It’s summer, and you’re gearing up for a staycation where you do nothing but lounge around in a resort pool 🏖️, away from the stressors of your life. And if you’re anything like me, you love a good reward after your vacation. That’s exactly what the IHG One Rewards Premier credit card offers!
Whether you’re a loyal IHG patron or considering staying at one of their hotels or resorts for the first time, you’ll benefit from the IHG Premier card offered by Chase. Come with me as we explore all this hotel credit card offers.
The IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card At a Glance
First, The IHG chain of hotels and resorts includes places like Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Intercontinental, Regent, Six Senses, and many more. So, no matter which one of the hotels you stay at, you’ll enjoy the benefits of this hotel + travel credit card.
Annual Fee: $99 Foreign Transaction Fee: $0
Rewards Rate: 3X to 26X Credit Needed: Good/ Excellent (700-850)
Intro APR: None Regular APR: 21.49% to 28.39% (variable)
- A welcome bonus of 140,000 points if you spend $3,000 on expenses with your card within the first three months
- Up to 26X points for ever $1 spent when you stay at IHG hotels and resorts
- 5X points on dining, travel, and purchases made at gas stations
- 3X points on other purchases
- $100 annual statement credit + 10,000 bonus points after you spend $20,000 with your credit card each year
- Automatic platinum elite status
- Free IHG hotel stays during your account anniversary
Let’s move on to a detailed review so that you know the ins-and-outs of what you’re signing up for with this credit card.
1. IHG-Exclusive Bonuses and Perks
The IHG One Premier card is loaded with benefits and is a good credit card to add to your arsenal if you frequent (or plan to stay at) any of the hotels under IHG at least once a year.
Welcome Bonus
Once you get your IHG One Premier card approved, use it to make purchases worth $3,000 within the first three months, and you’ll automatically get a huge bonus of 140,000 points. According to Chase, that’ll get you up to 4 free nights at one of IHG’s 5,100+ properties, which are available wherever you go!
However, there’s a caveat. You’re not eligible for this bonus offer if:
- You already have an existing IHG One Rewards credit card
- You have received a cardmember bonus within the last 24 months
Free Anniversary Stay
This is my favorite perk of the IHG One Premier card and is enough to offset the $99 annual fee. Once your account anniversary comes along, you get a free IHG anniversary night bonus, where you get to book a free night’s stay at any of IHG’s properties… well, with a cap of 40,000 points. If you do want to stay at a resort that crosses the 40,000-point limit, you can simply use your accumulated points. You can enjoy the free stay anytime within 12 months of the issue date. I bet now you can tell why I keep this card around. 😉
Fourth-Night Free
This is another one of my favorite perks from this credit card. When you book hotel stays through your IHG points that are 4 nights or longer, you get to stay the fourth consecutive night for free. The best part? This benefit can be redeemed unlimited times–even within a single stay! Let me explain.
Let’s say you stay somewhere for 5 days. Your 4th night is free and will cost you 0 points. But if you stay for 10 days? Your 4th and 8th nights (yes, both of them) are free! Pretty cool, right? If you’re a traveler who often stays at places for4 nights or longer, this will save you a lot of points and money.
Note: To get this perk, you must pay for your stay exclusively through IHG reward points.
Automatic Platinum Elite Status
The IHG One Premier card gives you the coveted platinum elite status. But, what exactly does it entail?
- Complimentary room upgrades, whenever available
- Early check-in and late check-out
- A welcome amenity, typically in the form of a snack, beverage, food, or credit card points (the last one is available only if you check in digitally)
- Guaranteed room availability, as long as you make your hotel reservations at least 72 hours before you arrive
- Complimentary Wi-Fi
- $30 in-room spa credit
- Opportunity to earn IHG Milestone Rewards, which comes with perks like club and lounge access
Other Bonuses
Thought that was all? Think again! Other perks of the IHG One Premier card include:
- Up to 26X points per $1 spent on IHG stays
- 10X points with the card
- Up to 10X points, simply because you’re an IHG member
- Up to 6X points for the joy of being a Platinum Elite member
- You also qualify for the more exclusive Diamond Elite Status for a year (say hello to complimentary breakfasts) once you spend $40,000 with your credit card
- 20% off when your purchase points through points.com and pay through your card
- 12 months of free DashPass subscription
- A $100 statement credit along with a bonus of 10,000 points every year as long as you spend a minimum of $20,000 using your credit card
2. Travel Benefits
Whether you travel a couple of times per year, or every month, the IHG One Premier card offers several benefits.
Travel and Purchase Coverage
These 👇 benefits allow you to travel with ease!
- Baggage delay insurance: Airline delaying your essential baggage by over 6 hours? You get reimbursed for it by up to $100 per day for 3 days.
- Lost luggage reimbursement: This one extends to your immediate family members as well. If your luggage is either lost or damaged by the carrier, you get coverage of up to $3,000 per passenger.
- Purchase protection: When you make new purchases, they’re protected against damage or theft for 120 days. You can get up to $500 per claim, with a maximum of $50,000 per account.
- Trip cancellation/ trip interruption insurance: If you’re on a trip and it gets canceled or interrupted due to severe weather, or because you fell sick, you can get a reimbursement of up to $5,000 per person and a maximum of $10,000 per trip. This covers all your non-refundable expenses, including passenger fares, hotels, and tours.
Other Travel Benefits
Some other travel benefits with the IHG One Premier card include:
- ❌ No foreign transaction fee
- A $100 credit every four years to be used for the application fee for Global Entry, TSA Pre-check, or NEXUS
- Up to $50 United Airlines TravelBank cash every year once you register your card with a MileagePlus account
3. Interest Rate and Balance Transfer Fee
You might have seen the words APR being thrown around when it comes to credit cards. It stands for Annual Percentage Rate and simply means the interest you’ll be charged per year if you carry a balance. To stay away from all this APR business, simply pay your balance by the due date.
Here’s the deal with IHG One Premier’s APR:
- APR: 21.49% to 28.49% variable APR (based on your creditworthiness, among other factors)
- Cash Advance APR: 29.99%
- Penalty APR: Up to 29.99%
- Balance Transfer APR: 21.49% to 28.49%, variable
A balance transfer is when you take all of your outstanding debt from one (or more) credit card(s) and transfer it to another card. The IHG One Premier has a balance transfer fee of $5 or 5% of the amount being transferred, whichever comes out to be greater.
While the benefits of the IHG One Premier are certainly extensive, it also has its cons.
4. Drawbacks of The IHG One Premier Credit Card
- No intro APR + high APR. If you hold a large balance, things can quickly go wrong for you
- The points have a low value (around 0.7 to 0.8 cents per point)
- Very low value when you transfer points to airline partners
Bottom Line: Is The IHG One Premier Credit Card Worth It?
That’s a big, fat yes! As long as you plan on staying at an IHG property at least once a month. Even though you have to pay an annual fee, you can easily offset it with the myriad of benefits that come with this card. Case in point: the free anniversary night stay. If you like booking longer hotel stays, you can also make use of the fourth-night free perk. You can easily get hundreds of dollars in value.
But if you don’t fancy any of the IHG hotels and resorts, you might be better off with another travel card, like the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Go on! Tell us what your favorite thing about the IHG One Premier card is.
