IHG One Rewards points expire after 12 months of account inactivity. As long as you have at least one earning or redemption transaction posted to your account within any 12-month window, your points stay intact indefinitely. The clock resets every time qualifying activity hits your account.
How the 12-Month Inactivity Rule Works
IHG doesn’t set a hard expiration date on your points the way an airline might put a timestamp on a ticket. Instead, the program watches for activity. If a full 12 months pass with no points earned or redeemed, your entire balance is wiped out. It doesn’t matter whether you have 5,000 points or 500,000. The size of the balance is irrelevant once the inactivity threshold is crossed.
This applies specifically to Club-level members, which is the base tier of IHG One Rewards. The moment your account logs a qualifying earn or redeem transaction, the 12-month window starts fresh.
Elite Members Get an Exemption
If you hold Silver, Gold, Platinum, or Diamond Elite status, your points do not expire for as long as you maintain that status. IHG’s terms are clear on this: elite members’ points are protected from expiration entirely.
The catch is what happens when your status lapses. If your account drops back to Club level and you then go 12 months without any earning or redemption activity, the standard expiration rule kicks in and your points disappear. So elite status is a shield, not a permanent guarantee. Once you lose that status, you need to stay active like every other member.
What Counts as Qualifying Activity
Any transaction that adds points to your account or spends them counts as activity. The most common ways to keep your points alive include:
- Hotel stays: Booking and completing a stay at any IHG property earns points and resets the clock.
- Credit card spending: Purchases on an IHG co-branded credit card that post points to your rewards account count as earning activity.
- Redeeming points: Using points for a reward night, transferring them to a partner, or any other redemption counts.
- Buying points: Purchasing points through IHG’s website is an earning transaction.
- Partner earning: Some IHG partners (car rental companies, retail shopping portals) can post points to your account, which also qualifies.
The key detail is that the transaction must actually post to your IHG One Rewards account. Simply having a membership number on file somewhere or logging into the app does not count. Points need to move in or out.
Can You Get Expired Points Back?
IHG does not offer a formal reinstatement program for expired points. Unlike some hotel loyalty programs that let you buy back a lapsed balance, IHG treats expired points as gone. Once they’re removed from your account after 12 months of inactivity, there’s no published fee schedule or process to recover them.
You can try contacting IHG One Rewards customer service to ask about a one-time exception, but there’s no guarantee. The far better approach is to prevent expiration in the first place, which requires very little effort.
The Easiest Way to Keep Points Alive
You don’t need to book a hotel stay every year just to protect your points. The lowest-effort strategy is holding an IHG co-branded credit card and using it for even a small purchase periodically. As long as that card posts rewards to your IHG account, your 12-month clock resets automatically without you thinking about it.
If you don’t have the credit card, buying a small number of points through IHG’s website once a year is another simple option. It costs a few dollars but keeps your full balance safe. You could also redeem a small number of points for a partner reward or gift card if that option is available in your account. Any transaction that moves points, no matter how small, is enough.
Set a calendar reminder for 10 or 11 months after your last IHG transaction if you’re not a frequent traveler. That gives you a buffer to take action before the 12-month deadline arrives.