How to use the IHG One Rewards anniversary night certificate

The cobranded IHG One Rewards cards offer many valuable perks. One perk offered by the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (see rates and fees) and the IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card (see rates and fees) each year after your account anniversary is a free night certificate valid for a night that costs 40,000 points or less. Plus, you can use points from your IHG One Rewards account to top off the certificate if you want to redeem for a night that costs more than 40,000 points.

TPG's March 2025 valuations peg the value of 40,000 IHG One Rewards points at $200. So, before even considering any other card perks, the anniversary night certificate should provide enough value for most travelers to justify paying the annual fee on one (or both) of these cards. Here's how to use them.

How to check the details of your IHG anniversary night certificate

If you want to check whether you have any IHG anniversary night certificates or confirm the details of your certificates, log in to your IHG One Rewards account and click on your name in the upper right-hand corner. Scroll down on the page that loads and check the "Enjoy your rewards" section. Here, you should see a panel with your free nights (if you have any).

Click on "Book a Free Night" to check the details of your certificate. A page will load showing your account's unredeemed free night certificates. You can see the date ranges during which you must book and stay for each certificate.

You can also click the details and terms and conditions links in the panel for each free night certificate to learn more.

Related: Which credit card should you use for IHG stays?

How to redeem your IHG anniversary night certificate

Now that you know how to check the existence and details of anniversary night certificates in your account, here's how to redeem them.

You can click the orange "Book Free Night" button on the page we just discussed, where you can see the certificate's details. Doing so would automatically select "IHG One Rewards Business Credit Card Free Night Flex" — or a similar rate associated with whatever type of free night certificate you have in your account — in the drop-down box for "Rate Preference" on the booking screen.

But you can also start on the landing page once you've logged in to your account and then select this same rate (if you have a certificate in your account). Enter your search details and click the orange "Search" button.

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Your search results will appear, and you'll see the properties you can book with your free night certificate. If you see "FREE per night," you can use your certificate to cover your entire stay. However, you may need to pay amenity or resort fees at some properties.

You can top off the free night certificates you earn through the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card and the IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card. As such, if you search with the certificate rate selected, you may see some properties that require you to redeem extra points in addition to your certificate.

You may also see some properties that list a paid rate. This means the property isn't bookable with your free night certificate on the dates you searched.

In this case, you can click "View available dates" to see nights you can book with your free night certificate (potentially with a top-off required if you're using a certificate that allows them).

Once you find a property that works for you, click the orange "Select Hotel" button to see the available room types.

Then, click "Select" for a specific room type to get to the final booking page, where you can check your reservation details and select (or enter) a payment card to guarantee your reservation. Click "Book for Chase Anniversary Free Night" when you're ready to book your stay.

Like when redeeming IHG points, not all room types are available when using your anniversary night certificate. Unfortunately, IHG's booking system won't let you redeem a certificate for one night and use points or cash for other nights on the same reservation. You may need to make consecutive reservations for the same room types if you want to stay longer than one night.

Finally, while you can top off certificates from the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card and the IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card, you can't top off other anniversary night certificates. So, if you have certificates from other sources, you may need to be strategic regarding which certificates you use for a given stay.

Related: Why you should get (and keep) the IHG One Rewards Premier card

Bottom line

IHG free night certificates are valuable and relatively easy to use. We recommend redeeming for a night that costs close to 40,000 points to get the most value. However, topping off certificates earned via the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card or the IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card can also provide excellent value. In short, if you're getting more value from the certificate than the cost you incurred to earn it, you're coming out ahead.