New Elevated Welcome Bonus On IHG One Rewards Credit Cards

Evan Coleman is an Updates Editor on the Credit Cards and Travel Rewards team at Forbes Advisor, showcasing his interest in personal finance and love of travel. He has written for a variety of local news sources, college blogs and nonprofits on topics including business, arts and culture and search engine optimization. Evan is a graduate of the University of Rochester, where he studied Business and English: Language, Media and Communication.

Dylan PearlDeputy Editor

Over a decade of editorial experience across a number of publications and more than 60 countries visited have given Dylan Pearl a wealth of travel knowledge, and the tools to effectively communicate that knowledge to others. Dylan has made it his mission to see as much of the world as possible, and strives to give everyone the tools to get out and do the same with simple, actionable information.

Evan Coleman,

Evan ColemanUpdates Editor

Dylan Pearl

Dylan PearlDeputy Editor

Updates Editor, Deputy Editor

Clint ProctorLead Editor, Credit Cards & Travel Rewards

Clint Proctor is a lead editor with the credit cards and travel rewards team at Forbes Advisor. He has five years of experience in personal finance journalism and has contributed to a variety of leading national publishers including Business Insider and MyFICO. Clint has redeemed millions of credit card points and miles to book budget-friendly travel and is passionate about helping others do the same.

Fact Checked

Clint Proctor

Clint ProctorLead Editor, Credit Cards & Travel Rewards

Lead Editor, Credit Cards & Travel Rewards

Fact Checked

Updated: Apr 4, 2024, 1:11pm

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Table of Contents

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Whether you are looking to try out a new hotel loyalty program or InterContinental Hotel Group’s portfolio consists of your favorite stays, IHG One Rewards is presenting an offer to earn bonus points that is hard to refuse. When applying for the hotel chain’s co-branded Chase credit cards, new cardmembers have the opportunity to earn welcome bonuses worth up to 165,000 points.

Current Offer Details

IHG One Rewards currently offers two personal credit cards with Chase that feature the promotional welcome bonuses: the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card and the IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card. The current offers are as follows:

IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card: Earn 140,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card: Earn 80,000 bonus points after spending $2,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening.

For both credit cards, the statement credits will be automatically applied to your credit card statement when you use your card to make a qualifying purchase at hotels participating in IHG One Rewards. Since IHG owns over 6,000 worldwide properties across multiple brands—including but not limited to Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Holiday Inn and Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas—even casual travelers could easily take advantage of this benefit.

As for the enhanced welcome bonuses, keep in mind that there are parameters on eligibility. The bonus on either card is not available to either current cardmembers of any personal IHG One Rewards credit card or previous cardmembers of any personal IHG One Rewards credit card who received a new cardmember bonus for any personal IHG One Rewards credit card within the last 24 months.

If you do not fall into these categories and are looking to add a strong hotel card to your wallet, these offers are difficult to pass up.

Before applying for either card, make sure to consider annual fees. Despite offering a more tempting welcome bonus, the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card’s annual fee is $99. Meanwhile, the IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card has a $0 annual fee, allowing cardholders to take advantage of perks without having to worry about offsetting a yearly cost.

Perks of IGH One Rewards Credit Cards

Alongside impressive welcome bonus offers, both the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card and IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card offer additional perks to take advantage of.

Free Night When Redeeming Points

When you book with your IHG One Rewards points, every fourth night is free for each standard room reward night stay of four or more nights. Even better, there is no limit to the number of times you can take advantage of this benefit annually—you can utilize it on an unlimited number of stays.

Considering the IHG One Rewards program uses dynamic pricing, you can easily find a sweet spot redemption to get three nights out of your welcome bonus and extend your stay by an extra day with this perk. If you can be flexible on travel dates, check redemption rates for an IHG stay—the hotel chain has periodically offered bargain stays for as low as 12,500 points a night.

Anniversary Free Night

A perk of only the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card is an Anniversary Free Night. Each year on your account anniversary, you will earn an Anniversary Free Night for stays costing up to 40,000 IHG One Rewards points at any participating IHG hotel across the globe.

IHG offers many award night options that cost under 40,000 points. Alongside the 165,000 point welcome bonus of this card and a free fourth night when booking with points, booking a five-night stay without cracking open your wallet is certainly possible.

Bottom Line

Welcome bonuses of this size are extremely valuable, especially for worldwide hotel chains like IHG. In exchange for either no annual fee or an annual fee of under $100, there’s value for even casual travelers to find in the bonus points offerings on either of these credit cards.