IHG has announced some upcoming changes to their credit card lineup and, dare I say it, the changes are exciting.
Perhaps the best development will be the ability to top up IHG free night certificates with points to book more expensive properties, but increased earning opportunities, big spend bonuses and a brand new Business card could also be of interest for people who stay at IHG properties.
All these changes will be taking took effect from March 24, 2022. Here’s a look at everything that’s new and/or changing.
IHG Rewards Club Premier Card
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
140k points ⓘ Affiliate Earn 140,000 Bonus Points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening$99 Annual Fee This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). Recent better offer: Five 60K free night certificates after $4K spend in 3 months (expired 9/4/24) Earning rate: 10X IHG ✦ 5X travel, dining, and gas stations ✦ 3X on all other purchases Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Chase. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: 10K bonus points + $100 statement credit after you spend $20K in a calendar year + make one additional purchase ✦ Diamond status after $40K in purchases + one additional purchase in a calendar year Noteworthy perks: Anniversary free night e-certificate good at IHG properties up to 40K points per night ✦ Ability to add an unlimited number of points to a free night certificate to book a higher-level hotel ✦ Fourth night free on award stays ✦ 20% discount on points purchases ✦ Platinum elite status ✦ Up to $50 in United TravelBank cash per year (must register your card with your United account) |
Bonused Spend Categories
At present, the IHG Premier credit card has the following earning structure:
- 10x – IHG stays
- 2x – Gas stations, grocery stores & restaurants
- 1x – All other spend
That’s made the card a good option when paying for IHG stays, but nothing else. However, the bonused spend categories will get more interesting from March 24:
- 10x – IHG stays
- 5x – Travel, gas stations, dining and restaurants
- 3x – Everywhere else
As you can see, they’re increasing the 2x categories to earn 5x and adding travel as an additional eligible category. However, they’re removing grocery stores from earning 5x which is a shame because at 5x that might’ve made sense for some people, especially considering some of the other spending bonuses on offer (more about those in a moment).
Earning 3x everywhere else is also a vast improvement from 1x. While I still wouldn’t want to put regular spend on my IHG Premier card, it makes it a not-so-terrible proposition for people who would do that.
Top Up Certificates With Points
The IHG Premier card comes with a free night certificate each year on your card anniversary. Those certificates can be redeemed at properties costing up to 40,000 points per night.
From March 24 you’ll be able to top up IHG Premier certificates with points to book a property costing more than 40,000 points. That’s a fantastic development which is similar to Marriott’s upcoming change, but it’s even better than Marriott’s setup.
The reason it’s better is because Marriott will only let you top up with up to 15,000 points. That means 35,000 point certificates can still only be redeemed at Marriott properties costing up to 50,000 points, whereas IHG certificates will be bookable at any property worldwide no matter the cost provided you co-pay with the requisite number of additional points.
Update: IHG free night top-ups are live, limited to Premier card (and Business card).
$50 United TravelBank Cash
Update, please see: IHG Premier United TravelBank credit live and disappointing.
IHG Premier cardholders will also receive $50 in United TravelBank cash each calendar year after registering their card with their United MileagePlus account. I’m not sure at this point in time if simply linking your card will automatically add $50 to your TravelBank or if you’ll need to purchase $50 of TravelBank Cash for which you’ll receive a $50 statement credit.
Either way, it’s a great additional benefit seeing as the annual fee on the card is only $89 (for now) and already comes with the free night certificate.
The United Club Infinite card comes with a couple of IHG benefits – IHG Platinum status and a $75 statement credit for stays at IHG properties. It’s therefore interesting to see a somewhat reciprocal benefit for United on an IHG card, especially seeing as the United Club Infinite annual fee is $525 rather than only $89 (soon to be $99). I’m curious if this United/IHG partnership will be developed even further given Marriott’s existing relationship with United or if these card-related benefits are coming about more on Chase’s initiative.
$100 Statement Credit & 10,000 Bonus Points After Spending $20,000
In addition to the increased 3x and 5x earnings on the IHG Premier credit card, these new benefits make the prospect of putting spend on your card more viable.
The exact terms of this benefit are a little strange (my bolding):
Cardmembers will now earn both 10,000 bonus points and a $100 statement credit after spending $20,000 on purchases and making one additional purchase each calendar year, starting in 2022.
