IHG One Rewards is the loyalty program of Intercontinental Hotels Group, headquartered in London, England. IHG has an excellent footprint, particularly in North America, with over 6,000 locations worldwide of which over 3,200 are Holiday Inn Express locations.
While IHG’s portfolio isn’t as heavy on high-end or luxury offerings as competing programs like Marriott or Hilton, it does contain world-famous brands such as the Crowne Plaza and the eponymous Intercontinental Hotels.
IHG One’s elite status isn’t as luxurious as what other brands may provide, but it does present a great opportunity for Canadians to collect points and not pay for hotels out of pocket. Plus, more diversity when it comes to hotel loyalty programs is always a plus for miles and points enthusiasts.
Acquiring IHG One Rewards
The four main ways to earn IHG One Rewards in Canada are staying at IHG properties, earning points via credit card signup bonuses, booking meetings and events through the IHG Business Rewards program, and making purchases with IHG One co-branded credit cards. You can also opt to buy points, though this is usually not a good value.
However, all of the credit cards that are co-branded with IHG One and the loyalty programs that transfer into IHG One are from the US-based Chase bank, so you’ll want to brush up on how to get US credit cards for Canadians.
Please note: while Bilt Rewards is also a 1:1 transfer partner, this is a harder product for Canadians to get and is almost impossible to scale earning points in large enough quantities to redeem, so it won’t be explored as an option below.
Stay at IHG Properties
The easiest way to earn IHG One Rewards points is by staying at IHG-branded hotel properties. You’ll earn a base rate of 10 points per $1 USD spent, or 5 points per $1 USD spent at Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites property.
You’ll also earn an additional 20%, 40%, 60%, or 100% bonus points depending on your status level. Interestingly, these points also contribute toward renewing your Elite status just like earning qualifying nights will.
Food and beverage, laundry, telephone, and entertainment charges billed to the room are also usually eligible to earn points, although this can vary on the individual hotel. Either way, you should always charge all on-property purchases to your room to maximize the points earned from a stay.
Do note that when staying at IHG properties, you cannot book with an online travel agency or similar third-party service if you want to earn points. You’ll need to book directly with IHG or use a travel agent who makes reservations with directly with the hotel with your membership number attached.
Credit Card Bonuses
The best way for Canadians to acquire enough IHG points to make meaningful bookings is to get into the US credit card market and acquire Chase-issued credit cards. Do be aware of the Chase 5/24 rule before applying, to ensure you are eligible.
Chase offers three co-branded IHG credit cards that come with various welcome bonuses and benefits:
| Credit Card | Welcome Bonus | Net Value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Chase IHG One Rewards Premier Business Card | 140,000 IHG Rewards | $881 | Apply |
 |
Chase IHG One Rewards Premier Card | 140,000 IHG Rewards | $881 | Apply |
 |
Chase IHG One Rewards Traveler Card | 80,000 IHG Rewards | $560 | Apply |
The best card to get, from a welcome bonus perspective, is the Chase IHG Rewards Premier card because it usually has a strong welcome bonus. Currently, it offers a bonus of 140,000 IHG One Rewards points for an annual fee of $99 USD.
The Chase IHG One Rewards Premier card offers instant IHG Platinum Elite status, an anniversary free night worth 40,000 points, and the ability to earn Diamond Elite status through spending.
140,000 IHG Rewards
$3,000
$881+
$99
No
–
On the other hand, if you need a more flexible points currency, albeit with a lower signup bonus, consider the Chase Sapphire Preferred card or Chase Ink Business Preferred card. Both earn points in the transferable Chase Ultimate Rewards currency for maximum ease of use any way you want.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred card is an incredibly valuable US credit card that earns Ultimate Rewards points which can be transferred to numerous frequent flyer and hotel loyalty programs.
Check out our Chase Sapphire Preferred card review for more details.
60,000 Ultimate Rewards
$4,000
$925+
$95
No
–
Either way, you’ll need to establish your US credit history to get Chase-issued credit cards. Consider using Frugal Flyer’s ITIN service to get started with applying for American Express in the United States via a service such as American Express Global Transfer or Nova Credit before getting into the rewarding Chase ecosystem.
Credit Card Spending
IHG One’s credit cards are slightly exceptional in the world of hotel credit cards because they offer decent multipliers in their respective categories. However, you might get better or equal mileage by earning via convertible points currencies like Chase’s Ultimate Rewards family of credit cards.
