IHG Free Anniversary Night Benefit Changing, Old Cards Not Grandfathered
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Chase is in the process of making changes to its IHG co-branded credit card portfolio, and as part of those changes, there have been questions circulating about whether current holders of the IHG Rewards Club Select Credit Card would keep the unrestricted anniversary free night that's good at essentially any IHG property worldwide.
We've previously reached out to Chase on this question but haven't received a response as of this writing. However, today TPG reader Jason M. received a letter from Chase that appears to confirm the bad news.
As the letter notes, current IHG Select cardholders will apparently not have their unrestricted anniversary free night grandfathered in with their old cards. Rather, any anniversary free nights issued after May 1, 2018, will be restricted to IHG properties "with a redemption value up to and including 40,000 points."
That's very disappointing news, as one of the most popular features of the current IHG credit card was the unrestricted anniversary free night. That said, it's not entirely unsurprising as most other hotel co-branded credit cards that offer an anniversary free night are also category restricted, such as the Category 1-4 night on the Hyatt Credit Card and the Category 1-5 night on the Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card. The one major exception is the complimentary weekend night you get each year with the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express.
We'll have more information on the new IHG credit card options when they're available, but for the moment, folks with the current IHG card offering will need to adjust their plans for their anniversary free night going forward if it's issued after May 1, 2018.
