Strategically buying points can be a good value, especially for luxury hotel stays. IHG One Rewards has just launched a new sale on purchased points. Different members may be targeted for different offers, though it appears that the standard offer is in line with the best ones that we see from the program.
In this post:
Sale on purchased IHG One Rewards points
Between December 5 and December 11, 2025, IHG One Rewards is offering a bonus on purchased points. Different members may be eligible for different deals — the standard promotion seems to be for a 100% bonus. In order to unlock the best offer, you need to purchase at least 11,000 points in one transaction.
How much does it cost to buy IHG One Rewards points?
Ordinarily you can buy IHG One Rewards points for as little as one cent each (the pricing isn’t linear), before any discounts or bonuses. With that in mind, if you were eligible for a 100% bonus and purchased 300,000 IHG One Rewards points pre-bonus, you’d receive a total of 600,000 points at a cost of $3,000, which is a rate of 0.5 cents per IHG point.
IHG sells points quite often, and when the program does, the bonus is typically in the range of 80-100%. So the 100% bonus is as good as offers from the program get.
While the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (review) and IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card (review) offer a 20% discount on purchased points, that benefit only applies when buying points at the normal cost, and wouldn’t be applicable here.
How many IHG One Rewards points can you purchase?
IHG One Rewards ordinarily lets members purchase up to 150,000 points per calendar year, before any bonuses. However, during this promotion that cap has been increased to 300,000 points.
Which credit card should you buy IHG One Rewards points with?
IHG One Rewards points purchases are processed by points.com, meaning they don’t count as a hotel purchase for the purposes of credit card spending.
Therefore I’d recommend using a card on which you’re trying to reach a minimum spending requirement, or otherwise, a credit card that maximizes your return on everyday spending. See this post for more on which credit cards are best for buying points.
- Earn 1% cash back when you make a purchase, earn 1% cash back when you pay for that purchase
- $0
- Earn 3% Cash Back on Dining
- Earn 3% Cash Back at Drugstores
- Earn 1.5% Cash Back On All Other Purchases
- $0
- 2x points on purchases up to $50k then 1x
- Access to Amex Offers
- No annual fee
Is buying IHG One Rewards points worth it?
IHG One Rewards has dynamic award pricing, which means there’s no minimum or maximum number of points a hotel stay can cost. Rather, the cost of an award stay generally correlates somewhat to the cost of a revenue stay.
However, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get the same value with all hotel stays. There are many situations where you can get outsized value by buying points and then redeeming them, so let’s get into that in a bit more detail.
Tip: Get a fourth night free with an IHG credit card
You’ll get the most value from your IHG points if you have the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (review), IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card (review), or IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card (review).
That’s because the cards offer a fourth night free benefit, meaning that you can book a four night award stay for the cost of three nights. This is essentially the equivalent of 25% off in increments of four nights, since you can use this benefit an unlimited number of times.
At what hotels can you redeem IHG One Rewards points?
IHG has over 15 hotel brands, so there are lots of options for redeeming your IHG One Rewards points. IHG points can be redeemed at the following properties, among others:
- For luxury & premium hotels, there’s Six Senses, Regent, InterContinental, Kimpton and Hotel Indigo
- For mid-range and limited service hotels, there’s Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Candlewood Suites, Staybridge Suites, voco, and EVEN
How much are IHG One Rewards points worth?
Everyone will value points differently, but personally I value IHG One Rewards points at ~0.5 cents each, and I tend to value points pretty conservatively. So the purchase price is around what I value these points.
Do IHG One Rewards points expire?
For non-elite members, IHG One Rewards points expire after 12 months of inactivity. However, any sort of points earning or redemption activity would reset the expiration of your points. Furthermore, IHG One Rewards points don’t expire for elite members in the program.
Keep in mind that IHG elite status is quite easy to earn. Just for having the IHG Premier Card you receive Platinum status, without any sort of a spending requirement.
Does IHG One Rewards have blackout dates?
IHG One Rewards doesn’t have blackout dates on award nights, but the program does have capacity controls. What this means is that some number of standard rooms will be made available for award redemptions every night, but that doesn’t mean that all standard rooms are available for award redemptions.
Bottom line
IHG One Rewards is offering a sale on purchased points. Through December 11, 2025, IHG One Rewards is offering a promotion, and members seem to be eligible for up to a 100% bonus, which is an opportunity to buy points for 0.5 cents each.
