How To Convert Virgin Miles To IHG Points

As you might already know Virgin Atlantic is somewhat of an anomaly amongst Airlines… How so? You can transfer points out of their loyalty scheme to hotel loyalty schemes! With the generous sign-up bonus on the Virgin Atlantic Credit Card, I thought it was worth looking at how you can convert Virgin Miles to IHG Points and whether it’s worthwhile to do so…

If you are interested in using airline miles for hotels there is only one other airline in Europe that allows you to so this (Finnair with transfer partners such as IHG and Accor.) If you collect Avios points you can redeem for hotels through the BA’s Executive Club however it is poor value. Take a look at our post on Should you use Avios for hotels?

Convert Virgin Miles To IHG Points

Unfortunately, there is no way of doing this online or without speaking to someone. You need to ring up the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club helpdesk and ask them to make the transfer with you.

As you can see on the IHG page of the Virgin Atlantic website the transfer rate is 1:1. The minimum transfer is 10,000 virgin miles and then in increments of 5,000 miles.

Is it worth transferring Virgin Miles To IHG Points?

If you collect Virgin Miles and would otherwise use them for flights then no it’s not. I value Virgin Miles at 1p and by converting to IHG Points you are only getting 0.4p value, over a half less (I value IHG points at 0.4p.)

You might be tempted by the virgin credit card sign-up bonus. Don’t be if you are purely wanting to transfer into IHG points. You can buy 15,000 IHG points for around £135 (even less when a sale is on) here – https://storefront.points.com/IHG-rewards-club/en-US/buy – and the Virgin credit card has an annual fee of £160.

So why would you want to transfer Virgin Miles to IHG points? Well…

1. If you are a few points short of an IHG redemption it might make sense to transfer some over to make your booking.
2. If you rarely fly long-haul or with Virgin and have a small/medium stash of points it can be hard to make use of your points for flights. In this situation you may consider transferring your points to IHG.

Is there a way to quickly get more IHG or Virgin points?

This is my experience using the points system and is not a recommendation of any financial product. If you use one of my referral links to an American Express card upon you being accepted I will receive points, this varies between 9,000 – 18,000 depending on the card I refer you from.

The quickest way to get Hilton/Virgin points other than staying/flying or purchasing them is via credit card sign-up bonuses. Below are some of the current ones (correct at time of publishing)

IHG

IHG Rewards Club Credit Card – 10,000 IHG point bonus (spend £200 within 3 months) – FREE (no annual fee) – collect 1 point per £1 on general spend.

Virgin

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card – 15,000 virgin points bonus (on your first purchase within 90 days) – £160 annual fee – collect 1.5 point per £1 on general spend.

American Express^® Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card – 10,000 membership reward point bonus – converts to 10,000 Virgin Miles (spend £3000 within 3 months) – £140 annual fee (first year free) – collect 1 point per £1 on general spend.

You can get a referral (and increased sign-up bonus) here – https://pointsuncovered.com/amex-referral-link-uk/