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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.

  • Alan says:
    22 Apr22 April 08:04

    Did you reply to IHG and ask them (a) about Creation closing lots of accounts previously and (b) not being open to new applications? Seems a bit weird they’ve created a ‘special exemption’ for the UK but don’t actually have a card provider that is open to new applications! Also are they planning on formally updating the T&Cs to make this exemption clear?

    • Chrisasaurus says:
      22 Apr22 April 08:36

      Is it perhaps that the terms of the creation agreement specify they are status earning points and hence they can’t change it til creation finally gtfo?

      • Rob says:
        22 Apr22 April 08:47

        This would be my guess, since Creation would lose out if IHG had made the change.

        • Andrew says:
          22 Apr22 April 10:00

          Given that Creation are relying on an IHG T&C that they can change benefits without notice to not pay out earned points and vouchers to people who had their cards closed it’d be a bit rich for them now to insist IHG not change a term making points status earning.

  • NorthernLass says:
    22 Apr22 April 08:13

    It’s not actually free breakfast for Diamonds at ALL IHG hotels – there are a couple of chains excluded, including Kimpton. From what I found out yesterday, IHG has no idea which Kimptons will be participating and the one I’ve asked (Seafire) said they definitely won’t be.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      22 Apr22 April 08:18

      I think the sea fire just hasn’t been told they are yet

      Exclusions:
      – Limited-service brands that already offer breakfast
      – Candlewood Suites
      – Holiday Inn Club Vacations
      – InterContinental Alliance Resorts (Las Vegas and Macau)​
      – Mr. and Mrs. Smith properties

      Select Kimpton properties. Update: IHG has informed us that all Kimpton properties will offer the free breakfast amenity.

      • NorthernLass says:
        22 Apr22 April 08:39

        Excellent, thanks @TGLoyalty! I need to find that. This would be extremely useful for us as the Seafire charges $100 per room for breakfast plus an eye-watering $80 per day “resort fee” covering spurious items like yoga mats 😱

        • Tariq says:
          22 Apr22 April 12:00

          I hope that you at least get to keep the yoga mat at that price…!

          • Mike says:
            22 Apr22 April 17:13

            Is that one yoga mat per person per day

          • NorthernLass says:
            22 Apr22 April 19:52

            Nope – you get “free” beach yoga sessions to use it with during your stay, but I am betting there will be pressure to tip the instructor generously …

        • Colin MacKinnon says:
          22 Apr22 April 18:59

          Anna, IHG points nights include all taxes and fees.
          Take a screenshot from the web page of the price/points page with and without the “include all fees and charges” button on and off.
          You’ll see that while the price changes the points don’t.
          Also point out it is illegal in the UK, where you are based and from where you booked, to advertise room rates with hidden extras.
          Ultimately, mention this at checkout to avoid being in the room by the bins and then do a chargeback when they close it off your card.
          And don’t go surfing on that spurious yoga mat!

          • NorthernLass says:
            22 Apr22 April 19:49

            It’s been tried and tested and they insist on you paying the resort fee. I think it is mentioned on the booking page, tbh. IHG is not like Hilton which guarantees no fees on reward stays. They are ruthless in GCM though – I was charged hidden “taxes” in a stay at another property I booked via hotels . com and wouldn’t let us check in until we paid up. In the end I claimed it back from hotels . com as they weren’t aware of the extra charge but technically should have displayed it.

      • Alan says:
        22 Apr22 April 18:42

        Yep that was the list I saw too and was planning some Kimpton stays as a result, would be annoyed if they were excluded!

  • Don says:
    22 Apr22 April 08:32

    Will Indigo hotels on rewards stays provide free breakfasts for Diamonds?

    • NorthernLass says:
      22 Apr22 April 08:41

      I was under the impression that this will be the case. I spoke to someone at the Indigo Bath the other day and they said we would have got breakfast if the stay had been in June but they can’t offer it till then as they won’t get any reimbursement from IHG.