There are instances where buying points can save you over 50% on the cost of a luxury hotel stay. I also think there’s value in having a “reserve” of IHG points, given the brand’s global footprint. You can get even more value out of buying IHG points in conjunction with the IHG Premier Card, which can get you a fourth night for free on award redemptions.
Do you plan on buying IHG points with a bonus?
No interest in Europe to use IHG points who are similar or above cash price.
4th night free on points is IHG’s superpower. We just booked 4 nights each in Seoul, Taipei, Hong Kong, and Osaka.
Just looked up an IHG property (Staybridge) I stay at each year. $94/night or 2941 points. So, just over 3 cents a point in value.
Hmm, are you sure that wasn't the minimum cash and points rate? I use IHG points regularly and I've never seen over 1cpp
Sorry, typo. Looked it up again. It's now $99/night or just under 30,000 points/night on a 7 day stay. So, you get about 0.3cpp on points that cost you (on sale) 0.5 cents.
Those are unappealing redemptions to me.
Easy to cherry pick exceptions. I travel when I want, not when the points look cheap because the rates are high.
I’m quite savvy, I regret buying points.
Those are unappealing redemptions to me.
Easy to cherry pick exceptions. I travel when I want, not when the points look cheap because the rates are high.
Beachfan, you may not want to be in Times Square for NYE but it is literally an event millions of people watch each year.
You may not want to go to Florida for Spring Break, but again, millions do it.
https://www.wesh.com/article/spring-break-central-florida-millions-fly-into-orlando/64185239
You may not want to go to Marci Gras in The big Easy, but over 1 million people do.
https://www.wesh.com/article/spring-break-central-florida-millions-fly-into-orlando/64185239
So did I did cherry pick but for some of the most popular things...
Beachfan, you may not want to be in Times Square for NYE but it is literally an event millions of people watch each year.
You may not want to go to Florida for Spring Break, but again, millions do it.
https://www.wesh.com/article/spring-break-central-florida-millions-fly-into-orlando/64185239
You may not want to go to Marci Gras in The big Easy, but over 1 million people do.
https://www.wesh.com/article/spring-break-central-florida-millions-fly-into-orlando/64185239
So did I did cherry pick but for some of the most popular things in the world.
So yes, my analysis is valid.
But you are choosing nights with sky high rates and calculating the value per pint off them.
I love flying JAL or CX F, but I’m not saving $15-$20k when I fly on miles because I wouldn’t pay that.
I think IHG is one of the easiest brands to get value from purchasing points. I booked a holiday inn express today. Cash rate was ~146 or 18000 points about .87cpp. I bought points for this stay and it saved me $56.
With Hilton it's almost never worth buying points.
The value of a point is what you redeem it for at the moment.
THE HI across from Universal Studios in Florida for Spring Break week 1 King Standard:
21K/$183/0.87cpp
Four nights:
59K/$730/1.24cpp
Kimpton Theta Times Square on NYE:
120K/$1082/0.90cpp
And it includes a variety of NYE perks.0
Kimpton Fontenot New Orleans on Fat Tuesday:
48.5K/$422 USD/0.87 cpp
Do you always get these levels of redemptions, of course not.
But smart IHG travelers...
The value of a point is what you redeem it for at the moment.
THE HI across from Universal Studios in Florida for Spring Break week 1 King Standard:
21K/$183/0.87cpp
Four nights:
59K/$730/1.24cpp
Kimpton Theta Times Square on NYE:
120K/$1082/0.90cpp
And it includes a variety of NYE perks.0
Kimpton Fontenot New Orleans on Fat Tuesday:
48.5K/$422 USD/0.87 cpp
Do you always get these levels of redemptions, of course not.
But smart IHG travelers know you can get these levels of redemptions. Thus they buy the points on sale and get stays at a bargain price.
Lucky, you are overvaluing their points. I think you’ve kept it at .5 cents through two or more devaluations.
With their latest devaluation, in France for example, less than 25 % of the hotels/dates for a months worth of dates , have redemptions that yield .5%.
Check the superior analysis in the flyertalk thread.
Last year IHG offered a buy up Diamond Elite status program combined with a year end points sale. I wonder whether they will offer that option again as I am holding off maximizing points purchases to have a sufficient number of spare points to purchase.