There are execs and cons to every lodge loyalty program. Among the many main lodge loyalty applications, World of Hyatt is my favourite, adopted by Marriott Bonvoy, adopted by Hilton Honors, adopted by IHG One Rewards.
There’s nonetheless quite a lot of worth with IHG One Rewards, particularly with the Milestone Rewards program, which lets you choose rewards when passing sure thresholds. On this publish I wished to take a more in-depth take a look at every little thing that you must find out about how this system works.
What are IHG One Rewards Milestone Rewards?
IHG One Rewards gives the Milestone Rewards program, whereby you obtain sure further perks for each 10 elite nights you rack up in a calendar 12 months, ranging all the best way from 20 elite nights to 100 elite nights. Potential perks embody confirmed suite upgrades, membership lounge entry, meals & beverage credit, and extra.
That is supposed to present members flexibility, as a result of at every threshold there’s a alternative of advantages that members can select from, primarily based on what’s most beneficial for his or her journey patterns.
These advantages are separate from the usual elite perks supplied for IHG One Rewards Platinum and IHG One Rewards Diamond standing, and might actually take the worth of your elite standing to the subsequent degree. For what it’s price, this program is an identical idea to World of Hyatt’s Milestone Rewards program.
Full record of IHG One Rewards Milestone Rewards advantages
There are totally different Milestone Rewards advantages for each 10 elite nights you earn in a calendar 12 months, starting from 20 elite nights to 100 elite nights. Earlier than we get into the main points, a few issues to notice:
- Even award nights depend towards this whole, so in concept you can earn Milestone Rewards simply by redeeming factors
- Whereas the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit score Card (evaluation) and IHG One Rewards Premier Enterprise Credit score Card (evaluation) supply Platinum standing only for having the cardboard, and supply Diamond standing with spending, you don’t obtain the corresponding elite nights; in different phrases, you don’t robotically obtain any Milestone Rewards advantages if you happen to earn standing with a bank card
With that out of the best way, let’s check out IHG Milestone Rewards thresholds.
IHG Milestone Rewards at 20 elite nights
At 20 elite nights, IHG One Rewards members can select one of many following Milestone Rewards perks:
- 5,000 bonus IHG factors
- Two meals & beverage rewards price $20 every
- A confirmable suite improve
IHG Milestone Rewards at 30 elite nights
At 30 elite nights, IHG One Rewards members can select one of many following Milestone Rewards perks:
- 5,000 bonus IHG factors
- Two meals & beverage rewards price $20 every
IHG Milestone Rewards at 40 elite nights
At 40 elite nights, IHG One Rewards members can select two of the next Milestone Rewards perks:
- 10,000 bonus IHG factors
- 5 meals & beverage rewards price $20 every
- A confirmable suite improve (restrict one)
- An annual lounge membership (restrict one)
IHG Milestone Rewards at 50 & 60 elite nights
At each 50 and 60 elite nights, IHG One Rewards members can select one of many following Milestone Rewards perks:
- 10,000 bonus IHG factors
- 5 meals & beverage rewards price $20 every
IHG Milestone Rewards at 60 elite nights
At 60 elite nights, IHG One Rewards members can select one of many following Milestone Rewards perks:
- 10,000 bonus IHG factors
- 5 meals & beverage rewards price $20 every
IHG Milestone Rewards at 70 elite nights
At 70 elite nights, IHG One Rewards members can select two of the next Milestone Rewards perks:
- 10,000 bonus IHG factors
- 5 meals & beverage rewards price $20 every
- A confirmable suite improve (restrict one)
- An annual lounge membership (restrict one)
IHG Milestone Rewards at 80, 90, & 100 elite nights
At 80, 90, and 100 elite nights, IHG One Rewards members can select one of many following Milestone Rewards perks:
- 10,000 bonus IHG factors
- 5 meals & beverage rewards price $20 every
IHG One Rewards Milestone Rewards advantages defined
All of this most likely sounds nice, however how do all of those advantages work logistically? What can confirmed suite upgrades be used for, how does the lounge membership work, how are you going to redeem meals & beverage credit, and so forth.? There are 4 totally different sorts of perks right here, so let’s go over the main points of every of those.
