The IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card is the premium IHG hotel co-branded card that includes special IHG perks like a free night award every year you keep the card, Elite status, and every 4th award night free. Here are the highlights:

• Earn 5 Free Nights (up to 60,000 points value each night) after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That’s a total value of up to 300,000 total IHG points.
• Free Award Night after each account anniversary year at eligible IHG hotels worldwide. Valid at IHG Hotels with a current point redemption cap of 40,000 points. NEW: You can now also pay the difference over 40,000 points to redeem your Anniversary Night at hotels above the 40,000 point redemption level.
• 4th Award Night Free. Enjoy a free reward night when you redeem points for a consecutive four-night IHG(R) hotel stay. That means if you use points to pay for 3 nights in a row, the 4th night is free. You can even book 8 award nights total and get two of them free, and so on. Works on any award level.
• Earn up to 26 total points per $1 spent when you stay at IHG Hotels & Resorts.
• Earn 5 points per $1 spent on purchases on travel, at gas stations, and restaurants. Earn 3 points per $1 spent on all other purchases.
• Automatic Platinum Elite status included as a Premier card member. IHG points also don’t expire when you are an Elite member.
• Global Entry, TSA PreCheck® or NEXUS statement credit of up to $100 every 4 years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to your card.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• IHG One Rewards Bonus points are redeemable at Hotels & Resorts such as InterContinental®, Crowne Plaza®, Kimpton®, EVEN® Hotels, Indigo® Hotels & Holiday Inn®.
• $99 annual fee.

Please note the following:

This product is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of this credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of this credit card who received a new cardmember bonus for this credit card within the last 24 months.

What can you get with IHG points? The best redemption value for IHG points is for free hotel nights. The other options offer significantly less value. While the points don’t translate directly to a dollar value, but overall a conservation valuation is 0.50 cents of value per point, which would make 140,000 IHG points worth an estimated $700 value. You can perform the calculations for hotels that fit your needs. I tried a bunch of other various combinations and got between 0.5 cents and 0.8 cents per point equivalent value.

(IHG points are worth less than other points like Hyatt or Chase Ultimate Rewards points, but you get a lot more of them with this bonus!)

IHG stands for Intercontinental Hotel Group which has over 5,000 hotels including the following brands:

• Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts
• Crowne Plaza
• Kimpton
• Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express
• Staybridge Suites
• Candlewood Suites
• Hotel Indigo
• EVEN Hotels

Fourth Reward Night Free

The 4th Reward night free perk can be very valuable and nice to see on a card with no annual fee. You get the fourth reward night free when you redeem points for a consecutive four-night IHG hotel stay (only pay for 3 nights with points). It showed up automatically for me when booking with points online.

For each standard room Reward Night stay of 4 or more nights, every 4th night is free. Applies only to 4 or more consecutive nights within the same Reward Night point redemption room stay at the same property. With this benefit, eligible members will be charged the Reward Night point redemption rate for the first 3 nights, and 0 points for the 4th night of the stay, as applicable. Members can utilize the 4th Reward Night Free benefit on an unlimited number of stays annually.

IHG points expire after 24 months of inactivity, so if you keep up your activity then you can save up these free nights for later. Chase Ultimate Rewards points also convert to IHG points.

Total of 26X points per $1 spent when you stay at IHG. Here’s how this breaks down: Earn 10X points from IHG® for being an IHG One Rewards Member + 10X points with this card + 6X points from IHG® with Platinum Elite Status with Platinum Elite Status (a benefit of this card) = total of 26X points total at 5,400+ IHG® hotels & resorts.

The rewards on other purchases has improved to the following:

• 5X IHG points per $1 spent at gas stations, dining, and travel (including hotels).
• 3X IHG point per $1 spent on all other card purchases

I would keep this card if you can use the anniversary night certificate with the 40,000 point maximum value. You should be able to get $99 value out of it as long as you need a hotel night. Stay must be completed within 12 months from date of issue.

Don’t want a card with an annual fee? The no-annual fee Traveler version has a very competitive bonus right now.

Bottom line. The IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card includes special IHG perks like a free night award every year you keep the card, Elite status, and every 4th award night free. As with most of these co-branded cards, the best value is obtained if you can redeem for IHG hotel nights.

During this limited-time offer boost, I will be adding this to the Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers.

100k limited-time offer boost is back. The IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card is the IHG hotel card that includes special IHG perks but with no annual fee. Here are the highlights:

• 100,000 bonus IHG points after spending $2,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.
• Earn up to 17 total points per $1 spent when you stay at IHG Hotels & Resorts. Earn 3 points per $1 spent on purchases on monthly bills, at gas stations, and restaurants. Earn 2 points per $1 spent on all other purchases.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• Fourth Reward Night Free when you redeem points for any 4+ night stay. That means if you use points to pay for 3 nights in a row, the 4th night is free.
• IHG Rewards Bonus points are redeemable at Hotels & Resorts such as InterContinental(R), Crowne Plaza(R), Kimpton(R), EVEN(R) Hotels, Indigo(R) Hotels & Holiday Inn(R).
• No annual fee.

Note the following:

This product is available to you if you do not have a current IHG One Rewards Credit Card and have not received a new
Cardmember bonus within the last 24 months. This does not apply to Business Card Credit Card products.

