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IHG cuts its bonus for ex-credit card holders from 4x points to 0.4x points!

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The two IHG One Rewards / Creation credit cards were finally closed on Tuesday. If you still have one in your purse or wallet, it is no longer earning you points.

This means that (with IHG also withdrawing from HSBC’s credit card programme) the only way of earning IHG One Rewards points from a credit card is by getting a Virgin Atlantic card and transferring the points to IHG at a 1:1 ratio.

Ex cardholders were offered compensation for the enforced closure.

IHG cut its bonus for ex-credit cardholders

IHG sent out an email in April offering two carrots for holders of the Creation cards:

  • you would receive Platinum status in IHG One Rewards in 2024
  • you would receive 2x points (if you had the free card) or 4x points (if you had the paid card, as most of our readers did) on your stays from 28th June to 31st December 2023

There was absolutely no ambiguity about the second part of this deal. This is what IHG sent out to holders of the paid card like my wife:

IHG cut its bonus for ex-credit cardholders

It turns out that this was untrue. Untrue by 90%.

Here is what the same people received yesterday:

IHG cut its bonus for ex-credit cardholders

Spot the difference?

The standard earning rate at most IHG One Rewards brands is 10 points per $1.

If my wife was going to receive 4x bonus points for the rest of the year, she would be receiving 40 points per $1.

Instead, she is receiving just 4 bonus points per $1, on top of the usual 10 points.

The bonus for ex-Premium cardholders is not 4x, it is 0.4x.

The small print makes it clear that it really is 0.4x. What’s even weirder is that the T&C still call it ‘2x and 4x’:

What is the UK IHG One Rewards Credit Card – 2X & 4X Bonus Points Promotion?

Once a previous UK IHG One Rewards Credit Cardholder or a previous UK IHG One Rewards Premium Credit Cardholder has registered for the Offer, the member will earn 2 or 4 points per $1 spent on Qualifying Spend for all stays completed during the period from 28 June 2023 through 31 December 2023 when paying a Qualified Rate. These points are in addition to the base points and other points the member will receive from their qualifying stay.

…. which makes no sense! I mean …. what are you getting 2x or 4x of?

The problem is that people will have made bookings for this summer on the basis that they were going to receive a bonus of 4x base points and not 0.4x.

After all, 40 base points per $1 would – on our valuation of 0.4p per point – be worth a 20% rebate on your pre-tax spending. This is before you factor in base points, any elite status bonus (and you would have elite status if you had the credit card, as it was a benefit) and the standard summer bonus promotion.

I admit that 4x sounded like a very generous offer. However, IHG chose to make it and sent out this offer TWO MONTHS AGO. At no point in the intervening weeks has it emailed people to say ‘erm, sorry, about that email, we weren’t really planning to give you 4x points’.

I suspect that a lot of people won’t even realise what has happened. Only a handful of people picked up on it yesterday when the emails landed.

You also need to opt in to receive your 0.4x points bonus. This seems like another attempt to keep down costs – why make a fixed group of people opt in to an offer you have already promised them?

And, when you register, you receive an email saying “Thank you for registering for UK IHG One Rewards Credit Card 4X Bonus Points Offer” ….

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IHG One Rewards news

IHG One Rewards update – April 2025:

Get bonus points: IHG is not currently running a global promotion.

New to IHG One Rewards?  Read our overview of IHG One Rewards here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our article on ‘What are IHG One Rewards points worth?’ is here.

Buy points: If you need additional IHG One Rewards points, you can buy them here.

Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from IHG and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.

Category

IHG One Rewards

Comments (115)

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  • Bigmaggot says:
    29 Jun29 June 20:50

    Just received in my inbox:

    Hello, we apologise if you experienced any trouble when trying to register for the promotion rewarding IHG One Rewards Credit Cardholders with additional points per $1 spent on IHG stays. We have gone ahead and registered you for the offer on our end.

    Thank you for your loyalty and for being a previous IHG One Rewards Credit Cardholder.

  • Lula says:
    30 Jun30 June 08:56

    The FAQs at the bottom of the original email explained this. The 4 points is per £, to replace what you would have got on the paid card. It’s 2 per £ for the paid card. Poor wording but not dishonest as some seem to be claiming. You just needed to read the FAQs.

  • AJames says:
    30 Jun30 June 15:31

    On giving notice of closing the IHG Premium Credit Card, Creation had confirmed the retention of Platinum Elite status until 31 December 2023. However no other offers from IHG had been received. Having contacted IHG it was confirmed, although I hadn’t had the offers made in emails, I would be getting the same benefits as those that had. This apparently applies to all those who held the IHG Premium Credit Card, even if they did not get the emails.

  • gt94sss2 says:
    30 Jun30 June 16:31

    Typical Creation perhaps, but they have never notified me that my IHG card with them was closing

  • Odd says:
    1 Jul1 July 12:33

    I wonder if any others have not seen their card close? I anticipated not being able to use the card after the closing on tuesday, but on an ebay purchase yesterday and a Vinted purchase right now, realized after the fact that the default card was the IHG card, and the purchase went through without any problem. I imagine the card is just like a normal creation card now, not earning any more IHG points, even if it probably was supposed to stop working?

  • davidecp says:
    1 Jul1 July 16:10

    Have just spoken to rewards centre and been told that only those targeted with emails are eligible for the promotion, I did not receive this. I have the premium card. I have several stays in the next 2 weeks, given the comments above it will be intersting to see if bonus points are applied

    • Rob says:
      1 Jul1 July 16:54

      Have you registered?

      • Retron says:
        1 Jul1 July 18:29

        No email means your account isn’t flagged, so you can’t register even with using the right promo code and URL.

        I suspect I’m not the only one to be stuck in limbo… if the email doesn’t arrive next week, I guess it’ll be some emails going back and forth!

        • William Stuart says:
          4 Jul4 July 14:14

          I contacted IHG via text messaging. They have been next to useless; latest message said I hadn’t been included in the offer- even though I had the premium card until end June and I had the email from IHG back in April! Shambles!!

    • Jay says:
      4 Jul4 July 13:47

      I complained that I hadn’t received the email, despite being a Premium card holder. They told me it was only selected members, but then gave me 10K points to say sorry.

  • Kevin Withey says:
    2 Jul2 July 08:57

    Are there any credit cards available in the U.K. that could earn me IHG reward points now that the creation one has finished?

  • Raj says:
    3 Jul3 July 12:46

    Just quickie? .. how will the annual fee for IHG premium be refunded when card is closed? Is it direct to bank from which it was paid from or a credit on the replacement card?

    • AJames says:
      4 Jul4 July 12:13

      Was told by Creation that the IHG premium card fee will be pro rata refunded to the credit card account by end of July. If you have not transferred to the new card then a request has to be made for it to be paid back to your bank. I did ask if the fee credit could be made before the account was paid off – system says no!

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