IHG One Rewards with Chase points: price the stay first

Is IHG still a Chase transfer partner?

Yes, on Chase's own page. Chase's guide to transferring Ultimate Rewards points lists four hotel partners: IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, World of Hyatt and Wyndham Rewards. It says points can typically only be transferred in increments of 1,000, that transfers to travel partners are final, and that while many transfers process by the next business day, they may take up to 7 business days. Some older articles say otherwise, which is why this page cites the issuer rather than a summary.

Chase does not print a ratio for IHG on that public guide. The rate is shown in the Ultimate Rewards portal when you choose the partner. This page uses 1:1 as a labelled assumption for its arithmetic; if your portal shows a different rate, replace the number and the method still works.

IHG is a narrower partner across the other banks. Bilt's help center article on transfer partners, updated October 20, 2026, lists IHG One Rewards at 1:1. Amex's transfer page and Capital One's partner list, both read the same day, do not include IHG. Citi's public card page names its partners as American Airlines, JetBlue, Virgin Atlantic, Cathay, Eva Air, Choice Hotels, The Leading Hotels of the World and others, and does not name IHG. So among the five currencies this site tracks, Chase and Bilt are the two whose own pages show a door into IHG.

How IHG prices a Reward Night

IHG publishes the rule, not the price. Its Reward Nights page says the amount of points members must redeem for a Reward Night at a given hotel varies up and down just like cash rates, based on factors such as the cost of the room, the Best Flexible Rate and demand. It adds that point amounts by hotel can vary daily, and that for a multi-night stay you see both an average-point amount and a daily-point amount.

Two further rules on the same page shape a transfer decision. Once you book, the points requirement is locked in: the page says that if the hotel's points requirement later goes up or down, it will not affect your original booking. And Reward Nights start at 5,000 points; the FAQ dates that figure to November 2022 and says the actual number for a hotel on a date varies with room cost, seasonality, demand and other variables.

The consequence is that there is no IHG chart to budget from. The hotel points budget guide explains how to set a budget for programs that price this way; for IHG, the search result for your exact nights is the only number that matters, and it can be different tomorrow.

The fourth-night term, quoted from the card offer

The term that most changes IHG arithmetic is not an IHG program rule. It is a benefit attached to certain IHG co-brand cards, and Chase's IHG One Rewards Premier card page states it. This page quotes it only as a fact that applies if your card lists it, because whether a card belongs in your life is a credit decision, not a points one.

The page calls it Redeem Three Nights, Get Fourth Reward Night Free. Its terms say that for each standard room Reward Night stay of 4 or more nights, every 4th night is free; it applies only to 4 or more consecutive nights within the same Reward Night redemption at the same property; eligible members are charged the Reward Night rate for the first 3 nights and 0 points for the 4th; and the benefit can be used on an unlimited number of stays a year. It does not apply to paid stays or Points & Cash bookings.

Two conditions are easy to miss. If the reservation is cancelled, or you check out before the 4th night, the terms say the 4th Reward Night is forfeited and has no cash or point value. And you remain responsible for incidental charges such as parking and for mandatory resort fees where a hotel charges them.

• Standard room Reward Nights only, not premium rooms.
• Four or more consecutive nights, one property, one Reward Night booking.
• The fourth night is the one priced at 0 points; the first three are charged at their own nightly rates.
• Not available on Points & Cash or paid stays.
• Leaving early or cancelling forfeits the free night.
• Resort fees and incidentals stay with the guest.

Pricing a four-night stay both ways

The term's value depends on which night falls fourth, because IHG prices each night separately. Here is an arithmetic illustration with stated inputs, not a live rate. A four-night stay at one IHG hotel, Thursday to Monday, shows nightly Reward Night prices of 30,000, 45,000, 45,000 and 30,000 points, 150,000 in total. The cash rates for the same nights are $190, $290, $290 and $190, $960 in total, and the illustration assumes a $35 nightly resort fee that the guest pays either way.

Without the fourth-night term, the stay costs 150,000 IHG points for $960 of room rate: 0.64 cents per point on this booking. With the term, the first three nights are charged and the fourth costs 0, so the stay costs 120,000 points: 0.80 cents per point. The resort fee does not change the comparison here, because the illustration assumes the guest pays it on both the cash and the points stay.

Now move the stay one night later, Friday to Tuesday, with nightly prices of 45,000, 45,000, 30,000 and 25,000 and cash rates of $290, $290, $190 and $160. The total is 145,000 points for $930. Without the term: 0.64 cents per point. With the term, the 25,000-point Monday night is the free one, and the stay costs 120,000 points for $930: 0.78 cents per point. The free night saves fewer points because the cheapest night happened to fall fourth.

What those numbers say about a Chase transfer

A cents per point figure for IHG only means something next to what the same Chase points could do instead. Chase says points are typically worth 1 cent each when redeemed for cash back or gift cards. On the illustrations above, none of the IHG stays reaches that floor, even with the fourth-night term: the best case is 0.85 cents per point. On those inputs, transferring Chase points to IHG returns less than taking cash back, before considering any other partner.