If you’re already spending $20,000 on the card, I’m not sure why you then need to make one additional purchase.
Getting a $100 statement credit means you’re effectively earning 0.5% cashback when spending exactly $20,000 while also earning an effective 0.5x IHG Rewards bonus points per dollar.
Spend Your Way To Diamond Elite Status
The IHG Premier card comes with Platinum status automatically. Once these changes come into play on March 24, cardholders will be able to earn Diamond Elite status after spending $40,000 in a calendar year along with one additional purchase.
The value of this benefit remains to be seen as Diamond status is a new tier in the IHG Rewards program and they’ve not yet released details of what benefits you can expect to receive at that level. The fact that they’re introducing the ability to spend your way to this status makes me hopeful that it’ll have some meaningful benefits.
Redeem 3 Nights, Get The 4th Night Free Benefit Remains
The IHG Premier card offers every 4th night free on award stays which can provide some excellent savings based on the way that it’s calculated. This benefit will remain on the card.
Increased Annual Fee
It probably shouldn’t be too surprising that the annual fee on the IHG Premier credit card will be increasing.
It’s not terrible news though. For starters, the change won’t be taking effect until 2023. The fee will also only be increasing from $89 to $99 – a $10 increase. Even if you only valued the $50 of United TravelBank Cash at 20%, that benefit pays for the increase and so I’ll have no qualms about renewing the card for both myself and my wife.
IHG Rewards Club Traveler Card
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
80K Points ⓘ Affiliate 80K points after $2K spend in 3 monthsNo Annual Fee Recent better offer: 120K after $2K spend (expired 7/4/22) FM Mini Review: A good no annual fee card for anyone who values the 4th night free benefit. Earning rate: ✦ 5X IHG ✦ 3x dining, gas stations utilities, cable, Internet, phone, and select streaming services ✦ 2X everywhere else Card Info: Mastercard World issued by Chase. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: 10K bonus points after $10K in purchases and one additional purchase each calendar year ✦ Gold status after $20K in purchases and one additional purchase each calendar year. Noteworthy perks: Fourth night free on award stays ✦ 20% discount on points purchases ✦ No foreign transaction fees |
Bonused Spend Categories
Similar to the Premier card, the IHG Rewards Club Traveler card will get some improvements to its spending categories. Here’s what they are currently:
- 5x – IHG stays
- 2x – Gas stations, grocery stores & restaurants
- 1x – All other spend
From March 24, 2022 the spending categories will be as follows:
- 5x – IHG stays
- 3x – Utilities, internet, cable, phone, select streaming services, dining/restaurant and gas
- 2x – All other spend
Although it’s good to see an improvement in the card’s earning structure, it’s not really enough to make it worth putting spend on it unless it happened to be your only credit card.
Silver Status
The Traveler card doesn’t currently offer any status in the IHG Rewards program unless you spend $10,000, at which point you earn the fairly meaningless Gold status.
From March 24 the card will come with automatic Silver status. That might well end up being meaningless too, but Silver status benefits haven’t been announced yet. One positive aspect of this is that holding Silver status should mean your points won’t expire if there’s no point activity on your account.
Spend Your Way To Gold Elite Status
The IHG Traveler card will retain the ability to spend your way to Gold status, but the spending requirement will be doubled from $10,000 to $20,000 with an additional purchase being required after hitting that $20k spend.
That’s a hefty increase, but it remains to be seen if that increased spend requirement is justified. That’s because the new Gold status looks like it will be different from the existing Gold status, so perhaps there’ll be something about the new version of the status that’ll warrant spending that much. It’s doubtful though, especially seeing as you can get automatic Platinum status with the IHG Premier card.
10,000 Bonus Points After Spending $10,000
When IHG Traveler cardholders spend $10,000, they’ll earn 10,000 bonus points. That makes putting spend on the card a little more viable, but still not a great option.
Redeem 3 Nights, Get The 4th Night Free Benefit Remains
Similar to the IHG Premier card, the IHG Traveler card offers every 4th night free on award stays which can provide some excellent savings based on the way that it’s calculated. This benefit will remain on the card.
