Anniversary Free Night Certificate
The free night certificate, given to cardholders each year on their account anniversary, can easily offset the cost of the $99 annual fee on its own. You can redeem the certificate for a free night at any IHG hotel that costs up to 40,000 points per night.
IHG Rewards no longer publishes an award chart, but rest assured that a 40,000 points hotel in the portfolio can easily cost between $200 to $300 a night depending on the location and season.
Hot Tip: IHG now allows IHG Premier cardholders to add points on top of their free night certificate to book more expensive hotels. For instance, if you want to book a night at a property that costs 60,000 points per night, you could apply your free night certificate, plus 20,000 points, to do just that!
Platinum Elite Status
IHG Rewards Platinum Elite status, earned after 40 qualifying nights or 60,000 qualifying points, comes complimentary to cardholders of the IHG Premier card.
Your new Platinum Elite status comes with the following perks:
- 60% bonus points earned on IHG stays
- Priority check-in and extended checkout
- Complimentary room upgrades
- Welcome amenity
The 60% bonus jumps your points earned from 10x points per $1 to 16 points per $1 on your IHG stays. Don’t forget, when you use your IHG Premier card to pay for your stay, you’ll earn another 10x points per $1 for a total of 26 IHG Rewards points per $1 on stays. This represents a return of 13% on your IHG stays based on our points and miles valuations.
As if that’s not enough, you’ll also receive complimentary room upgrades, a welcome amenity during check-in, and extended checkout times. So if you stay at IHG hotels with any sort of regularity, you should be able to get plenty of value out of your IHG Platinum Elite status.
Further, those who are big spenders will have the ability to spend their way to top-tier Diamond Elite status by spending $40,000 on the card in a calendar year.
Fourth Night Free on Award Stays
Once you’ve racked up a large balance of IHG Rewards points, your IHG Premier card will help you stretch those points even further by giving you your fourth night free on all award stays. Keep in mind that this benefit only applies to award stays and not paid stays.