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In April 2022, IHG revamped its rewards program. The all-new IHG One Rewards now offers elite status members more benefits such as complimentary breakfast, suite upgrades, reward night discounts, club lounge access that is part of the milestone rewards, etc.
The IHG elite benefits do not become valuable until you are an IHG Platinum Elite or IHG Diamond Elite member. The new elite benefits also do not take effect until sometime in early June 2022.
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| Photo Credit: IHG One Rewards |
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Earning IHG Platinum Elite Status
- You must earn 40 qualifying nights or 60,000 qualifying points through stays in a calendar year.
- You participate in any IHG status match and challenge offers that are available.
- Chase IHG Premier Credit Card or Chase IHG Premier Business Credit Card offers complimentary automatic IHG Platinum Elite status without a single stay as long as you are a cardholder.
Earning IHG Diamond Elite Status
- You must earn 70 qualifying nights or 120,000 qualifying points through stays in a calendar year.
- You participate in any IHG status match and challenge offers that are available.
- You can make purchases totaling at least $40,000 each calendar year on your Chase IHG Premier Credit Card or Chase IHG Premier Business Credit Card and receive IHG Diamond Elite status through December 31st of the following year.
IHG One Rewards Elite Benefits
While a few elite benefits come with the new, improved IHG One Rewards, I will just list those worth mentioning and explain how each one works, mainly for IHG Platinum Elite and IHG Diamond Elite members.
- Tier Bonus Points
- Points Don’t Expire
- Reward Night Discounts
- Welcome Amenity at Check-In For Platinum Elite
- Free Breakfast For Diamond Elite
- Complimentary Room Upgrades, Including Suite Upgrades
- Early Check-In and Late Check-Out
- Rollover Nights For Next Year’s Status
- Dedicated Diamond Support
- Milestone Rewards
Tier Bonus Points
- IHG Platinum Elite members earn 60% bonus points on top of the qualifying base points.
- IHG Diamond Elite members earn 100% bonus points on top of the qualifying base points.
Points Don’t Expire
Your IHG Rewards points do not expire if you are an IHG elite member, and this makes it easy not to worry about keeping points alive from expiring.
- This benefit is available to all IHG elite members such as Silver Elite, Gold Elite, Platinum Elite, and Diamond Elite.
- You must be an IHG elite member each year to enjoy this benefit.
- If you are an IHG Club Member with no elite status, your points will expire according to the IHG rewards program’s terms.
Suppose you value this benefit and don’t want to deal with the number of qualifying nights or points to reach the entry-level IHG Silver Elite status. In that case, the quickest way is to get the Chase IHG Traveler Credit Card that gives you complimentary automatic Silver Elite status as long as you remain a cardholder. The best thing about this credit card is that it has no annual fee, so you can keep the card as long as you want and don’t have to worry about your points expiring.
Reward Night Discounts
IHG Platinum Elite and IHG Diamond Elite members have exclusive access to the Reward Night Discounts promotional offer.
The Reward Night Discounts promotion is similar to the promotion of saving 20% off points redemption on award stays. As a Platinum Elite and Diamond Elite member, you will get early access to this promotion before other IHG One Rewards members. Remember that you can not stack this reward night discount benefit with the 4th IHG Reward Night Free credit card benefit.
Subscribe to our blog posts below or check out our IHG Rewards Promotions and Offers page, as any available IHG Reward Night Discounts promotion is always featured there.
Welcome Amenity at Check-In For IHG Platinum Elite
IHG Platinum Elite members can receive points or a voucher for a drink/snack.
When you check in, you will be offered the welcome amenity options.
- Points are instantly credited to your IHG Rewards account if you choose points.
- The drink/snack credit amount can vary by the IHG property.
Free Breakfast For IHG Diamond Elite
IHG Diamond Elite members can also receive welcome amenity choices at check-in. The choices are:
- Free breakfast
- Points
- Drink/snack
The most valuable perk here is obviously the free breakfast, and this is how that benefit works:
- When you check into the hotel, you will be offered the welcome amenity options that include a complimentary breakfast.
- You receive a complimentary daily hot breakfast for up to two guests staying in the same room.
- The benefit is available to all IHG brands, except the following brands:
- IHG brands that already offer breakfast, such as Holiday Inn Express, etc.
- Candlewood Suites
- Holiday Inn Club Vacations
- Select Kimpton properties
- InterContinental Alliance Resorts (Las Vegas and Macau)
- Mr and Mrs Smith
- Certain breakfast food and beverage items may be excluded, subject to the property.
Complimentary Room Upgrades Up to Suite Upgrades
Complimentary room upgrades have been offered to top IHG elite members, but it never officially calls out the inclusion of suite upgrades.
With IHG One Rewards, both Platinum Elite and Diamond Elite can receive complimentary room upgrades up to suite upgrades:
- Complimentary room upgrades, including suite upgrades, are subject to availability at check-in only. There’s no guarantee.
- Complimentary suite upgrades are not the same as Confirmable Suite Upgrade offered when you reach an IHG Milestone Reward (more below).
Early Check-In and Late Check-Out
- Early check-in benefit is only available to Platinum Elite and Diamond Elite members.
- Late check-out benefit is available to all IHG elite members, including Silver Elite and Gold Elite.
- The latest check-out time is 2PM.
- Early check-in and late check-out benefits are always subject to the hotel’s availability.
Dedicated Diamond Support
It is unclear if IHG Diamond Elite members will have a dedicated IHG Diamond phone number like the Hilton Honors Diamond number and Hyatt Globalist concierge number.
