IHG One Rewards lets members transfer points to another person's account. Most members must pay $5 for every 1,000 points transferred \u2014 a fee that can quickly wipe out much of the value of those points.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, IHG Diamond Elite members and eligible IHG Business Rewards members can transfer up to 100,000 points per calendar year without paying this fee. That can be useful when combining balances for an expensive award, moving points to an account with better benefits, or sharing the cost of a stay.<\/p>\n
Here's how to transfer IHG points to another member for free, including the restrictions you'll need to know.<\/p>\n
IHG permits transfers between two designated IHG One Rewards accounts. However, the rules depend on whether the sender qualifies for free transfers.<\/p>\n
The recipient doesn't need elite status or an IHG Business Rewards membership. You also don't need to be related or share an address. However, once the transfer has been processed, the sender gives up any claim to the points. IHG doesn't permit cancellations or refunds.<\/p>\n
IHG previously let qualifying members transfer up to 500,000 points annually without a fee. However, IHG reduced the free-transfer limit to 100,000 points<\/a> and tightened the Business Rewards eligibility requirements in late 2025.<\/p>\n Only two groups can currently avoid IHG's $5-per-1,000-point transfer fee.<\/p>\n Members with active IHG Diamond Elite status<\/a> can transfer up to 100,000 points to other IHG members each calendar year for free.<\/p>\n The recipient doesn't need Diamond Elite status. IHG bases the fee waiver on the status of the member sending the points.<\/p>\n IHG Diamond Elite normally requires earning 70 qualifying nights or 120,000 qualifying points in a calendar year. There also are several ways to earn IHG Diamond Elite status through credit card spending<\/a>.<\/p>\n IHG Business Rewards<\/a> is free to join in most regions, but enrollment alone no longer unlocks free point transfers.<\/p>\n To qualify, IHG requires the member to have participated in a Business Rewards event during the current or previous calendar year. In other words, simply opening a Business Rewards account or booking a future event isn't enough.<\/p>\n For example, completing a qualifying Business Rewards event in 2026 should make the member eligible for free transfers during 2026 and 2027, provided the account otherwise remains eligible.<\/p>\n This restriction eliminates the previous strategy of joining IHG Business Rewards solely to transfer an existing point balance for free.<\/p>\n If you qualify through Diamond Elite status or eligible Business Rewards activity, you can complete the transfer online:<\/p>\n IHG says transfers can take up to 72 hours to process, although they may complete much faster.<\/p>\n Important:<\/strong> If the checkout page shows a transfer fee, don't submit the transaction. First, confirm that your Diamond Elite status is active or that your qualifying Business Rewards event has been recognized. If necessary, contact IHG One Rewards before proceeding.<\/p>\n Even when transfers are free, you shouldn't move points without a specific reason. Once transferred, the transaction can't be reversed.<\/p>\n Here are a few situations where consolidating IHG points can be worthwhile:<\/p>\n Transferred points aren't elite-qualifying, so receiving points won't help someone earn IHG elite status.<\/p>\n For most members, paying IHG's transfer fee provides poor value. At $5 per 1,000 points, you'll pay:<\/p>\n That works out to 0.5\u00a2 per point. For comparison, AwardWallet users typically redeem IHG points for around 0.69\u00a2 apiece<\/a>. Paying 0.5\u00a2 per point just to move them to another account consumes most of that potential value.<\/p>\n IHG also frequently sells points for as little as 0.5\u00a2 each<\/a>. If the account making the reservation needs more points, buying them during a promotion could cost the same as transferring points \u2014 without reducing another member's balance.<\/p>\n Before paying the transfer fee, consider these alternatives:<\/p>\n Paying the fee might make sense for a small top-up that immediately unlocks a valuable award. But for a large transfer, the cost is difficult to justify.<\/p>\n Free IHG point transfers remain useful for Diamond Elite members and active IHG Business Rewards members. Combining balances can help unlock an expensive award, access the fourth-night-free benefit, or make a shared trip easier to book.<\/p>\n However, IHG has made this benefit much less generous. Qualifying members can now transfer only 100,000 points per calendar year, and joining IHG Business Rewards without qualifying activity no longer provides a workaround.<\/p>\n If you qualify for free transfers, use the benefit when it unlocks concrete value. Otherwise, IHG's $5-per-1,000-point fee is usually too expensive. Booking an award for the other traveler or buying additional points will often be the better option.<\/p>\n Page Contents<\/p> IHG lets Diamond Elite members and eligible IHG Business Rewards members transfer points to other IHG accounts free of charge. Other members have to pay a charge of $5 per 1,000 points to transfer points. Here are the limits on free transfers and alternatives to paying transfer fees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":139525,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"","timeOption":"","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":""},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12068],"tags":[12700,12629],"coauthors":[36383],"class_list":["post-139522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-award-programs","tag-ihg-one-rewards","tag-using-points"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139522"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":277419,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139522\/revisions\/277419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139522"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=139522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Who Can Transfer IHG Points for Free?<\/span><\/h2>\n
IHG Diamond Elite members<\/span><\/h3>\n
Eligible IHG Business Rewards members<\/span><\/h3>\n
How To Transfer IHG Points to Other Members for Free<\/span><\/h2>\n
\n
When Does Transferring IHG Points Make Sense?<\/span><\/h2>\n
\n
Is It Worth Paying To Transfer IHG Points?<\/span><\/h2>\n
\n
\n
Our Take<\/span><\/h2>\n