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Hot Tip: The new IHG One Rewards program was officially introduced in April 2022. Check out all of the new benefits and perks of the program here.
IHG One Rewards is planning a complete revamp of its loyalty program to go into effect in March 2022 and has shared a glimpse of some of the changes we can expect from the new program.
We don’t have all the details just yet — IHG One Rewards says they’ll be revealed in the coming months — but the chain has shared with us its new elite status structure, which includes the addition of a new tier altogether.
Let’s take a look at what we know so far about the new IHG One Rewards program.
While IHG One Rewards hasn’t shared the new program in its entirety yet, we do know what the elite status tiers will look like when the new program goes into effect in March.
First and foremost, changes are being made to the existing elite tiers — namely, adding a new tier, changing qualification requirements and bonus earnings, and changing the names of each tier.
Instead of 3 tiers like there are in the current program, there will be 4. The current Spire Elite will be renamed Diamond Elite, and Platinum Elite will be the new “middle” tier.
Here’s a look at the upcoming tiers under the new program:
The IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card will continue to offer Platinum Elite status as a perk of holding the card, so those who have this card in their wallet will be pleased to know they’ll still automatically be Platinum Elite members, and they’ll now earn a 60% bonus on top of base points earned instead of the current 50% bonus.
However, there are things to be concerned about. In January 2022, IHG One Rewards had said that it would allow members to qualify (or re-qualify) for status under reduced requirements through 2022. However, now, if a member hasn’t achieved status by the time the new program goes into effect in March, they’ll have to qualify under the new requirements, which are significantly higher than members were expecting just a couple of weeks ago.
Let’s review the thresholds for earning IHG One Rewards elite status, both pre-pandemic, with the pandemic reductions, and under the new 2022 program:
Status Tier | Pre-Pandemic Thresholds | Reduced Pandemic Thresholds | New 2022 Thresholds |
Gold Elite | 10 qualifying nights or 10,000 qualifying points | 7 qualifying nights or 7,000 qualifying points | 20 qualifying nights or 40,000 qualifying points |
Platinum Elite | 40 qualifying nights or 40,000 qualifying points | 30 qualifying nights or 30,000 qualifying points | 40 qualifying nights or 60,000 qualifying points |
Spire Elite (Now Diamond Elite) | 75 qualifying nights or 75,000 qualifying points | 55 qualifying nights or 55,000 qualifying points | 70 qualifying nights or 120,000 qualifying points |
So, if you don’t qualify for status under the reduced requirements before March, you’re going to have to complete a lot of stays this year, especially if you’re hoping to qualify for the upper tiers, as the requirement to qualify with points for the top-tier status is more than double compared to the reduced requirements.
And, since we don’t yet know what kinds of benefits each level of status will confer, it makes it hard for members to make the decision to know what, exactly, they’re trying to achieve by making an attempt to qualify.
Hot Tip: IHG One Rewards has noted that any stays from January 1, 2022, will count toward the new status levels when the new program goes live in March.
It’s hard to say whether these changes will turn out to be positive or negative, overall, for IHG One Rewards’ elite members. If you already have the IHG Premier card, you should be feeling pretty good right now, as your status will carry over and you’ll soon earn more bonus points on each IHG stay.
However, it’s soon going to require a lot more for non-IHG Premier cardholders to qualify for middle- and top-tier status, especially if you plan to do so by earning qualifying points. And, until we know what the new status levels will offer in terms of benefits and perks, it’s hard to make a call on whether making the effort to earn status will pay off.
As the old saying goes: only time will tell.
