Use this calculator to decide whether to pay cash or use your points for an IHG stay. Enter your number of nights, whether you have a Chase IHG card that gives the 4th night free, your points and cash price per night, and your elite status. You can also add the card you would pay with and a shopping portal. If you purchased some or all of the points for the stay, the calculator asks how many, the bonus you got, the card you used, and whether you bought them through a shopping portal. It factors in the 4th-night-free benefit, the rewards a paid stay would earn you, and what your purchased points actually cost, then shows you a clear recommendation with the numbers behind it. This calculator is for general informational purposes only and is not travel, financial, or legal advice.

If you’re just getting started, I have a post on how I get insane value from IHG points as a full-time traveler.

How to fill this out

Number of nights
How many nights you are staying at the property. This determines whether the 4th-night-free benefit applies, since that perk kicks in on stays of 4 nights or more, and repeats every 4 nights, so you get a free night at 4, 8, 12, 16, and so on.

Chase IHG card with the 4th night free
Let the calculator know if you hold a Chase IHG card that includes this benefit. The Premier, Premier Select, and Business cards include it. The no-fee IHG One Rewards card includes it only after $5,000 in purchases in a calendar year, starting January 1, 2027. If you have the benefit and you are staying 4 or more nights, every 4th night is free when booking with points, which changes how many points you are actually paying for the stay.

Points per night
If you have the Chase card and your stay qualifies for a free night, enter the average points per night after removing the free night or nights, not the raw redemption rate. The calculator shows you an example of how to do this once you answer the card question, so you do not have to do that math by hand elsewhere.

Cash price per night ($)
What the room costs per night if you paid with a card instead of points, at the same property and dates. Use the all-in total including taxes and any resort or destination fees, not the headline nightly rate.

Your IHG elite status
Pick your current IHG One Rewards status. Elite members earn bonus points on paid stays, 20% for Silver Elite, 40% for Gold Elite, 60% for Platinum Elite, and 100% for Diamond Elite, so a cash stay gives a little more back. The calculator subtracts the value of those points from the cash price. If your IHG credit card gives you status, choose that status.

If you paid cash for this stay
Both questions on this step are optional, so you can leave them as they are and press Next to skip them. Pick the card you would pay with. The IHG cards earn a set number of bonus points at IHG, 12 per dollar for the Premier Select, 10 for the Premier and Business cards, and 5 for the no-fee IHG One Rewards card, so the calculator fills that in for you. For any other card, choose what it earns on a hotel booked directly with IHG, since many cards earn more only through their own travel site. If you would start the booking on a shopping portal such as Rakuten, check the box and enter the rate it shows as cash back, Amex points, or Bilt points. Portal rates change often and tend to rise during seasonal sales, and IHG is not always part of every portal, so check the current IHG rate on the portal before you count it.

Did you purchase IHG points?
If you bought some or all of the points you are using for this stay instead of earning them, say yes here. This matters because purchased points have an actual cost, and the calculator needs that to compare properly against paying cash.

Purchase bonus
If you purchased points, select the bonus you received on that purchase, like a 100 percent bonus promotion, or enter your own percentage if it is not listed. Choose 0% if you bought the points at the regular price. This is what determines the real cost of the points you bought.

Did you purchase all the points for this stay?
The calculator shows how many points the stay needs. If you bought only part of them, choose No and enter how many you bought. The rest are counted at 1 cent each, the same value the calculator uses for points you earned.

Card you used to buy the points
This question is optional. The calculator fills in the card you picked for the cash stay, and you can change it if you paid for the points with a different card. IHG sells points through Points.com, so the purchase usually earns a card’s everyday rate rather than its hotel or travel rate, and the calculator asks what your card earned. The Chase IHG cards earn their everyday rate on it, 3 points per dollar for the Premier Select, Premier, and Business cards and 2 for the no-fee card, and they take 30% off points bought at the regular price. That discount cannot be combined with a sale bonus, so the calculator applies it only when you choose a 0% bonus.

Shopping portal for the points purchase
This question is optional. If you started the points purchase on a shopping portal such as Rakuten, check the box. Buying through a portal does not add any IHG points. You only earn the portal’s own reward, such as cash back, Amex points, or Bilt points. The calculator fills in the reward type you picked for the cash stay, and you can change it if the portal paid something different. Then enter the rate the portal offered on the purchase. Portal offers change often, and Rakuten’s usual IHG terms leave out points purchases, so check the portal’s terms for the purchase before you count it.