Great Card If
- You enjoy staying in IHG-branded hotels
- You want IHG Platinum Elite status
- You know you’ll get more value out of the card than what you’ll pay for the annual fee
Don’t Get If
- You’re not a fan of IHG hotels, or don’t travel much
- You want a card with no annual fee
- You want a card that earns transferable travel points
IHG Premier Card — Is It Worth It?
If IHG is your hotel chain of choice, and you stay at one of its hotels at least a few times a year, then the IHG Premier card would likely be very worth it for you.
With the IHG Premier card, you won’t just earn more points on all of your IHG stays, you’ll also receive automatic IHG Platinum elite status. This status offers 50% more points, extended checkout and priority check-in, complimentary room upgrades, and a welcome amenity.
While the IHG Premier card charges an annual fee, you can easily offset that thanks to the free night certificate you’ll receive each year. Plus, the card gives you added value on award stays by giving you your fourth night free when you use points for a 4-night stay or longer.
IHG Premier Card Top Benefits
Anniversary Free Night Certificate
The free night certificate, given to cardholders each year on their account anniversary, can easily offset the cost of the $99 annual fee on its own. You can redeem the certificate for a free night at any IHG hotel that costs up to 40,000 points per night.
IHG Rewards no longer publishes an award chart, but rest assured that a 40,000 points hotel in the portfolio can easily cost between $200 to $300 a night depending on the location and season.
Hot Tip: IHG now allows IHG Premier cardholders to add points on top of their free night certificate to book more expensive hotels. For instance, if you want to book a night at a property that costs 60,000 points per night, you could apply your free night certificate, plus 20,000 points, to do just that!
Platinum Elite Status
IHG Rewards Platinum Elite status, earned after 40 qualifying nights or 60,000 qualifying points, comes complimentary to cardholders of the IHG Premier card.
Your new Platinum Elite status comes with the following perks:
- 60% bonus points earned on IHG stays
- Priority check-in and extended checkout
- Complimentary room upgrades
- Welcome amenity
The 60% bonus jumps your points earned from 10x points per $1 to 16 points per $1 on your IHG stays. Don’t forget, when you use your IHG Premier card to pay for your stay, you’ll earn another 10x points per $1 for a total of 26 IHG Rewards points per $1 on stays. This represents a return of 13% on your IHG stays based on our points and miles valuations.
As if that’s not enough, you’ll also receive complimentary room upgrades, a welcome amenity during check-in, and extended checkout times. So if you stay at IHG hotels with any sort of regularity, you should be able to get plenty of value out of your IHG Platinum Elite status.
Further, those who are big spenders will have the ability to spend their way to top-tier Diamond Elite status by spending $40,000 on the card in a calendar year.
Fourth Night Free on Award Stays
Once you’ve racked up a large balance of IHG Rewards points, your IHG Premier card will help you stretch those points even further by giving you your fourth night free on all award stays. Keep in mind that this benefit only applies to award stays and not paid stays.
Best Ways To Earn and Redeem Your IHG Rewards Points
If you want to earn lots of IHG Rewards points, you have far more options than simply using the IHG Premier card for your purchases. Read through our dedicated guide to the best ways to earn lots of IHG Rewards points for all of your options.
When you’re ready to redeem your points, you might find yourself a bit overwhelmed with all of the options. While you could just redeem your points at any hotel that seems convenient, you should read our guide to the best ways to redeem your IHG Rewards points if you want to get the maximum value out of your points.
Alternative Cards to the IHG Premier Card
The World of Hyatt Credit Card
If you’re not a fan of the IHG Rewards program or are more agnostic when it comes to hotel loyalty programs, then you should consider the World of Hyatt card.
Many people love the World of Hyatt program due to its great elite benefits and reasonable redemptions. Similar to the IHG Premier card, the World of Hyatt card offers a free night each year, great earnings on Hyatt stays, and automatic elite status.
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card
If you prefer the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program, then you should consider the Marriott Boundless card.
The Marriott Boundless card offers automatic Silver Elite status in the Marriott Bonvoy program, an annual free night certificate, and 15 Elite Night credits each year to help you reach higher levels of elite status.
