Understanding the value of IHG points (and ways to save the most money on your next stay)

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There’s something to be said about the value of IHG points value and their flexibility for booking travel. With 5,900+ hotels worldwide, there’s a good chance you can find a location for your next trip, no matter where you’re going.

Plus, IHG points are easy to collect. With the IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card, you can earn 125,000 bonus points and a free night after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening. That’s enough for one night at the InterContinental Le Moana Bora Bora Resort, where rooms can go for over $1,000 a night, or over a week at a less-fancy hotel, like the Holiday Inn Lodz, Poland, where rooms typically go for around $100 per night.

Let’s dive into what value you can expect to get from your IHG points.

What’s the value of IHG points?

You can book reward nights at IHG hotels for anywhere from 10,000 to 70,000 IHG points per night.  On average, you’ll find IHG points are worth ~0.5 cents each, which will vary depending on your dates of travel and where you’ll be staying. But it’s possible to get a lot more value for your points. IHG’s award chart places hotels in 13 different categories — and generally speaking, higher-end hotels will get you a better value per point, depending on your travel dates.

As you’ll see below, there are fantastic options for both high-end hotels and more basic hotels for those who want to stretch their points.

Great ways to redeem IHG points

The InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa (1.5+ cents per point)

Bora Bora is an amazing romantic getaway for couples, and you can’t go wrong with the InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa hotel. It’s one of the best ways to use IHG points.

Award nights here can be hard to find, and they’ll cost you 70,000 IHG points per night, but it’s well worth trying. Rooms otherwise tend to cost $1,000+ per night.

InterContinental Amstel Amsterdam (1.08 cents per point)

If you’re planning a trip to the Netherlands, the InterContinental Amstel Amsterdam is a great hotel to consider. The restaurant inside the hotel, La Rive, has been recognized as a Michelin star restaurant in the past, and the hotel also overlooks the Amstel River. You’ll get incredible value here from your IHG points. I found rooms for around $652, or 60,000 IHG points — that’s over 1 cent per point in value.

Holiday Inn Lodz (0.93 cents per point)

Here’s a perfect example that shows good deals aren’t limited to expensive hotels. You can get amazing value from a more budget-conscious hotel, too.

Case in point, the Holiday Inn Lodz in Poland. Rooms here typically go for around $100 per night, but I found award nights for 10,000 IHG points. Considering IHG points are typically only worth ~0.5 cents per point, the fact that you’d be getting nearly twice that with this hotel is pretty incredible.

Not-so-good redemption options

Holiday Inn Bangkok (0.38 cents per point)

Remember, the value of your points will also vary depending on when you’ll be traveling and where you’ll be staying. The Holiday Inn Bangkok is one case where you might want to pay cash instead. I found available award nights here for 25,000 IHG points, but these were for rooms that had a cash price of just $97.

That’s a pretty low value of just 0.38 cents per point. Unless you’re really trying to save on cash, it is probably worth looking at other options.

InterContinental Hotels: Chennai Mahabalipuram Resort (0.57 cents per point)

This more middle-of-the-road hotel shows that more expensive hotels aren’t the only way to get better-than-usual value from your IHG points. I found that rooms at this hotel are selling for around $114 per night, but could be booked for 20,000 IHG points. At a value of 0.57 cents per point, this is a perfectly acceptable redemption option (though certainly not stunning).

InterContinental Hotels: Hong Kong (0.33 cents per point) 

This is a pretty interesting case because this hotel has been known to offer some amazing deals. But it is also a good example of why you’ll always want to pay close attention to the cash price of the rooms which can vary based on travel dates.

Award nights at this hotel cost 70,000 IHG points per night, but at a cash price of $234 per night for the month of May, you’d be getting only 0.33 cents per point in value. 

More ways to boost the value of your points

Here are a few quick tips to ensure you’re getting more from your IHG points:

• Always check the cash price: The value of your points can vary drastically, regardless of the type of hotel you’re booking. Depending on the paid rate, you might want just pay cash and save your IHG points for a different hotel stay where you’ll receive more value.
• 4th reward night benefit: If you have the IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card, you’ll get a complimentary 4th night when booking a standard room award. In fact, you’ll get every 4th consecutive award night — so on an eight-night award stay, you would receive two complimentary nights (the 4th and 8th night). This can save you a ton of points because you can use this perk for an unlimited number of stays.
• Points + Cash: You can make award redemptions with points + cash, but if you decide to go this route, just make sure to look at the cash price so you can see if you’re getting a good deal.

Points vs. Cash calculator

Deciding when to use rewards versus when to use cash isn’t always a straightforward task. So we created a points vs. cash calculator to make things a lot easier for you. 

Using the calculator is simple. All you have to do is:

• Select which hotel points you’d like to use
• Find the cash price of the exact hotel you plan to book
• Enter the number of points your stay will cost
• Include any taxes and fees associated with your stay

Bottom line

There are 5,900+ IHG hotels worldwide, so there’s a good chance you can find one of their hotels for your next trip, even if you’re going to a more remote area or small town.

IHG points are typically worth around 0.5 cents each, but keep in mind that the value you get will depend on where you’ll be traveling and the hotel you’ll be staying at. You can assure you’re getting the most from your IHG points by always checking the cash price and utilizing perks like  4^th award night reward if you have the IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card.

Let us know your thoughts and how you feel about the redemption value of IHG points! And subscribe to our newsletter for more miles and points posts like this delivered to your inbox once per day.