At IHG One Rewards, all points will automatically expire if you have not earned or redeemed a point in the past 12 months! However, it is relatively easy to salvage points that are in danger of decay.
Unfortunately, there is no way to check exactly when your points will expire in your IHG One Rewards profile. However, you will receive an email warning before the expiration date. It will probably flutter into the e-mail inbox of many members at the end of the year, because from January 1, 2023, the point expiry, previously suspended due to corona, will be applied again.
Here is an excerpt of the IHG Rewards Club Membership terms and conditions:
Points Expiration: Club Membership points will expire if your member account is inactive for a period of twelve (12) months or more. This means your points will be removed from your account and can no longer be redeemed. In order to retain your points, you must have earned or redeemed points on at least one transaction through your member account in a twelve (12) month period. Claiming the annual free night award for IHG One Rewards Credit Card Members does not constitute an accumulation or redemption transaction preventing points from expiring. Elite members’ points do not expire as long as elite membership is maintained.
Section 25 of the IHG Rewards Club program membership terms
From a Silver status onward, you don’t have to worry about points expiration. However, if you have not been active for 12 months and lose your status, all points will also expire. You should pay attention to that.
If you lose track of the many bonus programs, AwardWallet is very helpful:
Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to get all the best tips for your travel needs, and of course the best travel dealz:
Book and Cancel Award Nights
The easiest way is to redeem a few points for a free night. Since regular award nights can be cancelled free of charge up to the day of arrival, you can simply book an award night and then cancel it again:
The points are taken from the account and then credited back again. Both should count as activity and will extend all points for another 12 months.
Previously, booking and cancelling an award stay was explicitly excluded from the T&Cs as a qualifying activity. However, the section was deleted and was never applied anyway.
Buy a Digital Magazine
If you don’t have enough points to book an award night or if you have a guilty conscience, you can simply spend a few points for e.g. a digital game, book or magazine.
On the fly, the cheapest game is Worms Crazy Golf for 400 points. Perhaps there are still books or magazines for fewer points. Feel free to leave a comment if you find something.
Cover Picture: Ditmar Lange