      • NorthernLass says:
        22 Apr22 April 08:57

        Having said that, I thought I had read that benefits would be offered on reward stays, but looking at the Ts and Cs on the IHG website, it suggests not.

        • Rob says:
          22 Apr22 April 09:01

          It is unofficially comfirmed that reward nights get free breakfast and lounge access, if you qualify for the latter.

          • NorthernLass says:
            22 Apr22 April 09:19

            I think I’m going to need hard evidence to get the Seafire to co-operate (GCM is renowned in general for hoovering every last cent out of visitors, even with its already eye-watering prices).
            The IHG website says:
            Non-Qualifying Rates: Members will not earn Points and/or enjoy Member benefits during a Stay on most Non-Qualifying Rates. This restriction includes but is not limited to: earning Points on food and beverage purchases, parking, in room dining, movies, and any other incidental charges incurred during the Member’s Stay on a Non-Qualifying Rate. Non-Qualifying Rates include:
            Hotel provided complimentary rooms
            Reward Night/Free Night*
            Employee Discount Rate*
            Airline or travel partner passenger rate due to travel delays
            Online Travel Agency or Third-Party Channel bookings (e.g., Expedia, Travelocity, Priceline, etc.)
            Rates provided by tour operator/wholesaler
            Seasonal Worker/Crew Rate
            50% Travel Club Discount Rate: includes entertainment discount booklet rates (e.g., Encore)

            From that I deduce that a reward night is a non-qualifying stay, and that this would make it ineligible for the new member benefits. Presumably under the new system this also might exclude the old drinks/points options?!

          • Rob says:
            22 Apr22 April 09:49

            This is what it says, correct, but IHG has been telling all the media who have questioned this that the T&C are wrong.

          • Alan says:
            22 Apr22 April 18:43

            I thought it was official and confirmed going by the description of the benefits on the IHG website?

        • Marcw says:
          22 Apr22 April 13:19

          Last time I checked, it said benefits apply on reward nights. Around clause 50, iirc.

          • NorthernLass says:
            22 Apr22 April 17:35

            You are right, it is Section 51. But that directly contradicts the section I quoted previously!

          • Alan says:
            22 Apr22 April 18:44

            Yep that’s what I thought too. The general website stuff agrees breakfast will be provided too.

  • Matarredondaaa says:
    22 Apr22 April 09:39

    Thanks Rob for the new the about both the black and white cards which together have provided me with a good few free nights since introduction.

  • Ruralite says:
    22 Apr22 April 09:53

    Anyone stayed at any IHG hotel since the new membership levels were given & had new status recognised? I know June is the main start date for free breakfast etc but I have a couple of stays booked now as a Diamond Elite, the first in a week or so (Glasgow Voco) & wondered if it will make any discernible difference?

    • Matt says:
      22 Apr22 April 09:57

      Checking into the IC park Lane this afternoon. Will let you know!

      • Matt says:
        22 Apr22 April 18:40

        Poor recognition at IC PL today. Diamond elite. The drinks vouchers are now limited to house wine, beer or coffee. Last year I was allowed a cocktail. No upgrade either.

    • Rob says:
      22 Apr22 April 10:40

      None of the new benefits kick in until June, in theory. Of course, IHG is saying that the upgrades should have been given all along but hotels simply weren’t bothering and IHG wasn’t bothering to police it.

    • Alan Todd says:
      22 Apr22 April 10:42

      Nothing at Kimpton in Edinburgh last weekend.

    • mvcvz says:
      22 Apr22 April 10:55

      I am now a Diamond Elite member (having been Spire Elite since its inception) and will be checking into a US Crowne Plaza for four nights on 01 June 2022. My room rate does not include breakfast, so it will be very interesting to see if this is offered without prompting.

      • Rob says:
        22 Apr22 April 11:06

        They are saying ‘early June’ ….

