This is the second post in our series about the IHG Rewards Club status levels. You can check out the other posts here:
- Club
- Gold Elite
- Platinum Elite
- Spire Elite
- Ambassador & Royal Ambassador (for stays only at the InterContinental brand)
Once you’re registered with IHG Rewards Club and have your automatic Club status, it’s time to start working towards their next level of status – Gold Elite.
When you’ve earned this higher status level, you’ll receive the same benefits that you get with Club status, along with several additional benefits. You also maintain status through to the end of the following calendar year, so if you become a Gold member in the first few months of a year, you’ll enjoy the benefits for 18+ months.
Here’s a list of the four extra benefits you get for being a Gold Elite member, as well as a secret tip for how to earn the status by staying just two nights at one of their hotels.
Important Note: You’ll only receive these benefits when you book a hotel stay directly with IHG, either on their website, mobile app or by phone. If you book a stay using an OTA (Online Travel Agency) like Expedia, you’re not eligible to receive any of these benefits.
IHG Rewards Gold Elite Status Benefits
1) Extended Check-Out
This is one of my favorite benefits as it helps prolong your vacation or weekend away. It’s subject to availability, so there’s no guarantee that you’ll get a late check-out. During an extremely busy period, a hotel may need to clean your room in time for the next guest.
We’ve never encountered any issues though and have always been able to stay until at least 2pm when requested. This means we can sleep in, go out for lunch, pack our stuff at a leisurely pace and then check out – much nicer than having to be out by 11am.
2) 10% Bonus On Top Of Base Points
This is the other benefit I appreciate from IHG Rewards Gold status. It’s a straightforward 10% bonus on top of whatever base points you earn for a stay.
For example, a stay at a Holiday Inn earns you 10 points per dollar. If you paid $100 for the night’s stay, you’d earn 1,100 points: 1,000 base points and an extra 100 points for being a Gold Elite member.
The 10% bonus is only earned on top of base points though, not on top of any other bonus points you might earn from one of their promotions.
3) Priority Check-In
When you check in at an IHG hotel, you’ll see a sign on one end of the front desk which gives Priority Check-In for Elite members.
We’ve never made use of this benefit though as the check-in process at IHG hotels seems to be quick and efficient. They have most of your paperwork processed and room keys ready by the time you arrive, so you just need to sign in, give your car details, etc. and you’re good to go.
4) Points Don’t Expire
With some hotel and airline loyalty schemes, you lose your points or miles if you haven’t had any activity on your account for a certain period of time. So long as you maintain Gold Elite status or higher with IHG Rewards, your points won’t expire.
To be honest though, I don’t think this benefit is all that special. If you’re able to maintain gold status or higher, it’s because you’re staying in their hotels. If you’re staying in their hotels, you’re earning points which means your points wouldn’t expire anyway.
These benefits are in addition to all the benefits you receive as a Club member:
- Collect points or miles
- Pay discounted rates
- Customer service phone assistance
- No blackout dates for reward nights
- Reward nights count towards elite status
- Free internet
How To Get IHG Rewards Gold Elite Status
As you can see, there are a couple of nice benefits for having Gold Elite status, but nothing particularly valuable.
That’s reflected in how relatively easy it is to earn Gold Elite status, as all you need to do is either stay ten nights or earn 10,000 Elite Qualifying Points in a calendar year.
Stay Ten Nights
If you want to earn Gold status by staying ten nights, there are a couple of ways this can be done. You’d obviously earn the status when staying in one hotel for ten nights in a row. The status can also be earned through several shorter stays. For example, five weekend getaways of two nights each gets you to the ten night threshold.
Earn 10,000 Elite Qualifying Points
This is where you can get smart and hack your way to IHG Rewards Gold Elite Status when staying just two nights.
Before I explain how to do that, here’s the standard way of earning 10,000 Elite Qualifying Points. You earn 10 points per dollar at most IHG hotel brands, so spending $1,000 on hotel stays (before taxes) will earn you 10,000 Elite Qualifying Points.
