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IHG is making a notable change to one of its long-standing employee benefits. IHG confirmed to AwardWallet that the IHG Friends & Family Rate — which offered preferred pricing on cash stays to friends and relatives of full-time IHG employees — is ending at the end of this year.
In its place, IHG rolled out a new program called IHG One Pass, which will let employees share travel benefits.
Here’s what you need to know.
IHG Confirms Friends & Family Rate Is Ending
An IHG spokesperson confirmed to AwardWallet this week that the Friends & Family Rate “will be retired” as booking links will be disabled after December 31, 2025. However, existing reservations made under the Friends & Family Rate will still be honored.
The Friends & Family Rate has been a quiet but meaningful perk for years — especially since it is often priced below publicly available member rates, extended stay rates and even standard advance purchase discounts. Its retirement removes one of the simpler ways for non-employees to access discounted IHG stays when traveling with or referred by an IHG employee.
IHG framed the change as part of a broader refresh of employee benefits, noting that One Pass is intended to make it easier for employees “to explore IHG’s 6,800+ properties around the world and share competitive discounts and travel perks with those they care about most.”
What Is IHG One Pass?
The new IHG One Pass program is now the primary channel for IHG employees to secure discounted travel for themselves as well as friends and family. Early chatter — especially on a recent Reddit thread — suggests reactions are mixed.
The biggest concern is the 30-night annual cap, which applies to the employee and any friends or family members using the One Pass benefit. That’s a meaningful shift from the relatively unrestricted nature of the old Friends & Family Rate.
IHG hasn’t shared detailed public rules, so it’s still unclear whether pricing will materially differ from the legacy rate or if additional restrictions will appear as the program matures.
Related: How to Unlock and Maximize the IHG Fourth Night Free Benefit
Our Take
For now, One Pass feels less like a reinvention and more like a rebrand with limits. The 30-night cap — shared across both employees and their friends/family — represents a real reduction in flexibility. If the underlying discounts are similar to the outgoing Friends & Family Rate, the program may still offer solid value, but some employees will undoubtedly see this as a downgrade.
We’ll continue tracking the rollout as more details emerge, although we have heard anecdotally that individual hotel properties had complained about the soon-to-be old rate, so that may have contributed to this change.
What do you make of the change? Have you used IHG's Friends & Family Rate in the past?
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