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Creation closes the two IHG One Rewards UK credit cards for good

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Creation Financial Services and IHG are officially parting ways, which spells the end for Creation’s IHG One Rewards credit cards.

Whilst the two cards have been closed to new applicants since the end of 2021, existing cardholders were able to continue earning IHG One Rewards points on transactions (unless, of course, your account was suspended.)

More importantly, existing cardholders were able to keep receiving free elite status in IHG One Rewards and picking up a voucher for a free night each year for spending £10,000.

Creation closes the two IHG One Rewards UK credit cards for good

Creation has now given notice that it will close the IHG One Rewards credit cards on 28th June. Anyone with an IHG card will be moved to the generic Creation credit card, which appears to have no benefits whatsoever.

Whilst you will still be charged your annual card fee between now and 28th June, Creation says it will automatically process pro-rata refunds by the end of July 2023.

In the meantime, your existing card will continue to work until 27th June. You need to spend £10,000 by this date to trigger your final annual free night voucher, which will be difficult for many.

How can you keep your IHG One Rewards status for 2024?

If you are concerned about losing your IHG One Rewards status, remember that InterContinental Ambassador comes with IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite status.

It will cost you $200 per year to join but this includes a ‘buy one get one free’ weekend stay voucher valid at InterContinental hotels plus extra benefits on future InterContinental stays.

What should you do to replace your IHG credit card?

I don’t know of any plans to launch a replacement IHG credit card – we’ve not heard anything from IHG or from our regular chats with key issuers. That said, we had a request from a surprising source for our advertising rates a couple of weeks ago so who knows?

Creation closes the two IHG One Rewards UK credit cards for good

There are two other ways to earn IHG One Rewards points from UK credit cards:

HSBC Premier

The two HSBC Premier credit cards let you transfer points into IHG, but this is a terrible deal. HSBC transfer rates into airlines are good value but the two hotel partners, IHG and Wyndham, are a terrible deal.

Here is our review of the free HSBC Premier Mastercard and here is our review of the paid-for HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard. Both reviews explain how the IHG transfers work.

Remember that you need a HSBC Premier current account to apply for these credit cards, which requires a £75,000 salary or a substantial savings commitment to the bank.

Virgin Atlantic

Not everyone knows that Virgin Points can be transferred into IHG One Rewards. The rate isn’t great (1:1) and indeed is worse than their other deal with Hilton Honors (2:3).

The free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard earns 0.75 Virgin Points (so 0.75 IHG points) per £1 spent – review here. The paid-for Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard earns 1.5 Virgin Points (so 1.5 IHG ponts) per £1 spent – review here.

Remember that you will get better value using Virgin Points for flights. In fact, any redemption via Virgin Red – even for Greggs sausage rolls – would get you 0.5p per Virgin Point which is better value than transferring to IHG One Rewards.

And if you want a total change ….

If you’re looking for another non-Amex card then Barclaycard is currently offering 50,000 Avios on their Avios Plus Mastercard. There is also an offer of 10,000 Avios on the free Barclaycard Avios card. You can apply here.

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Category

IHG One Rewards

Comments (106)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Goonface says:
    18 Apr18 April 07:21

    Good riddance, can’t wait to shred the Creation card on the 28th June. A shame to lose the benefits but I’ve had enough of the shoddy service and a card that gets blocked far too often.

    • Amy says:
      18 Apr18 April 08:40

      I stopped using mine after it was blocked everytime I used it. Apparently costa coffee is a high fraud risk to them… 30mins on phone each time trying to sort.

      • Chris says:
        18 Apr18 April 09:27

        For me they stopped me booking IHG Hotels with it 🙂

        • ChrisM says:
          18 Apr18 April 14:01

          My most embarrassing blockings were at the front desk of a blinking Kimpton Hotel, twice, same hotel, a year apart, Even though the selfsame card had been used to guarantee the points bookings.

    • RussellH says:
      18 Apr18 April 09:38

      Excellent customer service in my experience this year. Actually, exemplary would be a more accurate word. Barclaycard should get Creation in to train their CS people, who really are awful.

      • SammyJ says:
        18 Apr18 April 10:19

        Probably the first time I’ve ever heard Creation described as ‘good’. My own experience was pretty terrible over the years.

  • NC says:
    18 Apr18 April 07:32

    Don’t think you can convert HSBC points to IHG anymore

  • Tony says:
    18 Apr18 April 07:56

    I may be going senile, well proably am, but I cannot find where my anniversary for the card is on their website. Anybody know how please?