        • mvcvz says:
          22 Apr22 April 11:41

          Precise as ever…

        • Munch says:
          22 Apr22 April 13:59

          The IHG FAQ’s state the following
          “As part of the Welcome Amenity choice at check-in, beginning in May, Diamond Elite members now have the additional choice of a free daily hot breakfast for up to two guests.”
          So is breakfast from May not early June?

          • CamFlyer says:
            22 Apr22 April 14:11

            Very important distinction, as I am contemplating a stay at a UK CP in early May!

            The news about CC spend being points earning is very welcome. I doubt that I’ll requalify for Diamond, but it will get me to pull the IHG black card back out of the drawer where it was resting until my free night counter reset. I go back and forth as to whether VS points (on the free card) or IHG points (on the black card) are better for my non-Amex spend. Not helped by the fact that IHG have been unable to send me a new PIN to accompany the replacement card after my old one got lost under the seat of a rental car on holiday last year, so I’m limited to online spend.

          • Rob says:
            22 Apr22 April 14:57

            Hmmm …. interesting. Let’s see!

    • Colin MacKinnon says:
      22 Apr22 April 19:07

      Just in a HIE and been upgraded on a points booking to a suite – two rooms knocked together.

      But no extra plastic glasses!

  • SamW says:
    22 Apr22 April 10:03

    Hi Rob

    Can you please advise what IHG status the two IHG Creation Credit Cards provide under the new IHG One Rewards? Or if we don’t know yet is it possible for you to ask IHG? I have the annual fee paying card.

    Neither IHG or Creation call centres seem to know the answer.

    Thanks

    • Rob says:
      22 Apr22 April 10:39

      Free card gets Silver. Not heard about changes to the paid card so potentially it retains Platinum.

  • Tobeman says:
    22 Apr22 April 10:04

    This makes the Creation CC I held on to for reasons unknown interesting again, but what is the deal with linking it to Curve and spending on that? Are they still cancelling your card for breaking some T&Cs?

  • Qrfan says:
    22 Apr22 April 10:28

    Only if you’d actually pay £40 per person for breakfast, and in cities like Paris you’re simply kidding yourself if you think there aren’t other options for a fraction of that amount. Breakfast at £40 should be treated in the same way you treat a first class avios redemption with a nominal cost of £4k i.e. not a genuine cash saving for the vast majority.

    • NorthernLass says:
      22 Apr22 April 10:44

      But it’s free compared to the £10 upwards you’d spend elsewhere. Also you will very possibly get the choice of buffet plus menu item, you won’t have to pay for coffee/tea/juice on top of the food and you don’t have to be fully ready to go out before you have the hotel breakfast! Just me but I like to go back upstairs and clean my teeth after breakfast or it bugs me all morning 😂

    • optomdad says:
      22 Apr22 April 11:01

      It’s not just the cost of the breakfast that counts. We find when staying at a nice hotel on holiday, one of the most relaxing parts of the break is being able to sit in the hotel and take a leisurely breakfast while reading and relaxing, and when in a hotel there is generally no rush to pushed out. And no stress if you need to pop back to the room. In my case, I always come down an hour before my wife, and get a couple of cups of coffee and do my work emails before she heads down. When this is free, it can add way more than the actual monetary cost of the breakfast.

    • rob keane says:
      22 Apr22 April 11:20

      The benefit is not just the cost, the benefit is the convenience of being able to waltz down to the breakfast room and get it in-house, without having to spend time in an unfamiliar area finding a decent breakfast at a decent price.

    • Aston100 says:
      22 Apr22 April 12:22

      I think some people just want the bragging rights TBH.

      • Rob says:
        22 Apr22 April 12:45

        This is just an example of knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing.

        Take a look at the pics of my Amstel breakfast table from a couple of weeks ago. It’s a pleasure to sit in that luxurious dining room with only a handful of other people for an hour or so whilst the staff deliver pretty much anything I want to my smartly laid table and the river floats past outside the window.

