IHG Credit Card Reviews
IHG doesn't get the same attention as Hyatt, Marriott and Hilton. But global travelers may appreciate its reach, with more than 7,000 hotels internationally, and its portfolio that includes modern brands like InterContinental and Kimpton. The Rewards Club program has also made some good improvements in recent years, making IHG cards worth a look for some. In our IHG credit card reviews, we will look at the offers for each card, their earning structures and share our overall thoughts on them. UPDATE 10/1/26: There are new offers and card refreshes on all 3 existing products, plus a new premium card.
Current Offers
Here are the current offers for the IHG personal and business credit cards:
The Brand New IHG One Rewards Premier Select Credit Card
- Limited Time Launch Offer: Earn 200,000 Bonus Points after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- The annual fee for this card is $350 and it is not waived.
The New IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card
- Earn 180,000 Bonus Points after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months from account opening.
- The annual fee for this card is $150 and it is not waived.
The New IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card
- Earn 190,000 Bonus Points after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- The annual fee for this card is $200 and it is not waived.
The New IHG One Rewards Credit Card
- Earn 125,000 Bonus Points after spending $2,000 in the first 3 months from account opening.
- The annual fee for this card is $0.
Application Rules
Like other Chase cards, each of the IHG co-branded cards is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule. This means Chase will not approve you for any of these cards if you have opened 5 or more personal credit cards with any bank during the last 24 months. Also, you cannot open one of the IHG personal cards (The New IHG One Rewards Credit Card/ The New IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card) if you already have an IHG personal card open. That includes the old, and now discontinued to new applicants, IHG Rewards Mastercard. You can carry one of the personal cards and the The New IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card, though. If you are applying for the business card as a sole proprietor, be aware of the 3/24 rule too.
IHG Credit Card Reviews: Card Earning Rates
Here is the earning structure for each card:
The Brand New IHG One Rewards Premier Select Credit Card
- Earn up to 28X total points per $1 spent when you stay at an IHG hotel. (12x from the card, up to 10x points from IHG on stays for being an IHG One Rewards Member and up to 6x points from IHG® on stays with Platinum Elite Status)
- Earn 6X points on
- Dining
- All other travel, including rideshare
- Earn 3x on all other eligible purchases
The New IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card
- Earn up to 24x total points per $1 spent when you stay at an IHG hotel. (10x from the card, up to 10x for being an IHG Rewards member, and up to 4x from Gold status, which comes with the card)
- Earn 5x on
- Flights booked directly with the airline
- Car rental agencies
- Grocery stores
- Restaurants
- Gas stations
- Earn 3x on all other eligible purchases
The New IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card
- Earn up to 26x total points per $1 spent when you stay at an IHG hotel. (10x from the card, up to 10x for being an IHG Rewards member, and up to 6x from Platinum status, which comes with the card)
- Earn 5x on
- Flights booked directly with the airline
- Car rental agencies
- Restaurants
- Gas stations
- Select Advertising
- Earn 3x on all other eligible purchases
The New IHG One Rewards Credit Card
- Earn up to 17x total points per $1 spent when you stay at an IHG hotel. (5x from the card, up to 10x for being an IHG Rewards member, and up to 2x from Silver status, which comes with the card)
- Earn 3x on
- Dining
- Grocery stores
- Gas Stations
- Earn 2x on all other eligible purchases
Credit Card Benefits & Perks
Here are the perks and card benefits for each card:
The Brand New IHG One Rewards Premier Select Credit Card
- Anniversary free night each year (can be redeemed at properties costing up to 60,000 points per night). You can combine additional points to the certificate to redeem for more expensive properties.
- Earn an Additional Anniversary Free Night (up to 60,000 points) after spending $40,000 on purchases with your card each calendar year.
- Complimentary Platinum Elite status, as long as you remain an IHG One Rewards Premier Select cardmember
- Up to $300 in Food & Beverage Rewards annually at IHG Hotels & Resorts (earned as $75 credits per calendar quarter)
- $200 annual airline statement credit on qualifying flight purchases when you spend at least $250 on flights purchased directly with the airline each calendar year through 12/31/27
- Up to $50 United® TravelBank Cash
- Receive one $25 United® TravelBank Cash deposit in your United MileagePlus® account for January 1 to June 30, and another $25 deposit for July 1 to December 31—up to $50 United® TravelBank Cash each calendar year, after registering your IHG One Rewards Premier Select Credit Card with your MileagePlus® account
- Fourth night free on award stays of 4 or more nights
- Earn 20 Elite Night Credits each year for holding the card and 2 Elite Night Credits for every $5,000 you spend in a calendar year on your card.
- Earn 20,000 bonus points Earn 20,000 bonus points after you spend $15,000 on purchases each calendar year.
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® fee credit of up to $120 every 4 years
- Trip Cancellation / Interruption Insurance
- No foreign transaction fees
- Member FDIC
The New IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card
- Anniversary free night certificates (can be redeemed at properties costing up to 50,000 points per night). You can combine additional points to the certificate to redeem for more expensive properties.
- Complimentary IHG Rewards Gold Status
- Qualify for IHG Rewards Platinum status, 5 Elite Night Credits, and 15,000 bonus points after spending $15,000 or more on your card in a calendar year
- The ability to earn IHG Rewards Diamond status after spending $40,000 on the card in a calendar year
- Up to $100 in Annual IHG Food & Beverage Rewards (earned as $25 credits per calendar quarter)
- $100 Annual Statement Credit on flights of $250 or more booked each calendar year with the airline through 12/31/27
- $50 in United TravelBank Cash each calendar year (registration required)
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® fee credit of up to $120 every 4 years
- 10,000 bonus points and a $100 statement credit after spending $20,000 on the card in a calendar year
- Fourth night free on award stays of 4 or more nights
- 12 Months of complimentary Dashpass, plus monthly credits (determined by when you register for Dashpass)
- Earn 15 Elite Night Credits for holding the card and 2 Elite Night Credits per $5,000 in spend in a calendar year
- No foreign transaction fees
- Member FDIC
The New IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card
- Anniversary free night certificates (can be redeemed at properties costing up to 50,000 points per night). As of March 24, 2022, you can combine additional points to the certificate to redeem for more expensive properties.
