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 right after the card was introduced in April 2018. One of the marquee perks of the card is a fourth night free on award stays, and it’s a perk I put to good use in my first year as a cardholder.

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. If you were just approved for the card, you’ll need to wait a few days for it to be linked to your account. Once logged in, perform an award night search and select your room type. For example, let’s take a New Years Eve award night stay in the InterContinental Times Square:

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 70,000 points per night property is pricing at 210,000 total points. The note to the side confirms that “every fourth Reward Night is free!”

While 210,000 points is a lot of points, you can oftentimes buy IHG Rewards points for 0.5 cents each. At that rate, you can pay $1,050 total for a four night luxury stay in Times Square including New Years Eve and New Years Day.

If you haven’t gotten the new IHG Rewards Club Premier Card yet, you can more than halfway to this incredible redemption through the new 125,000-point sign-up bonus for spending $3,000 in the first three months after opening the card. Even better, you’ll earn at least 40x IHG points per dollar spent at IHG hotels for the first 12 months (25x through card spending + 10x base IHG Rewards earnings + 5x from Platinum Elite status granted by the card).

The card also comes with IHG Platinum Elite status, which I found to be worth the annual fee by itself. You get a free hotel night per year at a property costing 40,000 points per night or less — a perk that easily makes up for its $89 annual fee.

Want to stay longer than four nights? The good news is this benefits works for stays in increments of four nights. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough points to book an eight-night stay at the InterContinental Times Square. So, I tested an eight-night reservation at a Hotel Indigo in Brooklyn, and the total cost came out to 180,000 points at this 30,000-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.

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