IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card Review 2024

If you’re considering a new hotel loyalty program, consider IHG One Rewards. The IHG umbrella includes aspirational properties like Holiday Inn all-inclusive resorts, Kimpton and InterContinental Hotels and Resorts, and some of their lower-end properties can be downright cheap in points. With over 6,000 locations, you’ll never lack for a place to lay your head.

The IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card offers its most generous rewards on IHG hotel brand purchases: up to 26 points per dollar spent when you stay at IHG Hotels & Resorts, 5 points on travel, gas stations, and restaurants and 3 points on all other purchases.

Currently, you can also benefit from a generous welcome offer on this card: 140,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. The bonus points are easily enough for two free nights at one of this brand’s higher-end hotels and leveraged with the fourth-night-free benefit could make for a long weekend to remember.

Since card ownership grants you IHG Platinum Elite status, you’ll get perks including early check-in, a welcome amenity, complimentary room upgrades and guaranteed room availability.

• Welcome bonus: 140,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
• Earn up to 26 points per dollar spent when you stay at IHG Hotels & Resorts, 5 points on travel, gas stations, and restaurants and 3 points on all other purchases
• No foreign transaction fees
• Receive up to a $100 credit for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS once every 4 years
• Qualify for a free anniversary night at any IHG hotel worth up to 40,000 points on your cardmember anniversary
• Fourth-night-free benefit when you redeem points for four consecutive nights
• Annual fee: $99

Earning Rewards

The IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card earns points in IHG’s Rewards program and its headline earnings are attractive: up to 26 points per dollar spent when you stay at IHG Hotels & Resorts, 5 points on travel, gas stations, and restaurants and 3 points on all other purchases.

That’s a pretty significant earning rate, and it’s one that could help you earn a ton of hotel loyalty points if you regularly stay with IHG properties. However, keep in mind that only some of the advertised points per dollar come from actual card spending.

Finally, the IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card offers a welcome bonus: 140,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Redeeming Rewards

IHG does not publish a reward chart, but rather prices its hotel stays dynamically. Dynamic pricing means that most hotels will have a reward redemption price that roughly correlates with the cash price of the room. IHG Rewards can be redeemed for hotel stays for as little as 0.5 cents per point. Generally, dynamic pricing means reward nights are a reasonable value and are widely available. Unfortunately, that also means limited opportunities to redeem rewards for luxury properties that offer outsized value.

IHG Rewards also offers a points and cash option that lets you stretch your points further for select destinations and dates. Whether a cash-and-points redemption represents a good value depends on the exact pricing, cash prices and dates.

You can find award prices for your desired hotels when you select “Rewards Nights” as your rate preference when searching for room availability on ihg.com.

The hotel redemption option that consistently has the most value is exercising this credit card’s fourth-night-free benefit, meaning you’ll only need to pay for the first three nights when you book four consecutive nights at the same property with points. Other hotel awards programs offer a fifth night free, but the fourth-night-free benefit puts the IHG Rewards Premier card in a class of its own. This benefit is unlimited and could potentially have tremendous value if you use it often.

Other redemption options include merchandise, gift cards and digital rewards like ebooks and games. You can also donate points to charity or transfer your IHG Rewards points to frequent flyer programs, although these redemption options generally offer poor value.

Rewards Potential

Using data from various government agencies, Forbes Advisor has developed estimates for how much a family in the 70th percentile of income spends annually in various categories.  The 70th percentile of wage-earning households brings in $116,000 annually and has $36,177 in expenses that can reasonably be charged to credit cards. These figures are used to estimate the potential rewards from this credit card.

The $2,015 our sample family spends on hotels would earn a total of 52,390 IHG Rewards points assuming all hotel stays are at IHG hotels. Spending $8,778 at gas stations, restaurants and on air travel would earn 43,890 IHG Rewards points. The remaining $25,384 that could reasonably be charged to a credit card earns 76,152 IHG Rewards points, resulting in total annual earnings of 172,432 IHG Rewards points in addition to the first-year welcome bonus.

• Complimentary fourth night benefit: You’ll get your fourth night free when you book at least four consecutive nights with points.
• Free anniversary night: You’ll receive a free night on your cardmember anniversary. This free night is good for properties that cost 40,000 points or less per night.
• Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS credit: Qualify for a credit of up to $100 for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS membership every four years.

Interest Rates

• Regular APR: 21.49% - 28.49% Variable
• Purchase intro APR: N/A
• Balance transfer intro APR: N/A

Fees

• Annual fee: $99
• Balance transfer fee: Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.
• Foreign purchase transaction fee: $0

IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card vs. IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card

If you’re looking for an IHG Rewards credit card but you don’t want to pay an annual fee, you may want to consider the IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card. While the card doesn’t have an annual fee, it also lacks some of the benefits of the Premier card.

Additionally, you’ll only earn up to 17 points per dollar spent at IHG Hotels & Resorts, 3 points on qualifying monthly bills, gas stations, select streaming services and restaurants and 2 points on all other purchases from using the card to pay for stays at IHG properties. That said, the valuable fourth-night-free benefit comes with the Traveler Card as well as the Premier.

The main benefit the IHG Premier card has over the Traveler card is the annual free night perk.

IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card vs. Citi Premier® Card

If you travel often and don’t want to pledge loyalty to one hotel brand, consider the Citi Premier® Card. This mid-tier rewards card has an annual fee of $95.

If your travels take you outside of the IHG brands often, or you value the flexibility of additional rewards in more categories or the ability to transfer points to airline partners, the Citi Premier® Card is likely a better fit.

IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card vs. Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card*

As an alternative to the IHG, the Marriott portfolio has a large number of hotel properties and a worldwide footprint. The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card*, charges a similar annual fee: $95 and earns rewards at the following rates: 6 points per dollar at participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels, 3 points per dollar spent each year (up to $6,000) on combined grocery stores, gas stations and dining purchases and 2 points per dollar on all other purchases.

You also get a free night award on your cardmember anniversary that can be used at any property that costs 35,000 points per night or less plus automatic Silver Elite status with a path to Gold status when you spend at least $35,000 on your credit card within a calendar year. Elite status seekers will also love the fact this card comes with 15 elite night credits.

Finally, the card offers a welcome bonus: 3 Free Night Awards after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.

The IHG Rewards Premier is a must-have card only if you regularly stay at IHG hotels and are looking to maximize your value from both your stays and the IHG rewards program. Since you’ll get Platinum Elite status as a cardholder perk, this card is also ideal if you want a shortcut to elite benefits. The free annual night and the free fourth night can easily outweigh the annual fee each year.

But for those who rarely stay at IHG properties or simply want to stay at any hotel brand they want, look to one of the travel rewards cards that earn flexible rewards to use anywhere you’d like, or consider the loyalty card associated with the brand where you spend the most nights.

Methodology 

Forbes Advisor considers a variety of criteria when assigning credit cards a rating. Cards are graded based on numerous factors including:

• Annual fees
• Welcome bonus offers
• Ongoing earning rates
• Value of individual points
• Included travel or merchant credits
• Additional cardholder benefits

Card features we expect cardholders to use the most often are weighted more heavily in our ratings. Altogether, the factors came together to provide a star rating for each individual card.

Read more: How Forbes Advisor Rates Credit Cards