We are seeing a flurry of elevated offers in the last couple of months and the latest one is on the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card.
The Limited Time Offer on the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card is 5 free nights (60,000 cap on each night) after $5K in spend in the first 3 months. That’s a total value of up to 300,000 points. This is the best offer on this card this year.
The Limited Time Offer on the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card is 5 free nights (60,000 cap on each night) after $5K in spend in the first 3 months. That’s a total value of up to 300,000 points. This is the best offer on this card this year.
The offer will expire July 23rd, 2025.
We’ll look at the perks of this particular card (which shares a lot in common with the IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card which I personally carry) because there’s no doubt that there is a lot of value in the card for a $99 annual fee.
The biggest perk, in my opinion, is the fourth night free on awards. While that won’t apply to this bonus offer as that only applies to stays booked with points, it’s a tremendous benefit. If a stay were 50,000 points a night and you stayed four nights, you’d only pay 150,000 points. That increases the value of your points by an average of 33% when used for 4-night stays. And you can do this an unlimited number of times per year. That’s my favorite card perk.
You’ll also get a free night award every year at renewal. It’s valid for a room of up to 40,000 points, but you can “top up” with points from your account and there is no limit on that. If the hotel you want is 80,000 points, you can combine your certificate and 40,000 points for the 80,000 point night. The award must be both booked and used within 12 months. We value IHG Rewards points at 0.4 cents each so the certificate is worth approximately $140 – and you only paid a $99 annual fee!
Next, you get IHG Platinum status automatically with the card. This entitles you to things like upgrades to a better room, early check-in (if there is availability), and a 60% bonus on points earned during a stay. I’ve generally found that I get treated pretty well as an IHG Platinum which otherwise takes 40 qualifying nights to earn!
Fly United? IHG Premier Card cardholders get $25 of United TravelBank credit deposited into their linked United account twice per calendar year, for a total of $50 per year.
And there are a few more nice perks for a card with such a low annual fee, including a Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS statement credit of up to $120 every four years when you charge your application fee to your IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card and no foreign transaction fees.
If you stay a lot at IHG properties, you’ll earn a total of 26 points per dollar on hotel spend, with 10 points per dollar at the base level + 6 points per dollar added as a Platinum member, and 10 additional points per dollar when charged to your IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card.
And lastly, there’s the bonus offer. While you cannot “top up” these certificates (valid for 12 months from receipt) or get the 4th night free when using them, if you use them at a property close to 60,000 points a night, you can easily score over $1,000 in value. Since you likely won’t nail it on the head, let’s assume you stay at a property that is 55,000 points per night. That should work out to roughly $1,100 in value (again, as an average using our 0.4 cents per point value – your own results will vary).
But I believe in real-life examples – not just averages. So here’s a sample 5 night stay in New York City this fall. While a lot of properties are over 60,000 points (hey, Manhattan is expensive!) I found the Manhattan at Times Square which looks quite nice for October 5th to 10th at 52,400 points per night for a Premium room. The $46 resort fee is not waived, so the room would have cost $340 + a $46 destination fee ($386 total). Instead it will be 5 certificates + the $46 a night. (Tax is included in that rate.)
That’s $1,698.48 in free nights and I’m laughing a bit as I type this since I cautiously said it should be around $1,110 in value and in one quick search found a prime room where the 5 certificates earned from this bonus would be worth $1,698.48.
You can see it for yourself here. You won’t pay the tax on the award stay, just the destination fee, so I subtracted accordingly.
Needless to say, that is a heck of a signup bonus for a card with so many benefits and an annual fee under $100 and, with the annual free night, Platinum status, and 4th night free, it’s a keeper card, too.
Click here to learn how to apply for the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card
PS: While I strongly recommend the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card over its no-annual-fee cousin IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card, those of you who are annual fee averse should know that there is also a Limited Time Offer on that card – the best since 2023 – for 120,000 points after $2k in spend in the first 3 months.
But you’ll get so much more value on the Premier that I advise you to consider all the value outlined above when comparing what you’re getting for just $99 a year.
NOTE: This product is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of any personal IHG One Rewards Credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of any personal IHG One Rewards Credit Card who received a new cardmember bonus for any personal IHG One Rewards Credit Card within the last 24 months.
Thoughts?
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