The information regarding The World of Hyatt Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
Disclaimer: Any comments listed below are not from the bank advertiser, nor have they been reviewed or approved by them. No responsibility will be taken by the bank advertiser for these comments.
8 comments
Jonathan
January 19, 2021
The IHG Premier card was metal, but much like other things that IHG devalues, the new ones are plastic.
Stan
April 26, 2022
Forgive me if I missed this in the review, but no one is talking about the slow, yet steady, degradation of the perks for this card.
The card has always given Platinum Elite status, however, Platinum used to be the top tier. Soon after I got this card, IHG introduced Spire Elite. Understandably so, as anyone with the card would have top-tier status.
Now we have Diamond replacing Spire but the tier requirements have drastically increased. Spire required 75k points or 75 nights (pre-covid days, 55k & 55 night during) Now Diamond requires 120k points or 70 nights.
This Premier card has always counted points toward earning the tiers. However, now they do not. This was a major reason I have the card and paid the fee for years. Let’s not forget the fee increased from $89 to $99 annually. I just came back from a vacation. Over 40,000 points were earned on this card and not a single one counted toward my qualifying points. With the increase from 75k to 120k points needed to stay Diamond, it will be extremely difficult to reach it now.
Chase and IHG blame each other and neither can explain the reason this changed. However they spin it, it was never stated anywhere in the hype or the fine print I was sent. I basically wasted a month of card use. They have lost a customer over this.
TL:DR
Points earned on this card are no longer elite qualifying points and will not count toward status.
Katie Seemann
April 26, 2022
Hi Stan,
I feel your pain about the credit card points not counting toward elite status. I have been back and forth with IHG about this the last few days. I have 26k in points from a stay that are not counting toward status. The one thing I will suggest is contacting IHG to see if you can get them to make an exception. The dates that the new credit card fine print kicked in isn’t totally clear so you could possibly get them to make an exception since the rollout of that policy has been less than perfect. Let us know how it turns out.
Joe
February 18, 2023
Exactly this. IHG and Chase like to point fingers at each other while each smiles and denies points over qualifying purchases. Lost another customer here.
Anthony D'Agostino
September 24, 2022
My opinion…the Chase IHG Rewards card is the worst card EVER.
I received the card with NO information on how to link it to my IHG Rewards account. I figured Chase online probably has a spot for it. I logged into my Chase account…nowhere to enter my IHG Rewards number. I also logged into my IHG Rewards account to see how to link my Chase card…no way to do that from their website either. I called Chase and got transferred to IHG Rewards. Over the course of a couple of days I called IHG Rewards 4-5 times and sit on hold for an hour each time before hanging up. I finally get through and they don’t seem to know what I was talking about so I get transferred to a supervisor. They finally understand what needs to be done and say they will take care of it. During all this, I am also messaging Chase and IHG Rewards seeking some help. After about a week both places say my accounts are linked. Great, right? No. I then get an email from IHG Rewards saying my accounts aren’t linked. I email them some information. Auto-response says they will get back to me in 5 business days. I tried calling a couple times. Hung up after an hour on hold each time. I go back to the Chase message that indicated my accounts are linked and reply stating that IHG says they are not. No answer. I called Chase to ask about it. They say the accounts aren’t linked and I have to call IHG Rewards. My Chase account online indicates I earned IHG Rewards points and they were transferred to my IHG Rewards account. What account? Chase customer service says she doesn’t know where the points went.
How do you have a reward-sponsored credit card and offer ZERO assistance linking the credit card to the reward account? I have an AmEx with Hilton Honors rewards. The linking was simple.
I will cancel the Chase card and no longer pursue IHG Rewards. Horrible partnering and complete lack of customer service.
Katie Seemann
September 26, 2022
Hi Anthony,
I’m sorry you had such a bad experience. Generally, there’s a spot to add your rewards number when you apply for a card. If a rewards number isn’t added a new account is created. I’ve had this happen and was able to merge the new account with an existing account with a single phone call. I hope you were able to get everything sorted out.
P Parker-Phillips
September 28, 2022
Did chase bank stop offering this card. I can’t find a way to apply for it on the chase website.
Jarrod West
September 28, 2022
Hi Parker,
IHG has temporarily disabled applications for its cards, but we expect that they will return soon.
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