Are you familiar with the IHG hotel rewards program and how easy it can be to earn IHG points? Their hotels include brands like Intercontinental, Crown Plaza, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, as well as the boutique line of Kimpton hotels.
I’ve stayed in several IHG hotels throughout my travels. But, on a last-minute road trip stayed almost primarily at Holiday Inn Expresses. It was the first time I’d stayed at so many hotels in the same loyalty program in that short period of time. And, I was impressed with the consistency of cleanliness and comfort from state to state.
With over 5,300 hotels around the world, IHG offers a wide range of hotels in all comfort categories. What’s even better is how easy it can be to earn IHG points. In this guide, I’ll highlight some of the most lucrative ways to build up your IHG points balance to use for award nights.
5 Ways to Earn IHG Points &
Benefit from their Rewards Program
1. Get a co-branded IHG credit card.
Chase offers 2 IHG cards, the Premier Card and the Traveler Card. These are updated card offerings from the old IHG card with its $49 annual fee and free night certificate at any IHG property around the globe.
The IHG Rewards Club Premier typically comes with a generous welcome bonus after meeting the minimum spend. You’ll earn 2x the points at gas stations, grocery stores, and restaurants, 25x the points for paid IHG stays, and 1 point per $ for all other purchases.
When you redeem points for 3 reward nights, you’ll get the 4th night free. The annual fee is $89 and comes with a free anniversary night at IHG hotels up to 40k points per night. You’ll also get a 20% savings on IHG points purchases, a $100 Global Entry credit, and no foreign transaction fees.
The IHG Rewards Club Traveler Card comes with a much lower $29 annual fee. The card is currently offering 60k IHG points for spending $2k within 3 months. You’ll earn just 5x the points for paid IHG stays but still 2x the points at gas stations, grocery stores, and restaurants and 1 point per $ for all other purchases.
While the Traveler card does come with the same 4th night free and 20% off IHG points benefits, there is no free anniversary night with this card.
As with the old IHG card, these cards do not appear to be subject to Chase’s 5/24 rule. You can also apply for a new IHG card even if you have the old version as they’re considered different products.
The IHG Rewards Club Premier card with its anniversary night can offer great value, even though the perk is not is restricted to hotels up to 40k per night.
The Holiday Inn Express in Springdale, Utah, just 5 minutes from Zion National Park, is $250+ a night during the peak spring, summer, and fall seasons! Paying the $89 annual fee in exchange for a free night certificate can return a decent value when redeemed strategically.
2. Be an IHG Member who does IHG promotions.
First and foremost, IHG members earn more points for paid stays than non-members. It’s free to join and an absolute no-brainer if you’re a miles and points enthusiast.
While there haven’t been any recent 100k IHG promotions for mailing in promotion entries, IHG does have frequent Accelerate promotions that allow you to earn IHG points for completing a series of tasks in a set amount of time.
As an IHG member, you’ll get emails announcing these promotions. Once registered, you’ll see your personal Accelerate offer. It’s a good idea to always register because you never know where or when you might end up staying in an IHG hotel.
3. Earn IHG points from dining rewards.
Airline and Hotel dining rewards programs are a set it and forget it way to earn miles and points. The IHG dine and earn program is the same. Essentially, you can earn 5 or 8 IHG points (depending on your dining rewards status level) for every $ you spend at a participating restaurant.
Even if there are just 2-3 restaurants in your area and you dine or take out just once in a while, the points will add up. Once you’re signed up (it’s free!), you’ll earn points automatically without you needing to do anything else.
You can read more in my dining rewards guide.
4. Use the Cash and Points trick.
Don’t have enough points for a free night? IHG allows a combination of cash and points to book that reward night. When searching for availability on IHG, set the rate preference as “Reward Nights.” The search results will display showing the number of IHG points needed per reward night. Just beneath this, note the smaller text showing the cash and point options.
IHG lets you purchase the extra points you need for the redemption. And, here’s the trick.
First, make sure you have at least 5k IHG points in your account or else it won’t work. A paid stay, the co-branded credit card, the IHG Dining Program, and IHG promotions are all easy ways to earn this minimum. As a last resort, you could also transfer Chase UR points to IHG.
If you have just 5k IHG points in your account, find a hotel on IHG’s website needing 15k IHG points per night. (Otherwise, any hotel that you’re short points for a reward night will do.) That’ll be a lower-tier property, probably in a small town or less popular area. Note the cash and points option will allow you to pay 15k IHG points, 10k IHG points + $40, or 5k IHG points + $70.
The 10k + $40 option gets you the remaining 5k points needed for a reward night for .8 cents each but the 5k + $70 option values the needed 10k points at .7 cents each. (Keep your eyes peeled for select hotels offering the purchase of 15k points at $90 for an even better .6 cents each!)
Choose the $70 option for better value (every tenth of a penny counts!). You’ll now be using your existing points plus the $70 option to purchase the remaining 10k IHG points needed for a reward night.
Complete the booking. Note the $70 you used to purchase points is non-refundable. You WON’T get your money back.
Are you wondering what the “trick” is? Here it is.
