A LoyaltyLobby reader sent us a note about their IHG One Rewards account being hacked, how IHG customer service dealt with the issue, and if other readers have experienced the same.
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Reader’s Message:
Just thought I should bring to your attention,
Yesterday my IHG account was hacked, all my points reservations were cancelled and over 132,000 points stolen.
I was on the phone with their fraud department for many, many hours and late in the evening it seemed like they had finally resolved the issue and everything was restored back to normal.
Within half an hour, I was hacked again and all points were stolen once more, this time over 149,000 as they had added points to my account to rebook the hotels at the same rate I had last year.
Since then, I have been frozen out of my account and I believe they are looking into the case, although I have not heard back from them since this morning.
Just before I was locked out of my account, I saw that all my personal details had been changed to some random address in another country.
The security on IHG accounts is absolutely ridiculous, not even the basic code verification.
Do you know if this has happened to other clients recently or have any advice. It would be much appreciated.
The reader sent us this message a week ago and then:
Thankfully they have.
They said they cannot share the details of how the hack took place.
They had to open a new account for me. Weirdly the old account is still active too, but I no longer have access to it.
I’m hoping the old account is left active to be used as bate, but I’m not sure.
I have been a member since 2016, sadly, my new account shows I’ve only recently become a member.
Overall the team dealing with my hacked account were extremely helpful and quite sympathetic. Hats off to them.
And:
It would be interesting to know how many other members it’s happened to and with what hotel chains.
I have this suspicious feeling about the last IHG hotel I stayed at. The hacking started the day after I checked out. Before this, I had never had a single issue in almost a decade of being with them.
It was a new hotel that’s recently been added to IHG’s portfolio
I’ve stayed at many IHG hotels around the world and I found the behaviour of the desk staff at this particular hotel to be off somehow and not on par with the norm. They seemed very shifty.
We used to have more reader cases where someone had access to their accounts, used the points (usually for merchandise and/or gift cards), and sometimes canceled award reservations, but these have not been as frequent in 2024/2025 as previously.
I believe that the reason behind this is that IHG used to have a 4-digit PIN as the account password, and we all know how insecure this is, especially when the 20 most common 4-digit PINs consist of 27% of all.
Two Previous Account Hack Cases:
Reader Question: IHG Rewards Club Account Hacked & Points Gone?
Reader Comment: IHG Rewards Club Account Hack & Inability To Register For New Offers!
Conclusion
So, what have your experiences been with IHG or other loyalty program account hacks? Please comment below.
The reader could be right that the property leaked the account number and perhaps the balance information. The property also has access to your email address and physical one. Both are important if you happen to call customer service claiming that you have been locked out of your account.
I am glad that IHG was able to resolve the situation, but I would try to avoid a new IHG One Rewards account because all the hotels where you have stayed previously no longer see you as a returning guest. This could be important for upgrades and on-property extra benefits, especially at full-service and luxury hotels.
