Chase IHG Premier Credit Card: 190,000 Welcome Bonus, New Statement Credits; $150 Annual Fee

This card has received a new round of benefit changes. The welcome bonus has been increased to 180,000, and new $100 airline reimbursement and IHG dining reimbursement benefits have been added, but the annual fee has also gone up to $150.

• IHG 180,000+10,000 welcome bonus link

The specific changes are as follows:

• Automatic elite status for cardholders has changed to: Gold only (it used to be Platinum, presumably to differentiate it from the newly launched Select card).
• You will directly receive 15 Elite Night Credits each year, giving you some elite nights so you can work toward Milestone Rewards and higher elite status yourself. You can also earn 2 Elite Night Credits for every $5,000 spent, with no cap.
• After reaching $15,000 in total annual spending, you will additionally receive: Platinum Elite status; an extra 5 Elite Night Credits; and 15,000 Bonus Points.
• You can still earn Diamond Elite after spending $40,000 in a year.
• The value of the anniversary free night certificate has increased: 40,000 → 50,000. It still supports topping up with your own IHG Points, so in practice it is not limited to hotels costing 50,000 points or less. If a hotel requires 65,000 points, you can redeem it with a 50,000 Certificate + 15,000 Points.
• Up to $100 in IHG Food & Beverage Rewards per year: $25 is issued each quarter, must be used within that quarter, and any unused amount will not roll over to the next quarter.
• $100 Airline reimbursement: each year, if you buy at least $250 in airfare directly from an airline, you can receive a $100 reimbursement. The current terms run through December 31, 2027.
• In addition, the existing benefits are currently still retained: up to $50 in United TravelBank per year; up to $120 every 4 years for Global Entry / TSA PreCheck / NEXUS; fourth night free; Instacart; DashPass; and so on.
• The discount on IHG points purchases has also increased from the previous 20% to 30%.
• So this card is now pretty interesting: the annual fee has increased by $51, and Platinum status has been cut down to Gold, but at the same time it now offers a 50,000-point anniversary free night, 15 elite nights, and two new credits. If you already stay at IHG every year, the $100 dining credit and 50,000-point free night should be fairly easy to use; if you basically do not stay at IHG during the year, then the extra coupon value is not as meaningful.

Chase IHG Premier Credit Card Overview

Benefits

• 1 free night certificate every year, making it worth keeping long term: This card gives you one night each year at eligible IHG properties, redeemable only at hotels costing 40,000 points or less (list of IHG hotels where it cannot be used). Although restrictions have been added, it is still relatively easy to get more value than the $99 annual fee, since 40,000-point hotels often cost $150+. The annual free night certificate can now be used for rooms costing more than 40,000 points by topping up with the required points.
• Fourth night free on award stays: After you have this credit card, when you redeem IHG points for three consecutive nights, you can get the fourth night free. In other words, you only need 75% of the points for a four-night stay.
• 20% discount on points purchases: When buying IHG points on the IHG website, you can get a 20% discount. This 20% discount cannot be stacked with IHG points purchase promotions (often 80%). In addition, buying points through Cash + Points bookings can also keep the cost around 0.6 cents per point. So this 20% off is completely meaningless. Points purchase promotion roundup
• Complimentary IHG Platinum status: Enjoy IHG hotel benefits such as earning more points on stays and room upgrades. Spending $40,000 earns Diamond status. You can also get an extra discount on gas through Fuel Rewards.
• $50 UA Travel Bank credit: You receive a $50 Travel Bank credit each year: $25 from January to June and $25 from July to December. The credit expires after 6 months. You need to link your UA and IHG accounts, and the $25 will then be issued automatically (link). This credit can be used automatically when booking tickets on the UA website; if it is not used within the half-year period, it expires.
• Big-spend bonus: Spend $20,000 to receive an extra 10,000 points and $100 cash back.
• Global Entry/TSA PreCheck reimbursement for the $100 application fee
• Cell phone protection: According to an email, the benefits on this card have been adjusted to some extent. Price Protection and Master Concierge were removed, and the more useful Cell Phone Protection was added. It can provide $800 of coverage for phone loss and damage (the old version of the IHG card had $600), provided that you pay your monthly cell phone bill with this card. This new benefit is also a reason to keep the card long term.

Drawbacks

• IHG points are worth only 0.6 cents each, so this card is not suitable as an everyday spending card, unless you are staying at IHG hotels.