        If you’re willing to spend £150 on a dinner for two then I don’t see why you wouldn’t be prepared to pay £80 for a luxurious breakfast for two.

        • mvcvz says:
          22 Apr22 April 12:56

          Agreed. Agreed. Agreed.
          Cost and value are entirely distinct concepts.

        • qrfan says:
          22 Apr22 April 14:59

          I just cannot see how you can reconcile that argument with “The additional Avios you spend for First over Club World give you intrinsic satisfaction and perceived value, but do not translate to a hard cash saving.” Its the same deal. The breakfast is nice. It might be worth £40 to someone, but unless you’d spend £40 on it, it’s not a hard cash saving. I know more people who pay cash for first than I know who would spend £40 per head per day on breakfast, but maybe that’s just me.

          • Rob says:
            22 Apr22 April 15:26

            We never said it was a hard cash saving. If you scroll up my calculation was based on 20 breakfasts at £15, which is realistic. I also didn’t say that you’d be eating week after week of £40 breakfasts – I’m saying that if you’re at a luxury hotel for 1-2 nights it would be a shame not to do it.

            That said, if you’re at a resort hotel and the choice is £40 breakfast or don’t eat, I’m assuming you’d pay it. My wife is very much of the view that if we won’t pay for things in a hotel, we shouldn’t stay there in the first place.

            You really need to get away from value vs price though, because you just end up with a sad grey life otherwise. It is possible, on your death bed, you will be inherently grateful that you never ate a slap up breakfast in a 5+ star hotel in your life, and your kids will now be £40 better off, but I doubt it.

          • marks7389 says:
            22 Apr22 April 17:07

            I’d wager most people reading this, and certainly weighing up whether to spend on hotel breakfasts, are doing so because they travel for leisure. So it’s not really a question of not living a sad grey life, but one of budget and how you want to spend it according to what you value. Clearly a one-off £40 breakfast on its own will make little difference, but frankly probably not something you’re going to be thinking about on your death bed anyway 😉

        • Sussex bantam says:
          22 Apr22 April 15:42

          As someone about to spend 6k on two nights at the Star Wars hotel in Disneyworld I wholeheartedly agree with Robs sentiment !

          • Mike says:
            22 Apr22 April 17:16

            May the points be with you

          • The Savage Squirrel says:
            22 Apr22 April 17:22

            Haha. I do too actually, but even as a huge Star Wars fan that one was a bit rich for me. You can frame the choice as spend now vs leave to kids, but if you frame the choice instead as spend now vs spend now on a whole other holiday then the maths looks different and I tapped out! Vicariously excited for you though, and would love to see a report of what you make of it (I value HfP readers opinions far higher than general Tripadvisor nonsense).

          • Sussex bantam says:
            22 Apr22 April 19:42

            @savagesquirrel – my logic was exactly that. I’m 50 this year, have been a Star Wars fan all my life and can afford it – so why not ?

            Clearly it can’t possibly be worth that amount of money but im in the happy position to do it anyway !

            Going in august and will gladly report back. Trying to avoid spoilers at the moment but every repeats are pretty positive !

          • Sussex bantam says:
            22 Apr22 April 19:47

            Early reports – not every repeats !!

        • NorthernLass says:
          22 Apr22 April 20:21

          I agree, it’s utterly civilised! 9 times out of 10 we have breakfast at the hotel, I only make an exception if I feel they are seriously overcharging for what they provide. Usually though, you can get a reasonable rate by adding it at time of booking or going via Emyr.

          • NorthernLass says:
            22 Apr22 April 20:22

            That was in answer to Rob on the breakfast experience!

            Though I would secretly love to stay at the Star Wars hotel, and I’m not even a Star Wars fan …

          • marks7389 says:
            22 Apr22 April 21:39

            Haha, not so secret now 😉

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