IHG One Rewards has quietly extended its latest flash sale on purchased points, giving travelers a few extra days to scoop up points at one of the program’s best-ever rates. With a 100% bonus on purchased points available through December 15, 2025, many members can effectively buy IHG currency for just 0.5 cents per point. For frequent travelers and strategic award bookers, this extension could unlock serious savings on both luxury and everyday hotel stays worldwide.

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IHG’s 100% Bonus Sale: New End Date and Key Details

IHG One Rewards launched its current buy-points promotion on December 5, 2025, offering select members a 100% bonus on purchased points. The flash sale was originally scheduled to end on December 11, 2025, but the offer has now been extended to 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on December 15, 2025. That extension gives members four additional days to run the numbers and decide whether a bulk points purchase makes sense for upcoming travel.

Under the standard version of this promotion, members receive a 100% bonus when buying at least 11,000 points in a single transaction. Targeting does apply: some accounts may see slightly different thresholds or caps, but multiple independent trackers of mileage and hotel promotions report that the most common offer is a flat 100% bonus once the minimum purchase level is met. Above that threshold, all eligible points in the transaction receive the full bonus.

The sale is processed via IHG’s usual partner, Points.com, and the terms state that purchased points can take up to 72 hours to post. In practice, many recent data points indicate that IHG purchases often post almost instantly, but buyers with time-sensitive redemptions should still allow for the full processing window. As with prior IHG sales, purchased points are nonrefundable, and bonus points from this campaign do not count toward elite status.

Pricing: How to Get to 0.5 Cents per IHG Point

Ordinarily, IHG One Rewards sells points on a tiered basis, with the price per 1,000 points decreasing as the size of the transaction increases. Recent promotions and public rate tables show headline pricing as low as 1.0 cent per point before bonuses for the largest purchases. When a 100% bonus is layered on top of those top-tier base rates, the effective acquisition cost drops to 0.5 cents per point.

In practical terms, that means a member who is eligible for the full promotion and buys 300,000 IHG One Rewards points before the bonus would receive a total of 600,000 points for around $3,000. That works out to 0.5 cents per point—about as cheap as IHG points get through official sales. Smaller purchases above the minimum threshold also benefit from the 100% bonus, though the exact effective cents-per-point cost can be slightly higher at mid-tier levels due to the underlying tiered pricing.

Historically, IHG has run similar 100% bonus offers several times per year, and the 0.5-cent effective rate has become a familiar ceiling for bargain hunters. What makes this particular sale appealing is the combination of that best-available price with a temporarily higher purchase cap, giving heavy users a chance to top up balances more aggressively than usual.

Purchase Limits and Targeting: How Many Points Can You Buy?

Under standard program rules, IHG One Rewards members are limited to buying 150,000 points per calendar year, before any promotional bonuses are applied. In recent years, the program has periodically raised that ceiling during major sales, and this December promotion follows that trend. During the current campaign, eligible members can buy up to 300,000 points before the bonus, with the promotional 100% match effectively doubling that to as many as 600,000 points landing in a single account.

However, the exact cap can vary by member. Some accounts report being capped at 200,000 or 250,000 pre-bonus points instead of the full 300,000, reflecting the increasingly personalized nature of IHG marketing. The annual limit also remains in force. If you have already purchased a significant number of points earlier in 2025, that activity counts toward your personal cap and will reduce how many additional points you can acquire in this sale.

Gifting rules follow a similar pattern. During the promotional period, members can often gift or receive up to a combined 300,000 points (again, before bonuses), but any points gifted or received earlier in the year count against that limit. As always, these thresholds apply to the base points being bought or gifted, not the bonus points created by the promotion.

Best Credit Cards to Use When Buying IHG Points

Although you are buying IHG currency, points purchases in this sale are processed by Points.com rather than directly by IHG Hotels & Resorts. That means the transaction is generally coded as an online services or general purchase, not as a hotel or travel spend. As a result, it typically will not trigger any elevated “hotel” or “travel” category multipliers on your credit card.