Take a look at our following chart for an easy comparison of all the IHG One co-branded products:
| Credit Card | Earn Rate at IHG Hotels | Other Earn Rates |
|---|---|---|
| IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card | 10x per $1 USD spent | 5x on travel, gas stations, and dining; 3x on all other purchases |
| IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card | 5x per $1 USD spent | 3x on recurring bills, dining, and gas stations; 2x on all other purchases |
| IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card | 10x per $1 USD spent | 5x on travel, gas stations, dining, social media, search engine advertising, and office supplies; 3x on all other categories |
Unfortunately, no IHG One Rewards co-branded credit card has the crucial grocery category multiplier, meaning you will want to use a different credit card to earn bonus points on grocery purchases.
IHG Business Rewards
In a bit of a blast from the past reminiscent of when Marriott Bonvoy gave out points and nights for booking meetings or events, IHG continues to give out perks for similar hotel business uses through their IHG Business Rewards program.
You will receive 3 IHG One Rewards points per $1 USD spent this way. You can double dip by charging such incidentals to your co-branded credit card. This is a good way to maximize spend and earn if your work will reimburse you for being the office event planner.
Purchase IHG One Points
IHG sells its points constantly, with purchase bonuses of between 20% and 100%. What you need to know is that the basic retail price of IHG points is 1 cent USD, but this scales down to 0.5 cents on packages of any decent size.
The maximum amount points you can buy in a year is 150,000 for $1,500 USD, though with IHG’s semi-regular 100% purchase this will net you a total of 300,000 points. Determine if this best suits your travel needs prior to purchasing IHG One points here.
Other Ways to Earn IHG One Rewards Points
For all the other miscellaneous ways to earn IHG One points in smaller increments, IHG Trip Extras offers a couple of options.
One underrated method is via car rentals. When booking eligible Hertz fares, Elite IHG One Rewards members earn 1,500 points per rental plus 500 points a day, while members without status will earn only 125 points a day. Thrifty and Dollar car rentals get 1,000 points per day.
You can also get 1,000 points when booking Viator tours and transportation services.
There are also some dining platform partners. Select restaurant reservations via OpenTable restaurants earn 500 points per booking, while Grubhub deliveries to select US IHG hotels earn 500 points on a first order followed by 250 per order.
The amount of work required for the paltry amount of points probably doesn’t make this worth your time unless you use those platforms a lot.
Finally, there is also the IHG One Rewards Dine & Earn program, which offers the ability to earn some points but only at select dining establishments almost exclusively in major cities of the continental United States, and so is less applicable for those north of the border.
Redeeming IHG One Rewards
Stay at IHG Properties
The most obvious way to use IHG One Rewards points is by applying them for Reward Nights at IHG properties. This has an extra bonus because IHG is industry-leading in how their reward nights work: while most programs offer a “stay for 4, get 1 free” offer, IHG offers the 4th night booked on points free.
IHG One Rewards stays are entirely dynamically priced, so the cost of your award booking can vary dramatically depending on demand.
To redeem your IHG One points or use an Anniversary Night Award, just fire up the IHG website, enter your date and destination, and select “Rewards Nights” from the drop-down menu.
You can then select the property you’d like to book, and you’ll see which room types are available for booking. If a certain type of room is ineligible for a rewards booking, it won’t even show up as a selection. Also, remember that the prices displayed are per night rather than per booking.
IHG has also implemented the choice to make your reservation with a mixture of cash and points at the time of booking, which is useful if you either don’t have enough points or want to conserve them.
Be advised that any cancellations of cash and points bookings are refunded in points only at the cash rate at which they sell IHG One points, so avoid canceling such reservations if at all possible.
Once you’ve made your selection and booking, you’re set. Stay at the property or cancel in accordance with its specific cancellation policy.
Other Ways to Redeem IHG One Rewards
Similar to Marriott Bonvoy Moments, IHG One Rewards offers specific experiences that you can redeem points for. These are bundles that are offered on their own dedicated auction platform, and which members must bid on and win to be eligible. These can range from activities to entire vacation bundles.
There are also Mastercard Priceless experiences, exclusively for customers holding co-branded IHG Chase credit cards.
While the cost of these can be high and the auction format less ideal for those not accustomed to it, these activities can provide decent value for your points if your goal is to do something cool without paying out of pocket.
For all other ways to earn points, consider the “miscellaneous” categories permitted by IHG One Rewards Access.
If you wish to transfer your IHG One points to airline miles, IHG has almost 40 transfer partners. You can move miles into most of these at a rate of 5 IHG One points per 1 airline mile. You can view the list of all transfer partners, plus any transfer bonuses, on the Frugal Flyer Miles & Points Transfer Partner tool.
To complete the transaction call IHG One Rewards Service Center at 1-888-211-9874
You can also redeem your points for either physical merchandise or digital goods at IHG’s in-house One Rewards portals.
In both of these cases, your transfer or redemption values are likely to be much lower than just using your points on hotel stays.
IHG One Rewards Status
IHG One elite status is useful not only because it prevents your points from expiring, but also because it can enhance your travel experience when staying at IHG properties.
