Travel

Why it is best to get (and hold) the IHG Rewards Premier card

There are many travel rewards cards vying to your consideration, however one in every of my favourite playing cards is the IHG® Rewards Premier Credit Card.

The IHG Rewards Premier card affords a compelling sign-up bonus to draw new cardholders. The cardboard can be an excellent choice to hold long-term attributable to its many perks that may simply offset its modest $99 annual charge. This is why I really like the IHG Rewards Premier card and plan to maintain it in my pockets for the foreseeable future.

Signal-up bonus

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InterContinental Maldives Maamunagau Resort within the Maldives. KATIE GENTER/THE POINTS GUY

The IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card is presently providing its best-ever sign-up bonus of 175,000 bonus factors after spending $3,000 within the first three months of account opening. Based mostly on TPG’s valuations, 175,000 IHG factors are value about $875.

IHG One Rewards makes use of dynamic award pricing, so the variety of award nights you may get from 175,000 factors will rely totally on when and the place you need to redeem your factors.

Word that the IHG Rewards Premier card and its sign-up bonus aren’t accessible if you’re a:

  • Present cardmember of any private IHG Rewards Credit score Card.
  • Earlier cardmember of any private IHG Rewards Credit score Card, and also you obtained a brand new cardmember bonus for a private IHG Rewards Credit score Card inside the final 24 months.

Chase’s 5/24 rule might also stop you from being authorized for a brand new Chase card. Take a look at our submit on calculating your 5/24 standing for extra data.

Associated: Is the IHG Rewards Premier card worth the annual fee?

Anniversary night time

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InterContinental Phuket Resort in Thailand. KATIE GENTER/THE POINTS GUY

Even if you happen to do not spend many nights in inns or want a distinct resort loyalty program, the IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card can nonetheless be value its $99 annual charge annually. In any case, most cardholders can get greater than $99 of worth annually from one profit: the anniversary night you obtain after every account anniversary.

You should use the anniversary night time for an evening with a redemption price of 40,000 factors or much less. However you may also add-on points from your IHG Rewards account to redeem for an evening costing greater than 40,000 factors. You need to redeem your night time and full your keep inside 12 months of the free night time’s difficulty date.

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I’ve gotten good worth from my anniversary nights over time. For instance, I am scripting this story throughout a keep on the Kimpton De Witt in Amsterdam that I booked utilizing a number of anniversary free nights. The award price on my nights was 40,000 factors, whereas the paid price would have been about $281 per night time. Even ignoring the paid price, I used to be completely happy to commerce a number of anniversary nights to remain at this Kimpton close to Amsterdam Centraal.

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IHG.COM

However you may also get sufficient worth out of your anniversary night time to justify the cardboard’s annual charge nearer to residence. Though discovering nights costing lower than $99 in lots of U.S. cities is changing into much less frequent, you may nonetheless usually discover IHG award nights for 40,000 factors or much less.

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IHG.COM

There are lots of other ways to make use of the anniversary night time. However so long as you are getting greater than $99 of worth out of your anniversary night time annually, conserving the IHG Rewards Premier card long-term doubtless is sensible — particularly when you contemplate the cardboard’s different helpful perks.

Associated: The 19 best IHG hotels in the world

Fourth-night reward perk

My favourite perk of the IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card is the “redeem three nights, get fourth reward night time free” profit. Briefly, this perk allows you to pay zero factors for each fourth night time if you redeem IHG points for a keep of 4 nights or longer.

Let us take a look at an instance. For this keep on the InterContinental Phuket Resort in Thailand, I might pay a median of 27,250 factors per night time (as an alternative of 37,750 factors per night time) as a result of fourth-night reward perk.

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IHG.COM

This perk additionally works for longer stays. For instance, here is an eight-night keep the place two nights would value zero factors after the fourth-night reward perk. (Word that the primary and fourth traces within the screenshot beneath pool two nights collectively as they’re all priced at 11,000 factors every.)

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IHG.COM

You should use this profit a limiteless variety of instances and for longer stays. For instance, you may obtain the fourth, eighth and twelfth nights free on a 12-night keep. And it’ll at all times be these nights which are free, no matter whether or not these nights are the most affordable or costliest of the entire keep.

For instance, on a four-night keep the place the nights are priced at 10,000 for every of the primary three nights and 12,000 on the fourth night time, that fourth night time will probably be free regardless that it is priced the very best.

Most vacationers will solely use this perk a couple of instances a yr, however I’ve benefited from over 35 fourth-night rewards up to now six years. For those who often redeem IHG points for stays of 4 nights or longer, this card profit will doubtless prevent a big quantity of factors.

Associated: What is IHG One Rewards elite status worth?

Different helpful advantages

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voco Melbourne Central in Australia. MATT MOFFITT/THE POINTS GUY

The IHG Rewards Premier card contains a number of different helpful perks. For instance, the cardboard earns 10 factors per greenback spent at IHG inns and resorts, a return of 5% based mostly on TPG’s valuations. The IHG Rewards Premier card additionally earns 5 factors per greenback spent on purchases at gas stations, on different journey and at restaurants and three factors per greenback spent on all different purchases.

Plus, the IHG Rewards Premier card affords the next advantages:

  • Automated IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite status for so long as you retain your IHG Rewards Premier card.
  • Earn IHG One Rewards Diamond Elite standing by means of the tip of the next calendar yr throughout any calendar yr you make purchases totaling $40,000 or extra along with your IHG Rewards Premier card.
  • Save 20% on factors purchases if you pay along with your IHG Rewards Premier card. You possibly can’t mix this low cost with every other factors buy affords, although. So, you may usually do higher ready for an IHG buy points promotion as an alternative of saving 20% by means of this perk.
  • No foreign transaction fees.
  • Get a Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or Nexus credit score of as much as $100 each 4 years as reimbursement for an software charge charged to your card.
  • Earn a $100 assertion credit score and 10,000 bonus factors any calendar yr you spend not less than $20,000 in purchases.
  • Get a $25 United TravelBank cash deposit in your United MileagePlus account twice a yr (on or round Jan. 1 and July 1) when you full a one-time registration for this perk.

Platinum Elite standing will get you some helpful perks if you keep at IHG inns, together with extra bonus factors on paid stays and complimentary upgrades (topic to availability and on the resort’s discretion).

Associated: The best hotel credit cards with annual fees under $100

Backside line

The IHG® Rewards Premier Credit Card is presently providing its best-ever sign-up bonus of 175,000 bonus factors after spending $3,000 within the first three months of account opening. Based mostly on TPG’s valuations, these bonus factors are value $875.

And upon getting the IHG Rewards Premier card, two card advantages — the anniversary night certificate and the fourth-night-reward perk — ought to present considerably extra worth than the $99 annual charge annually. As such, I imagine the IHG Rewards Premier card is a helpful card to get after which hold yr after yr.

Take a look at our full IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card review for extra particulars.


Official software hyperlink: IHG® Rewards Premier Credit Card


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