UPDATE: This offer has expired.
A few months ago, IHG just came out with their highest credit card offer yet — with the IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card you’ll be able to earn up to 120,000 points. To earn the full amount of points, you’ll be looking at a total of $5,000 spend on the card, but you have 6 months to do so (3 months for the first $2,000 then 6 months for remaining $3,000). At the time of this increased announcement, there was no end date put in place. However, I have just been informed that this card will only last a few more weeks and will be expiring on May 1, 2019.Â
This is definitely a great offer for the card and one of those cards that I keep year after year due to the money saving benefits. This card comes with an $89 annual fee, but is well worth it as the value I receive on an annual basis equates to much more — for starters, you’ll receive a free night annually and your fourth night free on point stays of four nights or more.
As I mentioned above, while some credit cards are great for the sign up bonus and then have minimal benefits year after year, however, this is one of those cards where the benefits surpass the annual fee. The best perks of the card include:
Free Night Every Single Year
With this card you’ll receive a free night certificate on every anniversary year at eligible hotels. Although IHG is now capping the awards at hotels that cost 40,000 points or less, this perk alone should pretty much pay for the yearly annual fee, if not more! For example, you can use this free night certificate at the Holiday Inn Aruba which is right on the beach and can easily go for $300+ a night during peak season.
4th Night Free on Award Stays
If you commonly stay 4+ nights at hotels, this is an awesome perk. When you book with your IHG points, you’ll receive your 4th night free just by being a cardmember. With many other chains, such as Marriott and Hilton, your free night doesn’t appear until the 5th night, so getting the 4th night free is big. This is definitely a unique benefit and one that can definitely save you a ton of points throughout the years as there is no maximum number of times you can take advantage of this benefit.
Global Entry or TSA Precheck Fee Credit
This is a popular benefit amongst many cards but typically only appears on the very expensive credit cards. So to have this benefit on a normal annual fee card is pretty rare and awesome! Essentially, you pay for your Global Entry application fee and you’ll receive a $100 statement credit — ultimately giving you free Global Entry. While you can also use the fee credit on TSA Precheck instead (which is only $85) you might as well get Global Entry as it comes with TSA Precheck as well. The good thing about this credit is that the application doesn’t have to match the name on the credit card. So if you already have Global Entry all you have to do is pay for another friend or family members application and you’ll still get the $100 statement credit. You can receive this statement credit every 4 years.
Platinum Elite Status
While IHG Platinum status won’t get you too much when staying at their properties, there are a few benefits to having this status, such as:
- Your points will never expire. Typically IHG points expire if there is no activity in the account for a 12 month period. When you have Platinum status (even if it is just earned from having the credit card), your points will not expire even if there has not been any activity in 12 months. This is definitely one of the shorter expiration periods amongst hotel chains, so not having to remember to keep your account active is nice.
- Raid the Bar Credit. Platinum status also matches to Kimpton’s “Tier 3†status which will get you a $10 Raid the Bar credit when staying at Kimpton properties.
Also, just having some sort of status when you walk into a hotel is much better than no status at all as it can definitely increase your chances of an upgrade.
Overall…
This is a great offer and significantly better than what we’ve seen in the past. When the card was initially introduced we saw a 100k offer and then it was decreased to 80k. Now instead, you’ll receive the same 80k points, but then an additional 40k if you are able to meet the extra spend. Although I wouldn’t personally use this credit card for my every day spend, it is on of those cards that is great for both the welcome offer and the yearly benefits — primarily the free night certificate and 4th night free on award points. And of course getting Global Entry for free is great as well! If you’ve been meaning to apply for this year with the increased offer, you have just a few more weeks to do so!
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I’ve had the card for about 5 years and didn’t know there was a 4th night free benefit! I’ve kept it for the annual free night and since the new 40k cap it’s not as enticing to stay at a Holiday Inn when the Intercontinental was available.