You can earn IHG points to redeem for hotel stays, transfer to airline partners and much more. Since joining IHG One Rewards is free, there’s no reason not to sign up, especially if you stay at IHG-owned properties often. With so many different properties scattered across the globe, there are ample opportunities to earn IHG points, the rewards currency of the IHG One Rewards program. Today, IHG consists of 17 brands with a total of more than 6,000 properties across six continents, making it one of the largest hotel chains in the world. In 2003, these brands were consolidated under the InterContinental Hotels Group umbrella alongside the newly formed Holiday Inn Express, Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites brands. In 1998, Bass Hotels acquired the InterContinental Hotels chain. This operation would turn into a company called Bass Hotels, the company that would purchase the international division of the Holiday Inn chain in 1988 and then the North American division in 1990. The story of InterContinental Hotels Group, also known as IHG Hotels & Resorts, goes all the way back to 1777 in the United Kingdom when a man named William Bass decided to use his small brewery as a hotel.
