value when you consider that other redemption methods can yield more than 1 cent per point in value.

Merchandise

In addition to buying gift cards with your IHG points, you can purchase merchandise from clothing to electronics to fine jewelry directly through the IHG One Rewards shopping portal. Similar to redeeming for gift cards, redeeming for merchandise isn’t a high-value way to redeem your IHG points, and we don’t recommend it.

Digital Rewards

It’s possible to use IHG One Rewards points to purchase digital rewards, such as magazine subscriptions, eBooks, games, music, movies and more. Keep in mind that redeeming this way typically doesn’t provide good value per point.

Donate Your Points

If you’d rather use your points to help others rather than yourself, IHG gives you the option to donate your points to one of its nonprofit charity partners. Some of these partners include No Kid Hungry, Goodwill, National Center for Civil and Human Rights, American Red Cross and more.

For most of the charities, you can donate in increments of either 2,500, 5,000 or 10,000 points. While this is a good way to use your points to help the world, it’s not the best way to get the most value out of your points.

Points Expiration

It’s worth mentioning that IHG One Rewards points expire after 12 months of inactivity if you don’t have elite status. If you’re an elite member, your points will never expire. If you have no status and want to keep your points from expiring, you’ll need to at least one of the following every 12 months:

• Book an award stay.
• Use Points + Cash to book a room.
• Make a purchase with a co-branded IHG credit card.
• Purchase IHG One Rewards points.
• Make a purchase through the IHG One Rewards shopping portal.
• Make a dining purchase with the card connected to your IHG Rewards Club Dining account.

The Bottom Line

While the IHG One Rewards program isn’t as popular as other hotel loyalty programs from larger chains, such as Hilton Honors or Marriott Bonvoy, there are still many valuable ways to take advantage of this program.

First of all, IHG is the only one of these hotel loyalty programs that gives you the option to buy elite status. And if you frequently stay at IHG-owned hotels, purchasing an InterContinental Ambassador membership might be well worth the $200 annual fee.

On top of that, you can also earn elite status with IHG One Rewards by signing up for any of IHG’s three co-branded credit cards, one of which has no annual fee. However, if you’re interested in getting an IHG credit card, we recommend going with the IHG One Rewards Premier card or the IHG One Rewards Premier Business card, both of which come with Platinum Elite status and an annual free night award worth up to 40,000 points.

When it comes to redeeming IHG points, the best way to get the most value out of your points (most of the time) is to redeem them for free hotel stays. But, since IHG uses a variable pricing model, you‘re going to want to be flexible with your award stays and book them during off-peak times when you can get them for cheaper.