You qualify by either earning enough Elite qualifying nights or qualifying points in a calendar year, which vary by status tier:
- IHG One Rewards Silver Elite: Earn 10 elite qualifying nights
- IHG One Rewards Gold Elite: Earn 40,000 elite qualifying points or 20 elite qualifying nights
- IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite: Earn 60,000 elite qualifying points or 40 elite qualifying nights
- IHG One Rewards Diamond Elite: Earn 120,000 elite qualifying points or 70 elite qualifying nights
While the company’s footprint isn’t as internationally prolific as competitors like Marriott or Hilton, it does have a lot of properties many normal Canadians can expect to regularly encounter or stay at, such as Holiday Inn Express.
While there is no way to supercharge your elite qualifying nights or points earning, the Chase co-branded credit cards do offer status, with the Chase IHG Premier card offering Platinum Elite status while the Chase IHG One Rewards Traveler card comes with Silver Elite status.
The Chase IHG Premier card also allows you to upgrade your status to Diamond Elite by spending $40,000 USD in one year, while the Chase IHG One Rewards Traveler card offers an upgrade to Gold for $20,000 USD spent annually.
Benefits of IHG One Status
Similar to other hotel loyalty programs, IHG One elite status offers various benefits including additional bonus points, room upgrades, and more. The chart outlining the details is as follows, and pay particularly close attention to the Platinum Elite and Diamond Elite levels:
As always, those of higher status will be afforded better perks at check-in. Of note is that late check-out is subject to availability and free internet (excluding Las Vegas) is available to members of all tiers, thus making IHG One a program worth enrolling in for even a short trip.
The sweet spot for the tiers comes at the Platinum and Diamond levels (assuming you’re traveling outside China, where Silver and up get these benefits). This is because those levels come with the Welcome Amenity at check-in, which can include breakfast.
Platinum and Diamond Elites are also permitted complimentary room upgrades when available at the hotel’s discretion. This is a broad level of explanation and comes bundled with the further caveat that such upgrades are not guaranteed at all properties, especially from IHG luxury properties. Even when such an upgrade is provided, this does not come with the other regular benefits of such a room type, such as club lounge access.
Since Platinum Elite status is easily accessible via the Chase IHG One Premier Card, consider carefully whether Diamond’s concierge service is worth the additional effort.
Be advised that IHG One Rewards elite loyalty is subject to extensive terms and conditions, which can be found here.
Milestone Rewards
While you can qualify for status by earning eligible points on stays rather than by Elite qualifying nights, staying such nights will get you access to Milestone rewards.
These are individual rewards that become available once your Elite qualifying nights have been posted to your account. Here’s the chart that details the exact rewards:
You will need to make a choice between two milestone rewards options after staying 40 and 70 nights in a calendar year (assuming you stay that many nights). Also be aware that once you’ve hit the nightly threshold, you’ll have 90 days to make a choice, or the bonus is forfeited.
At nights 20 nights, 40 nights, and 70 nights, you also get Confirmable Suite Upgrades. This is a certificate you apply to your reservation to guarantee a room upgrade at check-in. These can’t be used at resorts in Macau and Las Vegas or at long-term stay brands.
At 40 and 70 nights, you also get an Annual Lounge Membership that lets you access Club Lounges at IHG properties that possess such lounges.
IHG Ambassador Membership
If you don’t want to get the IHG One Rewards Premier Card from Chase Bank to get the included Platinum elite status, or acquire the requisite Elite nights or qualifying points, you can pay for the Ambassador Membership.
This $200 USD annual membership comes with complimentary Platinum Elite status, as well as a $20 USD food and beverage credit on all stays. It also comes with a guaranteed room upgrade and 4 pm check-out.
It also has a Complimentary Weekend Night, but this is subject to a large set of terms and conditions including that in spite of the name it must be redeemed in conjunction with a cash booking.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you have any level of IHG One Elite status, your points never expire. Without status, your points will remain for 12 months without activity.
You can transfer points to anyone else for a fee of $5 USD per 1,000 points. This extremely high cost makes transfers uneconomical.
On a more morbid note, the fee is waived in the event that you’re transferring the points of a deceased person to the next of kin.
Chase Ultimate Rewards transfers to IHG are instant. They also routinely run transfer bonuses.
Since IHG often runs sales on IHG One Rewards points, look at the purchase price before transferring to see if conversion is the right choice for your travel needs.
IHG One Rewards are worth at least 0.5 cents USD (or 0.67 cents CAD) per point. This is the minimum redemption amount you should consider acceptable before making most bookings.
Free Anniversary Nights awarded by IHG as part of a promotion or as an incentive for holding one of their co-branded credit cards must be both booked and used within 12 months of the date of issue.