It is possible that when an IHG Diamond Elite member calls in, the line recognizes the member status and routes to the dedicated support line.
According to IHG, the dedicated Diamond Elite support line will be available in early June, and Diamond members can access the support line through the IHG Rewards app or website.
Rollover Nights For Next Year’s Status
The Rollover Nights for next year’s status benefit is available to the following IHG elite status:
- IHG Gold Elite
- IHG Platinum Elite
- IHG Diamond Elite
It is easier to understand how Rollover Nights benefit work through the following example provided by IHG:
For example, if a Silver Elite member stays 25 Qualifying Nights in 2022, they will earn Gold Elite status for the 2023 calendar year. However, Gold Elite status only requires 20 Qualified Nights, so the additional 5 nights that the member stayed over and above the Gold Elite qualification, will be rolled over in their account and count towards their progress to the next Elite tier in 2023.
Milestone Rewards
IHG Milestone Rewards is an exciting program’s benefit for fans of IHG stays.
- You can unlock rewards every qualifying 10 nights you stay with IHG, starting at 20 nights. If you are just an IHG Club Member who does not have elite status and reach IHG Gold Elite status through 20 qualifying nights, you qualify for an IHG Milestone Reward.
- IHG Milestone Rewards benefit is available to all IHG Rewards elite members. To enjoy this milestone reward benefit, you do not have to be IHG Platinum Elite or IHG Diamond Elite.
- Rollover Nights do not count towards Milestone Rewards. If you do not know what the Rollover Nights benefit is, please refer to the Rollover Nights For Next Year’s Status section mentioned above.
- An IHG Milestone Reward must be selected within 90 days or expire.
- All Milestone Reward selections are final.
- You can track qualifying night activity for Milestone Rewards in your IHG Rewards account via the IHG app or IHG Hotels and Resorts website.
Stay 20 Nights
You can choose one of the following milestone rewards:
- 5,000 Bonus Points
- 2 Food & Beverage Rewards
- 1 Confirmable Suite Upgrade
Stay 30 Nights
You can choose one of the following milestone rewards:
- 5,000 Bonus Points
- 2 Food & Beverage Rewards (each reward is worth up to $20 credit)
Stay 40 Nights
You can choose two (2) of the following milestone rewards:
- 10,000 Bonus Points
- 5 Food & Beverage Rewards (each reward is worth up to $20 credit)
- 1 Confirmable Suite Upgrade (limit 1)
- Annual Lounge Membership (limit 1)
Stay 50 Nights
You can choose one of the following milestone rewards:
- 10,000 Bonus Points
- 5 Food & Beverage Rewards (each reward is worth up to $20 credit)
Stay 60 Nights
You can choose one of the following milestone rewards:
- 10,000 Bonus Points
- 5 Food & Beverage Rewards (each reward is worth up to $20 credit)
Stay 70 Nights
You can choose two (2) of the following milestone rewards:
- 10,000 Bonus Points
- 5 Food & Beverage Rewards (each reward is worth up to $20 credit)
- 2 Confirmable Suite Upgrades (limit 1)
- Annual Lounge Membership (limit 1)
Stay 80 Nights
You can choose one of the following:
- 10,000 Bonus Points
- 5 Food & Beverage Rewards (each reward is worth up to $20 credit)
Stay 90 Nights
You can choose one of the following:
- 10,000 Bonus Points
- 5 Food & Beverage Rewards (each reward is worth up to $20 credit)
Stay 100 Nights
You can choose one of the following:
- 10,000 Bonus Points
- 5 Food & Beverage Rewards (each reward is worth up to $20 credit)
Here are the details on IHG Milestone Rewards
How Does Confirmable Suite Upgrade Milestone Reward Work?
- You can confirm an upgrade to an entry-level suite based on availability.
- 14 days before your check-in date, up to 24 hours before check-in, you will be notified whether your suite upgrade is successfully confirmed or not.
- Each confirmable suite upgrades reward is valid for 1 room per stay (up to 5 nights).
- Confirmable suite upgrades reward cannot be used for the following IHG brands:
- avid hotels
- Atwell Suites
- IHG Army Hotels
- Holiday Inn Club Vacations
- Six Senses Resorts Spas
- Mr & Mrs Smith
- InterContinental Alliance Resorts (Las Vegas and Macau)
- You must contact IHG customer care to use this confirmable suite upgrades reward. It is not possible to do it yourself online at this time.
How Does Annual Lounge Membership Milestone Reward Work?
- Once selected, the annual Lounge Membership milestone reward is valid for the rest of the calendar year plus an additional 12 months after that.
- Where available, you can use the reward to receive Club Lounge access for you and one additional guest.
- This annual lounge membership milestone reward cannot be used at the following IHG brands:
- Mr & Mrs Smith
- InterContinental Alliance Resorts (Las Vegas and Macau)
When Will New Diamond Elite and Benefits Take Effect?
- If you are an IHG Spire Elite member this year, 2022, your IHG Rewards account should be updated with your new tier name Diamond Elite. Other elite tier names will not change.
- You can start earning the new tier bonus points now.
- You can start earning IHG Milestone Rewards now, including all qualifying nights you’ve stayed since January 1, 2022. However, if you qualify for a milestone reward, you cannot select or use a milestone reward yet until the new elite benefit go-live date.
- Remember too that Rollover Nights do not count towards Milestone Rewards.
- All IHG’s new elite benefits, such as free breakfast, suite upgrades including confirmable suite upgrades, and annual lounge membership milestone rewards, will take effect sometime in early June 2022. There’s no official date yet at this time.
