IHG Premier $20K Bonus
A few months back I shared that I had upgraded our old IHG Mastercards to the IHG Premier card. Originally, I had hoped to get some bonus points as a part of the upgrade process, but it didn't work out that way. I decided to go ahead, and upgrade both cards anyway, because of the IHG Premier $20K bonus spend offer. I wanted to come back and share what that process was like and give some data points on when everything posts.
Why I Went After The IHG Premier $20K Bonus Spend
I go into a lot more detail on why I went ahead with the upgrade offer in my post from a few months back. The skinny of it is I did the upgrade because of the big spend IHG Premier $20K bonus. That, plus a much better free night certificate and better earning structure, made it worth the additional cost in annual fee each year.
What do you get for the IHG Premier $20K bonus though? If you spend $20,000 on your card within a calendar year you get the following bonuses:
- A $100 statement credit
- 10,000 bonus IHG points
That on its own doesn't sound worth $20,000 in spend, does it? But, the IHG Premier also has a much better earning structure, including 5x earning on dining, gas and grocery. After crunching some numbers, I figured out I could get around 3.5% in value for that $20K in spend.
My Experience With The $20,000 IHG Spend Bonus
I followed my spend progress the same way I track my World of Hyatt card's free night spend each year. The problem was I had forgotten that I had some spend on the IHG Premier earlier in the year thanks to those quarterly spending bonus offers. The offer was on my old IHG Mastercard so didn't count towards the $20K required spend. That is something to be aware of if you upgrade during the year and are not starting fresh.
I had completed the $20K in spend, or at least thought I had, and was just sitting there waiting for that statement credit to post. Spoiler alert, it never came. That is when I looked back at my transactions and noticed my error and did a little bit more spend to complete the requirement. Here is the timeline on the IHG Premier $20K bonus perks posting:
- The $100 statement credit posted on the same day, or the following day, once the $20K triggering charge settled for both of us
- The 10,000 points showed up on the next statement following the charge pushing us over $20,000 on the year for both of us
IHG Premier $20K Bonus: ToP Thoughts
The question left now is, do I plan on going after the IHG Premier $20,000 big spend bonus again next year? Yes, yes I do. While I could do better using that spend towards welcome offers, some people have more spend then there are welcome offers for. I am one of those people. For that reason, plus the fact that I can complete this spend in the 5x categories, means I find this to be a worthy endeavor. At the end of the day I had 110,000 IHG Rewards points and a $100 statement credit for my efforts. I may even move IHG Rewards into second place on my hotel loyalty program podium.
I have found their award prices to be significantly lower than Hilton, when they have hotels in the same areas, more often than not. With the improved IHG Premier earning it makes this the better value play for me over Hilton too. While I am earning 5 points per dollar, versus 6 points per dollar with the Hilton Surpass, I find the award prices more than offset that 20% difference in earn rates. So my net value has been better with IHG over the past several months. That could change at any time, or depending on where you travel, but those are my takeaways from my personal travels.
I know that this option won't work for everyone, but it has been a win for me. I think that if you have large spending in any of the bonus categories listed above then it is something worth considering. If you are curious on how to increase spend in those areas it is something we discuss at the ToP Seminars, like the one upcoming in Milwaukee this spring.
Let me know what you think of this play over in the ToP Facebook Group.