Afterward, cancel the booking you just made. Your existing IHG points will be put back into your account. BUT, so will the 10k IHG points you purchased for $70! The cash and points trick helped you add 10k IHG points to your account for just .7 cents each. This process can be repeated until you have the needed points for your actual booking.
Are you wondering how this is a good deal if you’re paying $70 for each increment of 10k IHG points?
Let’s say you wanted to stay at the Intercontinental Paris Le-Grand for a night in June. Who doesn’t love Paris in June?
The rate per night is 558 Euros or roughly $643 U.S. dollars! Let’s imagine you have 10k existing IHG points. You’re 50k points shy, right? IHG is a Chase Ultimate Rewards Transfer Partner, but not a great value at all for your UR points.
You go through the IHG cash and points trick 5 times to top up your account with 50k points for a total of $350 U.S. dollars. (You’ll need to do this over 2 days, as IHG caps the amount you can spend on points at $280 a day.) You now have the 60k IHG points needed for a “reward night” and you paid $350 instead of the $643 quoted in the cash rate.
Even with a lower-tier property like the Southington Holiday Inn Express shown above, the rate is $98. If you had 5k IHG points and spent $70 to buy the needed 10k, it would still come equal savings.
Of course, always check IHG to make sure there are reward nights available, as well as check the hotel nightly rate on IHG’s website to make sure this “trick” works out to be a good value.
5. Book award stays from IHG’s Points Break List.
I know it’s not a way to earn IHG points but booking discounted hotels for just 5k, 10k, or even 15k points per night can add up to significant points savings. IHG releases a list of Points Break hotels worldwide that can be booked for discounted award rates. The properties can be hit or miss depending on your travel plans. But, with some flexibility and spontaneity, you could wind up booking a great deal. You can even combine a stay at a Points Break hotel with the cash and points trick for fantastic value!
IHG points are a solid point currency to earn for free hotel award nights. And, with so many ways for IHG points earning, from the IHG Rewards Club Premier card to the IHG dining program, you could be on your way to an award night sooner than you’d imagined.
How do you earn IHG points and take advantage of the program’s benefits?
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That sounds cool. Signed up for it a couple of weeks ago but so far I have not booked ay hotel yet (would love to have that credit card actually, but I am from Germany so I need to figure out about that 🙂
The 1st step is signing up so great work! The credit card is for U.S. residents so that may be a bit trickier to figure out. Keep an eye out for IHG promotions. They can be quite lucrative and involve paid stays or not.
Sounds like a really good deal. I especially like the fact that are no blackout dates! And that you can use a combination of cash and points. Very informative, thanks!
The cash and points option adds such value to hotel redemptions, Katja. Hope the information will be helpful for you!
Jackie, I am always so impressed how savvy you are with loyalty programs! Is this an American credit card? Seems too good to be true!
Thanks, Amelie! It is an American credit card. But, you can join the IHG loyalty program and take part in some of their promotions and benefits. The cash and points trick can be done with any credit card. 🙂
Wow, that’s quite the hack! I also always look to book through InterContinental, because their best rate guarantee means you get the first night FREE if you find a lower price somewhere else!
I love that best rate guarantee, Tamara. It’s a great IHG perk to add to this post! Hope the cash and points trick comes in handy for you. 🙂
We got the Chase co branded credit card and loving it – were clever enough to apply and have the card come before we moved from the States to Australia, because we have pretty limited options re points here in Aus!
So smart, Meg! The miles and points game is so strong in the US. Best to take advantage while you can. 🙂
Fabulous! These are some amazing tricks I had not heard before and I’m A points hoarder! The refunding is gold.
Thanks, Mar. Us “point hoarders” have to stick together and share tricks! Hope IHG’s cash and points trick comes in handy!
Great suggestions. My best friends use this program and they are always racking up free rooms all over the place. I’m not a Holiday Inn fan so I use my Marriott card for the same but they don’t seem to rack up so easily.
Marriott is a solid program, Melody, and with the acquisition of Starwood, I’d imagine the program gets even better at least on the Marriott side of things. Holiday Inn Express and IHG properties offer really great value. Like you said, the points are just so easy to earn.
Smart strategies with a great program. We prefer to stay at airbnb’s instead of hotels, so this particular program would not apply. However, we do accumulate points through other programs like Chase and United. Like you said, playing the points game can be very beneficial.
Airbnb is a great option for lodging, Rosemary. Chase and United are great miles and points earning programs. Just FYI, although not the best use of your Chase points, you could transfer some to IHG in a pinch or to get started with the cash and points trick.
I love Intercontinental and we stay there often (in fact staying there now in Monterey!), so the points are a big thing for us. I really need to stay informed about the contests and participate in those.
Enjoy your stay in Monterey, Laura! You can log into your IHG account and check your email preferences. Make sure you’re getting promotions to be sure you don’t miss out on anything.
Very informative post, thanks.
Sounds like a cool good deal. I liked the fact that are no blackout dates for us. Great tips.
That’s always the complaint, right Nisha? You have the points but can’t use them because of blackout dates. IHG makes it really simple to earn and burn those points!
I am an IHG memeber and this is really helpful!
So glad to hear, Shiv! Thanks so much for reading!