Best Ways to Use IHG Rewards Points

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There are several great ways to redeem your IHG Rewards points, including hotel stays, transfers to airlines, magazines, and InterContinental Ambassador status.

This post will cover everything you need to know about using your IHG points. 

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    Redeem IHG Points for Hotel Nights

    IHG recently eliminated their award chart in favor of dynamic pricing.

    Dynamic pricing allows IHG to price hotels at different rates based upon demand for your dates.

    Your hotel could cost 40,000 points.

    IHG lower pricing awards min

    Or the hotel could cost 50,000 points.

    IHG higher pricing awards

    Or the hotel could cost 55,000 points or several other points levels (42,500, 45,000, 47,500, etc.).

    Marriott IHG pricing highest level

    The only way to know how much a hotel will cost for your dates is to do a search on IHG.com and select “Reward Nights” from the “Rate Preference” dropdown menu.

    IHG Reward Nights Search

    Points + Cash

    You can also redeem a combination of Points and Cash to book a reward hotel night. 

    In the example below, you would be effectively buying points at 0.6 cents per point for the top two options ($30 / 5,000 = 0.6).

    IHG’s Points and Cash is also effectively buying points because if you cancel your booking, the cash portion of the booking is refunded in IHG points, not cash. 

    IHG points and cash

    The Points and Cash rate will fluctuate, even for the same hotel based on your dates.

    In the example below, the Points and Cash rate for the top two options at the same hotel jumped to 0.78 cents per point ($39 / 5,000 = 0.78). 

    IHG points and cash example 2

    When you are “buying” points for a Points + Cash booking, you always want the cents per point number to be as low as possible.

    But it would be best if you always did the math to determine whether redeeming a combination of points and cash is worth it.

    Fourth Night Free

    IHG credit card members get the fourth night free on reward stays, which can be a great way to save many points on your trip.

    IHG Fourth Night Free

    You can get a fourth night free with either the Chase IHG Rewards Premier or Chase IHG Rewards Traveler credit cards, but the Premier card is a better deal than the Traveler card because the Premier offers a free night and IHG Platinum Elite status.

    IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card

    Platinum Elite Status
    IHG® Rewards Premier Credit Card
    • Earn 140,000 IHG Bonus Points After $3,000 in Purchases in the First 3 Months
    • 10x Points at IHG Hotels and Resorts
    • 5x Points on Travel, Dining, and Gas
    • 3x Points on All Other Purchases
    • IHG Platinum Elite Status
    • Anniversary Free Night
    • 4th Night Free on Awards
    • Baggage and Trip Interruption/Cancellation Insurance
    • Purchase Protection for 120 Days
    • $99 Annual Fee

    Click Here to Learn How to Apply

    The IHG® Rewards Premier Credit Card is the easiest shortcut to obtaining IHG Platinum elite status, which is a higher tier that offers a 60% points bonus, complimentary suite upgrades, milestone rewards, and late check-out. 

    The $99 annual fee is easy to recoup for IHG loyalists, as the card comes with a free anniversary hotel night at hotels costing 40,000 points or at least $125 per night plus a fourth night free that you can use to maximize the 140,000 welcome bonus points earned after spending $3,000. 

    The IHG Premier offers solid returns on spending, earning 10x points at IHG properties plus 10x points for your IHG Rewards membership and 6x points for having the Platinum Elite status for a total of 26x points on hotel stays, and 5x points on travel, gas, and dining. 

    This card has a wide array of protections, including trip cancellation, travel accident, baggage delay, purchase, and secondary rental car insurance. 

    Transfer IHG Points to Airline Partners

    You can transfer your IHG Rewards points to airlines at a ratio of 10,000 IHG points to 2,000 airline miles.

