The IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card from Chase is the best co-brand card you can get for IHG hotels. Right now, the sign-up bonus is 140,000 IHG Rewards Club points after you make purchases totaling $3,000 or more during the first 3 months from account opening.
That’s a great deal considering the previous offer for the card was 80,000 points with $2,000 in spending. This card’s previously highest offer was 125,000 points, so this time, they’re hitting new heights.
If you want to see the full review of the IHG Premier card, check out this post.
We don’t have a referral link for this offer, but you can find one here.
With the increased sign up offer, I’m going to get another IHG card.
Wait, what do I mean by another card?
Well, Sharon and I already have the IHG Rewards Club Select card. This discontinued card provides some great benefits like a free night at any hotel up to 40,000 points and a 10% rebate on reward redemptions. It also earns 5x points on charges at IHG hotels. The annual fee for this card is only $49, so there’s no reason for me to get rid of it when I’m prepaying $50 for a room and getting back 10% of all my award redemptions.
Many of the card benefits overlap.
- Both cards provide automatic Platinum Elite IHG status
- Both cards give a free night certificate good up to 40,000 points
- Both cards have no foreign transaction fees
Reasons to get the Chase IHG Premier.
- Free Night on four-night or longer award stays
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit
- Earns 10x IHG points on charges from IHG properties
The IHG Premier card comes with an $89 annual fee.
Why keep both cards instead of upgrading?
Chase regularly sends us mailers trying to get us to upgrade our IHG Select cards to the IHG Premier, hyping the increased bonus when paying for IHG stays and the TSA Precheck rebate. I never considered doing this because I value a 10% rebate on points for all stays more than a fourth night free, which, as its name says, needs a four-night or longer stay.
With the super-sized sign-up bonus, I could sign up for the Premier while still keeping my Select. Here are the requirements for getting the card with the bonus points.
This product is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of this credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of this credit card who received a new cardmember bonus for this credit card within the last 24 months.
The IHG cards from Chase are also subject to the 5/24 rule, but we’re doing OK with that right now.
During our trip to Japan, there are several Intercontinental hotels in Tokyo that go for 50,000 points a night. It would be nice if I could use one of the free night certificates, but these hotels are too expensive for that. Still, the signup bonus will more than cover the cost of the room for two nights. Because I have the IHG Select card, I’ll get 10% points back from the redemption.
We also have our yearly trips to Schlitterbahn. Those are always four-night weekend trips at our usual Candlewood Suites. With the IHG Premier, when using points for the stay, I’d get the fourth night free. And guess what, I’d still get the 10% rebate from the IHG Select card on the three nights I paid for.
Final Thoughts
I’d been on the fence about getting the IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card. Most of the time, we wouldn’t take advantage of the extra benefits of the Premier over the select. It didn’t seem worth the additional $40 a year to trade a 10% for a fourth night free.
However, this current sign up bonus made me change my mind. 140,000 IHG points can get you quite a lot. It could pay for both of our trips to Texas this summer. We could also use it for hotels in Japan and have some points left over.
I’ve been ignoring IHG hotels for a while because I got hooked on Marriott Bonvoy properties, but now that I’m breaking away from that, I’m gonna start looking at my old fave, IHG.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
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