IHG Milestone Rewards: Your choices and what to decide on

In 2022, IHG launched its new IHG One Rewards program. One compelling facet of this program is the power to earn IHG Milestone Rewards for each 10 nights you keep, beginning at simply 20 nights in a calendar 12 months.

You may earn bonus factors, meals and beverage rewards, confirmable suite upgrades and even an annual lounge membership as Milestone Rewards. This is what that you must find out about IHG Milestone Rewards.

You could be questioning what a few of these Milestone Rewards entail. If that’s the case, this is a take a look at the small print of every IHG Milestone Rewards possibility primarily based on the IHG member terms and conditions.

Associated: The award traveler’s guide to IHG One Rewards

Bonus factors

Bonus factors are an easy reward possibility which you can choose at every degree. For those who select bonus factors, IHG will deposit the factors into your account. Based mostly on TPG’s valuations, 5,000 IHG One Rewards factors are price $25, and 10,000 IHG One Rewards factors are price $50.

Associated: 7 ways to earn more IHG One Rewards points for your next redemption

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Meals and beverage rewards

Just like bonus factors, you possibly can select meals and beverage rewards at every milestone. Every meals and beverage award voucher is price as much as $20.

As soon as you choose meals and beverage rewards at a milestone, you possibly can redeem these rewards towards meals and beverage costs throughout a keep. Nonetheless, you possibly can’t use meals and beverage rewards for:

• Merchandising machines
• Third-party meals deliveries (akin to Uber Eats)
• Eating places that don’t enable costs to a visitor room invoice
• Present retailers
• Taxes on minibar costs
• Stays as a part of a bunch, package deal tour or conference the place a 3rd get together is paying

You may redeem meals and beverage rewards in any respect IHG manufacturers besides Vacation Inn Membership Holidays and IHG Army Hotels. You can also’t use meals and beverage rewards throughout stays at Iberostar Beachfront Resorts, Mr & Mrs Smith properties and InterContinental Alliance Resorts in Las Vegas and Macao.

Most properties let you redeem vouchers to cowl gratuities on meals and beverage transactions. Know, although, which you can solely use every voucher as soon as, so ensure your meals and beverage costs are larger than the worth of the meals and beverage vouchers. You will earn IHG factors in your meals and beverage steadiness after vouchers are utilized.

Your meals and beverage vouchers will expire 12 months after you choose them as a Milestone Reward. Lastly, be aware that meals and beverage rewards aren’t transferable, so you possibly can solely apply them to your room invoice.

Associated: How to earn and redeem IHG food and beverage rewards

Confirmable suite improve

You may select one confirmable suite improve after staying 20 and 40 nights in a calendar 12 months. Moreover, you possibly can select two confirmable suite upgrades after staying 70 nights in a calendar 12 months. Though you possibly can select two rewards after staying 40 and 70 nights in a calendar 12 months, you possibly can solely choose confirmable suite upgrades as soon as at every milestone.

You may apply a confirmable suite improve to most immediately booked charges, together with reward nights and choose company and package deal charges. Nonetheless, you possibly can’t use a confirmable suite improve for those who booked one of many following:

• Group charges, package deal excursions or conference stays the place a 3rd get together is paying
• Stays utilizing an IHG free night certificate or InterContinental Ambassador complimentary weekend night (IHG plans to ultimately make these stays eligible)
• Non-qualified charges (akin to wholesale charges and people booked by way of on-line journey businesses)
• Worker charges
• Pay as you go charges for which a deposit is already utilized
• Some hotel-defined packages
• Stays by way of https://www.anaihghotels.co.jp/ or Japan lodges’ impartial websites

You need to use a confirmable suite improve to improve one room to an entry-level suite (or a premium room if a collection is not accessible) on a keep of as much as 5 nights. You have to contact IHG buyer care between 14 days and 24 hours earlier than check-in to use a collection improve to a reservation. Nonetheless, be aware that suite stock is unavailable at some properties and restricted at others.

Suppose you cancel your keep after making use of a confirmable suite improve to your reservation. In that case, IHG will redeposit your improve into your rewards pockets for those who cancel earlier than the time-frame outlined by the lodge’s cancellation coverage.

Confirmable suite upgrades expire 12 months after being chosen by way of the IHG Milestone Rewards program. These upgrades are nontransferable and may solely be utilized to the member’s room. You need to use confirmable suite upgrades at most IHG properties besides:

• Avid Accommodations
• Atwell Suites
• IHG Military Accommodations
• Vacation Inn Membership Holidays
• IHG Residences
• Mr & Mrs Smith properties
• InterContinental Alliance Resorts (Las Vegas and Macao)
• Iberostar Beachfront Resorts

Lastly, for those who use a confirmable suite improve to safe a membership room, you won’t get club-level perks as part of your upgrade. You can also’t stack a confirmable suite improve with a assured improve (such as you’d get with InterContinental Ambassador). Any improve above the room secured with a confirmable suite improve is on the lodge’s discretion.

Associated: What credit card should you use for IHG stays?

Annual lounge membership

You may choose an annual lounge membership on the 40-night or 70-night milestone. For those who accomplish that, you will get a lounge membership by way of the top of the present calendar 12 months, plus a further 12 months. So, if you choose a lounge membership as a Milestone Reward in January, you will maintain it by way of the top of the next 12 months.

