The Chase IHG card has been extremely popular among miles and points enthusiasts thanks to it’s reasonable $49 annual fee. Additionally, the card has offered an unrestricted annual free night certificate each year you have the card. This means you could book a free night at any IHG property on the planet—I used mine at the Intercontinental Hong Kong during my birthday trip last fall.
Today, we’ve learned that Chase is discontinuing the current IHG card and relaunching with two versions. Rumor has it that one version will have a $29 annual fee and earn 5X on purchases with IHG plus a 60,000-point sign-up bonus.
The details of the second card are even more exciting. A friend of mine from Award Travel 101 just shared this screenshot that reviews the details of the new IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card:
Here’s a breakdown of some of the benefits of the new Premier Credit Card:
- Sign-up bonus: 80,000 IHG Rewards points
- 10,000 bonus points after you spend $20,000 and make one additional purchase each cardmember year
- Annual free night certificate at an “eligible hotel”—what does this mean?!
- 10X points per dollar at IHG
- 2X points per dollar at gas stations, grocery stores and restaurants
- Platinum Elite Status
- 20% discount on purchases of IHG points
- 4th night free on award stays
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit of up to $100 every 4 years
- 5,000 bonus points if you add an authorized user within 3 months of opening the card
- No foreign transaction fees
- $89 annual fee
Regardless of what happens with the $29 version of the card, I’m much more excited about the IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card. I love that they’re keeping the annual free night certificate, though I’d like to know if there are any restrictions, and adding a big-spend bonus. While the IHG award chart isn’t the best, the addition of a 4th night free on award stays could definitely make it more competitive.
I haven’t heard whether the older Chase IHG Rewards Club Credit Card will be replaced by one of the two new cards. My guess is that Chase will grandfather in current cardholders so you won’t see a change to that card though I wouldn’t be surprised to see the old version be converted at some point in the future.
Final Thoughts
Chase has really been on a new card binge lately. They’ve already released the Chase Iberia card and will be launching a Chase Aer Lingus card this spring. Now, we have two IHG cards being launched.
Personally, the only one that really has my attention is the new IHG Premier Credit Card thanks to the 4th-night free benefit for award stays and the annual free night certificate. My guess is this free night certificate will be limited in some way which would make it more like the Chase Hyatt Card annual free night.
One more interesting note is the 20% discount on points purchases. While I don’t generally advocate purchasing points, it can make sense to do so with IHG on the rare occasion. Stacking the 20% discount on a major points sale might actually be a good deal. I’ll definitely be circling back to investigate this point.
Finally, I’m guessing this won’t be restricted by the Chase 5/24 rule as the current IHG card is not. Assuming that’s the case, you should hold off on getting this card until you have hit 5/24.
What do you think of this new IHG Premier Credit Card? Will it make it into your wallet?
Featured image courtesy of the Intercontinental Hong Kong
It’ll be really interesting if they grandfather my old IHG card and approve me for the new $89 card :))
Yeah, I’m curious to see how that plays out. Hopefully, they’ll treat the IHG cards like the Southwest cards and allow you to have two versions. I’d love to get 2 free night certs each year and be able to take advantage of 4th-night free awards.
See free night is for "eligible" hotel in the picture you posted. Do you have the full document including the * referenced after that wording? This answers the question on the new card but what will happen to those of us with the current $49 card with the free night?
Hey Christian – That screenshot is all I have. Trying to confirm details about the free night cert as we speak. As to the current IHG card, I haven’t heard either way but am guessing they’ll grandfather it the way they have with the Chase Ink Plus Chase Ink Bold, etc.
Well, that didn’t go as I’d hoped. Not a big fan of Chase and IHG ditching the unrestricted free night at the flip of a switch. Would have been decent of them to let all current cardholders to get their expected unrestricted free night cert as it was a big reason many kept the card.
I have the current card, and I’m pretty sure that the "eligible" hotel is any hotel up to 40,000 points (rather than any hotel). I just got a letter yesterday telling me about the downgrade… For current cards, it’ll take effect starting with reward nights awarded after May 1, 2018. Nights earned by May 1, 2018 would still be under the old terms.
Yeah, unfortunate change. Not a fun letter to get from Chase. Their Twitter reps are currently causing all kinds of confusion for people who recently opened the IHG card. It’s looking like people who applied last year (possibly this year as well) will never get an unrestricted free night cert.
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