Everything you need to know (plus tips and tricks)

• Powered by Chase: All IHG cards are issued by Chase, making them all Chase credit cards. This makes it easy if you’re already a Chase customer or looking to utilize the financial products under the globally connected Chase Bank umbrella.

• Familiar stays: IHG has 20 hotel brands, and chances are you’ve seen at least a few of them around where you live or on your travels. With familiar names like Holiday Inn, Staybridge Suites, and InterContinental, you know exactly what to expect.

• Extra nights: If you have an IHG credit card — including the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card and IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card — you get your fourth night free when you redeem points for any award stay of four or more nights.

IHG One Rewards is the loyalty program for IHG Hotels & Resorts, a leading hotel company with over 6,800 properties worldwide. The IHG One Rewards program is free to join and offers opportunities to earn and redeem IHG points. Frequent IHG guests can earn elite status and take advantage of various elite status benefits, such as no points expiration, complimentary room upgrades, late checkout, free breakfast, and more.

What are the IHG hotel brands?

• Luxury & Lifestyle Collection: Six Senses, Regent Hotels, InterContinental Hotels and Resorts, Vignette Collection, Kimpton, and Hotel Indigo

• Premium Collection: Voco, Crowne Plaza, EVEN, and Hualuxe Hotels & Resorts

• Essentials Collection: Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Resort, Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn — the niu, Garner, and avid hotels

• Suites Collection: Atwell Suites, Staybridge Suites, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, and Candlewood Suites

• Exclusive Alliances: Iberostar Beachfront Resorts

As a member of the IHG One Rewards program, when you pay for an eligible IHG stay in cash or make an eligible purchase while staying at an IHG property, you’ll earn IHG points. The number of points you earn depends on your elite status level:

• Club: Up to 10x base points

• Silver Elite: Up to 10x base points + 20% bonus points

• Gold Elite: Up to 10x base points + 40% bonus points

• Platinum Elite: Up to 10x base points + 60% bonus points

• Diamond Elite: Up to 10x base points + 100% bonus points

If you want a consistent and easy way to earn IHG points, consider using an IHG credit card on your everyday purchases, such as gas, groceries, and dining. These cards have low or no annual fees and also offer complimentary elite status benefits:

You can purchase IHG points at a standard cost of $13.50 for every 1,000 points. It’s typically not worth buying points unless you need to top off your account for a redemption or you have a high-value redemption planned. It also makes more sense to purchase points if there’s a promotional bonus offered, which happens frequently throughout the year.

• Member offers: IHG occasionally offers discounts or bonus points to IHG One Rewards members. You may have to activate the offer depending on the promotion.

• Dining: The IHG One Rewards Dine & Earn program lets you earn IHG points for eligible dining purchases. You can enroll for free, and then you’ll earn points when you use a linked credit or debit card to make a purchase at an eligible restaurant.

• Rental cars: As a Hertz partner, you can earn 1,500 IHG points on every Hertz car rental.

• Transfer points: You can transfer rewards from certain Chase credit cards to your IHG One Rewards account, but this likely wouldn’t be a great use of your points, as Chase Ultimate Rewards tend to offer higher value on their own compared to IHG points.

1. Sign up for a free IHG One Rewards account on the IHG website or mobile app, then log in.

2. Input your destination and other details, such as dates, rooms, guests, and rate preference.

3. Please note that if you want to book with points, you need to select “Reward Nights” under the “Rate Preference” drop-down menu.

4. Start your search and then browse the available properties at your chosen location. You can use the map feature to easily scan properties and prices.

5. Select your preferred room type and rate. You can see that IHG offers various options for paying with points, cash, or a combination of points and cash.

6. After you’ve selected your room and rate, finish the booking process by inputting any required information. You typically have to attach a credit card for incidental charges, even if you’re booking an award night.

How does four nights in the Cayman Islands sound? This example stay at the Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa costs $3,209.97 or 210,000 (taking advantage of the fourth-night-free benefit). That gives you a redemption value of about 1.5 cents per point, which is much higher than the average IHG points value.

Depending on your travel preferences and budget, it can sometimes make sense to simply find a place to stay and put your extra money toward other travel expenses, such as food and attractions. In these cases, you might opt for a no-frills stay at a budget hotel.

For example, this four-night stay at the Holiday Inn Express Seoul Hongdae, conveniently located next to a metro station in the popular Hongdae neighborhood, would set you back $750.68 or 86,000 points. It’s not an extraordinary value at about 0.87 cents per point, but it beats the average value, and you get to stay in a good location in a major city.

Four nights at the Holiday Inn Express Puerto Vallarta would run you $450.56 or 49,000 points in this example. That’s a redemption value of about 0.9 cents per point, which isn’t amazing, but it still beats the average value.

There’s not a whole lot to expect from this type of budget hotel that’s close to an airport, but it’s still a good enough location for visiting the main Puerto Vallarta sites, and it’s a heck of a low price. You also get free breakfast and access to a small pool — just nothing fancier than that.

• Frequent travelers: IHG has a large worldwide footprint and worthwhile elite status benefits for the most frequent visitors. We haven’t personally stayed at IHG enough to experience the highest level of elite status, but we can see where it could be beneficial.