When you have a lounge membership, you and a visitor will get entry to the lodge’s membership lounge and facilities inside the lounge when staying at IHG properties with a membership lounge. You should be on a qualifying keep, though IHG’s member terms and conditions state that reward nights, free nights and stays booked by way of an internet journey company are eligible. Nonetheless, stays at Mr & Mrs Smith properties and InterContinental Alliance Resorts in Las Vegas and Macao aren’t eligible.

You will get entry throughout your keep or till checkout, although properties can prohibit your entry resulting from “renovations, closures, or different facility limitations.” Moreover, lounge membership doesn’t get you membership lounge facilities or providers past the bodily lounge.

Associated: Everything you need to know about IHG One Rewards’ annual lounge membership

Redeeming IHG Milestone Rewards

When you attain a milestone, IHG will ship you an electronic mail. This electronic mail will state the date by which it’s essential to choose your Milestone Reward and supply a hyperlink you possibly can click on to pick your reward.

You may also test your progress towards incomes one other Milestone Reward when logged in to your IHG account. For instance, my IHG Milestone Rewards abstract exhibits that I would like to remain 13 extra nights this calendar 12 months to earn a 20-night Milestone Reward.

I would suggest ready till the final minute to decide on IHG Milestone Rewards except you wish to select bonus factors, a confirmable suite improve to use to a keep within the subsequent 14 days or a lounge membership you propose to make use of earlier than the top of the 12 months. In spite of everything, meals and beverage rewards, confirmable suite upgrades and annual lounge memberships expire primarily based on when you choose them.

Associated: How to maximize redemptions with the IHG One Rewards program

Which IHG Milestone Rewards are greatest?

There is no proper reply to which IHG Milestone Rewards are greatest. That is a part of the worth: You may select what’s most beneficial to you.

It is troublesome to place a price on a confirmable suite improve or an annual lounge membership, as these advantages rely upon how you will use them and the way a lot worth they will add to your keep. The worth of an annual lounge membership additionally is dependent upon what number of instances you will get IHG membership lounge entry as a advantage of your membership.

Even the selection of bonus factors or meals and beverage rewards is not clear-cut. Though TPG solely values IHG One Rewards factors at 0.5 cents every, I can normally get nearer to 1 cent of worth when redeeming IHG points.

I can not inform you which IHG Milestone Rewards will likely be greatest for you, however this is how I rank the alternatives at every milestone:

• 20 nights: My first alternative could be a confirmable suite improve since it will be good to ensure a collection for one keep within the subsequent 12 months. My second alternative could be 5,000 bonus factors since I worth these factors at about $50, and my third alternative could be two $20 meals and beverage rewards since these are price as much as $40.
• 30 nights: My first alternative could be factors, and my second alternative could be meals and beverage rewards for a similar motive as above.
• 40 nights: My first alternative in some years could be an annual lounge membership. Nonetheless, I presently have an annual lounge membership legitimate by way of the top of the following calendar 12 months, so selecting one other one this 12 months would not present further worth. My second alternative could be a confirmable suite improve since if I keep 40 nights annually, I can probably get good worth from one other confirmed improve. My third alternative could be 10,000 bonus factors since I worth these factors at about $100, however I can get extra worth on some redemptions. My fourth alternative could be 5 $20 meals and beverage rewards since this reward is price as much as $100.
• 50 nights: My first alternative could be factors, and my second alternative could be meals and beverage rewards for a similar motive as above.
• 60 nights: My first alternative could be factors, and my second alternative could be meals and beverage rewards for a similar motive as above.
• 70 nights: My first alternative could be two confirmable suite upgrades because it’s probably the most helpful possibility at this milestone. My second alternative could be an annual lounge membership if I did not choose one as a 40-night Milestone Reward and did not have already got one legitimate by way of the top of the following calendar 12 months. My third alternative could be 10,000 bonus factors since I worth these factors at about $100, however I can get extra worth on some redemptions. And my fourth alternative could be 5 $20 meals and beverage rewards since this reward is price as much as $100.
• 80 nights: My first alternative could be factors, and my second alternative could be meals and beverage rewards for a similar motive as above.
• 90 nights: My first alternative could be factors, and my second alternative could be meals and beverage rewards for a similar motive as above.
• 100 nights: My first alternative could be factors, and my second alternative could be meals and beverage rewards for a similar motive as above.

Associated: How much value does IHG One Rewards status provide when you book directly?

Beforehand, we might each relied on the Platinum Elite standing supplied as an automated cardholder perk of the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card and did not fear about accruing a particular variety of nights with IHG annually. However with the addition of breakfast as a welcome amenity alternative for Diamond Elite members and Milestone Rewards, there’s now a compelling argument for us to focus our IHG stays on certainly one of our accounts.

Even for those who do not plan to earn IHG elite status, you should still wish to purpose to remain a minimum of 20 nights annually to earn a Milestone Reward. In spite of everything, you possibly can choose 5,000 bonus factors, two $20 meals and beverage rewards or one confirmable suite improve after staying simply 20 nights in a calendar 12 months.