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Good news – spend on IHG’s UK hotel credit cards WILL continue to count for status

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Last week we ran a three part series on the new IHG One Rewards loyalty programme.

One change to the scheme, which is made very clear in IHG’s own material, is that points from spending on IHG credit cards will no longer count towards elite status.

I wasn’t surprised to see this go, because IHG was an outlier here. You don’t earn points towards Marriott Bonvoy or Hilton Honors status when you spend on their respective cards. The points you earn are treated as ‘non-base points’ in the same way as earnings from any other partner.

IHG credit card points count for status

That said, it was a smart move which did drive card use. I once qualified for Spire Elite status on the back of IHG spend, back when HMRC accepted UK personal credit cards with low fees.

IHG has been in touch with us, however, to say that there is an exception being made for the UK market.

Spending on the two Creation-issued IHG One Rewards credit cards WILL continue to count towards status.

This is particularly attractive for those with high credit card spending. Anyone putting £60,000 per year through the IHG Premium Mastercard would earn 120,000 points which would qualify you for the new Diamond Elite top tier. This comes with free breakfast at all IHG hotels, along with promises of – for once – meaningful upgrades, including potentially suites.

Don’t forget that Milestone Rewards are where the real benefits are

You need to remember one thing. In the new IHG One Rewards programme, the two best benefits:

  • free club lounge access, and
  • guaranteed, confirmed-in-advance, suite upgrades

…. are triggered by nights stayed and not base points earned. Even if you do spend enough on your IHG credit card to earn Diamond Elite status, you will NOT get the two benefits above. You can only earn these via ‘heads in beds’, which is a radical concept in hotel loyalty these days …..

IHG One Rewards update – April 2024:

Get bonus points: IHG One Rewards is offering 2,000 bonus points for every two cash nights you stay (not necessarily consecutive) between 1st April and 31st May 2024. You can read our full article here and you can register here.

New to IHG One Rewards?  Read our overview of IHG One Rewards here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our article on ‘What are IHG One Rewards points worth?’ is here.

Buy points: If you need additional IHG One Rewards points, you can buy them here.

Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from IHG and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.

Category

IHG One Rewards

Comments (96)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Roger says:
    22 Apr22 April 04:21

    Creation is Existing Customers only at the moment and not accepting new customers.

  • Jimmy says:
    22 Apr22 April 05:13

    Except they have canceled everyone who used the card with Curve and now there is clearly no way I am going to do 70 nights a year…

  • Cranzle says:
    22 Apr22 April 05:18

    Is this the same card and issuer that are cancelling cards, retaining fees and not honouring points/free nights? (I have only loosely following the debacle)

    I didn’t realise HfP have a direct relationship with them

    • Maciek says:
      22 Apr22 April 05:43

      Yes

    • ianM says:
      22 Apr22 April 07:58

      Creation not listed on their list of partners, but very surprised to see the card promoted

    • Benilyn says:
      22 Apr22 April 08:20

      He did say IHG got in touch as opposed to Creation

      • Matt says:
        22 Apr22 April 08:26

        It’s the best hotel benefits credit card so why wouldn’t you talk about it! I’ve still got the premium one so assume a lot of other HfP readers too.

      • Rob says:
        22 Apr22 April 09:00

        Creation has never paid us a penny, and IHG as a whole has (I think) never paid us a penny for anything in 10 years, except what they are contractually obliged to pay us for room bookings made via HfP.

    • qrfan says:
      22 Apr22 April 08:48

      I think you should re-check the “retaining fees” part. I got a full refund in the end. I remember having the impression at the time that it was a blanket thing rather than just for me. To be honest I’ve found Barclays/Barclaycard just as bad as Creation to deal with.

      • Alan says:
        22 Apr22 April 18:39

        Nope, lots of us never had fees refunded and lots of FOS complaints have gone in as a result – will be costing them more than just refunding us!

  • Nigerian Prince says:
    22 Apr22 April 06:27

    Correction, “Anyone putting £60,000 per year through the IHG Premium Mastercard would see their card cancelled and reward night/credit not honoured”.

  • Rob H says:
    22 Apr22 April 06:43

    Well that is something i guess. Assume the T+Cs have been amended accordingly?

  • Andy says:
    22 Apr22 April 07:09

    Would spend on virgin credit card and then those points transferred over to IHG count towards status?

  • BH says:
    22 Apr22 April 07:22

    Does anyone seriously think that spending 60 thousand pounds a year to get a free breakfast at an hotel is a good deal?

    • Rob says:
      22 Apr22 April 08:51

      Here’s the thing – it is. 10 nights x 2 people would be 20 breakfasts costing at least £300 (top IC hotels are nearer £40 per person, eg Paris).

      It’s an extra 0.5% return on your spend, plus the base points, plus allegedly better upgrades.

    • Alan says:
      22 Apr22 April 18:40

      If you’ve still got the card then absolutely as it has an excellent earning rate and the actively allow double dip payments when paying it off (as per their CS automated message that warns customers to double check their credit card issuer doesn’t charge fees).

  • Harry T says:
    22 Apr22 April 07:41

    Of course I’m in NYC for the Tool European tour 😂

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