    • Harry T says:
      18 Apr18 April 08:09

      Just look at your statements?

      • Tony says:
        18 Apr18 April 08:30

        I have Harry. I downloaded the last one and stared at it for ages. Nope, either I have completely lost it, which is possible if not probabable, or it is not there. Tells me about payment date but nothing about annual anniversary for the £10k that I can see.

        • Froggee says:
          18 Apr18 April 08:34

          You need to download 12 of them

          • Tony says:
            18 Apr18 April 08:43

            Wonderful 🙂 . Site is down, I’ll give them a call later. Cheers

        • EwanG says:
          18 Apr18 April 08:43

          Have you found your “annual statement”? It doesn’t detail the precise anniversary date, however any spend beyond that statement will be in your new card year.

          My anniversary date was close to the statement date on that annual statement, so a good proxy.

          • Tony says:
            18 Apr18 April 08:45

            Thanks Ewan, no I have not found it, or even thought about that, but I was hoping it would not involve me actually put much effort in 🙂 . Site was down last time I looked. I’ll try later or call them.

          • David says:
            19 Apr19 April 20:47

            I’m confused on when my anniversary cut off actually is.

            Last year the annual fee was paid during May, but my original registration many years ago was on 22nd April.

            However upon logging into my IHG account I see that this year’s anniversary free night voucher has arrived. But, in my creation card account it still says that I need to spend -£xxxxx before my anniversary…

            Maybe I need to call them to get clarity before I put any big spend on.

  • DanLondon says:
    18 Apr18 April 08:10

    I’m sad as the card worked really well for me. It basically guaranteed me Diamond Elite. I have benefitted from countless rewards nights and breakfasts. There’s no way I’d hit that level without the card. I guess I’ll have to start looking at an alternative programme to concentrate on (Barclaycard Avios probably). I’m a bit annoyed as I spent the first few months of this year exclusively using my Creation card to ensure I hit diamond elite again. Although I still get the points from that spend, I won’t hit the target by June. On the other hand, as others have said, Creation are a shocking company. Every few weeks they block my card and I have to wait for ages to get through to their security line. Hopefully IHG will pick a more professional outfit for any replacement! Anyway, it was fun whilst it lasted..

    • mvcvz says:
      18 Apr18 April 08:50

      DanLondon. I echo every last one of your comments.

    • RussellH says:
      18 Apr18 April 09:43

      Never had a Creation card blocked. Yes, I need to enter my PIN every third or fourth use, but that is no big deal.
      Yes, they did refuse to increase my credit limit last year, but not the end of the world.
      And every time I have phoned them this year I have got through to an intelligent, knowledgeable + competent agent within a very few minutes.

    • CamFlyer says:
      18 Apr18 April 11:05

      I had similar issues with Creation blocking my card. The worst was when they sent me a new card to replace one I lost, but took six months and multiple calls to send me a new PIN—which they promptly blocked after a handful of uses.

  • John says:
    18 Apr18 April 08:12

    RIP Creation. A love hate relationship for a large proportion of HfP readers. Hated the incompetency which meant card would be blocked every 3 days, loved the incompetency which meant many a holiday was funded solely by them. A real servant to the points collecting world.

  • John says:
    18 Apr18 April 08:25

    Where do I (IHG Diamond Elite) locate my free weekend night voucher?

  • Karen says:
    18 Apr18 April 08:29

    Real shame, now no longer working I amassed most of my points via the card, so guess no more staying in IHG hotels. I always went to them first because of the upgrades and in hotel extras even if not spending my points but if they don’t have a new partner then no more.

    • lumma says:
      18 Apr18 April 08:50

      Same here. I’ve always tended to find IHG hotels to be more expensive than other chains where my travels take me, but where they were competitive I’d tend to book them as I’ve had some good upgrades in the past as both a gold and platinum via these cards.

      Now I won’t bother unless they release a card with similar benefits with someone else.

      • RussellH says:
        18 Apr18 April 09:46

        Strange. I find that IHG is almost always the cheapest, and certainly the most likely to have a hotel roughly where we want one. Hilton + Marriott are far too focussed on the big cities.

  • @alastairtravel says:
    18 Apr18 April 09:05

    IHG sent me a survey about 4-6 months ago about what I would value in an IHG credit card so I would say they are definitely considering a new card. Unfortunately the survey had a number of bugs so I couldn’t complete it.

    • Melonfarmer says:
      18 Apr18 April 10:50

      I completed it. Some of the options looked good. Haven’t heard anything since.

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