Various Ways to Earn IHG Points

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This is post #2 of a series regarding the InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) program.

Free Night Annually with the IHG Credit Card
Various Ways to Earn IHG Points
Understanding IHG PointBreak Offers
Earning Status with IHG and What Does it Get You

With any program, there are always a number of ways to earn points. While some include the old fashion way of earning points by staying at the hotel, there are also many other ways to accrue points without actually stepping foot in a hotel room.

Staying at an IHG Hotel

The InterContinental Hotels Group umbrella include: InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, HUALUXE, Crowne Plaza, EVEN Hotels, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn Resorts, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, Staybridge Suites, and Candlewood Suites. When staying at an IHG hotel you’ll earn 10 points per dollar spend (5 points per dollar spent at Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites). If you are a Platinum member you will earn an additional 5 points per dollar spent and if you have the IHG credit card you’ll earn an additional 5 points per dollar spent. This means you can earn up to 20 points per dollar spent. Although the InterContinental Alliance Hotels (Palazzo and Venetian) give you a flat 2,000 points regardless of your room rate.

IHG Rewards Credit Card

With this card you’ll earn 60,000 points after spending $1,000 in the first three months. Additionally, the IHG credit card gives you automatic Platinum status, so this will give you 5 more points per dollar spent when staying at an IHG hotel. Also, when you go to redeem your points for a free night, all card members will receive a 10% rebate on which helps earn points for a future stay. Related blog post detailing card offer and benefits. Application link.

Transferring Points from Chase Ultimate Rewards

You can transfer your Chase Ultimate Reward points at a 1:1 ratio. This includes all points earned from the Chase Ink Plus, Chase Ink Bold, Chase Ink Preferred, Chase Sapphire Preferred, and Chase Sapphire Reserve. Although, compared to the other transfer partners it is not a great value. I personally would only advise doing this if you need to top off your account or if you are looking to redeem for some PointBreak hotels at 5,000 points at night.

Purchasing IHG Points

IHG offers many promotions throughout the year that allow you to purchase points with up to a 100% bonus. At times, this means you can actually purchase points as low as .58 cents per point. For many expensive hotels, this is a great opportunity to purchase points to then redeem for a “free” night instead of paying the cash rate for your particular date. Of course, it is always good to do the math and see if purchasing points make sense for your particular stay, but for many folks this is a good opportunity, when available. I typically see one an increased offer 2-3x a year.

Taking Advantage of their Promotions

IHG is known for always offering some sort of promotion. Sometimes they are 4 digit codes that you can register for and receive X number of points on your next stay. These offers allowed people to register for numerous offers on every stay and accrue thousands of extra points. However, IHG started to limit the number of promotions you could register for and take advantage of for a single stay.

Other promotions include system wide offers where everyone is able to take advantage of. Typically these “Accelerate” offers available to everyone, but each account receives a targeted offer with certain “tasks” to complete to earn points. During their last promotion, I personally was able to earn 59,195 points and three free nights to use at any IHG hotel. My total extra cost I spent by switching some of my stays to IHG hotels was $204 which means I “purchased” these 59,195 points at about .34 cents per point which is fabulous. And on top of that, I got three free nights!

Key Links:

IHG Rewards Club Select Visa Credit Card – Earn 60,000 points after you spend $1,000 within the first three months. Receive a free night certificate annually (starting with your second year as a card member). No annual fee the first year, then $49/year. Card application link.

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