    Two airlines have different ratios: 

    • Air New Zealand = 10,000 IHG points to 25 Airpoints.
    • El Al = 10,000 IHG points to 40 El Al points.
    AEROMEXICO LOGO AeroMexico Air Canada Air Canada Aeroplan
    Air China Air China Air France Air France - KLM Flying Blue
    Air New Zealand Air New Zealand Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines
    Alitalia logo Alitalia ANA All Nippon Airways (ANA)
    American Airlines American Airlines Asiana Airlines Asiana Airlines
    Avianca Avianca LifeMiles British Airways British Airways
    Cathay Pacific Cathay Pacific Asia Miles China Eastern China Eastern
    China Southern China Southern Delta Air Lines Delta SkyMiles
    El Al El Al Emirates logo Emirates
    Etihad Etihad Airways Gulf Air Gulf Air
    Hainan Airlines Hainan Airlines Hawaiian Airlines logo Hawaiian Airlines
    Iberia logo Iberia Airlines Japan Airlines Japan Airlines
    Jet Airways logo Jet Airways JetBlue JetBlue
    LATAM Airlines LATAM Malaysia Airlines logo Malaysia Airlines
    Qantas Logo Qantas Saudia Airlines Saudia
    Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines South African Airways South African Airways
    TAP Portugal TAP Air Portugal Thai Airways logo Thai Airways
    United Airlines logo United Airlines Virgin Atlantic logo Virgin Atlantic
    Virgin Australia logo Virgin Australia

    IHG’s 5 to 1 ratio is not as good as Marriott’s 3 to 1 transfer rate (or 2.4 points to 1 mile with a bonus), but it can still be a decent deal if you need some extra airline miles.

    The best airlines to transfer to would be: 

    InterContinental Ambassador

    You can redeem 40,000 IHG points for the InterContinental Ambassador program, which typically costs $200 per year. 

    That is equivalent to 0.5 cents per point in value, which is quite good for IHG.

    The benefits of the IHG Ambassador program at InterContinental Hotels are:

    • A free weekend night on a paid stay.
    • A guaranteed room upgrade
    • 4:00 p.m. late checkout
    • IHG Platinum elite status
    • $20 food and drink credit for each stay
    • Premium internet
    • A dedicated check-in area
    • Hertz Five Star elite status

    IHG's Digital Store

    You can redeem IHG points at their digital store to stream movies, read e-books or magazines, video games (playable on Steam), and software.

    Movies were the best deal at 0.6 to 0.3 cents per point, with the remaining options typically 0.2 to 0.3 cents per point.

    Renting a movie with IHG points could be a good option if you don’t have enough points for a free night.

    IHG Digital Store

    Magazines

    You can get good value for a small number of points by using them for magazine subscriptions. 

    A ten-issue magazine subscription to Bon Appetit is about $20 at most discount magazine websites, so using 1,500 points would net you 1.33 cents per point ($20 / 1,500 points). 

    IHG Use points for magazines

    Online Shopping

    Another way to use your IHG points is for merchandise at IHG’s Online Shopping store.

    You can shop for a variety of items including electronics, kitchen items, luggage, fashion, etc.

    IHG Shopping Portal

    However, we do not recommend using your IHG points for merchandise because the redemption rate is very low.

    For example, the wireless mouse above retails on Amazon for $11.59, which means that each IHG point would only be worth 0.14 cents.

    You should be able to easily get 3 to 5 times that value when redeeming for hotel stays.

    Gift Cards

    You can also redeem IHG points for gift cards, but the rate is also very low.

    Most gift cards are priced at:

    • $10 gift card for 5,500 points (0.18 cents per point)
    • $25 gift card for 13,000 points (0.19 cents per point)
    • $50 gift card for 25,000 points. (0.2 cents per point).
    Use IHG Points for Gift Cards min

    The Verdict

    The best way to use your IHG points is by redeeming them for hotel stays with the fourth night free with the Chase IHG Premier card or the  InterContinental Ambassador program.

    Or if you only have a few points, magazine subscriptions can be a good option.

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