Stay at a lot of IHG properties? The highest earning card for IHG stays is the IHG Premier!
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Review
Who is this card for?
This card is for people who frequently stay at or enjoy any of the IHG portfolio hotels often, or simply find themselves needing to stay at a random Holiday Inn for road trips.
The Chase IHG Premier is a keeper card in my book for one reason. That reason is the free anniversary night (free night doesn’t have to be used at a Holiday Inn, I just use it as an example because it’s often the most recognizable brand in the IHG portfolio). If you’re a road tripper and you need one night in the middle of nowhere, there’s a good chance that you’re near a Holiday Inn. If you’re stuck at an airport because of a snowstorm, there’s a good chance that there’s a Holiday Inn near you. If you’re in a major city for a sporting event there’s a good chance there’s a Holiday Inn not too far. The reason I put so much emphasis on this is because with the free anniversary night, it is very likely that the room after taxes and fees is going to cost more than the $89 annual fee. If you’re in a Holiday Inn during March Madness, people staying in the room next to you could have paid $500 for their room when all you did was have a $89 credit card. Due to this free night certificate, it is exceptionally easy to get positive value from this credit card.
The IHG Premier card does have a path to a no annual fee card; this is the IHG Rewards Club Traveler card.
Multipliers
25x on charges to IHG properties
2x on gas, groceries and restaurants
1x on everything else
Benefits
Free night each year after first anniversary
IHG Platinum status
4th night free on award redemption
Save 20% on point purchases
No foreign transaction fee
Travel and Purchase insurance
Global Entry / PreCheck
Elite Hotel Benefits
The Chase IHG Premier comes with automatic IHG Platinum Status. While this is not be the highest status you can achieve with IHG, it includes the most important benefits of the higher tier status levels, like late checkout and complimentary room upgrades, including suites.
IHG is a bit of an interesting brand because no level of status with IHG will get you free breakfast at their higher tier properties like Kimpton or Intercontinental. You would be better off booking with the American Express Fine Hotel + Resorts using your Platinum card if you have one, because you’ll get early check in and free breakfast, two things not offered with Platinum status with IHG. If you do this, make sure you still pay with your IHG Premier to get the 25x back! There are brands within the IHG portfolio that offer free breakfast, such as Holiday Inn, Avid, and Staybridge Suites.
Free Night
In my opinion, the absolute best reason to keep this card in my wallet forever is the free anniversary night that you get each year. This benefit allows you to book a free room at any IHG property that has award space available up to 40,000 IHG points. The card has an annual fee of only $89, and in my experience it is incredibly easy to find a hotel that has rooms available at up to 40,000 IHG points costing more than $89.
To search to see if a reward night is available for the hotel you wish to book at and also find out how many points it is, check out this link. From here you can select the date you wish to stay, and you’ll notice that “Reward Night” is already selected for you.
Above you can see that in this example a Kimpton, a high end IHG property, goes for $208 during the dates selected, yet costs only 35,000 points. When you consider you payed only $89 for this card and you can use your free night on a property that cost over $240 after taxes and fees, you can see the savings you get from having this card!
4th Night Free, Save 20%
When you book 4 or more nights on points you get a free night. This effectively saves you 20% on points redemptions. Additionally, if you buy IHG points you save 20% on point purchases!
Global Entry / PreCheck
The IHG Premier also comes with a Global Entry / PreCheck credit every 5 years. This is for either $85 for PreCheck or $100 for Global Entry. Both Global Entry and PreCheck last for 5 years. Global Entry allows you to enter America from certain locations at an expedited rate. Global Entry also comes with PreCheck, so you might as well sign up for Global Entry. To use this credit, simply purchase either using your IHG Premier card.
Travel Insurance
If something happens while you’re on a trip, it is definitely good to have travel insurance. In fact, it’s good to have insurance on anything you buy. If your situation falls under the category of covered instances, you will be covered just because you used your IHG Premier card for your purchase.
Before you go on a spending spree for lost luggage or one of the items that appears to be listed here or on the benefits page, please call Chase customer service to be sure that your situation meets their requirements
Summary
Overall this card is a really good card to get in terms of value, because you can very easily find a hotel that has a nightly rate of $89 and get your annual fee back and more. Having Global Entry, Platinum status, and the IHG points that are part of the SUB are icing on the cake! It pays to have this card.
If you think this card would be a good fit for you, please consider using our referral link below.
