Through July 30, Chase is offering a 100% transfer bonus to IHG One Rewards. Double your points. Instantly. It’s the kind of number that makes people move their whole balance before finishing the email.
Finish the email.
IHG points are worth roughly half a cent each. So even doubled, transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards into IHG gets you about one cent of hotel value per Chase point. That’s the good-case scenario. After the 100% bonus.
Now look at what those same Chase points can do untouched. Transfer them 1:1 to Hyatt, to United, to Air France–KLM, to Singapore, and you’re routinely getting two, three, even five cents of value per point in premium cabins and aspirational hotels. Moving them into IHG at a “100% bonus” isn’t doubling your money. It’s converting dollars into dimes and feeling clever about it.
A big bonus percentage on a weak currency is still a weak currency. The percentage is the magic trick. The underlying value is the truth.
So when is it fine? Exactly one scenario: you already know the specific IHG stay you want — a splashy InterContinental, an all-inclusive, a property that only bills in points — and the doubled balance covers it for less than the cash rate. That’s a targeted redemption, and targeted redemptions are allowed. Fill a real cart, not a speculative one.
What you should not do is speculatively dump 100,000 Chase points into IHG because the bonus expires Thursday. Those points are the most flexible currency in your wallet. Flexibility is the entire point of Ultimate Rewards, and you only get to spend it once.
If you want the version of this where your Chase points actually earn their keep, I laid it out in how I turned Chase points into thousands of dollars of flights.
The bonus is real. The urgency is manufactured. Spend accordingly.
