IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card Review

The IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card is the best of the two hotel credit cards co-branded between Chase and IHG. It offers an outstanding initial welcome offer: Earn 140,000 Bonus Points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Plus, you’ll get automatic Platinum Elite Status and the fourth night free on all award stays.

The annual fee is $99, and each year you’ll get an Anniversary Night certificate good for one night at any hotel up to 40,000 points. The anniversary night alone is more than enough to offset the cost of the annual fee.

With the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card, you can currently earn 140,000 Bonus Points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

We estimate IHG points to be worth about 0.5 cents each. The true value of IHG points depends on where you choose to redeem them, since value will depend on the number of points you need to book the hotel where you want to stay, compared to the cash cost of the same hotel night.

What is the sign-up bonus worth?

Around $700 in IHG hotel nights. While 140,000 points sounds like a lot, remember that IHG points aren’t worth as much as some other miles and points.

Who's eligible to earn this offer?

You aren’t eligible for this offer if you are either a current IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card card member of this credit card, or have received a new cardmember bonus for this credit card within the last 24 months. You’re also not likely to be approved if you are over the Chase 5/24 rule.

You can find sign-up bonuses that can give you more value per points. For instance, you could redeem the bonus on the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card for a hotel stay with IHG through the Chase Travel^SM portal and get a 25% bonus on those points, making your points worth 1.25 cents each.

Like many credit cards, how many points you earn with the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card depends on where you spend with the card.

You’ll earn up to 26 total points per $1 spent when you stay at IHG Hotels & Resorts. Earn 5 points per $1 spent on purchases on travel, at gas stations, and restaurants. Earn 3 points per $1 spent on all other purchases.

This is a solid earning rate on spending at IHG hotels.

It’s important to note that the 26 points per $1 spent at IHG hotels includes the base points you already earn as an IHG member:

All IHG Rewards Club members get 10 points per $1 spent for staying at an IHG hotel.

Platinum Elite members (a status you’ll get from having the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card) get an additional 5 points per $1 spent.

You’ll earn 10 more points per $1 spent for paying with your IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card.

15 base points + 10 credit card points = 25 points per $1 on IHG purchases

 

Unfortunately, The IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card does not compare favorably to other hotel and travel credit cards on everyday spending, due to the low value of its points.

As you can see from the chart below, its overall rewards earned on spending for the average cardholder is low compared to other popular travel cards:

The cost to redeem points for a free night will vary wildly by location and date, but you’ll find most IHG hotels range generally between 15,000 and 75,000 points per night.

IHG no longer has a set award chart where hotels always cost a certain amount of points. Instead, the cost in points for a given hotel will vary from night to night. IHG does have a decent search engine where you can put in the address or city where you’d like to stay, and easily see the cost in points of various nearby hotels.

Point value calculator

To calculate the value that you’re getting for your points, use the following formula:

Cost of a room in cash (including taxes and fees) ÷ Number of points = Point value

We value IHG points at around 0.5 cents per point, so anything above that number is decent value.

A higher-end IHG hotel can require a large number of points. For example, an award night with EVEN Hotels New York – Time Squares South costs around 80,000 points. In other words, your IHG points may not go very far for highly desirable properties.

However, there are good values to be found here and there. Going back to our Holiday Inn Express Cleveland – Richfield example from earlier, you could book the hotel for 13,000 IHG Rewards points or $157.65 in cash. In that case, you would be getting 1.21 cents per point in value if you booked with points. That’s over twice as much as our average value for IHG points, making that an outstanding redemption. As a general rule, it is often easier to find better value at lower-end IHG brands.

IHG offers 19 hotel brands in more than 6,000 locations

In addition, luxury travel clubs Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas and Mr & Mrs Smith partners with IHG Rewards, allowing members to earn and redeem points through stays at its more than 400 boutique properties.

There are no blackout dates for reward nights with IHG according to IHG’s terms and conditions. However, room inventory is limited and subject to prior sale, so you may not always find an award night. You also may not be able to redeem points for rewards nights at InterContinental Residences, IHG Army Hotels, Iberostar Beachfront Resorts, participating Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas. New Reward Night bookings are not available at Mr & Mrs Smith hotels.

Fourth night free

One of the best benefits of the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card is that you get the fourth night free on an unlimited number of award stays per year. On any stay of four nights or longer, your fourth night will cost zero points. On longer stays, your eighth and 12th nights will also be free, and so on. This can be a great way to stretch the value of your IHG Rewards Club points.

With the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card, you’ll get an anniversary night each year, starting 12 months from the date you open your account. You do have to pay the card’s annual fee to claim the anniversary night, so it is not exactly free — but it is still pretty good value for a free hotel night.

A few restrictions to keep in mind:

• You must redeem and complete the stay using your anniversary night within 12 months from when it’s issued.
• Anniversary night certificates are good on hotels costing 40,000 points or less, and you’re responsible for any resort fees, parking or other charges for your stay.
• Because the nightly points cost to stay at a particular hotel varies from date to date, it is possible or even likely that a hotel might be eligible for an anniversary night redemption on some nights, but not on others.

Here are a couple of the other benefits of having the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card:

IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card vs. IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card

 
If you stay at IHG properties only a few times per year, the IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card may be better, since it doesn’t charge an annual fee. You will still earn rewards on IHG purchases and get a sign-up bonus, though at a much lower rate than the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card. The card also offers automatic Silver Elite Status, which comes with a couple notable benefits, including points that don’t expire and a 20% boost on point earnings.

If you stay at IHG properties frequently and are looking for more luxury travel perks like annual free nights and Platinum Elite Status, you will be better off with the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card.

IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card vs. Hilton Honors American Express Surpass^® Card

 
The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass^® Card beats the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card at earning points. Though Hilton points are worth about as much as IHG points, the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass^® Card lets you earn far more points on many categories of spending.

The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass^® Card also comes with much more valuable hotel benefits. It offers a free weekend awards night that requires $15,000 in spending each year but is redeemable for a standard room at basically any available Hilton property. Plus, you’ll receive Gold status with Hilton (enrollment required).

The card also performs a little better than the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card on its hotel benefits. While the card’s free weekend award night requires $15,000 in spending each year, it’s redeemable for a standard room at basically any available Hilton property, making it much more valuable. You’ll also get better base-point earnings and a food and beverage credit at U.S. hotels (or a continental breakfast at non-U.S. hotels). However, it doesn’t include a credit for TSA PreCheck/Global Entry.

 

IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card

 
If you are looking for a card that allows you to earn points on a variety of travel and everyday purchases rather than just on IHG purchases, the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card is a great option. The card offers a 1:1 transfer rate to 11 airline and three hotel partners including IHG. This card also offers a valuable sign-up bonus and an annual $50 hotel credit. Chase points are more flexible and valuable than IHG points — you’ll get at least 1.25 cent per point by redeeming them for any travel purchase through Chase Travel^SM. You can get even better values than this by transferring points to a travel partner.

If you’re a loyal guest of IHG, The IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card is worth applying for. You’ll find plenty of value in benefits like automatic Platinum Elite status, fourth free night award and bonus rewards on IHG purchases

However, it’s not a great card to put any ongoing spending on, with the possible exception of stays at IHG hotels. Plus, the benefits will be difficult to use for those who prefer more flexible hotel options. This card also offers a lower point value than other hotel and travel credit cards. If you prefer more flexibility in your travel, a general travel credit card may be the better way to go.