IHG Premier Business Card
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
140K points ⓘ Affiliate Earn 1400K points after $4K spend within the first 3 months.$99 Annual Fee This card is expected to be subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). Recent better offer: 200K after $9k spend in 6 months (expired 11/9/24) Earning rate: 10X IHG ✦ 5X travel, gas stations, restaurants and dining, social media and search engine advertising, office supply stores ✦ 3X on all other purchases Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Chase. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: 10K bonus points + $100 statement credit after you spend $20K in a cardmember year + make one additional purchase. ✦ Diamond status after $40K in purchases + one additional purchase in a calendar year ✦ Free night certificate (up to 40K points) after $60K in purchases + one additional purchase in a calendar year Noteworthy perks: Anniversary free night e-certificate good at IHG properties up to 40K points per night ✦ Ability to add an unlimited number of points to a free night certificate to book a higher-level hotel ✦ Fourth night free on award stays ✦ 20% discount on points purchases ✦ Platinum elite status ✦ Up to $50 in United TravelBank cash per year (must register your card with your United account) |
In addition to the changes on the two personal IHG cards mentioned above, Chase is issuing a brand new IHG Premier Business card.
Card Benefits
The IHG Premier Business card will have a similar earning and benefits structure as the personal IHG Premier card:
- Bonused Spend Categories
- 10x – IHG stays
- 5x – travel, gas stations, dining/restaurants, social media and search engine advertising & office supply stores
- 3x – All other spend
- Automatic IHG Rewards Platinum status
- Spend Your Way To Diamond Elite Status – Requires $40,000 spend plus one additional purchase each calendar year
- $100 Statement Credit & 10,000 Bonus Points After Spending $20,000
- Anniversary Free Night – Can be redeemed at properties costing up to 40,000 points, with the ability to top up the certificate with points for properties costing more than 40,000 points
- Redeem 3 Nights, Get The 4th Night Free
- Additional Free Night After Spending $60,000 – This is based on spend in a calendar year and requires one additional purchase. The certificate can be redeemed at properties costing up to 40,000 points, with the ability to top up the certificate with points for properties costing more than 40,000 points
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck Fee Credit – Valid on up to $100 every four years
- Up to $50 United TravelBank Cash – This is available every calendar year
[Update: IHG Premier United TravelBank credit live and disappointing] - Annual Fee Of $99
The bonused spend categories are similar to the personal Premier card, although the business card will also offer 5x on social media and search engine advertising spend as well as at office supply stores.
Having those bonused spend categories could make one or more of the high spend bonuses attractive for some cardholders too. Earning $100 and 10,000 bonus points after $20,000 spend could be good, as could spending your way to Diamond Elite status depending on what benefits are ultimately offered for that status.
If you’ll be spending $40,000 on the card in order to earn Diamond status, spending an additional $20,000 to get a second free night certificate might be worth it too. If you’d be staying at a property costing 40,000 points or more, that effectively means you’d be earning an additional 2x points per dollar on that additional $20,000 spend. That final $20,000 of spend would therefore make this an effective 7x card in many categories; while that’s certainly not going to be for everyone, for people who can generate high spend and enjoy staying at IHG properties it could make sense.
Legacy IHG Business Card Conversions
It’s been many years since IHG had a business credit card (you can find details of the old cards here). There are apparently still some businesses that have continued renewing that card, so after March 24, 2022 those cards will be converted to the new IHG Premier Business card and thus will be charged the $99 annual fee.
IHG Rewards Club Select Card
Many readers still have the old IHG Select credit card which comes with a $49 annual fee, free anniversary certificate and 10% points rebate on award stays.
This card won’t be seeing any changes on March 24, nor will cardholders be forced to product change to the IHG Traveler or IHG Premier card at this point in time. That unfortunately means that the free night certificate from this card won’t be able to be topped up for more expensive award nights.
Final Thoughts
These are some very positive changes on the IHG credit card lineup. Having a whole host of new benefits and bonused spend categories along with a new business card opens up some interesting possibilities, especially if the soon-to-be updated IHG Rewards program ends up being as good as I’m hoping.
Those program changes are due to come into effect at some point in March 2022, but no official date has been given yet. However, the fact that these IHG credit card changes are taking effect on March 24 leads me to believe that the other IHG Rewards changes will take effect on the same day, although that’s still to be confirmed.