As for getting there more quickly, here’s the definition of Elite Qualifying Points from the IHG website (bolding is mine):
Points earned from Qualifying Rates paid for hotel stays, spend on IHG Rewards Club credit cards, select partner activity, IHG Rewards Club Bonus Points Packages, and Qualified Spend through IHG Business Rewards are considered Qualifying Points and are counted toward Elite status.
Ignore the part about credit cards as you automatically get the higher Platinum Elite status with their credit card anyway.
The interesting part is the section I’ve made bold. When you’re booking a hotel stay, you’ll often see bonus points packages available for an additional cost. For example, the discounted room rate as an IHG Rewards Club member might be $85, while they may also have a package for 5,000 bonus points per stay for $125 per night.
If you were booking a seven night stay, you’d pay $595 with the discounted rate or $875 with the bonus package. The bonus package would therefore cost an additional $280 for the 5,000 bonus points which simply isn’t worth it. You’d be much better off paying the discounted $85 rate and forgoing the bonus package.
That equation changes if you’re booking a one night stay though. In that scenario, you’d effectively be paying an additional $40 in exchange for 5,000 bonus points. Personally, I think that’s pretty good value as you can get a free night’s stay for 5,000 points with a hotel on IHG’s PointBreaks list.
If you booked this type of package for two separate one night stays, you’d get 2x 5,000 bonus points packages. Those packages therefore earn you the 10,000 Elite Qualifying Points needed for Gold Elite status. That’s not even including the base points you’d earn on the standard hotel spend.
In my opinion, the real value with this method is earning all those bonus points – the gold status is just a bonus.
Summary
IHG Rewards Gold Elite status has a couple of benefits that are nice to have, but it’s not a hotel status that’s particularly aspirational.
It’s possible to fast-track your way to Gold status as we’ve explained above, but you’d be better off getting the higher Platinum Elite status – something that’s much easier to achieve than you might expect. We’ll explain how to do that in the next installment in this series.
Do you get physical membership card when you are a gold elite member
I had done in the past, although I’m not sure if they still issue them. I always throw my hotel membership cards in the trash when I get them as I don’t use the physical card, so I can’t say for sure if you’d get one nowadays when attaining gold status.
I have just got my gold elite membership it says you gold elite materials should arrive to you in the next week 2-4 weeks so let’s see i prefer a physical card
I am a gold member. Stayed at least twice a year at uhh. Still they have taken my points. How do you fix that.
I called when they sent a notice. And was told as a gold member with the activity they saw me staying I would not loose my points. Then they took them.
With that, I believe like most business it’s all about them . For years I used and recommended IHG. Now I cannot, the way I have been treated. Telling me more than once my points want expire and then taking them. I just have to go somewhere else, looking for honesty in businesd.
Did you book your two stays a year directly with IHG or was it through a site like Expedia? If it was booked directly with IHG, you should’ve earned points and so they shouldn’t have expired. If you booked through an Online Travel Agency like Expedia, you’re not eligible to earn points or receive status benefits and so unfortunately your existing points would expire.
Hi Stephen, is there any reason you know of that IHG would spontaneously grant Gold Elite status? I received an email saying I’d been upgraded to Gold Elite, but I haven’t stayed in any of their hotels, earned any points or hold any of their credit cards! I’m not complaining, just thought it was a bit strange… Thanks, Alex
That does sound strange. The only reason I can think of off the top of my head is that when someone reaches Spire Elite status, they can gift Gold status to someone else as one of the Choice benefits. I’m not entirely sure how that benefit works though as I’ve always chosen the 25,000 point bonus instead, so I don’t know if someone can automatically have you upgraded, or if you’re given a code to apply yourself.
Just to check, have you logged in to your IHG account to verify you have the status? I’m just wondering if it’s some kind of phishing scam.
Getting into the Gold Elite Status of: IHG Rewards Club, and getting a Card for it! Is wonderful! Is a dream come true!
I been raised to Spire status, when will I receive my package ? I have a gold elite card at present No# 253……
Hi Edgar,
You’d need to contact IHG directly about that as I’m not sure how long they take to send out the package.
Late check-out until 2pm, is mostly for platinum and spire members. The hotels you stayed at must really like you or really slow