Chase Launches New 80% Transfer Bonus to IHG One Rewards — But Is It Worth It? Chase Launches New 80% Transfer Bonus to IHG One Rewards — But Is It Worth It?

Chase Launches New 80% Transfer Bonus to IHG One Rewards — But Is It Worth It?

Bonus Points

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This Chase transfer bonus is no longer available. Here's our full list of current transfer bonuses.

Chase has launched a new limited-time Ultimate Rewards transfer bonus — and this one’s a head-turner on paper: a hefty 80% bonus when transferring Ultimate Rewards points to IHG One Rewards, valid through April 30, 2025.

But while the bonus amount is flashy, don’t get too excited. IHG is one of Chase’s least valuable transfer partners. Even with this elevated bonus, you're likely better off using your Ultimate Rewards elsewhere. Let's show you why.

Chase to IHG Transfer Bonus Offer Terms

Screenshot showing Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer bonus of 80% to IHG One Rewards
Credit: Chase Ultimate Rewards

Why You Might Want to Skip This IHG Transfer Bonus

Outside of transfer bonuses, Chase points transfer at a 1:1 ratio for all Ultimate Reward travel partners. But all points don't have the same value. While AwardWallet users have redeemed Chase Ultimate Rewards points for an average of 1.95¢ per point, AwardWallet users have only been able to redeem IHG points for 0.68¢ per point in recent redemptions.

Consequently, if you were to transfer Ultimate Rewards points to IHG, you'd effectively cut the value of your points by almost two-thirds. This makes transfers to IHG a poor value in most scenarios.

A 80% bonus doesn't do much to close the gap. Boosting IHG's 0.68¢ value by 80% still only translates into just 1.22¢ per point. Chase has much more valuable transfer partners that provide more value than that even without a transfer bonus.

Related: All of the Credit Cards that Earn Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

Running the numbers

While 1.95¢ and 0.68¢ per point are our baseline values for these currencies, you may value them differently. And that's okay. But that still doesn't necessarily make this transfer bonus a good deal.

Personal valuations aside, Ultimate Rewards cardholders can achieve 1.25–1.5¢ per point through the Chase Travel Portal. Additionally, Sapphire cardholders can get the same value by using Ultimate Rewards points to Pay Yourself Back. This means you're generally better off using your points in one of these ways instead of transferring to IHG.

In short, the redemption rate needed to make it more appealing to transfer points rather than book through Chase Travel depend on your card:

Walking through an example

Let's use a booking at the Intercontinental Danang Sun Peninsula — one of our favorite IHG luxury redemptions — to demonstrate this point.

InterContinental-Danang-Sun-Peninsula

For a two-night award stay in September 2025, the award price for a base room can be just 71k IHG points per night — a solid points deal for this property. With the 80% transfer bonus, you'd need to transfer just 79k Ultimate Rewards to receive the IHG points required for the two-night stay — meaning you're paying less than 40k Chase points per night!

Screenshot showing InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort reward for 71,000 points per night
Credit: IHG

That doesn't sound too bad — especially when you consider the cash price for the same booking is $471 per night including taxes and fees:

Screenshot showing InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort award night for $471 including taxes and fees
Credit: IHG

This redemption would net a redemption rate of 0.66¢ per IHG point — in range with the value AwardWallet users have gotten from recent IHG redemptions.

However, if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Ultimate Rewards points are worth 1.25¢ per point on bookings made through the Chase Travel portal. Thus, you could book the same room for 79,280 points for two nights through the portal — even though you have to pay a slightly higher non-member rate:

Screenshot showing Chase Travel Portal cart for a stay at the InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort for 79k Ultimate Rewards points total for two nights
Credit: Chase Travel

If you hold the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, you'll get an even better deal. Cardholders receive 1.5¢ per point through the Chase Travel℠ Portal. That means you'll only need 66,067 Ultimate Rewards to book this cash stay.

That's a savings of almost 13,000 Ultimate Rewards points by booking through the Chase Travel℠ Portal (66,067 points) instead of transferring to IHG with a 80% transfer bonus (79,000 points)!

Related: Do Chase Ultimate Rewards Points Expire?

Bottom Line

Despite the 80% bonus, transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points to IHG One Rewards still won’t deliver great value in most cases. Even solid points redemptions may not outperform the value you’d get by booking through the Chase Travel Portal — especially if you hold the Sapphire Reserve.

