How to earn IHG points with credit cards, stays and more
Over the past year, I’ve redeemed 1.3 million IHG One Rewards points for 62 hotel nights. I got 0.88 cents per point on these redemptions, so while TPG’s November 2026 valuations peg the value of IHG points at 0.6 cents each, it’s certainly possible to get more value when redeeming IHG points.
All these redemptions mean I also have to earn a sizable amount of IHG points each year. There are many ways to earn IHG points, so you have options, whether you need to top off your account or substantially boost your balance. In this article, I’ll describe how to earn IHG points.
Earn IHG points by staying at hotels
As you might expect, you can earn IHG points when you stay at participating IHG hotels. However, the exact number of points you’ll earn on stays depends on a few factors:
- The IHG brand
- How much you pay for your stay
- Your IHG elite status
- Any active promotions for which you’ve registered
- Whether you book a qualifying rate
You’ll only earn IHG points and get access to elite benefits when you book a qualifying rate through a qualifying method. Qualifying methods include IHG Customer Care, IHG websites, the IHG One Rewards app, directly at the hotel and through authorized travel agents. Authorized travel agents exclude online travel agents and are defined in the IHG terms and conditions as “travel booking platforms operating under direct distribution agreements with IHG which specifically provide for nights booked through their platforms to be qualifying stays.”
Related: The best IHG hotels in the world
Some IHG brands earn differently
Your earning rate for qualifying stays will vary by IHG hotel brand. Specifically, you’ll earn points as follows:
- Most IHG hotels: 10 points per dollar spent
- Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites and Residences (serviced apartments or extended stay units): 5 points per dollar spent
- IHG Army Hotels: 3 points per dollar spent
You’ll generally earn points on qualifying room rates and additional purchases charged to your room, including food and beverages. However, at some properties, you may not earn points on other purchases charged to your room.
Except at InterContinental Alliance Resorts, you can earn points on up to nine hotel rooms. Your IHG One Rewards account number must be associated with each room reservation, and you must stay at the property.
IHG elite members earn more
Members with IHG elite status earn additional points on stays. As you’d expect, the higher your elite status tier, the more points you’ll earn on your stay. Here’s how many bonus points IHG elite members will earn:
- Silver Elite: 20% bonus
- Gold Elite: 40% bonus
- Platinum Elite: 60% bonus
- Diamond Elite: 100% bonus
Here’s an example of how these bonus points can add up. If you’re a Diamond Elite member staying at a Kimpton hotel for three nights at $200 per night, you’ll earn the following:
- Base: $200 at 10 points per dollar for three nights equals 6,000 points
- Bonus: 100% bonus on 6,000 points equals 6,000 points
As a result, you’d take home 12,000 IHG points from your three-night stay — and potentially more if you made any qualifying charges to your room or paid for your stay with a rewards card. Based on TPG’s November 2026 valuations, 12,000 IHG One Rewards points are worth $72.
Buy bonus points packages
You can often buy up to 5,000 elite qualifying points per night when booking a qualifying paid stay. Look for the option on the “Add Extras” page while booking.
There’s no cap on the number of points you can buy each calendar year via these packages. As such, doing so can be a good option if you have already reached the maximum number of points you can outright purchase in a calendar year.
Choose points as Milestone Rewards
Starting at just 20 nights a year, IHG members earn a choice of Milestone Rewards for every 10 nights (up to 100 nights per year). IHG offers its members various rewards at each milestone, and some may be more valuable than points.
But if you’re primarily interested in earning IHG points, you can choose points at each milestone. Specifically, you can earn points through Milestone Rewards each calendar year as follows:
- 20- and 30-night milestones: 5,000 points
- 50-, 60-, 80-, 90- and 100-night milestones: 10,000 points
- 40- and 70-night milestones: 20,000 points (if you choose points for both of your Milestone Rewards choices at these tiers)
I rarely choose points as Milestone Rewards, as I usually find food-and-beverage rewards, confirmable suite upgrade awards or an annual lounge membership provides more value.
Earn bonus points through promotions
IHG One Rewards frequently offers promotions that let you earn additional points on your hotel stays over the standard earning rates. However, you usually need to register for IHG bonus points promotions before completing your stay.
For IHG promotions that offer multipliers (such as double points), the multiplier typically applies only to the stay’s base earnings. So, if you are an IHG elite member, your elite bonus usually won’t be multiplied.
Related: How to get more out of every all-inclusive vacation with IHG One Rewards
Earn IHG points with credit cards
One of the easiest ways to earn IHG points is by spending on a cobranded IHG credit card. Here’s how the four currently available IHG credit cards earn points, including their updated earning categories beginning Jan. 1, 2027 (see the paragraph below the table for some additional earning rates that end Dec. 31):
| Card | Welcome offer | Earning rates | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| IHG One Rewards Premier Select Credit Card (see ) | Earn 200,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. |
|
$350 |
| IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (see ) | Earn 180,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. |
|
$150 |
| IHG One Rewards Credit Card (see ) | Earn 125,000 bonus points after spending $2,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. |
|
Through Dec. 31, IHG Premier and Business cardholders will also earn 5 points per dollar spent on all other travel, while no-annual-fee IHG cardholders will also earn 3 points per dollar spent on utilities, internet, cable, phone services and select streaming services.
