Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Why crediting Hertz car rentals to IHG One Rewards is surprisingly attractive

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As Hertz is not a British Airways Avios partner, you have historically had to find an alternative home for the rewards you earn on your Hertz car rentals.

The good news is that this is no longer the case.  You can now earn Avios with Hertz rentals by crediting them to Qatar Airways Privilege Club.

This is because Qatar Airways Privilege Club uses Avios as its currency, and you can transfer the Avios onwards to The British Airways Club.

crediting Hertz car rentals to IHG One Rewards is surprisingly attractive

You only earn 500 Avios per Hertz rental, however. There is a little known partnership between Hertz and IHG One Rewards – the Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, InterContinental etc hotel scheme – which is more generous.

IHG One Rewards offers elite members Five Star status with Hertz – click for more details – which comes with a free additional driver amongst other benefits.

ALL IHG One Rewards members, irrespective of status level, can earn points when they rent from Hertz.  Full details are on the IHG website here.

Here are the headline details:

  • You will earn 1,500 IHG One Rewards points per rental

plus

  • an extra 125 IHG One Rewards points per day for non-status members, or
  • an extra 500 IHG One Rewards points per day for status members

This is pretty generous, especially for Silver, Gold, Platinum or Diamond Elite members who are guaranteed at least 2,000 points per rental.

These points also count towards elite status in IHG One Rewards.

Earn IHG One Rewards points from Hertz

Here are the snags:

  • You must include the IHG CDP in your booking – this means that, whilst you benefit from the IHG discount of up to 35%, you are excluded from any more generous deals you may be able to access

Let’s assume that you value IHG points at 0.4p each, as we do.  A two day rental for a status member would earn 2,500 IHG points which is £10 of value.  A week-long rental would get you 5,000 IHG points valued at £20.

This compares well with the Avios deal via Qatar Airways Privilege Club. This will only get you 500 Avios, which I’d value at £5. It also beats the Virgin Atlantic deal with Hertz, which gets you 5 Virgin Points per £1 spent, and only on the base rental price.

As long as the IHG discount rate throws up a good price, this is one of the better hotel / car hire tie-ups and one you should try to remember. It may trump the opportunity to earn Avios from Hertz via Qatar Airways.

You can learn more about IHG One Rewards in our overview article here.


How to get FREE car rental status and other benefits via UK credit cards

How to get FREE car rental status and other benefits via UK credit cards (July 2025)

If you hire a car in the UK, you can get special benefits (discounts, upgrades, free additional drivers etc) if you have elite status with a car rental programme. You can get elite status for free via certain American Express cards.

The Platinum Card and The American Express Business Platinum Card

The Platinum Card from American Express and The American Express Business Platinum Card come with two free car hire status cards. Your supplementary Platinum cardholder can also receive status in their own right.

From Avis, you receive President’s Club status in Avis Preferred. This gets you up to 25% off standard rates, a free additional driver and a guaranteed one class upgrade. For weekend rentals you will receive a two class upgrade, subject to availability.

From Hertz, you receive ‘Five Star’ status in Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. This gets you up to 15% off standard rates, a free additional driver and a one class upgrade, subject to availability.

Hertz also offers Platinum cardholders a 4 hour grace period on rentals. Your final day is treated as 28 hours, so a 1pm pick up with a 5pm return the following day is only charged as one day, not two days. We wrote about the Hertz / Amex Platinum 4 hour grace period here.

The Platinum Card also comes with full car hire insurance with no obligation to pay for the rental via American Express. You can refuse any attempts to sell you additional insurance at pick up. This benefit has substantial value if you rent on a regular basis.

You can find more details on the two Platinum cards, and apply, in our full reviews linked below. You can apply here for the personal card and here for the business card.

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

The American Express Business Platinum Card

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is an excellent credit card in its own right. You receive 20,000 Membership Rewards points for signing up (convert to 20,000 Avios amongst other things), four airport lounge passes and £120 of Deliveroo credit. Even better, your first year is free.

There are two car rental benefits:

  • you receive Preferred Plus status in Avis Preferred
  • you receive a special package with Hertz – 10% off best available rates at participating locations, a one class upgrade for rentals of 5 days or more, subject to availability, and no additional driver fees

Find out more about the benefits of the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card in our review. You can apply here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

Comments (9)

  • mkcol says:

    I applied for the elite status via the IHG site by clicking a button, don’t recall there being anything else to do.
    That was several months ago and nothing has happened, so I’ve no idea how I’m meant to obtain this and hence have avoided Hertz.

    • John says:

      I did not click any buttons relating to this.** Last year I randomly got an email from IHG saying my Hertz status was upgraded to 5 star. I have not rented from Hertz since 2019 and my account seems to have been deleted anyway.

      **Not strictly true – I added my Hertz number and clicked a button in 2018 when I was IHG Spire and nothing happened.

  • barry cutters says:

    which hire company do people recommend generally.
    I have top tier with Hertz, Europcar, Avis and Enterprise and tend to use enterprise most but never seem to actually make any significant points or actually get any decent upgrades etc.

    Would i be best using hertz and crediting to airline or hotel instead

    • Rob says:

      In truth I just go with whatever seems cheapest and/or most convenient for where I am. Remember that car upgrades may NOT be convenient – if you’re used to driving a small car you don’t necessarily want to be forced into an SUV upgrade because they’ve given away the car you booked.

      • flyforfun says:

        And in a similar vein to Rob, you’re on a small remote Mediterranean Island and you know that all the locals have small cars to get through the narrow roads, yet the hire company wants to offload the massive show off SUV that nobody wants as a free upgrade….. won’t make that mistake again! 😀

      • Dace says:

        Completely agree. Most of the time when I am on roads I am not familiar with I pretty much want the smallest car possible as 1) I am unfamiliar with the roads and customs, 2) I am not used to driving a big car.

    • CamFlyer says:

      I prefer Sixt these days, with Hertz my second choice.

    • John says:

      I prefer local independent agencies

  • Michael says:

    Apologies if this is a dumb question but does anyone know how to select your preferred scheme to credit to?

    On the profile page of the Hertz website there’s a section called “ PARTICIPATING FREQUENT TRAVELLER/CUSTOMER LOYALTY REWARD PROGRAMMES” where it allows you to add as many as you want, including IHG.

    I have multiple schemes on my Hertz profile, but it doesn’t appear to let you choose a default one to credit to, what am I missing?

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