Hotels

New IHG One Rewards Overview

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New IHG One Rewards program announced

Back in January we heard that IHG would be completely overhauling their award program. We learned of new tier structures, bonus points, and elite levels. In April, IHG unveiled IHG One Rewards which enhanced their loyalty program with Diamond breakfast benefits, the choice of confirmed suite upgrades ( confirmable 14 days in advance and each is worth 5 nights and can be used on award bookings now ), F&B credits, and even the choice of a lounge membership at 40 nights. Let’s take a look at the new IHG One Rewards benefits you can now enjoy:

Live as of June 8th, 1pm EST

Diamonds…breakfast is served!

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One thing to note…the Food and Beverage credits aren’t live yet for use at properties. You can select and bank them, but they’re still working on the roll out with properties worldwide.

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Let’s break down the whole program:

The brands under IHG that you can earn and burn IHG One Rewards

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Here is a look at the 2023 IHG Rewards Tiers and the new IHG One Rewards Tiers

There is a brief remind of what we learned in January.

Free night certificates can have unlimited points added to them

IHG updated and enhanced the ability to to use Free Night certificates by allowing members to add unlimited points to them.

a screenshot of a menu

New Benefits for IHG One Rewards and a new app

A new app drops today. I was told that roughly 1% of all app users will see the update immediately ( those who have it set to auto-update) and the rest will roll out over the next few days/weeks. Let’s take a look at the new benefits.

Here’s a look at the new benefits:

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Miles just tell me…is there free breakfast. Yes, Diamond Elites will now get free breakfast

Free Breakfast for top tier Diamond Elite Members is one of the most anticipated benefits that members were hoping for, but I have to say some will be disappointed that it wasn’t provided for Platinums as well, since Marriott Platinum and Hilton Gold offer some kind of benefit as well. One thing that they do provide is, at the 40 night level, a choice of whether you’d like to have a lounge membership as a “Milestone Reward.”

Discount awards night discounts for Platinum and Diamond members

Platinum and Diamond elite members will have access to these exclusive award night discounts throughout the year. We just saw this with the 20% discount given to IHG Rewards cardholders here recently.

a screenshot of a website

Milestone Rewards opens the door to guaranteed suite upgrades + lounge access

Milestone Rewards will be a new, technology-enabled platform that will allow members to choose the rewards that matter most to them after every 10 nights, starting at the 20 night threshold – you can even select 1 Suite Upgrade award at the 20 night level that’s good on up to 5 nights and is confirmable. Starting in June of 2023, IHG One Rewards expanded their use from cash rates to award bookings as well.

The idea here is that the casual traveler and the corporate road warrior may have different desires and goals. So, each may choose differently. Personally, I’d be choosing suite upgrades and lounge memberships at the correlating thresholds.

  •  Points
  • $20 F&B Rewards
  • Confirmable Suite Upgrades starting at 20 nights
  • Annual Lounge Membership.

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You can select 1 award at every level, and 2 at the 40 night and 70 night level

Personally I’d choose

  • 20 night – Suite Upgrade
  • 30 night – 2 F/B vouchers
  • 40 night – Suite Upgrade + Lounge Access
  • 50 night – 5 F/B vouchers
  • 60 night – 5 F/B Vouchers
  • 70 nights – 2 Suite upgrade

In total I’d have 4 suite upgrades, good on up to 5 nights a piece, lounge access for me and 1 guest, and 17 F/B vouchers worth $340. Note that these must be used in conjunction with a stay.

a screenshot of a computer

IHG One Rewards nailed mid-tier Platinum Elite

IHG One Rewards mid-tier status is Platinum Elite, which can be achieved at 40 nights. Most business travelers these days have significantly reduced the number of nights they stay each year, and IHG noticed and pivoted some pretty valuable benefits to those who aren’t insane road warriors, but stay quite a bit.  For comparison:

  • Hyatt Explorist is 30 nights
  • Marriott Platinum is 50 nights
  • Hilton Gold is usually 40 nights, Diamond at 60 nights, but this year it’s 28 and 42 respectively.

At 40 nights, you could effectively choose Milestone Rewards that give you:

  • 2 Suite Upgrade awards good on up to 5 nights an award
  • Lounge Access membership for you and 1 guest.
  • Points or F/B vouchers

Overall

Massive improvement and I wouldn’t be surprised if this doesn’t draw a lot of business over for IHG from Hilton and Marriott. You can go here to see the full terms, FAQs of the program, etc.

 

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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4 Comments

  • […] around for quite some time, and I had feared that it would go away after IHG completely redid their program last year.  If you recall…a ton of people got IHG One Rewards Diamond status last year through a […]

  • Aleks June 8, 2022

    What are the regular way to get a lounge access on hotel stay beside booking a room that include it upfront? Is there a paid membership? Does it come with IC Ambassador? (The IHG website does not have any info, sadly…)

    • Miles June 8, 2022

      selecting is as a milestone reward, or sometimes hotels will sell lounge access cheaper at check-in if you inquire

      • Aleks June 9, 2022

        IHG Lounge access is not listed as benefit of Platinum/Diamond Elite (like it does with Marriott or Hilton), so I wonder who gets it and what are the options besides newly introduced reward option after 40 nights – how can I receive it before achieving 40 nights?

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