Chase and IHG, the chain that owns brands like Intercontinental, Kimpton, and Holiday Inn, have bumped up the signup bonus for the IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card to a solid 100,000 points for $3,000 in spend in 3 months. You can bump that to 105,000 by taking advantage of an offer to get 5,000 more points for adding an authorized user within that same 3 months.
For the $89 annual fee, you get some good benefits *if* you stay at IHG properties on a regular or semi-regular basis. It is not a card you would want to put any spend that isn’t at an IHG property on, as the earn rates pale in comparison to your other cards.
The card comes with an annual free-night certificate, good for most hotels up to 40,000 points in value. This is worth about $200 so, as long as you would be staying at least one night in such a hotel once a year, you get a 100%+ ROI on the annual fee right there. The previous version of this card, old IHG Rewards Club Select credit card, had an “uncapped” free night, useable anywhere in the iHG system, which was a much better deal, but that card is no longer available and will also now be capping cardholder’s nights at the same limit.
The card also has a unique feature where you get the 4th night free on award stays. This could be worth up to approximately $350+ each time you use this benefit. For example, if you stayed at the Intercontinental Bora Bora, which is 70,000 points a night, for 4 nights you would save 70,000 points. I value IHG points at half a cent each, so that would be a $350 savings.
Platinum IHG status is also included. This isn’t a very strong status tier. You do earn more points on paid IHG stays and room upgrade/late checkout – but those last two are subject to availability (meaning, not at all guaranteed).
It also includes reimbursement for Global Entry or PreCheck, but so do most premium cards you should have or get before this card.
IHG does have some very luxurious properties – the Intercontinental hotels outside of the US can be spectacular – see my review of the Le Grand Intercontinental in Bordeaux, for instance.
But is this card right for you? The card does not currently fall under Chase’s 5/24 rule, which means it doesn’t need to be a priority. In fact, you should not take up a 5/24 slot with this card unless you are a frequent IHG guest that would really take advantage of all the benefits.
If you are already past 5/24 and stay at IHG even occasionally, then it’s a nice addition to your card collection, given the nice signup bonus worth a bit over $500, the annual free night, and the 4th night free on award stays.
If you are interested in applying for a Hotel Credit Card, this is the link (and using this link supports MilesTalk).
What do you think of this signup bonus? Let me know here, on Twitter, or in the private MilesTalk Facebook group.
New to all of this? My new “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available now.
