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Some hotel and airline loyalty programs partner to leverage each other’s memberships. Marriott Bonvoy is one example, with several partnerships already in place. World of Hyatt is another, thanks to its exclusive partnership with American Airlines.

Now, IHG One Rewards is looking to join the club. The program has announced a new partnership with All Nippon Airways (ANA). This collaboration will offer points and miles earning, reciprocal elite status opportunities, and even points transfers. Here’s what to know about this soon-to-launch partnership.

IHG and ANA Announce Partnership With Reciprocal Benefits

First things first: The program hasn’t launched yet. According to the press release, the partnership will go live “after October.” When it does, members of both programs will be able to double dip on points and miles earned across All Nippon Airways’ network of 40 cities and 55 routes.

This means that while the partnership will allow members to earn both ANA miles and IHG points on ANA flights, members of the two programs won't be able to do the same on paid IHG stays.

That’s a bit different from other reciprocal earning partnerships we’ve seen across hotel loyalty programs.

ana ihg press event
Credit: IHG

Instead, there will be a status match opportunity for ANA Mileage Club members after linking their accounts. Here’s how ANA elite tiers will map to IHG One Rewards status:

To unlock IHG One Rewards Diamond Elite through this match, AMC members will also need to complete two elite-qualifying nights.

Keep in mind, there’s already another shortcut to IHG One Rewards Diamond Elite status: credit card spending. We have a full guide on that handy shortcut, but if you hold an IHG co-branded credit card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Rates & Fees), that may be the more practical option for U.S.-based travelers.

Two-way points transfers

Finally, the new partnership will allow ANA Mileage Club miles to be converted into IHG One Rewards points.

Currently, IHG members can convert points to ANA miles at a 5:1 ratio, with transfers required in 10,000-point increments. At the time of writing, we're not quite sure what transfers in the other direction will look like.

Bottom Line

If you’re already flying All Nippon Airways on paid fares, this partnership should help you earn more IHG One Rewards points. That said, the benefits are clearly tilted toward ANA’s own elites. There’s currently no path for IHG elites to earn ANA status in return, and the ability to convert IHG points to ANA miles already existed before this partnership was announced.

Still, something is better than nothing. If you live in or frequently travel to Japan on ANA, this partnership should boost your IHG earnings and could open the door to a new status match. And if you’re considering booking a paid ANA flight, there may be an added incentive to do so once the partnership launches later this year.

For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Rates & Fees)

Tip of The Day
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