Here’s your chance to earn 125,000 points and a reward night certificate with the IHG Premier card
Quick summary
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
Sign-up bonuses come and go, but this offer from IHG is pretty enticing.
New applicants for the IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card can earn 125,000 bonus points and a reward night certificate worth up to 40,000 points after spending $3,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.
That's worth 15,000 more points in value than the card's previous sign-up bonus, which came with 150,000 bonus points after meeting the same minimum spending requirements.
While IHG uses dynamic award pricing, it's still very possible to get great value from IHG points — especially with the opportunity to redeem this reward night. Overall, InterContinental Hotels Group has a varied portfolio of brands with over 6,000 properties worldwide, so there are choices ranging from budget-friendly business hotels to luxurious resorts in far-flung destinations.
The IHG Rewards Club Premier is worth considering whether you occasionally stay at IHG properties — those include Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Crowne Plaza, Kimpton, InterContinental and Hotel Indigo — or if you're a frequent IHG guest. Thanks to its solid earning rates at IHG hotels and valuable perks, this card can easily save you hundreds of dollars year after year.
Official application link: IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card with 125,000 bonus points and a reward night certificate after you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.
IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card
- Sign-up bonus: Earn 125,000 bonus points and a reward night certificate (worth up to 40,000 points) after you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.
- Annual fee: $89.
If you don't already have the IHG Premier card and haven't earned a sign-up bonus on it in the past 24 months, you can earn this enticing new sign-up bonus by meeting spending requirements.
Factoring in the card's fourth-night award perk (when you use points to pay for three nights and get the fourth as a bonus), you could get more than 15 award nights at IHG hotels with this one sign-up bonus. Reward nights start at just 10,000 points apiece, ranging from practical options in the U.S. to lodgings abroad in Berlin, Brazil and beyond.
Even if you don't go chasing the extreme deals, you should be able to secure TPG's valuation of 0.5 cents per IHG point. That means you should be able to get at least $825 worth of award stays from this sign-up bonus. But it's the perks of the card that make it worthwhile to keep.
Related: The award travelers guide to IHG Rewards Club
Reasons to get the IHG Premier card beyond the bonus
Elite status
The IHG Premier card grants cardholders IHG Rewards Platinum Elite status. TPG values this status at $880 for those who earn it through stays. Obviously, that value is going to be less for those who stay at IHG-branded hotels less frequently, but you should be able to recoup the card's $89 annual fee from this perk if you spend more than a few nights a year at IHG properties.
Fourth-night-reward benefit
IHG Premier cardholders automatically get a fourth consecutive night reward. Basically, when you redeem points for stays of four nights or more, the fourth night is complimentary. This benefit's value is going to depend on your travel style. For travelers who only spend one to three nights in a hotel, this perk isn't useful. But for travelers who stay around long enough to utilize this perk, it can be incredibly worthwhile. And there's no cap on how many points you can save with this perk.
Again, this is a benefit that can easily justify the $89 annual fee by itself. TPG values IHG points at 0.5 cents each. To look at it one way, a single fourth-night reward stay at a 20,000-point property saves you $100 worth of IHG points.
Related: The incredibly easy way of redeeming IHG's 4th-night reward
Annual award night
Upon renewal of your card each anniversary year, you'll earn another award night certificate good at any IHG property that charges 40,000 points or less for an award night. While award prices at IHG hotels can vary from night to night, we currently see availability on some nights for 40,000 points or less at cool hotels such as the Kimpton Van Zandt in Austin, Texas, the Kimpton Muse Hotel in New York City, the Kimpton Hotel Palomar South Beach in Miami and even the Holiday Inn Resort in Aruba.
Those 40,000 IHG points are worth $200 at TPG's valuation, so you should be able to save more than the $89 annual fee by using this reward night.
Category bonuses
The IHG Premier card is a pretty solid earner, too, raking in a respectable 10 IHG points per dollar spent at IHG properties.
But it gets better than that. Since the credit card grants you automatic Platinum Elite status, you'll also earn a 50% points bonus on IHG hotel stays. IHG Rewards members get a base earning rate of 10 points per dollar spent at most properties, so after the 50% elite bonus, you'll earn 15 points per dollar spent directly from IHG Rewards. Add that to the 10x earning on the card and you'll get (at least) 25 points total per dollar spent on the card on IHG hotel stays.
The IHG Premier Card also earns 2 points per dollar at gas stations, grocery stores and restaurants, and 1 point per dollar on everything else. However, as TPG only values IHG points at 0.5 cents each, that's only a 1% return on gas, groceries and restaurants. You're able to get a better return with other cards for groceries and gas purchases, so you might not be using this one frequently outside of hotel stays.
Related: Best credit cards for restaurants and dining out
Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application credit
You'll receive an up-to-$100 reimbursement when you apply for either Global Entry or TSA PreCheck every four years. This is another decent way to justify paying the $89 annual fee.
20% discount on buying points
This perk was heralded in the card's rollout, but unfortunately, it didn't pan out as we expected. The discount can't be combined with any other promotion. So, while this benefit will save you a little if you need points in a pinch, it likely won't move the value needle for most potential cardholders.
Read our full IHG Rewards Premier credit card review here.
Application rules
You can have multiple IHG credit cards, but know that the IHG Premier card, like other Chase cards, is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule. This means if you've opened five or more personal credit card accounts across all banks in the last 24 months, Chase is unlikely to approve you.
Bottom line
With the fourth-night-reward benefit, an opportunity to earn up to 25 points per dollar on IHG purchases and automatic IHG Platinum Elite status, the IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card makes a solid case for itself.
This is one of the best offers we've seen on the card, so this is as good of a time as any to apply.
Official application link: IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card with 125,000 bonus points and up-to-40,000-point reward night certificate after you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.
Additional reporting by Stella Shon.