What's a better alternative to building your stash of IHG points? You’re far better off picking up a co-branded IHG credit card with a big welcome bonus instead:

IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card
IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card
Welcome Bonus Earn 120,000 Bonus Points after spending $2,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.
Annual Fee$0Rates & Fees
Credit ScoreGood/Excellent
  • 17X points total per $1 spent when you stay at an IHG hotel
  • 3X points per $1 spent on dining, utilities, select streaming services, and at gas stations
  • 2X points per $1 spent on all other purchases

The earning for spending at IHG hotels breaks down as follows:
  • Earn 5X points for being a IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Cardmember
  • Earn 2X points from IHG® with Silver Elite Status, a benefit of this Card
  • Earn 10X points from IHG® for being an IHG® Rewards Club Member (Being a cardholder is not required to earn this bonus for participating in the IHG® loyalty program)
IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card
IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card
Welcome Bonus Earn 5 Free Nights after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee$99Rates & Fees
Credit ScoreExcellent, Good
  • Earn 26 points total per $1 spent when you stay at an IHG hotel
  • 5X points per $1 spent on purchases on travel, gas stations, and restaurants
  • 3X points per $1 spent on all other purchases

The earning for spending at IHG hotels breaks down as follows:
  • Earn 10X points for being a IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card member
  • Earn 6X points from IHG® with Platinum Elite Status, a benefit of having this card
  • Earn 10X points from IHG® for being an IHG® One Rewards member (Being a cardholder is not required to earn this bonus for participating in the IHG® loyalty program)
IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card
IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card
Welcome Bonus Earn 140,000 Bonus Points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee$99Rates & Fees
Credit ScoreGood, Excellent
  • Earn 26x total points per $1 spent when you stay at an IHG hotel
  • 5X points per $1 spent on travel, dining, social media search engine advertising, and at office supply stores and gas stations
  • 3X points per $1 spent on all other purchases

The earning for spending at IHG hotels breaks down as follows:
  • Earn 10X points for charging your stay to your IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card
  • Earn 6X bonus points for having IHG®Platinum Elite Status, a benefit of having this card
  • Earn 10X base points for being an IHG® One Rewards Member (Being a cardholder is not required to earn this bonus for participating in the IHG® loyalty program)

What's your take on this Ultimate Reward transfer bonus to IHG One Rewards?

For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card (Rates & Fees), IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (Rates & Fees), and IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card (Rates & Fees)

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Comments

  • I agree I like to see that Chase is doing some bonus transfers. I think that if I was close to an award I might use this bonus. It would really depend on what it would cost to pay for the trip or redeeming Chase points or even redeeming Amex points in their travel portal.

  • I’m happy to have other people keep IHG and Ultimate Rewards solvent with these bad redemptions ?

  • I am happy that Chase is doing another bonus transfer. I am hoping to see more of these in the future but they are not known to do this, like Amex is. United would be way more enticing to me than IHG. If I had to top off my account maybe I would take advantage of this, otherwise nah. You’re right I’d rather get their card or buy points during a promo.

  • Farid Kassam says:

    60% bonus is not bad as long as you are trying to top up to get to the redemption value.

  • I am not agree with you , before IHG point not good value to use, but for now IHG point is very useful as we can use small than before point to redeem many good hotels.

  • At what maximum amount would you be willing to transfer in order to requalify for Spire and get the 25k bonus points?

    • Interesting question! Looking at just the math: around 25k UR points. After the 60% bonus, that would net you 40k IHG points. After adding in the 25k bonus, that’s 65k IHG points – which I’d value around $390 (0.6 cents each). I value UR at 1.5 cents at the bare minimum – as that’s what I can get from the Chase Travel Portal. 25k UR at 1.5 cents each is around $375 in value.

  • I agree that this is not a good deal at all. The only problem with the “pay yourself back” proposition is that you might not use the Sapphire card for those purchases. Groceries and Restaurants go on my Amex Gold card. So I don’t have any purchases for which to pay myself back on my Sapphire Reserve card. Now if they start allowing the Pay yourself back on travel…well then that would be a game changer.

  • As stated, this is not a good value proposition. Better to use your points elsewhere.

  • I would never transfer UR points to IHG, so completely agree with you.

  • Its an offer that doesn’t make sense.

  • Steven William Van Meter says:

    Very timely deal. We are going to see more and more of these deals now that people realize we can travel safely. Its time to jump on this deal and get out there!

  • I was tempted when I saw the 60% bonus, but after seeing your math, I’m glad I waited to transfer. Here’s hoping Chase continues to offer these bonuses and that the next one is more enticing.

  • Great article. Short, to the point, and most importantly covers the ‘so what‘ question that should be asked after every announcement. Thank you. That means all the readers do not have to do a similar analysis, which makes us More productive and makes me want to continue to read this blog.

  • Would love to see a Hyatt transfer bonus. There is a lot of value in Hyatt stays.

  • Can’t imagine why anyone would consider bothering with this offer.