The Chase IHG cards had new welcome offers launched last week, with some very attractive bonuses now available.
On offer are the opportunities to earn up to 200,000 bonus points on one card, up to 165,000 bonus points on another and two free night certificates worth up to 50,000 points plus 40,000 bonus points on top on another.
The Offers & Key Card Details
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
 ⓘ $869 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates 165K points ⓘAffiliateThis is an affiliate offer. Frequent Miler may earn a commission if you are approved for this offer Earn 165K points after spending $3K on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. (Offer Expires 10/22/2025)$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 7/24/25) Earning rate: 10X IHG ✦ 5X travel, dining, and gas stations ✦ 3X on all other purchases Base: 3X (1.83%) Travel: 5X (3.05%) Flights: 5X (3.05%) Hotels: 5X (3.05%) Dine: 5X (3.05%) Gas: 5X (3.05%) Brand: 10X (6.1%) 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 ✦ Diamond status after $40K in purchases 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) ✦ Complimentary Instacart+ for 3 months (must activate by 12/31/27) ✦ $10 monthly Instacart credit |
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
 ⓘ $1007 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates Up to 200K points ⓘAffiliateThis is an affiliate offer. Frequent Miler may earn a commission if you are approved for this offer Earn 140K points after spending $4K on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, plus earn 60K bonus points after spending $9K in the first 6 months from account opening (Offer Expires 10/22/2025)$99 Annual Fee This card is expected to be subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). 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 Base: 3X (1.83%) Travel: 5X (3.05%) Flights: 5X (3.05%) Hotels: 5X (3.05%) Dine: 5X (3.05%) Gas: 5X (3.05%) Office: 5X (3.05%) Brand: 10X (6.1%) 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. ✦ Diamond status after $40K in purchases ✦ Free night certificate (up to 40K points) after $60K in purchases 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) ✦ Complimentary Instacart+ for 3 months (must activate by 12/31/27) ✦ $10 monthly Instacart credit |
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
 ⓘ $634 1st Yr Value Estimate2 50K IHG Free Nights valued at $428 Click to learn about first year value estimates 2x 50K free night certificates + 40K points ⓘAffiliateThis is an affiliate offer. Frequent Miler may earn a commission if you are approved for this offer 2x 50K free night certificates + 40K points after $2K spend in 3 months (Offer Expires 10/22/2025)No Annual Fee Recent better offer: 120K points after $2K spend in 3 months (Expired 7/24/25) 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 each calendar year ✦ Gold status after $20K in purchases each calendar year. Noteworthy perks: Fourth night free on award stays ✦ 20% discount on points purchases ✦ No foreign transaction fees ✦ Complimentary Instacart+ for 3 months (must activate by 12/31/27) ✦ $10 monthly Instacart credit |
Quick Thoughts
The best welcome offer here in terms of the sheer number of points available is the IHG Premier Business card, with up to 200,000 bonus points on offer. Note that the bonus points come in two parts; 140,000 after spending $4,000 in three months from account opening and an additional 60,000 after a total of $9,000 spend in the first six months after account opening. If you do spend all $9,000, you’d end up with at least 227,000 IHG One Rewards points seeing as the base earning rate on the card is 3x. There are quite a few categories earning 5x – travel, hotels, gas, social media, search engine advertising, office supply stores, and dining – as well as 10x at IHG properties, so you’d end up with even more than 227,000 points if any spend occurs in any of those categories.
An advantage of the business card is that it won’t add to your 5/24 count with Chase.
To determine your 5/24 status, see: Easy Ways to Count Your 5/24 Status. The easiest option is to track all of your cards for free with Travel Freely.
To determine your 5/24 status, see: Easy Ways to Count Your 5/24 Status. The easiest option is to track all of your cards for free with Travel Freely.
If you’d rather get one of the IHG consumer cards though, both cards have a decent welcome offer. The IHG Premier card bonus is 165,000 bonus points after $3,000 spend in the first three months. That’s more bonus points for less spend compared to the first tier of the IHG business card’s welcome offer and a third of the spend requirement compared to earning the full 200,000 points from the business card offer.
The IHG Traveler card meanwhile could appeal to someone who wants access to IHG’s 4th night free benefit on award stays but who doesn’t want to pay an annual fee and/or who wants an even lower spend requirement. That card’s welcome offer consists of two free night certificates good for up to 50,000 points per night, as well as 40,000 bonus points on top after $2,000 spend in the first three months.
When IHG has included free night certificates as part of the welcome offer over the last few years, it hasn’t been possible to top up those certificates for a more expensive award (versus the anniversary free night certificates on the IHG Premier and IHG Premier Business cards that can be topped up). That’s the case with these 50K certificates too, so if you find a hotel charging 51,000+ points per night, you’ll be out of luck redeeming these certificates for those stays.
If you already have an IHG card and were hoping to refer a household member to the card, unfortunately the referral welcome offers – at the time of publishing this – are lower than the bonuses listed above. There’s a chance that the referral offers will increase at some point before October 22 though which is the date these increased offers are scheduled to end, so keep an eye on your referral links if that’s something you’re interested in doing.
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The business card offer is superb for those who can meet the spend.
Stephen, any idea when/if referrals will earn the same bonus? As of now, our referral links still point to the standard, less lucrative offer.
Would’ve made sense to sign up for the business card if spend requirement was reasonable, like 5k or 6 at most. Not worth signing up and spending 9k given how devalued IHG points are.