IHG Hotels & Resorts is one of the world’s largest hotel management and hospitality companies. This U.K.-headquartered company has over 6,000 properties in more than 100 countries worldwide, making it easy to rack up points.
One of the great features of IHG One Rewards points is that they can be used in many different ways.
So if you’ve got a generous stash of these points sitting around and are looking for unique ways to redeem them, you should consider transferring IHG One Rewards points to airline partners.
We’ll show you how in this guide. Let’s begin!
IHG One Rewards Airline Transfer Partners
At the moment, IHG One Rewards has 37 airline partners, which is an astonishing number! Each program has unique transfer terms and conditions, but most of them transfer at a 5:1 ratio.
This means you’ll earn 1,000 airline miles with most of these partners when you transfer 5,000 IHG One Rewards points.
Transfers usually take around 14 to 21 days, which is appreciably faster than other hotel currencies that can sometimes take up to 2 months!
Here is the complete table of transfer partners, as well as the transfer ratios and minimum transfer amounts associated with each partner.
| IHG One Rewards Airline Transfer Partner | Minimum Transfer | Transfer Ratio (IHG:Airline) |
| Aeromexico Club Premier | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| Air China PhoenixMiles | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| Air France/KLM Flying Blue | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| Air Miles | 10,000 | 40:1 |
| Air New Zealand Airpoints | 10,000 | 400:1 |
| Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| American Airlines AAdvantage | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| ANA Mileage Club | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| Asiana Club | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| Avianca LifeMiles | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| British Airways Executive Club | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| China Eastern EasternMiles | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| China Southern Sky Pearl Club | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| Delta SkyMiles | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| EL AL Matmid | 10,000 | 250:1 |
| Emirates Skywards | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| Etihad Guest | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| Gulf Air Falconflyer | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Club | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| Iberia Plus | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| InterMiles | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| Japan Airlines Mileage Bank | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| JetBlue TrueBlue | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| Korean Air SKYPASS | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| LATAM Pass | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| Malaysia Airlines Enrich | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| MilleMiglia (through December 31, 2022) | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| Saudia Alfursan | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| United MileagePlus | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 10,000 | 5:1 |
| Virgin Australia Velocity | 10,000 | 5:1 |
Out of all the transfer partners above, just 3 of them stray away from the 5:1 transfer ratio.
Let’s look at some transfer examples:
- 5:1 ratio (the rate for the majority of partners) — Transfer 10,000 IHG One Rewards points to United and earn 2,000 United MileagePlus miles.
- 40:1 ratio — Transfer 10,000 IHG One Rewards points to Air Miles and earn 250 Air Miles.
- 250:1 ratio — Transfer 10,000 IHG One Rewards points to EL AL Matmid and earn 40 EL AL Matmid points.
- 400:1 ratio — Transfer 10,000 IHG One Rewards points to Air New Zealand Airpoints and earn up with 25 Airpoints.
Earning IHG One Rewards Points
One of the best ways to earn IHG One Rewards points is to use the co-branded credit cards issued by Chase. These cards earn up to 26 IHG One Rewards points total per dollar spent.
Recommended IHG One Rewards Cards
With the generous bonus categories and multipliers, it’s easy to earn lots of IHG One Rewards points.
However, if you’re short on IHG One Rewards points, you can transfer points from a Chase Ultimate Rewards credit card at a 1:1 ratio to IHG One Rewards. We don’t recommend this transfer because you’re almost guaranteed to devalue your points, and there are so many fantastic ways to redeem your Chase Ultimate Rewards points other than transferring them to IHG!
Recommended Chase Cards
How To Transfer IHG One Rewards Points
Unlike most other hotel programs, it’s not possible to transfer IHG One Rewards points without picking up the phone.
Luckily, the process is super easy. Simply call 888-211-9874 to transfer your points. Provide the agent with your IHG One Rewards number, choose which transfer partner you’d like to move points to, and confirm the transfer amounts.
Points are transferred in 14 to 21 days.
Should You Transfer to a Partner or Book Hotel Stays?
IHG One Rewards points are generally considered to be some of the most valuable. The rewards program is one of the “Big 4” hotel loyalty programs, alongside World of Hyatt, Marriott Bonvoy, and Hilton Honors.
We value IHG One Rewards points at 0.5 cents each, which means 10,000 points are worth around $50, but it’s certainly possible to get better (or worse) value, especially when redeeming at upscale or luxury hotels.
