Redeeming the IHG Food & Beverage Reward
The personal and business co-branded cards from IHG recently added Food & Beverage Rewards as a cardholder perk. As a Premier cardholder, I had the opportunity to redeem one of these rewards during a Kimpton stay. Unfortunately, the process was not as straightforward as you might expect. Although once I understood the process, receiving the credit was seamless.
What is the Food & Beverage Reward
The IHG Food & Beverage reward is a credit for food and beverage purchases made at IHG properties. You can only redeem the reward when staying at an IHG property, and when that stay is linked to your IHG One Rewards account. The amount of the credit depends on the card you have – the IHG Premier and Premier Business cards receive $25 per calendar quarter. While the IHG Premier Select card receives $75 per calendar quarter.
To find the reward, go to your Account in the IHG app. Scroll down and navigate to the “Rewards Wallet”. There you’ll see “Redeemable Rewards” and underneath that should display the “IHG Chase Card F&B Reward.”
How to Redeem the IHG Food & Beverage Reward
Unlike some other rewards that are applied automatically, or provided on-property, this reward lives in your IHG account and you must follow the terms listed there. First, you must be staying at an IHG property with a room registered to you and linked to your IHG account. This makes it hard to stack credits with other members of your family. It also means that the reward is not redeemable if you are dining at an IHG property when not staying there.
Next, charge your food and beverage purchases to your room. Finally, you redeem the reward through your app to be applied against your bill.
There are a fair amount of terms and conditions that apply to the redemption, but most of them seem obvious. For example, you can’t redeem the reward against purchases made at third party restaurants. You can only use the reward once, even if your charges are less than the stated value.
My Experience
I got to try this out on my recent stay at the Kimpton Hotel Fontenot in New Orleans. During my stay, I enjoyed some food and beverages in the fashionable Peacock Room on-site restaurant and bar. Before checking out I went into my IHG app and redeemed my Food & Beverage Reward as instructed. The $25 came off my bill as a “Loyalty Reward” and no further follow-up was necessary. My charges exceeded the amount of the reward, so I received the full value.
Here’s how it appeared on my bill:
Redeem IHG Food & Beverage Reward: ToP Thoughts
Overall, this is a nice extra perk to a card that already delivers solid value with a Free Night Certificate and other perks. While the process to Redeem the IHG Food & Beverage Reward was not as obvious or automatic as I’d hoped, it was easy overall.
Have you used the IHG Food & Beverage Reward yet? Let us know your experience over in the ToP Facebook group.