- Complimentary IHG Rewards Platinum Status & Diamond Status after $50,000 spend on the card in a calendar year
- Earn 5 Elite Qualifying Nights and 20,000 bonus points after spending $25,000 or more on your card in a calendar year
- Up to $100 in Annual IHG Food & Beverage Rewards (up to $25 per calendar quarter)
- $100 Annual Statement Credit on flights of $250 or more booked each calendar year with the airline through 12/31/27
- Up to $100 Annual Expensify Statement Credit
- $50 in United TravelBank Cash each calendar year (registration required)
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® fee credit of up to $120 every 4 years
- The ability to earn an additional free night certificate (worth up to 50,000 points) after you spend $60,000 on purchases and make one additional purchase each calendar year
- 10,000 bonus points and a $100 statement credit after spending $20,000 on the card in a calendar year
- 12 Months of complimentary Dashpass, plus monthly credits (determined by when you register for Dashpass)
- Fourth night free on award stays of 4 or more nights
- Earn 15 Elite Night Credits for holding the card and 2 Elite Night Credits per $5,000 in spend in a calendar year
- Additional employee cards at no cost
- Member FDIC
The New IHG One Rewards Credit Card
- Complimentary IHG Rewards Silver status
- Earn 5 Elite Qualifying Nights per calendar year for holding the card
- The ability to earn IHG Rewards Gold status and 10,000 bonus points after spending $15,000 on the card in a calendar year
- Fourth night free on award stays of 4 or more nights. After 12/31/26, you will only get the fourth night free on award stays after spending $5,000 on your card. Once $5,000 spend is reached, the 4th night free benefit extends the rest of the calendar year and the following calendar year
- 12 Months of complimentary Dashpass, plus monthly credits (determined by when you register for Dashpass)
- No foreign transaction fee
- Member FDIC
Our Analysis
The New IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card and The New IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card are generally stronger cards than the The New IHG One Rewards Credit Card, even with their higher annual fee. The $150 annual fee for the The New IHG Premier and the $200 annual fee for The New IHG Premier Business is a tougher pill to swallow for IHG fans, since both fees went up from only $99. However, increasing both cards' Free Night Certificate up to 50,000 points helps offset the fee. The $50 United TravelBank credit is an easy-to-use benefit that helps offset the card’s annual fee, though it does expire fairly quickly (6 months or less). Likewise, you can treat the annual $100 airline credit as a coupon off $250+ airfare booked with the airline.
The 10,000 bonus points and $100 statement credit after $20,000 in spend is not a benefit worth targeting, since there are much better ways to maximize that much in spend. For $20,000, you could meet the minimum spend on many new credit cards. Similarly, the additional free night after spending $60,000 with the Business card is simply too much spend. By comparison, the Chase World of Hyatt card offers a free night certificate after just $15,000 in spend in a calendar year.
We think it makes little sense to hold both the IHG Premier and the IHG Premier Business cards long-term since their benefits overlap. The one caveat would be if you value the free night certificate at well above the annual fee for each card. The business card does have one extra bonus category, which is 5x on social media and search engine advertising, but the Premier includes 5x at grocery stores.
A New Premium Card for IHG Fans
The Brand New IHG One Rewards Premier Select Credit Card now sits at the top of the IHG lineup, with a $350 annual fee. Cardholders can offset with several coupon-style perks, including up to $300 in annual IHG Food & Beverage Rewards, a $200 annual airline statement credit, up to $50 in United TravelBank Cash and a 60,000-point Anniversary Free Night that can be topped off with points. It also comes with automatic Platinum Elite status and 20 elite night credits annually. Cardmembers can earn another two elite night credits for every $5,000 spent, while additional spending can unlock elevated status, another free night and bonus points. The Select is clearly a more benefits-heavy alternative to the standard Premier, but its $350 fee means getting full value will depend heavily on using its annual credits and IHG perks.
Positive Program Changes Add Value To The Cards
The ability to add additional points to more easily use the free night certificates is generally a positive perk. But on the other hand, with IHG’s dynamic pricing for award nights, this can be seen as IHG admitting that the certificates now have such low value that users are required to combine them with points to get any value out of the certificates.
Tell The New IHG One Rewards Credit Card To Keep On Walking
Meanwhile, the The New IHG One Rewards Credit Card carries much fewer perks. Like the Premier Credit Card, it offers the fourth night free for award redemptions, but beginning in 2027, even that perk requires $5,000 of annual spend. Beyond that, the card does not offer much. IHG Silver status is not very useful under the current program. As such, we can certainly think of better Chase cards to take up a 5/24 slot. But without an annual fee, this card is a nice downgrade option for the IHG Premier credit card.
IHG Credit Card Reviews: ToP Thoughts
IHG loyalists should easily find value in the Premier Card, especially with the current offer and its many perks. The Premier Business Card offers folks the opportunity to get an IHG card without affecting their 5/24 status. And while the IHG One Rewards Credit Card is less impressive, it's nice to see Chase and IHG offer a no-annual fee option. Meanwhile, serious IHG travelers might want to grab the Brand New IHG One Rewards Premier Select Credit Card. What do you think of the changes to Chase’s co-branded IHG credit cards? Share your thoughts in our Facebook group.
