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IHG has quietly reduced the number of points Diamond Elite and Business Rewards members can transfer for free. Until now, both could transfer up to 500,000 points per calendar year at no cost, but that limit has been slashed significantly. On top of this, IHG also added a new requirement that Business Rewards members must meet to qualify for free point transfers.
Here's what you need to know about these changes.
IHG Adds New Limits and Restrictions on Free Points Transfers
One under-the-radar benefit of having IHG Diamond Elite status or being a Business Rewards member is the ability to transfer IHG points to another member for free. For everyone else, these transfers cost $5 per 1,000 points. And until now, these members could transfer up to 500,000 points per year without paying a cent.
And while the fee structure didn’t change, the transfer cap did. Instead of being able to transfer 500,000 points per calendar year, the limit is now just 100,000. On the flip side, you can still receive up to 500,000 points per year, but that’s still a big haircut.
On top of that, IHG added a new restriction for Business Rewards members. Going forward, they’ll need to have a qualifying event on their account to make free point transfers. This new hoop makes it even harder for Business Rewards users to move points around like they used to.
Of course, these negative changes won't mean very much if you don't regularly transfer a lot of points to other IHG members. However, it's never a good sign when a program devalues a benefit. Hopefully this isn't a sign of more to come.
Related: 4 Ways to Earn Top-Tier IHG Diamond Elite Status With Credit Card Spending
Our Take
There’s no doubt this is a negative change, and it’ll likely reflect poorly on IHG. It’s also a strange move, since it seems aimed directly at some of the program’s best customers.
If IHG were limiting free transfers for Gold or Platinum members (which aren’t free to begin with), that’d make more sense since both tiers can be earned easily through IHG co-branded credit cards. But Diamond members earn their status the hard way, so targeting them is pretty puzzling.
Either way, IHG has made it much harder to pool points, which in turn makes those pricey aspirational award nights even tougher to reach!
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