Introduction to IHG Points

• Point value: The average value is 0.5 c/p, so 100 IHG = $0.5 (Points Value and Analysis). In other words, a hotel night worth $50 would generally require about 10k IHG points.
• How to redeem: You can search and book directly on IHG.com. Hotels are divided into 11 award tiers, with redemption rates ranging from 10k to 70k points. Cash + Points redemptions are also available. If you have the IHG Premier credit card, when redeeming points for three consecutive nights, you can get the fourth night free. That means four nights cost only 75% of the points normally required.
• Point expiration: If there is no activity in your IHG account for 12 months, your points will expire. If you hold a co-branded credit card or have IHG Gold status or higher, your points will not expire.
• My take: If you want to get strong value from IHG points, they are often best used for hotels near major attractions or during special high-demand periods, such as New Year’s Eve in Times Square, New York. IHG’s strength is its broad footprint and large number of properties across the U.S., so it is usually easy to put your points to use.
• Related credit cards: Chase IHG Premier, Chase IHG Rewards Club (older version)
• Detailed analysis: Introduction to IHG Points and Elite Status

My Take

I believe the biggest reason many people keep the old version of the IHG card in the sock drawer is that paying a $49 annual fee for a free night certificate valid at any IHG hotel worldwide was an incredible deal. For example, IHG hotels in Times Square on New Year’s Eve often sell for $1,500+, and a single free night certificate could cover it, which was extremely worthwhile. The new version of the free night certificate now has eligible-hotel restrictions, limiting redemptions to award nights below 40,000 points, which is a significant devaluation. But it is still relatively easy to get enough value to offset the $99 annual fee.

The previous 10% points rebate was changed to a fourth-night-free benefit (equivalent to a 25% discount), which is an excellent discount for people who stay longer. Of course, it is less flexible than directly getting 10% of points back. From a cost perspective, these two types of discounts should be about the same for IHG. Earning 10x points on IHG spending may persuade quite a few people to use the IHG credit card instead of a general travel credit card, since 10x points is equivalent to about 5% cash back. Global Entry reimbursement has become extremely common; by now, almost everyone probably has it.

In addition, the extra 20% discount on points purchases looks somewhat interesting. IHG points are often sold with a 100% bonus, which means the purchase cost is 0.5 cents per point. If this can be combined with the 20% discount, the cost would effectively be only 0.4 cents per point. If the purchased points are then used for a four-night stay and the fourth-night-free benefit applies, the lodging cost would be even lower. If that really works, many people would likely be willing to buy points or even stockpile some IHG points for stays.

[Updated 2022.9] According to US Credit Card Guide, some users have now received targeted mail offers from IHG that include a separate Invitation Code. Based on the terms in the letter, you only need to have not received a welcome bonus on the IHG Premier card within the past 24 months; it does not mention the old IHG card. With the regular application link, holding the old card generally prevents approval (after 2022.3, it became impossible to apply for the new card that way). There are already data points showing that this restriction can indeed be bypassed, allowing people who hold the old card to get approved for the new card.

For Those Holding the Old IHG Card

[Update 2022.1 #2] According to M2M, the Chase IHG co-branded card family will soon introduce a one-card-per-brand-family rule. In other words, if you hold one of these co-branded cards, you will not be able to apply for the others. This rule officially took effect in March 2022.

[Expired] Fresh data points: readers Jerry and Lizi (January 2020 data point) had already held the old IHG credit card for one year and were also at 9/24 (9 new cards in the past 24 months). Today they applied for this new IHG Premier card and were instantly approved. It seems Chase was still pretty generous: the new card was treated as a new product, and the 5/24 restriction was not added (it probably is now). Personally, I think that although the Free Night benefit has become more limited, it still has no problem justifying the annual fee. And having the Free Night benefits from both IHG cards together is definitely more useful. There is also a potentially huge loophole redemption: use the old card’s 10% redemption rebate together with the new card’s fourth-night-free-on-points benefit, which can create a discount of more than 30% on award redemptions. On top of that, combining it with a 20% discount when buying points on sale can lower hotel costs even further.

Free Night: If you hold both the old card and this new card at the same time, you will receive two Free Night certificates.

Fourth-night-free stacking: If you book four consecutive nights with points, the points required for the fourth night will automatically be deducted at checkout. In addition, if you hold the old IHG card, 10% will be returned to you about a month after the points are used. My understanding is that both of these benefits are tied to your account, so it does not matter which credit card you ultimately use for check-in or payment. If you have both cards, then on every 4-night booking, 13,500 points can get you 20,000 points of value (assuming 5,000 points per night, four nights only require 15,000 points, and after the 10% rebate the final cost is only 13,500). That means the points value is effectively boosted by 48%. If you have a large IHG points balance, holding both the old and new IHG cards is a very good choice. And if the hotel you need also happens to be available as a Points Break deal, the value would be almost unimaginable.

Application

• The minimum approved credit line on this card is $2,000.
• Since this is a co-branded card with IHG hotels, if you already have an IHG membership number, you can enter it on the application (otherwise one will be assigned automatically).
• If you already hold the old version of the IHG credit card, you may not be able to apply for this new card; some mail offers with a code can bypass this restriction.

• Chase application status check link (login required). Or call: 888-338-2586
• The 5/24 rule: if you have opened more than 5 new cards in the past 2 years (including cards from other banks), you will not be approved for a new Chase card
• You can be approved for at most two Chase credit cards within any 30-day period
• If you have received the welcome bonus on this card within the past 24 months (48 months for the Sapphire family), your application will be automatically denied
• You can call the reconsideration line (800-453-9719) to expedite credit card approval or request another review of a denied application.
• Having a Chase Checking account can help with getting approved for a credit card
• More information on applying for Chase credit cards

Application Link