Cardholders of the Premier, Premier Select and Business cards get automatic access to the valuable IHG fourth-night-free reward perk. But cardholders of the no-annual-fee IHG card will need to spend $5,000 or more with their card within a calendar year to unlock access to the fourth-night-free reward perk through the end of the next calendar year starting in 2027. I’ve used the fourth-night-free reward perk 13 times during the last year, so it provides a ton of value to me.
Related: The best IHG hotel stays you can book with 200,000 points
Transfer credit card rewards to IHG
You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points and Bilt Points to the IHG One Rewards program. Points transfer at a 1:1 ratio from both programs.
However, I don’t recommend transferring points from either program to IHG. Based on TPG’s November 2026 valuations, you’d need to redeem IHG points for at least 2.05 cents each to justify transferring Chase points or 2.2 cents each to justify transferring Bilt points.
As such, you’ll generally only want to transfer points to IHG if you need to top off your account for a specific award. Otherwise, saving transferable points for higher-value redemptions is generally better.
Related: Why transferable rewards are worth more than airline miles and hotel points
Earn with IHG One Rewards Dine & Earn
The IHG One Rewards Dine & Earn program allows you to earn points when you dine at participating restaurants and bars. To use the program, you must sign up for an account online and link at least one credit or debit card to your account. Then, you’ll automatically earn IHG points when you use a linked card to pay at participating restaurants and bars.
The points you’ll earn vary depending on how frequently you use the program and whether you opt in for email notifications. You can earn between 1 and 8 IHG points per dollar spent on eligible purchases. These points are in addition to the rewards earned on your credit card, so consider linking and using one of the best cards for dining purchases.
Related: How to double-, triple- or even quadruple-dip on dining rewards
Earn IHG points on meetings and events
You can also earn IHG points through the IHG Business Rewards program. This program allows you to earn points when you plan a meeting or event — including a wedding — at select IHG properties.
Once you register for IHG Business Rewards, you can earn 3 points per dollar when you book rooms, meetings and events for others. Qualifying spending includes:
- Guest rooms booked for others
- Meeting and event costs
- Conference room costs
- Food-and-beverage service costs linked to a meeting or conference
- All-inclusive meeting packages
Some properties don’t participate in IHG Business Rewards. And you usually can’t earn more than 60,000 points on a meeting or event. Plus, qualifying spending usually excludes taxes, gratuities, service fees and the organizer’s room.
Buy IHG points
Another option for earning IHG points is to purchase them. Buying IHG points can be a good deal, especially when the program offers a 100% bonus and you have a high-value redemption in mind.
The standard price to buy IHG points is 1 cent per point if you purchase at least 26,000 points. However, IHG One Rewards offers promotions several times a year during which you can purchase points with up to a 100% bonus. If you buy during a 100% bonus, you can earn IHG points for as little as 0.5 cents each.
TPG values IHG points at 0.6 cents each. Since it’s easy for me to get more than 0.5 cents of value per IHG point, I usually consider purchasing IHG points whenever there’s a 100% bonus sale. However, you usually can’t purchase more than 200,000 IHG points per calendar year.
Receive points from another member
IHG members can transfer points to another member by paying a $5 fee per 1,000 points transferred. Each member can transfer up to 100,000 points per calendar year and receive up to 500,000 points per calendar year.
IHG members who hold Diamond Elite status — or belong to the IHG Business Rewards program and have “consumed a Business Rewards event in the current or previous calendar year” — can transfer points to other members without paying transfer fees.
So, if you have a colleague or family member who has Diamond Elite status (or is an active member of the IHG Business Rewards program) and wants to transfer IHG points to you, this could be a way to earn IHG points.
Other ways to earn IHG points
- Restaurant reservations: Earn up to 500 points per OpenTable reservation made through the IHG Trip Extras restaurant portal.
- Rental cars: Earn 10 IHG points per dollar spent when you book a rental car through Hertz via the IHG Trip Extras portal.
- Tours, activities and transport services: Earn up to 1,000 IHG points per booking for Viator tours, activities and transport services through the IHG Trip Extras portal.
Related: Earn even more rewards when dining out with OpenTable
Which IHG points are elite qualifying?
Throughout this guide, we’ve discussed how to earn IHG points that you can redeem for hotel stays. However, travelers looking to earn IHG elite status should also consider which points qualify for elite status.
Generally, the following activities earn IHG points that are redeemable and elite qualifying:
- Base points earned on qualifying hotel stays
- Spending on select partner activities, including Hertz car rentals, OpenTable reservations and Viator experiences (but excluding IHG Dine & Earn)
- IHG One Rewards bonus points packages
- Qualified spending through IHG Business Rewards
On the other hand, the following activities usually earn points that are redeemable but not elite qualifying (unless otherwise indicated):
- Spending on IHG credit cards issued in the U.S.
- New cardmember bonuses or select bonus points promotions on IHG credit cards
- Point transfers to IHG One Rewards
- Points earned from promotions
- Elite tier bonus points
- Point vouchers, purchases, transfers and deposits
Related: How to maximize award redemptions with the IHG One Rewards program
Bottom line
There are plenty of ways to earn IHG One Rewards points, from staying at IHG hotels and using cobranded credit cards to dining out and booking rental cars. You can also buy points when IHG offers a good promotion.
I frequently get significantly more than TPG’s valuation of 0.6 cents per IHG point when redeeming for hotel stays, so I find it worthwhile to keep a decent balance. However, I’d generally avoid transferring valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards points or Bilt points to IHG unless you need to top off your account for a specific redemption.