For that reason, the best card to use is often whichever one you are currently using to hit a minimum spend requirement for a welcome bonus, as that lump-sum purchase can meaningfully accelerate your progress. If you are not working toward a bonus, a strong flat-rate rewards card is usually the most efficient choice—especially one offering 2% cash back or 2 points per dollar on all purchases.

One important nuance is that IHG’s own co-branded cards from major U.S. issuers offer a 20% discount on purchased points, but that discount is restricted to standard, non-promotional pricing. When IHG runs a deep bonus sale like this, the cardholder discount does not stack with the promotional rate. So while IHG credit cards are powerful tools for maximizing redemptions, especially through the fourth-night-free benefit on award stays, they do not directly make this specific purchase offer any cheaper.

When Buying IHG Points Can Be a Smart Value Play

The central question for travelers eyeing any points sale is whether buying now will lead to meaningful savings later. IHG One Rewards uses a dynamic pricing model for award nights, meaning that the points cost of a room tends to move broadly in line with cash rates rather than being fixed in a traditional chart. That makes the math more nuanced—but it also creates pockets of strong value where award rates lag rising cash prices.

Analysts at major points-tracking sites and many in the frequent traveler community peg the average value of IHG points at roughly 0.5 cents each, which is conveniently in line with the effective purchase price in this promotion. That implies that buying points speculatively—without a near-term redemption in mind—only makes sense if you are confident in achieving above-average value on your stays. For example, if you are able to redeem at 0.7 or 0.8 cents per point on a high-demand date, buying points at 0.5 cents each translates into a double-digit percentage “discount” on the room compared with paying cash.

This is especially evident at upscale and luxury brands within the IHG portfolio. Recent searches show that five-star properties such as Regent, Six Senses and flagship InterContinental or Kimpton hotels can price upwards of several hundred dollars per night, especially in major urban centers or resort destinations. In those scenarios, it is not uncommon to find award nights available for a points outlay that equates to an effective per-night cost that is 40–50% lower than prevailing cash rates, particularly around peak leisure periods or short-notice bookings.

Leveraging the Fourth-Night-Free Benefit for Extra Savings

Travelers holding select IHG co-branded credit cards—specifically the IHG One Rewards Premier, IHG One Rewards Premier Business and IHG One Rewards Traveler cards—can amplify the value of this promotion even further thanks to the fourth-night-free feature on award stays. This benefit allows cardholders to book four consecutive reward nights for the points price of three, effectively giving a 25% discount on the total points outlay for stays that are multiples of four nights.

When combined with a 100% bonus on purchased points at 0.5 cents each, the economics can be compelling. Consider a four-night stay at a resort that prices at 60,000 points per night. Normally, that would require 240,000 points. With the fourth-night-free benefit, you would only pay 180,000 points. If you had just purchased those points in this sale at 0.5 cents each, your all-in cost for four nights would be about $900—often well below revenue rates at top-tier properties on busy dates.

Because the fourth-night-free perk can be used an unlimited number of times, frequent IHG guests who hold one of the eligible cards can repeatedly stack that structural discount with the temporary 0.5-cent acquisition cost. For travelers planning multi-night vacations or work trips in 2026, there is a strong argument for locking in a reserve of discounted points now to pair with that ongoing benefit.

Where You Can Redeem: From Luxury Resorts to Road-Trip Staples

IHG One Rewards spans more than 20 hotel brands and thousands of properties worldwide, giving buyers of discounted points broad flexibility in how to deploy their newly acquired balance. At the luxury and upper-upscale end of the spectrum, participating brands include Six Senses, Regent, InterContinental, Kimpton and Hotel Indigo, covering everything from overwater villas and spa retreats to fashionable boutique hotels in major cities.

Further down the price ladder, travelers can tap familiar names such as Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, voco, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites and EVEN Hotels. For U.S.-based road trippers and business travelers, these midscale and extended-stay brands often deliver particularly solid cents-per-point value on high-occupancy nights when cash prices for limited-service hotels spike unexpectedly.