IHG confirmed suite upgrades
IHG One Rewards has a surprisingly aggressive confirmed suite improve idea. Right here’s how this works:
- These can be utilized to verify a collection improve for a keep of as much as 5 nights
- These can solely be utilized on money stays when reserving eligible charges, or on award nights booked with factors
- These could be utilized by calling IHG One Rewards buyer assist between 14 days and someday previous to arrival
- There’s no waitlisting mechanism right here, however reasonably if there’s a regular suite on the market, you’ll be able to verify it at the moment
- The improve could be as much as a regular suite, although if that’s not out there you’ll be able to verify an improve to a different premium room that’s not a collection
- Sooner or later there are plans for this course of to be attainable on-line, and for members to have the ability to waitlist upgrades, however that performance isn’t stay but
IHG annual lounge membership
Whereas IHG One Rewards Diamond members obtain complimentary breakfast, govt lounge entry isn’t in any other case a profit. The exception is that if you choose an IHG annual lounge membership as a part of the Milestone Rewards program:
- An annual lounge membership will get you entry to lounges for your entire 12 months during which it’s earned, plus the next 12 months (in different phrases, if earned in April 2024, it might be legitimate via December 31, 2025)
- This can be utilized to get membership lounge entry for a vast variety of stays, no matter whether or not you’re paying money or redeeming factors
- This can be utilized at nearly any IHG property with a membership lounge, together with InterContinentals
IHG meals & beverage rewards
Meals & beverage credit are one of many IHG One Rewards Milestone Rewards perks that may be chosen at every threshold:
- The meals & beverage credit can be posted digitally to your IHG account
- You may redeem them individually, or use a number of towards a single buy
- They’re legitimate for 12 months from after they’re issued, and don’t retain any residual worth
IHG bonus factors
At every Milestone Rewards threshold, IHG One Rewards members have the choice to pick bonus factors. These can be posted to your account if chosen. For context, I worth IHG factors at 0.5 cents every, so to me 5,000 factors are price $25 (whereas 10,000 factors are price $50).
Which IHG One Rewards Milestone Rewards are finest?
In case you ask me, the IHG One Rewards Milestone Rewards program is extraordinarily profitable. A number of normal ideas:
- In case you keep at IHG properties which have membership lounges with any frequency, then deciding on an annual membership lounge membership needs to be a no brainer, particularly since you’ll be able to select this with simply 40 elite nights
- Apart from the membership lounge membership, the confirmed suite upgrades are positively the perk with essentially the most potential worth
- In case you’re making an attempt to determine between the meals & beverage credit score and the IHG bonus factors, I’d typically select the meals & beverage credit score; for instance, on the larger thresholds you can select $100 price of meals & beverage credit or 10,000 bonus factors (which I worth at $50), so there’s an apparent winner there
IHG One Rewards Diamond standing requires 70 elite nights per 12 months, so let’s simply take a look at the worth of the Milestone Rewards if you happen to have been to earn 70 elite nights. In case you chosen essentially the most “helpful” choices (primarily based on how I view it), you’d obtain the next further perks:
- Three confirmed suite upgrades
- An annual membership lounge membership
- $340 price of meals & beverage vouchers
Govt lounge entry, three confirmed suite upgrades (every legitimate for as much as 5 nights), and $340 in meals & beverage credit isn’t half dangerous on prime of the usual elite perks, like free breakfast, room upgrades topic to availability, and so forth.
Backside line
IHG One Rewards gives the Milestone Rewards program, whereby you’ll be able to choose further perks for each 10 elite nights you earn in a calendar 12 months. That is thrilling, because it gives perks like membership lounge entry, confirmed suite upgrades, and extra.
Simply remember that Milestone Rewards are tied to what number of elite nights you earn, reasonably than being tied to your standing as such. So if you happen to earn standing with a co-branded IHG bank card, you’d nonetheless must earn the corresponding elite nights to be eligible for Milestone Rewards.
What’s your tackle IHG’s Milestone Rewards program?
