How to get your fourth reward night free when redeeming IHG points
Editor's Note
IHG's fourth reward night free perk can provide significant value to IHG loyalists. This perk allows members with select IHG credit cards to pay zero points for every fourth night when redeeming IHG points for stays of four nights or longer.
You're eligible for this perk if you have the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (see rates and fees), IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card (see rates and fees) or IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card (see rates and fees). In this post, we'll examine the IHG fourth reward night free perk, including how to book an award stay with this benefit.
What is the IHG fourth reward night free perk?
The IHG fourth reward night free benefit lets you pay zero points for every fourth night when you redeem IHG points for a stay of four or more nights.
This benefit applies to reward-night stays in a standard room booked with points for four or more consecutive nights. The nights must be within the same stay at the same property. So, you can't combine separate bookings and benefit from the fourth reward night free perk.
You can use the fourth reward night free benefit on unlimited stays annually, but this perk doesn't apply to paid stays or points-and-cash bookings.
Related: The 19 best IHG hotels in the world
Who can use the IHG fourth reward night free benefit?
The following three IHG credit cards provide access to the valuable fourth reward night free perk: IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card, IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card and IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card.
We get access to the fourth reward night free benefit as IHG Premier cardholders. The IHG Premier Card also provides several other useful perks, including:
- Automatic IHG Platinum Elite status for as long as you're an IHG Premier cardholder.
- One anniversary free night on each account anniversary, valid for one night with a point redemption value of 40,000 points or less. You must use the night within 12 months of when it is issued, but you can add points from your IHG account to redeem your anniversary night for a night costing more than 40,000 points.
- Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or Nexus application fee statement credit of up to $120 every four years.
Even if you're unsure how frequently you'll use the fourth reward night free perk, getting the IHG Premier Card may still make financial sense if you can use its other benefits. You can likely get more than the card's $99 annual fee in value from just the anniversary night each year. Check out our IHG Premier Card review for more information.
Related: Why you should get (and keep) the IHG One Rewards Premier card
How to use the IHG fourth reward night free benefit
It's easy to use IHG's fourth-reward-night-free benefit. Log into the IHG One Rewards account tied to your eligible IHG credit card to try it out. Once logged in, perform an award night search as usual.
Since you're logged in and searching for a four-night stay, you'll see award rates struck through and replaced with lower rates. The struck-through rates indicate the average award night cost without the fourth reward night free perk. The new award amounts show the average nightly rate after accounting for the fourth reward night free benefit.
Click on the hotel you want and then select a room type. You'll only get the fourth reward night free benefit when you pay fully with points.
Click the "i" next to "Reward Nights" for your desired room type to see the points cost per night.
On extended stays, you get every fourth reward night free. The example below shows that the fourth and eighth nights cost zero points on this eight-night stay at the Holiday Inn Express Baruna Bali in Indonesia.
If you need to earn more IHG points before booking your next award stay, consider signing up for a new IHG credit card or buying IHG points. You can also transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards or Bilt Rewards points to IHG One Rewards, although we don't recommend doing so since both programs have many higher-value transfer partners.
Related: How to maximize redemptions with the IHG One Rewards program
Bottom line
You can enjoy IHG's fourth reward night free benefit when you redeem points for stays of four nights or more. The benefit is easy to use, as IHG applies it automatically when you use an eligible account to redeem points for stays of four nights or longer.
Due to this benefit, we often redeem IHG points for stays of four nights — and we often stay at IHG hotels in increments of four nights to maximize the value we get from our points.
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