A dye-receiving element for thermal dye transfer includes a support having on one side thereof a dye image receiving layer. Receiving elements of the invention are characterized in that the dye image-receiving layer primarily comprises a mixture of a crosslinked polymer network being formed by the reaction of a multifunctional isocyanate with: a) a polycarbonate polyol having at least two terminal hydroxy groups and an average molecular weight of about 1000 to about 10,000, and b) an aliphatic glycol having at least one of the following formulas: HO--(CH.sub.2).sub.n --OH HO--[(CH.sub.2).sub.n --O].sub.m --H or HO--[(CH.sub.2).sub.5 --CO.sub.2 ].sub.p --[(CH.sub.2).sub.n --O].sub.m --H where n is between about 3 and about 10, m is between about 3 and about 60, and p is between about 1 and about 16.