For example, the InterContinental Maldives Maamunagau Resort charges 100,000 IHG One Rewards points per night, while cash rates are usually around $1,100 per night, enabling you to get 1.1 cents per point in redemption value.
You probably won’t get that much value when booking a stay at your local Holiday Inn.
But if you don’t see yourself needing to book a stay at an IHG property anytime soon, you should consider transferring points to airline partners.
When It Makes Sense To Transfer IHG One Rewards Points
If you feel confident that you can get at least 2.5 cents for every airline mile you earn through IHG One Rewards transfers, then it makes sense to transfer IHG One Rewards points at a 5:1 ratio.
In most cases, getting 2.5 cents per mile from frequent flyer programs is difficult, unless you’re booking premium cabin flights via Saver-level award tickets.
Another situation when it makes sense to transfer IHG One Rewards points to frequent flyer programs is if you are just a few thousand miles short of what you need to book a specific flight.
If you need 50,000 Delta SkyMiles to book a flight but only have 48,000 SkyMiles, you can simply transfer 10,000 IHG One Rewards points to Delta and book it.
Other Ways To Use Your Points
In addition to free nights and airline miles, there are a handful of creative ways to redeem your IHG One Rewards points, including:
- Charitable donations
- Ambassador memberships
- Shopping
- Magazines
- Media (eBooks, games, music, movies, etc.)
Taking a closer look at each method, you can donate IHG One Rewards points in 2,500-point increments, up to 10,000 points in a single transaction. Eligible charities include The American Red Cross, The Global FoodBanking Network, and the National Urban League. It’s not clear what your donation will translate to in terms of value for the charity.
InterContinental Ambassador is a benefit program offering elevated elite recognition, room upgrades, late checkout, and more. Normally, a 12-month membership costs $200, but you can redeem 40,000 IHG Rewards points for it — a value of 0.5 cents per point.
When you shop for merchandise, your IHG One Rewards points will be worth around 0.2 to 0.4 cents each, depending on what you purchase.
Although the redemption catalog for magazines and media varies across geographies and locations, you’ll get an approximate redemption value of 0.3 to 0.4 cents per point. For example, a single issue of National Geographic is 1,550 IHG One Rewards points ($5.99 value) and a 12-issue subscription is 11,450 IHG One Rewards points ($39 value).
Bottom Line: IHG One Rewards points are worth up to 0.5 cents each through “alternate” redemptions, including an InterContinental Ambassador membership, shopping, and magazine subscriptions. Unfortunately, this redemption value is subpar, so we don’t recommend going out of your way to redeem points like this.
Combining IHG One Rewards From Multiple Accounts
IHG allows you to transfer points from one member to another for a flat rate of $5 for every 1,000 points. You can do this for an unlimited number of points.
So if you want to transfer 20,000 IHG One Rewards points to your friend, it’ll cost $100. Unfortunately, this negates much of the redemption value you’d get from any of your points, so we don’t recommend doing it.
Visit the transfer page and fill in the details to transfer your points to another member via points.com.
Redeeming IHG One Rewards Points
IHG One Rewards points can be very valuable when redeemed optimally. Our favorite way to redeem IHG One Rewards points is for hotel stays. That’s because you can squeeze outsized value from IHG’s reward pricing structure, especially at luxury properties.
For example, if you redeem your IHG One Rewards points for a peak-season hotel stay during a spring break holiday in Miami, you’re probably going to get great value.
The best way to figure out the value of your points on a particular booking is to compare your points price to the cash rate.
The second-best way to get lots of value from IHG One Rewards points is to transfer points to airline frequent flyer programs.
Final Thoughts
IHG One Rewards is a valuable hotel loyalty program used by those deep in the points landscape. Considered to be one of the “Big 4” loyalty programs along with Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy, and World of Hyatt, IHG One Rewards points are incredibly popular.
One of the best ways to redeem IHG One Rewards points (other than hotel stays) is to transfer them for airline miles.
Normally, you’ll transfer your IHG One Rewards points at a 5:1 ratio, but a few of the 35+ transfer partners have different transfer ratios.
Nonetheless, if you can get at least 2.5 cents per mile in redemption value (which is really only possible when redeeming for business or first class flights), then it makes plenty of sense to transfer IHG One Rewards points at a 5:1 ratio.
Whatever the case, we hope you’ve learned a bit about IHG One Rewards’ transfer partners and how to use them.
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