IHG One Rewards has quietly switched on a 15% discount on award bookings, and depending on your stash of points (or a free night certificate), it could shave thousands of points off your next hotel stay.

The deal is rolling out in stages. Right now it's open to people holding one of IHG's co-branded credit cards, with the chain saying it will extend access to other IHG elite members in the coming days. The discount shows up at booking time, so you'll see the original and reduced prices side by side.

Timing matters here. You need to book by 21 September 2026 and complete your stay by 2 November 2026 — a stay window of only a few weeks. Bookings made with points, or with Points & Cash (though only the points element gets the discount), both qualify. There's one notable clash: the discount can't be stacked with the fourth-night-free perk that comes with IHG's credit cards, so cardholders will need to run the maths on which saves more.

The most interesting use case involves free night certificates. IHG cardholders get certificates redeemable at properties costing up to 40,000 points per night. Apply the 15% discount and a 45,000-point property drops to 38,250 points — suddenly within certificate range without needing to top up with extra points. That opens up a tier of hotels that would normally be off-limits.

Because IHG uses dynamic award pricing, rates swing with demand, so a blanket 15% off is one of the more predictable ways to extract extra value. If you've already booked an award stay that falls within the window, it can pay to cancel and rebook at the discounted rate.

For travellers sitting on points or an unused certificate, the practical move is to check whether your intended stay falls between early September and early November 2026. If it does, this is a rare chance to book at a guaranteed discount rather than gambling on dynamic pricing moving in your favour. The short stay window is the main catch — but for anyone with autumn travel already on the cards, it's essentially free savings. If you don't have the credit card, it's worth watching your account over the next few days to see whether elite access goes live.

Story via One Mile at a Time.