Points
You can earn points by staying at hotels within the InterContinental Hotels Group's network – which includes InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Kimpton properties, among others – and by purchasing goods and services with IHG partner vendors, including Groupon, Grubhub and OpenTable, provided these services are purchased through an IHG channel. You can also earn points for activities booked on the IHG Trip Extras page. If you are an IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card holder or an IHG Rewards Club Traveler Credit Card holder, you can earn additional points at IHG properties worldwide and on purchases you make. You can also opt to donate your points to the IHG Foundation, an organization launched in 2016 that is dedicated to helping communities develop and overcome disasters through its beneficiaries like Goodwill Industries International.
Earning Points
The number of points you're able to earn depends on the hotel where you choose to stay. If you stay at a Staybridge Suites or Candlewood Suites property, you will earn five points for every dollar spent. InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, HUALUXE, EVEN Hotels, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Resort, Holiday Inn Express and Kimpton properties will award you 10 points for every dollar spent. Elite qualifying points, which are earned when paying for hotel stays and spending with partner vendors, will help you attain elite status within the program. Non-elite qualifying points, which include promotional points, purchased points and point transfers, can cover free nights or other award purchases but will not count toward your membership qualification.
In addition to earning points for stays at participating properties, you can rack up points for traveling, dining and shopping with IHG partners, such as Grubhub, OpenTable and a variety of retailers. Plus, you can earn extra points when you book IHG Trip Extras activities and use your IHG Rewards Club credit card. You can also choose to earn miles rather than points if noted in your IHG Rewards Club preferences, though conversion rates may vary by airline and you must be a member of that airline's frequent flyer program. If you need more points in a hurry, you can purchase points in 1,000-point increments with a cap of 100,000 points per year.
Using Points
Once you accumulate a certain number of points, you can use them to book reward nights, which are free nights at any InterContinental Hotels Group location in the world. The number of points required for complimentary nights ranges from 10,000 to 70,000 and varies by property. IHG also offers a PointBreaks program that allows you to redeem a rewards night for as little as 5,000 points at select hotels for a limited time.
You can also participate in the Points & Cash program, which allows you to contribute at least 5,000 points toward your stay and pay the rest in cash, cutting down on costs. The amount of points and cash needed varies by property. Below are the number of points needed for one free night in any room (ranging from standard rooms to premium rooms) in a selection of popular business and leisure destinations:
| Destination | No. of hotels | Cost of room in points |
| Honolulu | 1 | 40,000 |
| Paris | 16 | 15,000 - 70,000 |
| Orlando | 16 | 20,000 - 30,000 |
| New Orleans | 14 | 15,000 - 45,000 |
| Miami | 21 | 20,000 - 55,000 |
| Cancun | 2 | 35,000 - 40,000 |
| San Juan, PR | 0 | N/A |
| Los Angeles | 17 | 30,000 - 70,000 |
| Punta Cana | 0 | N/A |
| Vancouver | 0 | N/A |
| New York City | 34 | 20,000 - 70,000 |
| Las Vegas | 7 | 20,000 - 70,000 |
| Chicago | 14 | 20,000 - 50,000 |
| San Francisco | 7 | 35,000 - 55,000 |
| Charlotte | 16 | 15,000 - 45,000 |
| Washington, D.C. | 29 | 15,000 - 60,000 |
| Houston | 26 | 10,000 - 30,000 |
| Toronto | 10 | 20,000 - 45,000 |
| Boston | 14 | 20,000 - 55,000 |
| Atlanta | 25 | 15,000 - 40,000 |
The calculated costs shown above are based on booking searches conducted by U.S. News on July 12, 2019. We analyzed room rates for one-night stays arriving Saturday and departing Sunday four weeks from the research date. Only hotels with room availability that sit within a 15-mile radius of each destination are reflected in the above chart.
Points can also be used to cover flight costs. IHG's partnership with 44 air carriers, including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Alaska Airlines, allows points to be converted into frequent flyer miles. Points can also be redeemed for gift cards, magazine subscriptions, TSA Precheck fees and home appliances, among other offers. You may also donate your points to charity through the IHG Foundation.
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