IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card Review (2023.1 Update: 175k Offer)

physixfan 2023-01-26 2023-01-26

Non-affiliate disclosure: all information about the this card have been collected independently by US Credit Card Guide and has not been reviewed by the issuer.

2023.1 Update: The new offer is 175k.

2022.10 Update: The 140k+1FN offer is expired. The current offer is 140k.

2022.7 Update: The new offer is 140k+1FN (up to 40k). This is a decent offer.

Application Link

Benefits

175k offer: earn 175,000 IHG points after spending $3,000 in 3 months. This is the best points offer.
IHG points are valued around 0.5 cents/point (Hotel Points Value). So the 175k welcome offer is worth about $875.
Receive a 40k Free Night (FN) certificate every year after your account renewal anniversary date. You can also use existing IHG points to redeem your FN at hotels above the 40,000 point redemption level.
Earn 10x points at IHG property, 5x points at dining, supermarket and gas station, and 3x point on other purchases.
Receive up to $50 United TravelBank Cash each calendar year: You will receive one $25 United TravelBank cash deposit on or about January 1, and another $25 United TravelBank cash deposit on or about July 1. Deposits made between January 1 and June 30 will expire on July 15, regardless of deposit date. Deposits made between July 1 and December 31 will expire on January 15, regardless of deposit date. You must complete a one-time registration to receive this benefit. This benefit is essentially useless because of its short expiration and small amount.
Earn 10,000 bonus points + $100 statement credit after you spend $20,000 on purchases and make one additional purchase each account anniversary year.
20% off 20% on when you purchase IHG points with your card.
4th reward night free when you redeem points for any stay of 4 or more nights.
Complimentary IHG Platinum Membership as long as you have this card. Get IHG Diamond Membership if you spend $40k.
Global Entry or TSA PreCheck $100 credit every 4 years.
No foreign transaction fee.
Refer a friend. Please click this link to start referring. You can earn 10,000 bonus IHG points for every approved account you refer, up to a maximum of 5 approved referrals (50,000 IHG points) per calendar year.

Disadvantages

$99 annual fee, NOT waived fist year.
Free night is only valid for one year.

Recommended Application Time

[5/24 Rule] If you have 5 or more new accounts opened in the past 24 months, Chase will not approve your application on this card, no matter how high your credit score is. The number of new accounts includes all credit card accounts, not only Chase accounts. See this post for details about how to possibly bypass this rule.
This product is available to you if you do not have a current IHG Rewards Credit Card and have not received a new Cardmember bonus within the last 24 months. Note that what matters here is the time you got the sign-up bonus, not the time you open the account or close the account. This does not apply to Business Card Credit Card products.
Don’t apply for more than 2 Chase credit cards within 30 days, or it’s highly likely that you will get rejected.
We recommend you to apply for this card after you have a credit history for more than a year.

Summary

Compared to other hotel groups, IHG is strong in national parks and some small towns in the middle of nowhere. Since the revamp in 2022.3, you can now redeem 40k FN with some extra points to book for higher category hotels, and this significantly increased the flexibility for the FN. This card is not a good card for everyday spending because IHG points are not very valuable, so the 10k spending bonus is basically just a joke. Keeping this card for a long time is basically equivalent to use $99 to buy a 40k FN, whether it’s worth it really depend on your traveling frequency etc.

Old Benefits Before 2022.03.24

Benefits

140k Offer: Earn 140,000 IHG points after spending $3,000 in 3 months. The recent best offer is 150k+$50+first year annual fee waived.
IHG points are valued around 0.5 cents/point (Hotel Points Value). So the 150k+$50 highest offer is worth about $800.
Receive a free night certificate every year after your account renewal anniversary date. Anniversary free night certificate is only valid at IHG hotels with a current point redemption level of 40,000 points or less.
Earn 10x points at IHG property, 2x points at dining, supermarket and gas station, and 1x point on other purchases.
Earn 10,000 bonus points after you spend $20,000 on purchases and make one additional purchase each account anniversary year.
20% off 20% on when you purchase IHG points with your card.
4th reward night free when you redeem points for any stay of 4 or more nights.
Complimentary IHG Platinum Membership.
Cell phone protection: get up to $800 per claim and $1,000 per year in cell phone protection against covered theft or damage for phones listed on your monthly cell phone bill when you pay it with your eligible credit card. Deductible $50.
Global Entry or TSA PreCheck $100 credit every 4 years.
No foreign transaction fee.
Refer a friend. Please click this link to start referring. You can earn 10,000 bonus IHG points for every approved account you refer, up to a maximum of 5 approved referrals (50,000 IHG points) per calendar year.
$89 annual fee, NOT waived fist year.
Free night is only valid for one year, and only valid at IHG hotels with a current point redemption level of 40,000 points or less.

Now the anniversary free night is only valid at IHG hotels with a current point redemption level of 40,000 points or less, and this makes it harder to redeem it in big cities. You may find some good redemptions outside of the US. If you only compare the face value of a hotel, it is mostly higher than the $89 annual fee; however, it is not easy to find a fantastic redemption any more. This card is not a good card for everyday use because IHG points are not very valuable, so the 10k spending bonus is basically just a joke. Keeping this card for a long time is basically equivalent to use $89 to buy a hotel night, whether it’s worth it really depend on your traveling frequency etc.

Related Credit Cards

	Chase IHG Traveler	Chase IHG Premier	Chase IHG Premier Business
Annual Fee	$0	$99	$99
Free Night	none	up to 40k	up to 40k
Best Sign-up Bonus	120k	150k+$50	140k

After Applying

Call 800-436-7927 to check Chase application status. This is an automated telephone line, and the information has the following meanings: Receive decision in 2 weeks means your application is probably approved; Receive decision in 7-10 days means your application is probably rejected; Receive decision in 30 days simply means your application requires further review and there’s nothing to tell you for now.
Chase reconsideration backdoor number: 888-270-2127 or 888-609-7805. Call it if you didn’t get approve immediately. Your personal information will be acquired and they will then review it. You seldom answer questions, instead, just enjoy the music and then you get approved or rejected, or further information is needed to be handed in to the branch or be faxed.