IHG One Rewards · Guide
How to read an IHG award quote
IHG has no award chart at all. Its own FAQ says the points needed vary up and down just like cash rates, based on room cost, the Best Flexible Rate and demand, and can change daily. So there is nothing to look up and no tier to identify — you paste in what IHG quotes. What you can control is stay length, because a fourth night may be free, and that's what the calculator is built around.
Where each number comes from
| Field | Where the number comes from |
|---|---|
| Nights | Your stay. This one genuinely changes the answer — see the ladder on the calculator page. |
| Cash rate | Nightly rate on ihg.com before tax. Use the member rate. |
| Tax | From the cash quote. |
| Resort fee | Per night. IHG charges this on award stays, so it's owed either way — enter it and the ledger shows what a "free" night still costs. |
Show the remaining 8 fields
| Points quoted | Search on ihg.com with Reward Nights selected as your rate preference, and take the total for the stay. |
| Quote already has the free night | Tick this if you were signed in as a cardholder when you got the quote, since IHG applies the discount automatically. If unsure, compare the total to four times the nightly price. |
| Your point value | 0.5¢ default. IHG sells points at roughly that during its frequent 100%-bonus sales, which puts a soft ceiling on what they're worth. |
| Brand base earn | 10x at most IHG brands, 5x at Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites. |
| Elite tier | Club through Diamond. The Premier card grants Platinum automatically. |
| Card earn | 10x on IHG stays with the Premier card, 5x with Traveler. |
| Free fourth night | Tick if you hold a Premier, Premier Business, or Traveler card. |
| Cert cap | 40,000 points for the Premier anniversary night. Set to 0 if you have none. |
Reading the result
- The verdict works the same as the other calculators: cents per point delivered, against your floor.
- The ladder is the reason this page exists. It recalculates your rate at every stay length from one to eight nights, holding your nightly price constant. It isn't a smooth curve — it's a sawtooth. Four and eight nights are peaks; three and seven are troughs.
- If you're sitting on three nights, a flag appears telling you exactly what adding a fourth does. Usually it's the same points total for an extra night of stay, plus an extra elite night.
- Points ceiling replaces the chart: the most you should pay per night before cash wins at your cash rate. If IHG quotes above it, walk.
- Click any rung to load that stay length.
Watch for
- Points & Cash is not a discount. IHG describes the cash portion as an immediate purchase of the additional points needed. Judge it as "am I buying points at a good rate," not as a cheaper way to book — which is why there's no Points + Cash module on this calculator.
- IHG comps the actual fourth night, not the cheapest one. Marriott is the odd one out here — it discounts the lowest-priced night, while IHG and Hilton both zero out a fixed position in the stay. Whatever that night would have cost, it goes to zero, so a four-night block is a clean 25% saving.
- It repeats with no cap. An eight-night stay comps the fourth and eighth nights; a twelve-night stay comps three. There's no limit per stay or per year.
- One reservation, same property, consecutive nights. Splitting a long stay across bookings can stop the benefit triggering. It also doesn't apply to Points & Cash.
- Cancellations refund in points only, not cash, on both Reward Nights and Points & Cash bookings.