Your guide to IHG One Rewards: Turning PayRewards Points into five-star stays

IHG One Rewards is your ticket to travelling on points across the InterContinental Hotel Group’s many properties. Beyond the InterContinental brand itself, IHG One Rewards also covers Six Senses, Voco, Crowne Plaza, Kimpton, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn and more.

With over 6,000 hotels attached to the program, there’s plenty of choice for any budget. Or, should we say, your points budget. Keep reading to learn how to make the most of IHG One Rewards through pay.com.au

Converting PayRewards Points into IHG One Rewards Points

Transferring points from your PayRewards account across to IHG One Rewards is quick and easy. For every 2 PayRewards Points converted, you’ll receive 1 IHG One Rewards Point. Transfers begin at just 1,000 PayRewards Points (500 IHG One Rewards Points), so you don’t need a weighty PayRewards balance to get started.

You can convert points whenever you need them. But to get even more value, keep a lookout for PayRewards transfer bonus deals that can pop up from time to time. These could stretch the points you’ve already earned even further.

Unlocking hotel stays using IHG One Rewards Points

Just like reward seats are the best way to spend your frequent flyer points, Reward Nights present the greatest value when redeeming IHG One Rewards Points. Here’s what we mean.

• Reward nights: Use IHG One Rewards Points to pay for a hotel reservation in full.
• Points & cash: When you don’t have enough points to cover the complete reservation, you can buy those missing points during the hotel booking process under the banner of ‘Points & Cash’. Once reserved, these bookings are treated the same as a Reward Night. If you cancel a Points & Cash stay and the booking was eligible for a refund, you’ll receive your entire refund back in points – including any points you purchased via Points & Cash.

Just be mindful that IHG One Rewards members can only use points to book standard rooms. Premium room categories, including Club InterContinental rooms and suites, aren’t currently bookable using points.

As for how many points you’ll need for a stay, it varies. Factors such as seasonality, commercial demand and underlying retail room rates can all play a part. The easiest way to see how many points you’d need for a stay is to search for that stay through the IHG website. Here’s an example based on an overnight midweek stay in Sydney in August 2025, to give you an idea.

* Based on minimum points redemption.

Let’s look at those digits a little more closely. As the room rates go up, so do the prices in Points for a Reward Night. We can see that while cash prices and redemption rates trend in the same ways, there isn’t an exact equivalency between dollars paid and points charged. But because of that, sometimes, Points & Cash rates can be uneconomical.

Pro tip: Always, always, always check the outright cost of a room before considering Points & Cash. For instance, if you can book a room for $347 without using points, booking that same room for $384 + 7,000 Points just doesn’t make sense. Save those Points for outright Reward Night bookings, where you can – that’s where the numbers stack up best.

Converting IHG One Rewards Points into airline miles

It’s also possible to transfer Points from IHG One Rewards to a host of partner frequent flyer programs. In our book, this also isn’t the sharpest way to spend your IHG One Rewards Points – especially if you’ve earned those via PayRewards. That’s because IHG generally uses a 5:1 rate when transferring Points to an airline partner.

For example, if you started with 20,000 PayRewards Points, these would become 10,000 IHG One Rewards Points under the usual 2:1 rate from PayRewards to IHG. Transfer again from IHG to an airline, and you’d end up with only 2,000 miles or frequent flyer points with most of IHG’s own transfer partners.

It’s a move to keep in reserve if you’ve already spent the bulk of your IHG One Rewards Points on accommodation, and you’re looking for something to do with a relatively small number of Points still sitting around. Hey, a point used is still better than a point expired!

Among IHG’s extensive roster of airline partners, you’ll find popular choices like Qantas, Virgin Australia, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific. There’s also Air France/KLM, American Airlines, China Eastern, China Southern, Emirates, Etihad, Virgin Atlantic and more. Peruse the full list on IHG’s website, and if this option is right for you, call IHG One Rewards (02 8074 3411) to request a transfer. Points may take up to six weeks to appear in your airline account.

For other small balances of points, check out IHG One Rewards Access. Just a few thousand Points could be enough for a ticket to a museum or tour. Or, if you fancy hiring your own boat for up to nine people and having a picnic on the Yarra River, as an example, it’s 76,000 IHG One Rewards Points.

Getting more value from IHG One Rewards

Hopefully by now, you’ve learned that the best way to use IHG One Rewards Points is to book hotel stays. But we’ll leave you with two handy tips to squeeze out even more value.

• Do you need more IHG Points?
  There’s no limit to the number of PayRewards Points you can convert, but perhaps, you need another handful of Points to book a great-value Reward Night. If you have a Commonwealth Bank Awards credit card, you’re in luck, as you can convert points from CommBank Awards to IHG at a 2.5:1 rate. Combine these with points transferred from PayRewards and you’ll be ready for check-in very soon.
• Consider paying for InterContinental Ambassador
  HG One Rewards is free to join, but for US$225/year (or 45,000 IHG One Rewards Points), you can subscribe to InterContinental Ambassador. This includes a ‘complimentary weekend night’ (hotel stay), guaranteed 4pm check-out at InterContinental… oh, and instant Platinum Elite status with IHG One Rewards. As a Platinum member, you’ll earn 60% more IHG One Rewards Points on paid stays globally, and your IHG One Rewards Points will never expire (while maintaining Ambassador membership). When spending points, you may be offered discounted Reward Night rates, room upgrades at check-in, and more.
• Take IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite status even further
  Once you’re a Platinum member courtesy of InterContinental Ambassador, you can enjoy all the Platinum perks of IHG One Rewards. That includes being able to opt-in for complimentary Five Star status with Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. So, it won’t only be your hotel room getting an upgrade, but your hire car as well!

Written by Chris Chamberlin

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About the author

Chris enjoys making the most of frequent flyer points, which have taken him around the world – usually, at the front of the plane. He’s travelled around 1.5 million miles sampling the best in Business Class and First Class. That’s further than three return trips to the moon!