IHG Credit Card Reviews

IHG doesn’t get the same attention as Hyatt, Marriott, and Hilton. However, IHG has recently revamped their Rewards Club program and made some good improvements. During those changes Chase and IHG also revamped the Chase co-branded IHG credit cards. In our IHG credit card reviews post we will look at the offers for each card, their earning structure and share our overall thoughts on them.

Current Offers

Here are the current offers for the IHG personal and business credit cards:

IHG® Rewards Premier Credit Card

• Earn 175,000 points after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months of account opening. 
• The card comes with an annual fee of $99.

IHG® Rewards Premier Business Credit Card

• Earn 140,000 points after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months of account opening. 
• The business card has a $99 annual fee.

IHG® Rewards Traveler Credit Card

• Earn 120,000 bonus points after spending $2,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.
• This card does not have an annual fee.

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 (IHG Rewards Traveler Credit Card / IHG 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 IHG Rewards Premier Business Credit Card though.

IHG Credit Card Reviews: Card Earning Rates

During the recent revamp the IHG credit cards received improved earning rates and new bonus categories. Here is the earning structure for each card:

IHG Premier

• Up to 26x at IHG hotels (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)
• 5x on
  • Travel
  • Restaurants
  • Gas stations
• 3x on all other purchases

IHG Premier Business

• Up to 26x at IHG hotels (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)
• 5x on
  • Travel
  • Restaurants
  • Gas stations
  • Select Advertising
  • Office Supply Stores
• 3x on all other purchases

IHG Rewards Traveler

• Up to 17x at IHG hotels (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)
• 3x on
  • Utilities
  • Internet
  • Cable
  • Phone
  • Select streaming services purchases
  • Restaurants
  • Gas Stations
• 2x on all other purchases

Credit Card Benefits & Perks

Here are the perks and card benefits for each card.

IHG Premier

• Anniversary free night certificates (can be redeemed at properties costing up to 40,000 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
• The ability to earn IHG Rewards Diamond status after spending $40,000 on the card in a calendar year
• $50 in United TravelBank Cash each calendar year (registration required)
• Global Entry or TSA PreCheck fee credit of up to $100 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
• No foreign transaction fee

IHG Premier Business

• The ability to earn an additional free night certificate after you spend $60,000 on purchases and make one additional purchase each calendar year
• Additional employee cards at no cost

IHG Rewards Traveler

• Complimentary IHG Rewards Silver status
• The ability to earn IHG Rewards Gold status after spending $20,000 on the card in a calendar year
• 10,000 bonus points after spending $10,000 on the card in a calendar year
• Fourth night free on award stays of 4 or more nights
• No foreign transaction fee

Our Analysis

Overall, the recent changes to the IHG cards are quite good. The IHG Premier and IHG Premier Business cards are generally stronger cards than the IHG Rewards Traveler card, even with their higher annual fee. The $99 annual fee for the IHG Premier and the IHG Premier Business is a no-brainer for IHG fans, since it gets you a free night certificate after renewal and Platinum Elite status. 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).

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 IHG Premier 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 & office supply stores. The introduction of a business card last year is great news for those who want to dip into the IHG program without adding to their 5/24 count.

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 change. 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 Traveler To Keep On Walking

Meanwhile, the IHG Rewards Traveler card carries much fewer perks. Like the IHG Premier, the Traveler card offers fourth night free for award redemptions. 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, the IHG Traveler card is a nice downgrade option for the IHG Premier credit card.

IHG Credit Card Reviews: ToP Thoughts

The recent improvements to the IHG cards and the recent addition of a brand new business card are overall positive. IHG loyalists should easily find value in the IHG Premier Card, especially with the current offer, and its many perks. The IHG Premier Business card offers folks the opportunity to get an IHG card without affecting their 5/24 status. And while the IHG Traveler card is less impressive, but it’s nice to see Chase and IHG offer a no-annual fee option.

What do you think of the changes to Chase’s co-branded IHG credit cards? Share your thoughts in our Facebook group.