Because award availability remains subject to capacity controls, even without formal blackout dates, the best returns tend to arise when you can be flexible and book early. However, dynamic pricing can sometimes work in the traveler’s favor on shoulder-season dates or midweek stays, when points rates may drop even as last-minute cash prices remain stubbornly high. In those cases, holding a stash of 0.5-cent points can give you a useful hedge against volatile hotel pricing.

Risks and Fine Print: Expiration, Devaluation and Blackout Nuances

Buying hotel points is never completely risk-free, and that is true even with a generous 100% bonus. The two main concerns are policy changes and personal usage patterns. On the policy side, IHG retains the right to adjust its dynamic award pricing, change elite benefits or tweak how many points individual properties require for a night’s stay. While there have been no announced structural changes tied to this sale, any long-term speculative purchase should be made with the understanding that future devaluations are always possible.

On the personal side, travelers need to be realistic about how quickly they will use what they buy. For non-elite members, IHG One Rewards points expire after 12 months of account inactivity. Any qualifying activity—earning or redeeming points, including a small redemption or even a partner transaction—resets the clock. Elite members, including those who gain status automatically through an IHG co-branded credit card, enjoy non-expiring points as long as they maintain their status.

As for blackout policies, IHG advertises no blackout dates on standard award nights, but award space is not truly unlimited. Properties are required to release a minimum number of standard rooms for reward redemptions each night, but they do not have to make every standard room bookable with points. Travelers hoping to use newly purchased points at specific hotels on exact dates—such as New Year’s Eve in a major city—should confirm availability before buying or at least check that award space is reasonably open for their general travel window.

FAQ

Q1. What are the exact dates for the current IHG buy points promotion?
The promotion runs from December 5, 2025, through December 15, 2025, with the 100% bonus applying to qualifying purchases made by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on December 15.

Q2. What is the minimum number of points I need to buy to get the 100% bonus?
The widely targeted version of the offer requires buying at least 11,000 points in a single transaction to trigger the 100% bonus, though some accounts may show slightly different thresholds.

Q3. What is the maximum number of points I can purchase in this sale?
Most members can buy up to 300,000 IHG One Rewards points before the bonus during this promotion, subject to their individual annual limit and any points they have already purchased earlier in 2025.

Q4. How much do I effectively pay per point with the 100% bonus?
On the top pricing tier, a 100% bonus reduces the effective purchase price to about 0.5 cents per point, assuming you buy enough points to reach the lowest base cents-per-point tier.

Q5. Do I earn elite-qualifying activity when I buy points in this sale?
No. Purchased points and the accompanying bonus points do not count toward IHG One Rewards elite status, and they do not generate elite-qualifying nights or milestone benefits.

Q6. Which credit card should I use to buy IHG points?
Because the transaction is processed by Points.com and does not code as a hotel purchase, it is generally best to use a card where you are meeting a minimum spend requirement or a strong flat-rate rewards card for everyday spending.

Q7. Do IHG’s own credit cards give an extra discount on this promotion?
IHG co-branded credit cards normally include a 20% discount on standard points purchases, but that discount does not stack with promotional pricing, so it is not applied on this 100% bonus sale.

Q8. How long will it take for purchased points to show in my account?
Official terms say it can take up to 72 hours for purchased points and bonuses to post, though many recent buyers report that points often appear almost instantly after the transaction is completed.

Q9. Do IHG points expire if I don’t use them?
For non-elite members, IHG One Rewards points expire after 12 months with no qualifying earning or redemption activity; for elite members, points do not expire as long as elite status is maintained.

Q10. Is it a good idea to buy IHG points speculatively without a specific booking?
Because the purchase price roughly matches the commonly accepted 0.5-cent valuation, speculative buying only makes sense if you are confident you can redeem at above-average value and will use the points within a reasonable timeframe, ideally on higher-end stays or with the fourth-night-free benefit.