As a loyal IHG member — thanks in large part to the status and perks of my old IHG Rewards Club Select card — I jumped on applying for the new IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card shortly after it came out. One of the marquee perks of the new IHG Premier is a fourth night free on award stays, and it’s a perk I definitely plan to use a lot.

When it was time to book my first fourth award night stay, I braced myself for a painful process. Would I have to call in to apply this discount? Would I have to pay the full price for the four nights and then get the fourth night refunded? Would I have to find and apply an ever-changing discount code (like American Airlines Reduced Mileage Awards)?

Thankfully, I found out pretty quickly that the answer to all of those questions is no. The process is quite simple, as the discount simply applies automatically. Let me show you how easy it is.

First, you’re going to want to log into your IHG account that’s tied to your IHG Premier card. Once logged in, perform an award night search and select your room type:

On the next page is the first time that you’ll see a benefit from the card. The cash portion of the Points & Cash rates are discounted by 20%.

For instance, in the example below, IHG is offering members a chance to pay $44 to save 5,000 points per night (a very poor purchase rate of 0.88 cents per point) or $68 to save 10,000 points per night (a better but still poor rate of 0.68 cents per point).

On other dates I tried, the price was just $24 to save 5,000 points, or $48 to save 10,000 points (a decent rate of 0.48 cents per point).

Once you select the rate, you’ll see the points discount applied on the next page. In this example, the four night stay at this 15,000 points per night property is pricing at 45,000 total points. The note to the side confirms that “every fourth Reward Night is free!”

And yes, this works for stays in increments of four nights. I tested it on an eight night reservation and the total cost came out to 90,000 points at this 15,000 per night hotel.

The bottom line is that getting the fourth award night free benefit from the IHG Rewards Club Premier Card is incredibly easy. The discount is applied automatically online, so there’s no need to involve an agent or deal with rebate messiness.

If you haven’t gotten the new IHG Rewards Club Premier Card yet, you can get 80,000 IHG points for spending $2,000 in the first three months after opening the card plus an additional 40,000 bonus points after spending a total of $5,000 on purchases within 6 months of account opening. You’ll earn 10x IHG points per dollar spent at IHG hotels — double what the old card earned.

The card also comes with IHG Platinum Elite status, which I’ve found incredibly useful at overseas IHG hotels. You get a free hotel night per year at a property that’s 40,000 points per night or less — a perk that easily makes up for the $89 annual fee. And last but not least, you’ll (easily) get every fourth award night free.

Featured image of the InterContinental Johannesburg Sandton Towers courtesy of IHG.