Among major hotel groups, Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy, and World of Hyatt, all let you transfer points to other members at no cost, with some limitations. This is an area where IHG One Rewards has historically lagged, though that’s finally changing.
IHG now lets members transfer points for free
As of December 6, 2023, IHG One Rewards has rolled out a feature whereby members can transfer their points to other members, which can be done at this link. There are some terms to be aware of:
- This is available exclusively to IHG One Rewards Diamond members, as well as IHG Business Rewards members; all other members have to pay $5 per 1,000 transferred points (which is an awful deal, since that’s roughly what I value IHG points)
- Members may make transfers in increments of 1,000 points, up to 500,000 points per calendar year
- A new member can transfer or receive points 30 days after enrollment
Now, admittedly having to earn IHG Diamond status to use this perk is a pretty high threshold, as that’s IHG’s top status tier. However, virtually anyone can join IHG Business Rewards at no cost, and that would allow you to transfer your personal points balance to others at no cost.
Are IHG points transfers between accounts worth it?
While IHG One Rewards hasn’t historically allowed free points transfers, the program has made it easy to redeem points for others.
IHG’s official policy is that you can book a reward night for someone else by making a booking via IHG’s website out of your account, and then adding an additional name to the reservation. In other words, you’re basically just making a reservation for yourself, with a second guest listed. It’s weird that’s the official policy, but it is…
The way I view it, there are two main areas where this could be useful:
- This could be valuable for consolidating points toward a redemption, if a member doesn’t have enough points for an award, but if combining points would allow them to have enough points
- This could be valuable for someone with elite status, since it’ll be easier to take advantage of your own elite perks while redeeming points from others; then again, IHG also has the weakest elite recognition on award stays, so that’s of fairly limited use
Bottom line
IHG One Rewards has rolled out free points transfers for IHG Diamond and IHG Business Rewards members. Members can transfer up to 500,000 points to other members per year at no cost. While IHG Diamond status can be tough to earn, just about anyone can join IHG Business Rewards.
This is something to be aware of, but it’s not exactly that high value, since you could already redeem points for others, just without transferring them.
What do you make of IHG’s new points transfer feature?
Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.