[EXPIRED] IHG Premier card: best-ever 175K welcome offer (New Link)

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Update 4/11/23: Thanks to Doctor of Credit, we’ve come across a new link that still gives access to the old 175K bonus. We don’t know how long it will last, but we’ll keep it on the best offers page as long as it does.

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Today, Chase increased the bonus on the IHG Premier card to a whopping 175,000 IHG points. This a huge offer for the Premier. We’ve seen 140K offers in the past, but this is easily the best welcome offer that we’ve ever seen on this card.

a large indoor courtyard with columns and plants
Courtyard of the Palacio de Villapanes in Seville, where I used flexible free night certs earlier this year.

Key Card Details

Card Offer and Details
165K Points ⓘ Affiliate
165K points after $3K spend in 3 months
(Offer Expires 4/3/2024)
$99 Annual Fee
This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details).
Recent better offer: 175K after $3K in spend (expired 4/6/23)
Earning rate: 10X IHG ✦ 5X travel, dining, and gas stations ✦ 3X on all other purchases
Base: 3X (1.89%)
Travel: 5X (3.15%)
Dine: 5X (3.15%)
Gas: 5X (3.15%)
Brand: 10X (6.3%)
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)

Quick Thoughts

We recently redid our Reasonable Redemption Values for IHG points and found that they went up slightly in value, to .63 cents each. That would make this welcome offer worth ~$1000, the most valuable for a Chase consumer card on our Best Offers Page.

While that’s the value you can expect when not cherry-picking awards, I find that I’m often able to get much higher value by doing exactly that, and can usually get around .8cpp-1.0cpp. Regardless of how selective you are, this is a terrific welcome offer and absolutely worth going for if the IHG program suits your needs.

The Premier card also comes with an annual free night certificate that’s awarded every card anniversary. IHG increased the utility of these certificates for Premier cardholders last year as part of an overhaul of their rewards program. Now, you can “top off” the certificates by adding an unlimited number of points as necessary in order to book a standard room reward at a property with a higher point redemption level. I did this in Seville, Spain, where I redeemed 40K certificates for a room at a Mr and Mrs Smith property that was 70K points/night by adding an additional 30K pts/night from my account. This is a great feature and makes it much easier to max out the value of these certificates. To me, the cert is easily worth the $99 annual fee, making this card a keeper even after the the first year anniversary.

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