• Flexible travelers: IHG One Rewards is free to join, so there’s no reason not to. If you like to keep your options open while traveling, you may as well join this program in case one of the many IHG properties presents a solid option for an upcoming trip. We’ve often found the Holiday Inn Express brand to have a presence in many major cities.

• Business travelers: IHG has properties in cities worldwide, offering ample opportunities for business travelers to find a hotel for the night. If you frequently visit destinations with IHG hotels on business trips, it may be worth considering giving your loyalty to IHG One Rewards.

IHG One Rewards credit cardholders can access the fourth-night-free benefit and get their fourth night for free when redeeming points for four consecutive reward nights or more. You can see the price of the fourth night deducted at the end of the booking process.

IHG One Rewards members earn Milestone Rewards every 10 nights, starting at 20 nights through 100 nights. Members can also choose Milestone Rewards options at 40 and 70 nights.

Some of the available Milestone Rewards include:

From our experience, these are some of the best IHG elite status benefits:

• No points expiration: If you have Silver Elite status or higher and maintain it each year, your points won’t expire.

• Complimentary room upgrades: These are subject to availability, but getting a free upgrade to a better room can really change your overall experience at a hotel.

• Welcome amenity at check-in: Platinum Elite members can get points or a drink or snack at check-in, while Diamond Elite members can get the same, as well as an option of free breakfast.

• Early check-in: Only Platinum Elite and Diamond Elite members have an official early check-in benefit (subject to availability).

• Late checkout: All IHG One Rewards members can receive a 2 p.m. late checkout (subject to availability).

InterContinental Ambassador is a paid status (you can use points or cash) that provides IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite status and these benefits at InterContinental hotels:

• Guaranteed one category room upgrade

• Extended 4 p.m. checkout

• Complimentary weekend night

• Restaurant and bar credit of up to $20 per stay

Kimpton Inner Circle is an invite-only level of status you can achieve if you have IHG One Rewards Diamond Elite status and frequently stay at Kimpton hotels. Inner Circle members can receive these benefits at Kimpton hotels:

• Inner Circle check-in amenity

• Chef’s taste when dining at a Kimpton restaurant

• Free hotel night at a newly opened participating Kimpton hotel

• Premium internet

• VIP phone line

• Guaranteed one category room upgrade

• Guaranteed 10 a.m. check-in and 4 p.m. checkout

• Waived amenity fee

Note: Even if you don’t have Inner Circle status, you can get a little something extra at Kimpton properties if you know the seasonal “secret password” and tell the front desk attendants at check-in. Some of the freebies guests have received in the past for saying the Kimpton Secret Password include a free breakfast, a $30 food and beverage credit, and a free bottle of wine.

The easiest way to get IHG One Rewards elite status is to have an IHG One Rewards credit card. Here’s the level of elite status you’ll automatically receive for each card:

Your IHG points will expire after 12 consecutive months of inactivity as an IHG One Rewards Club member, which is the lowest level of membership. Your points won’t expire if you have Silver Elite status or higher and maintain your elite status.

According to our valuations, IHG One Rewards points are worth about 0.56 cents per point. That means:

• 10,000 IHG points = $56

• 100,000 IHG points = $560

• 1,000,000 IHG points = $5,600

Please note that actual valuations may vary depending on the specific redemption. IHG employs dynamic pricing, which means that cash and reward prices may fluctuate according to various factors, including overall demand, competitor pricing, seasonality, and other relevant considerations.

However, you can always check your redemption value for a specific award booking by dividing the cash price by the points price. For example, if a stay costs $280 or 50,000 points, you divide $280 by 50,000 and get 0.0056, or a valuation of 0.56 cents per point.

You typically want to achieve a redemption value higher than average to maximize your points.

IHG advertises that you need just 5,000 points for a free night at IHG Hotels, but in our experience, you typically need more. A safer estimate would be between 20,000 and 30,000 points per night, but this depends on the property’s location and amenities.

For example, a less expensive property, such as the Holiday Inn Express Baruna Bali, may offer options for 11,000 points per night.

However, a stay at the Staybridge Suites Anaheim At The Park on the same dates costs 30,000 points per night.

IHG One Rewards redemption options include:

• Free nights at IHG hotels and resorts worldwide

• Events and experiences

• Online shopping, including gift cards

• Charitable donations

• Converting IHG points to partner rewards

As an IHG One Rewards Club member, which is free to join, you can earn and redeem IHG points with no blackout dates for reward nights. You also gain access to complimentary internet at IHG properties, member rates, and exclusive promotions.

Members with elite status, depending on your tier, can access these benefits:

• No points expiration

• Complimentary Hertz elite status

• Guaranteed room availability

• Welcome amenity at check-in

• Early check-in (subject to availability)

• Complimentary upgrades (subject to availability)

• Up to 100% bonus points on eligible stays and purchases

According to our valuations, 50,000 IHG points are worth about $280. That’s based on a general valuation of approximately 0.56 cents per point. Actual values may vary depending on the redemption.

IHG doesn’t allow you to convert your points to cash, though you can use them to buy gift cards through the IHG online shopping portal. However, you’ll typically get a better redemption value if you use your points toward reward stays.

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