One of our favorite hotel credit cards — and its no-annual-fee sibling — just launched big welcome offers.
New members of the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Cardcan earn 170,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases within three (3) months of being approved for the card. Because the IHG Premier Card earns at least 3X points per dollar spent on eligible purchases, you’ll earn a minimum of 12,000 points in organic spending while meeting the welcome bonus’s spending requirement. Combine that with the 170,000 bonus and you’re 182,000 IHG points richer! Learn here how to apply for this offer.
The card previously offered 140,000 bonus points. Its biggest-ever offer was 175,000 points, so this promotion isn’t too far off.
The IHG card carries a $99 annual fee. If you want something without an annual fee, the IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card gives new applicants the opportunity to earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $2,000 in three (3) months of being approved for the card. (That card previously offered 80,000 bonus points.)Â Learn here how to apply for this offer.
And here’s something I appreciate about IHG card welcome offers: they don’t come with massively restrictive, family language like a certain other hotel chain’s cards do. *cough* Marriott Bonvoy. They are, however, Chase cards, which means they’re subject to the 5/24 rule.
Nearly 20 hotel brands participate in the IHG program:
- InterContinental
- Kimpton
- Hotel Indigo
- Crowne Plaza
- Holiday Inn
- Holiday Inn Express
- Candlewood Suites
- Even
- Voco
- Avid
- Garner
- Six Senses
- Regent
- Vignette
- Atwell Suites
- Staybridge Suites
- Hualuxe
- Iberostar
What’s So Special About the IHG Premier Card?
My wife and I both have IHG Premier Card accounts. Why? We love the annual Reward Night feature that kicks in the second year of card membership. It’s redeemable for a rate of 40,000 points or fewer. We think that’s a great deal for a $99 card. If you want to stay somewhere that charges more than 40,000 points for a night, you can pay the difference with IHG points.
We used a free night award at the InterContinental Times Square in New York and another at the Kimpton Muse. I also redeemed one for a stay at the HY36 in Midtown. (Wow. I never realized how often we use our free nights to stay in Manhattan. 🙂 ) Michael (one of our cruise correspondents) used his Reward Night to stay at the five-star Intercontinental Ljubljana in Slovenia. I also really like the Holiday Inn Express at London Heathrow’s T4 — but that generally can be had for a good points redemption.
We’ve scored a couple of nice upgrades, too, thanks to our complimentary IHG Rewards One Platinum Elite status — a perk of the card.
IHG Platinum status obtained through a travel credit card scored us this great complimentary upgrade!
Here’s how its points earnings break down for each dollar spent on eligible purchases:
- Up to 26X charged to the card during stays at IHG properties.
- 5X on travel purchases.
- 5X at gas stations
- 5X on restaurant purchases
- All other qualifying purchases earn 3X.
Plus, the IHG Premier comes with a Fourth Night Free benefit: use IHG points to book three consecutive nights at one property — and there’s no room or tax charge for the fourth night of the stay. In other words, stay four nights for the price of three. My family used that a couple of times and love the perk.
To be honest, we rarely use our IHG Premier Card for purchases. We occasionally take advantage of Chase Offers. But the Reward Award and Fourth Night Free benefits are key for us. (We also hold several Chase Ultimate Rewards® points-earning cards such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, and Ink Business Cash® Credit Card. We can transfer those points to IHG, which is a Chase partner.
Other notable benefits:
- Earn 10,000 bonus IHG points and a $100 statement credit after spending $20,000 on eligible purchases during a calendar year.
- Receive a Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS statement credit of up to $120 (every four years) when using your card to pay for application fees associated with those services.
- Cardmembers can receive up to $50 United Airlines TravelBank Cash to use on United Airlines purchases. Just enter your IHG Premier card number into your United MileagePlus® account.
Final Approach
New applicants of the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card can earn 170,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases within three (3) months of being approved for the card.. This is a card worth holding simply because of its annual free night benefit, starting year two. The welcome bonus does a great job of taking care of you until then — especially if you swing a great Fourth Night Free deal!
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I wish this card would let us choose the airline of our choice, instead of just restricting this perk for United only, for the $50 statement credit. Even though I have a lifetime membership at United’s Lounge, I don’t fly United at all because the airport is just too far for me. Another perk I wish IHG Premier would add/change is to include breakfast for their Platinum Tier members, which comes with this card, like Hilton does for their Gold Tier members.