That is not a statement about IHG in general. It is a statement about those nightly prices against those cash rates. IHG's points vary with cash rates, but not in a fixed proportion, and some nights price low against a high cash rate. The test is the same for every stay: cash rate for the nights, minus any cash you would still pay on the award, divided by the IHG points, and then divided by the transfer ratio to get back to Chase points.

If the IHG stay does clear your target, the other Chase hotel partners deserve a price check before the transfer. The Marriott and Hilton break-even method works the same test for those chains, and the Chase issuer guide covers the World of Hyatt route, which Chase now prices at 4:3 for some cards.

The per-night break-even, worked backwards

Working backwards gives a single number to carry into the search: the cash rate a night has to show for an IHG transfer to beat a stated target. At a 1:1 transfer, a night priced at P IHG points beats a target of T cents per point when its cash rate is above P times T divided by 100, plus any cash you would pay on the award but not on the cash booking.

The table applies that rule to a target of 1.00 cent per Chase point, which is Chase's stated cash-back rate, with the fourth-night term off and on. With the term, the four-night average points per night drop by a quarter when all four nights price the same, so the cash rate needed drops by a quarter too. These are computed thresholds, not prices.

Points & Cash, cancellations and earning

IHG's Points & Cash option looks like a way to stretch a short balance, and the IHG page explains what it really is: the cash portion is an immediate purchase of additional points toward a Reward Night. If you cancel, the page says the cash portion is nonrefundable, but you get your points back, including the ones you bought. For a transfer decision, that means Points & Cash is a points purchase at whatever rate the booking screen offers, and the fourth-night term in the card offer does not apply to it.

Cancellation of an all-points Reward Night refunds points only, according to the same page: if you later cancel a Reward Night or Points & Cash reservation, you are refunded in points. Those points return to IHG, not to Chase, because Chase treats the transfer as final. A cancelled IHG stay therefore leaves an IHG balance that can only be used at IHG.

IHG also says you do not earn points or miles on the room rate of a Reward Night, though you may earn on other eligible charges such as food and beverage billed to the room. On a paid stay, you would earn on the room rate. That lost earning is a small cost on the points side of the comparison, worth counting when two options are close.

Anniversary nights and topping up with points

Another card benefit interacts with transfers, and again only if your card lists it. Chase's IHG Premier card page describes an Anniversary Free Night with a redemption cap of 50,000 points, and says you can use points from your IHG One Rewards account to redeem it at hotels above the 50,000 point level. The night must be redeemed and the stay completed within 12 months of issue, and it cannot be re-credited for points or redeemed for cash.

That top-up rule is the one place where a small Chase transfer into IHG can be easy to justify, because the certificate already covers most of the night. Suppose the hotel you want prices at 62,000 points on your date and the cash rate is $340. The certificate covers 50,000; you add 12,000 IHG points. Those 12,000 points buy the difference between using the certificate somewhere cheaper and using it here. Whether that is good value depends on what the certificate would otherwise buy, which the free night certificate guide works through for each chain.

Because Chase transfers move in 1,000-point blocks, a top-up of 12,000 IHG points at an assumed 1:1 takes exactly 12,000 Chase points, with nothing stranded. A top-up of 11,500 would take 12,000 and strand 500 in IHG.

Common ways this transfer goes wrong

Most IHG transfer regrets come from treating the program as if it had a chart. These are the patterns to avoid.

• Transferring before searching, on the assumption a hotel will price where it did last time. IHG says point amounts can change daily.
• Counting the fourth night as free when the stay is three nights, or when the fourth night falls at a different property.
• Booking Points & Cash and expecting the fourth-night term to apply. The card offer excludes Points & Cash.
• Checking out a night early on a four-night stay. The fourth Reward Night is forfeited.
• Forgetting the resort fee. The card terms say mandatory resort fees stay with the guest.
• Transferring the exact points shown, then finding the price moved before booking. The price locks only when the booking is made, so the booking and the transfer need to happen close together, or the points need to sit in IHG before the search.

Before the points leave Chase

The method fits in four lines. Search the exact nights on IHG and note the nightly points and the cash rates. Apply the fourth-night term only if your card lists it and the stay qualifies. Compute cents per point on the Chase points that would leave your account, and compare with Chase's own floor and your other partners. Transfer only the rounded amount, and book as soon as it posts, because IHG prices are not locked until the booking exists.

The hotel programs hub collects the other chain-level guides. If the IHG stay is part of a longer trip that also needs flights, the flights versus hotels comparison is the next read, because a Chase balance often does more on the flight than on the room.

Checklist

• Confirm IHG appears in your Chase portal and read the ratio shown there.
• Search the exact nights on IHG and note nightly points and cash rates.
• Apply the fourth-night term only if your card lists it and the stay qualifies.
• Add any resort fee or other cash you would still pay on the award.
• Compute cents per point on the Chase points that will leave your account.
• Compare with Chase's 1 cent cash-back floor and other partners.
• Transfer the rounded amount, then book as soon as it posts.