IHG One Rewards Premier

The short answer

The IHG One Rewards Premier card is Chase's hotel rewards card for people who stay with IHG brands, including Holiday Inn and InterContinental. Its headline benefit is that the fourth night of an eligible points stay costs zero points. The annual fee on the current application offer is $150.

In Julia's example, a 4-night family stay that would cost 140,000 points costs 96,000 with the benefit. Against a comparable cash booking, that puts the award stay $120 ahead, which is $30 short of the fee. The anniversary night, the airline credit or the vouchers would have to make up the difference, and only if you would use them anyway.

So the card suits a household that books longer IHG stays with points and has a separate night it already needs. It suits less well one whose trips are short or whose available hotels do not fit the family. The Studio's verdict on fit is "IHG stays and an anniversary night that replaces a planned booking." Its Wallet Score is 68 out of 100.

What it costs

The annual fee on the current application offer is $150. The card changed in October 2026, so an older review could give the wrong fee, status or free-night limit. Existing cardholders should follow their change notices; Chase says their annual fees adjust in 2027.

Julia compares the award stay with a comparable cash booking paid with a no-fee 2% card. She values points at 0.5 cents each, because spending them means giving up another worthwhile redemption. The Studio's record uses 0.45 cents per point.

What it earns

• 10 points per dollar on qualifying IHG hotel purchases. The advertised total of up to 24 points also includes hotel-program earning and the Gold status bonus at most brands, so not all of it comes from the payment card.
• 5 points per dollar on qualifying groceries, gas and dining, and on flights booked directly with airlines and car rentals. Broader travel purchases earn that rate only when they post by December 31, 2026; other travel then drops to 3.
• 3 points per dollar on other eligible purchases.

At 0.5 cents a point, 3 points per dollar returns 1.5%. A 2% cash-back card does better on those purchases, so Julia would not move every bill over.

The card also awards 15,000 bonus points after $15,000 in purchases each calendar year, worth $75 at half a cent. You receive Gold status and 15 elite-night credits each year too. The credits help with status progress; they are not 15 nights of accommodation.

The credits, used honestly

• Fourth night. Zero points on an eligible stay booked entirely with points, for 4 consecutive nights in the same standard room at the same hotel, with award availability.
• Anniversary night. Under the current offer it covers a standard-room reward night costing up to 50,000 points, and you can add your own IHG points for a room above that limit. Julia would use it for a separate night she already needed, and compare it with the reasonably priced hotel she would actually choose.
• Airline credit. $100 each calendar year through December 31, 2027, for a single flight-ticket purchase of at least $250 made directly with an airline using the card. It is temporary, so Julia does not count it after its end date.
• Food vouchers. $25 each quarter for eligible food and drink charged to your room at participating IHG hotels. Julia counts only the meal expense a voucher replaces.
• United TravelBank. After registration, $25 in each half of the year, useful only if you were already buying an eligible United flight before the deposit expires.

The catch

The fourth-night benefit is narrow. A cash booking or a Points & Cash booking does not qualify, and the saving depends on the actual fourth night, so it is not always exactly 25%. Check the full reservation total rather than multiplying the first night by 4. Resort fees and other charges can still apply to reward nights, and you cannot swap one night of the booking for the anniversary certificate and still count the same fourth-night benefit.

The anniversary night arrives after your account anniversary, so Julia would not use it to justify a trip right after opening the card. It must be used for a completed stay within 12 months of issue, so check the hotel's cancellation terms. Adding points reduces what it saves, and so does losing the card rewards and hotel points a paid stay would earn.

The vouchers expire each quarter, and unused value is forfeited after use. A whole trip in one quarter cannot use all $100 of the year's vouchers, and the voucher-paid portion earns no IHG points. Several small tickets adding to $250 would not meet the airline credit's single-purchase rule. Interest would reduce all of these savings, so Julia's sums assume purchases paid in full.

Who it fits

Premier fits a family planning a 4-night break at an IHG hotel it would enjoy, with enough points to book it and an award room available. The award benefit saves something real, and a useful anniversary night or qualifying airline credit could make the fee worthwhile.

It fits less well a household whose trips are shorter or whose available hotels stop fitting its plans, and Julia would reconsider at renewal. Ordinary spending is not the reason to hold it: on $15,000 of 3-point purchases the rewards only match 2% cash back before the fee.

The Wallet Score of 68 compares recurring value after fees across 3 fixed household budgets, then how easily the rewards can be used, the effort involved and 2 specific protections. It counts the earned 15,000-point bonus and only the useful portions of recurring benefits. The temporary airline credit and a separate 4-night award trip do not inflate the permanent grade. The Studio's limitation says: "The cash-travel test excludes the fourth-night award benefit and the temporary airline credit ending in 2027."

The arithmetic

Julia's 4-night family stay:

• Points: nights at 28,000, 32,000, 36,000 and 44,000 points total 140,000. The fourth night's 44,000 comes off, leaving 96,000.
• Cash: a comparable booking at $640 with taxes and no resort fee. A no-fee 2% card earns $12.80, and the paid stay would earn hotel rewards worth $27.20, so the cash option costs $600 after rewards.
• Points: 96,000 at 0.5 cents is $480 of value spent.
• Result: $600 less $480 puts the award stay $120 ahead, which falls $30 short of the $150 fee.

Bonus: $15,000 of ordinary 3-point purchases earns $225 of regular rewards at half a cent per point, plus the $75 bonus. The total is $300, the same as 2% cash back before the card fee.

Voucher: an $18 meal paid with a $25 voucher saves $18. The remaining $7 does not turn into change, and buying more food just to use the voucher improves nothing unless you wanted the extra order anyway.

Before you apply

On the issuer's page today, check the $150 fee, the status and free-night limit, the fourth-night conditions, the 50,000-point limit on the anniversary night, and the airline credit and voucher rules. Then price one stay you would actually take: the points booking, the comparable cash booking and the benefits you would realistically use.

Julia values points at 0.5 cents, while the Studio's record uses 0.45 cents, so the points-based totals are a little lower at the Studio's value. The rate card carries the food vouchers at $75, the largest of the figures its tests use, where the video's vouchers total $100 a year, and the United TravelBank at $50. The terms may have moved since the video, and the card changed in October 2026, so confirm current amounts.

The figures in this article were checked on October 6, 2026.