While the annual fee on the IHG Premier card is increasing by $10 in a year’s time, that cost is more than made up for by the $50 in United TravelBank cash that you’ll get each year. The introduction of the ability to top up free night certificates with points is an even better enhancement.
I’ve long said that IHG Rewards can be a great program when redeeming for award nights but not at all for loyalty. Hopefully they’ll soon be a great program on both fronts.
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Doc of Credit article on these new cards indicates that the new Biz card does not count toward 5/24 since it is a Biz card. Can you confirm either way? Thanks.
That’s true with all of Chase’s business cards: you won’t get approved if you’re over 5/24 but if you are under and get approved, it won’t add to your 5/24 count
I plan on applying for the Biz card but want the free night cert to align with my Ambassador cert which expires 4.1 annually. How long does IHG take to post the free anniv night cert from their credit cards (after passing the anniv date)? Or since it’s Chase, forever? (like WOH)
No credit card rewards are worth dealing with Chase. They will cheat you.
I am hoping to get the Biz card very soon and perhaps try for the Aeroplan card before 3/31/22 and get that 10K added bonus. Although Chase may balk at 2 cards in a week.
Applied under the old 125k offer + FNC and got approved. (today 3/24/22)
They are not presently allowing me to upgrade my old Traveler card 🙁 Hopefully they will allow tomorrow once everything gets updated.
If the 140K points SUB is really their opening offer on this revamp, I can’t help but be really disappointed. I figured for a grand relaunch and brand new biz card, they’d at least match what was their current offer of 125K + FNC.
I guess I’m just disappointed theres no FNC in year one. I’m finally 4/24 and was planning on going for the new biz card, but I might wait for a better offer. In the meantime, the hilton biz still with a (uncapped) FNC in year one is looking more enticing.
I have a reservation for May that I booked a month ago with points at 46,000/night. I need to call in to try to get them to change it to apply my free night cert + 6000 points. Is there any reason to try to do this right away, or is it better to give them a week or so for phone reps to learn about the new changes?
(The hotel is no longer showing points availability on my dates, or else I would just try to do it myself online.)
Good luck dealing with the IHG call center!
I wanted to do the same as well but afraid of losing my booking.
Well, I spent an hour on the phone between two agents and a supervisor and wasn’t able to get it done. Eventually got the same answer from all of them that they can’t switch it to use my certs because the hotel no longer has points availability on those dates. (Sounds like they would just be doing the same thing I would do online – make a new reservation with the certs and cancel the old one.)
With the current sale, there are a couple other hotels available at about the same points price that are actually nicer, but farther away from where I need to be. I might just switch to one of those so that I can at least use my free nights. And maybe see if an available room pops up that I can grab when I cancel my reservation.
Thanks for the update.
One question I thought of this morning…since the Select card won’t be changing, would spend on it still be elite qualifying?
I doubt I’d seriously consider putting much spend on it to try to reach Diamond, but it’s a thought.
How do we get the United credit? Anyone done this yet?
FYI, I just this minute applied for the Premier card as a Select cardholder, so for anyone who wants to get their foot in the door, you may still have a few minutes before the transition to the new card and policies go into effect (as in not qualifying for the Premier card if you have the Select). Also, I’m under 5/24, so nothing unusual there.
If I have the old select card, can I get the new premier card or the business card? I never had the premier card before, I’m under 5/24, and I’ve had the old select card for several years. Thanks!
Yes on business card; yes for now on Premier, but will not last (see post above yours). I would apply for Premier now if you want it.
If i have old $49 select card, and cannot get new premium card, i am over 5/24, if i product change select to premium, will i be able to top “free night” from select card, that i currently have, when i product change to premium?
I’m not sure but I think the answer is no. I have a select free night and premier free night right now in my account and it seems to account for them differently. When you go to book a free night you have to say which you want to use and then it will show you properties and the select does not show top up properties.
I no longer have the premier. I downgraded it to traveler. But the free night cert that I earned before I downgraded still can be used with top up feature, but my select free night cannot.
About time IHG becomes relevant again. Looking forward to some positive changes, as I hold both Select and Premier cards.
I have a select free night and a premier free night and it appears that IHG can indeed tell the difference, and topping up is only allowed on the latter.
I was thinking about getting the IHG premier but should I wait?