Back in July 2023, OCBC added eight new frequent flyer and hotel loyalty programme partners to its previous single offering for those converting points from their credit cards in Singapore, fulfilling a long-awaited promise to improve transfer options for its customers by late 2022.
Among the new entrants was the IHG One Rewards scheme, with points crediting at the same ratio from your OCBC account as they would into the KrisFlyer programme, in that example.
OCBC to IHG 75% bonus
Between 1st November 2024 and 30th November 2024, those holding the following OCBC credit cards can transfer into the IHG One Rewards programme with an uncapped 75% bonus:
- OCBC Titanium Rewards Credit Card
- OCBC 90°N Card
- OCBC Voyage Card
- OCBC Premier Voyage / Premier Private Client Voyage Card
- Bank of Singapore Voyage Card
You will need to meet the usual minimum transfer volume to IHG One Rewards of either 1,000 Voyage Miles, 1,000 90°N Miles or 10,000 OCBC$ in order to be eligible, with no upper cap on the bonus points.
For example, a transfer of 1,000 Voyage Miles during this promotion will see you receive 1,750 IHG points in your account once the transfer has been completed, instead of the usual 1,000 points.
This is a better deal that OCBC was offering last year, with a 50% bonus for IHG points transfers running back in October 2023.
The bonus points may be reflected separately to the originally-transferred points in your IHG One account statement, as two transactions, but both will be credited at the same time.
Transfers take up to one business day, but are usually completed even more quickly than that.
Rather obviously, you must be enrolled in the IHG One Rewards programme in order to transfer your OCBC points across and participate in this promotion. If you’re not a member yet, you can join for free here.
IHG One Rewards points never expire for Elite Members (i.e. Silver Elite or higher). For basic Club members, points will expire after 12 months if there’s no account activity, which means you need to earn or redeem at least one point before the expiry date, to refresh your entire balance for a further year.
Transfers from OCBC to IHG are via the bank’s STACK Rewards portal. Full terms and conditions for this transfer bonus are available here.
Is it worth it?
IHG One Rewards points needed to redeem hotel stays are largely based on dynamic pricing, where the cash price for the stay determines the number of points needed, though not at exactly the same ratio for all properties on all dates.
Generally, the value is in the order of around 0.7 Singapore cents per point, in most cases we’ve seen.
(Photo: IHG)
In the above example, a transfer of 1,000 VOYAGE Miles will normally net you 1,000 KrisFlyer miles, worth around S$18, or 1,750 IHG One points during this promotion, worth around S$12.
As you can see it’s still not a particularly great deal, even with a 75% bonus in play, though it may help you with a relatively small top-up if there’s a redemption you have your eye on that you fall slightly short of.
Do bear in mind that it is possible to achieve better than 0.7 Singapore cents per mile when redeeming IHG points,.
A some luxury properties, like those in the Maldives and central London, valuations well north of 1 Singapore cent are definitely achievable, but remember these are hardly mainstream.
IHG also occasionally runs points discount offers, allowing you to redeem stays with fewer points than usual, increasing their value somewhat.
On the flip side there are also poorer value deals than 0.7 Singapore cents too, so it’s a case of carefully crunching the maths to ensure you’re redeeming at the higher-value end, where possible.
Don’t forget the 35% bonus to Asia miles
This IHG offer comes at the same time as OCBC’s 35% bonus on transfers to Cathay’s Asia Miles programme, a promotion running g between now and the end of the year, as we recently reported.
While this essentially just restores the transfer ratio to the rate it should be year-round (i.e. the same as an OCBC > KrisFlyer conversion), there’s a further 20% bonus on offer for those transferring the equivalent of 100,000+ Asia Miles, which may be of interest to some readers.
Summary
OCBC is offering a 75% transfer bonus from its credit card points to the IHG One Rewards programme this month.
The fact that this doesn’t really give you better value than a conversion to KrisFlyer, for example, just highlights how lousy the year-round ratio to this partner is in the first place!
Nonetheless, it is possible to achieve better than average value with some IHG points redemptions, and for a small top-up to unlock a stay you’re a little shy of, this bonus could prove a very helpful leg-up, if you have enough OCBC points.
There’s also the 35% bonus Asia Miles ratio to consider between now and 31st December 2024, though this one is probably only worth it if you are making a large 100,000+ mile transfer, which comes with an additional 20% bonus.
(Cover Photo: IHG)