What can you get with IHG points? The best redemption value for IHG points is for free hotel nights. The other options offer significantly less value. While the points don’t translate directly to a dollar value, I would use a conservative estimate of 0.50 cents of value per point, which would make 80,000 IHG points worth an estimated $400 value. Not bad for a no annual fee card. You can perform the calculations for hotels that fit your needs. I tried a bunch of other various combinations and got between 0.5 cents and 0.8 cents per point equivalent value.

IHG stands for Intercontinental Hotel Group which has over 5,000 hotels including the following brands:

• Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts
• Crowne Plaza
• Kimpton
• Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express
• Staybridge Suites
• Candlewood Suites
• Hotel Indigo
• EVEN Hotels

IHG points expire after 24 months of inactivity, which is relatively long so with occasional activity you can easily save up these free nights for later. Chase Ultimate Rewards points also convert to IHG points.

The 4th Reward night free perk can be very valuable and nice to see on a card with no annual fee. You get the fourth reward night free when you redeem points for a consecutive four-night IHG hotel stay (only pay for 3 nights with points).

Total of 17x points per $1 spent when you stay at IHG. Here’s how this breaks down: Earn 5X points per $1 spent as an IHG® Rewards Club Traveler credit cardmember + 10X points per $1 spent from IHG® for being an IHG® Rewards Club Member, 5X points with this card, plus 2X points from IHG® with Silver Elite Status (a benefit of this card) for a total of 17X points total at any of their 5,400+ IHG® hotels & resorts.

Given my 0.5 cent per IHG point valuation, I would book my IHG nights on this card, but not my everyday purchases on an ongoing basis. I would just put a little spending on there to keep my IHG points from expiring.

• 3 IHG points per $1 spent at gas stations, dining, utilities, internet, cable, and phone services
  and select streaming services.
• 2 IHG point per $1 spent on all other card purchases

Upgrade to Premier? Downgrade to Traveler? If you can reliably use a anniversary night certificate (40,000 point value) and get $99 value out of it, you should consider going with the IHG Rewards Premier credit card mentioned on the same application page. The Premier card also adds some other small perks like Platinum Elite status and a TSA Precheck fee credit.

If you already have the Premier card and don’t want to pay for those added perks, you may consider asking if you can downgrade to this Traveler now without any annual fee.

Bottom line. The IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card now comes with no annual fee and a sign-up bonus. As with most of these co-branded cards, the best value is obtained if you can redeem for IHG hotel nights.

Also see: Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers.

Chase and Air Canada have partnered to create the Aeroplan® Credit Card for US customers. Using the new Pay Yourself Back feature, 70,000 Aeroplan points can be redeemed for $875 back toward eligible travel purchases including flights on any airline (details below). Here are the highlights on the sign-up bonus and Air Canada perks:

• 70,000 bonus points after $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
• 70,000 points is worth up to $875 in travel. Redeem points for a statement credit to cover travel purchases including hotels, car rentals, ride-shares, flights and more. There is no limit to the amount of points cardmembers can redeem through December 31st, 2024. Each point is worth 1.25 cents which means you can get a $750 statement credit for 60,000 points redeemed. Aeroplan Pay Yourself Back details.
• Free first checked bags on Air Canada flights: one free checked bag for the primary cardmember and up to eight other travelers on the same itinerary.
• Automatically receive Aeroplan 25K Elite Status for the remainder of the first calendar year, plus the following calendar year, allowing primary cardmembers to enjoy benefits such as priority check-in, early boarding, upgrades and more on Air Canada flights.
• Each calendar year in which you spend at least $15,000 in purchases you earn Aeroplan 25K Status through the following calendar year.
• Up to $100 credit toward Global Entry, TSA Precheck or NEXUS every four years (as reimbursement for the application fee charged to your card)
• No foreign transaction fees.
• $95 annual fee.

Here is the rewards structure on credit card spending:

• 3X points on dining, takeout, and eligible delivery services
• 3X points at grocery stores
• 3X points on direct purchases at Air Canada
• 1 point for each dollar spent on all other purchases
• 500 bonus points for every $2,000 spent in a calendar month (up to a maximum of 1,500 points per calendar month)

Redeeming Aeroplan points for flights. It is very easy to redeem Aeroplan points on Air Canada, Air Canada Express, or Air Canada Rouge flights because “every Air Canada seat available to buy for cash is also available for points, no restrictions.” You simply run a search like normal on the Air Canada website, and it will tell you upfront the cost in Aeroplan points. It’s quite easy to compare the cash cost side-by-side. In addition, when you have this credit card, you get even better preferred pricing on flights when redeeming points.

Here is an example flight from San Francisco to Vancouver during our March Spring Break period:

At 8,300 miles + CAD$8 for a one-way flight, that means I could get 4 of these SFO-YVR roundtrip flights for 70,000 with some 3,000+ points left over. This means an entire family of four could get their flights covered. The cash cost for the one way was CAD$207 or US$161 at this writing, for a total redemption value of CAD$1,656 or US$1,288.

For a more general idea, here is a link to the Aeroplan rewards chart (PDF). The points required are based on distance.

You can also get excellent value by redeeming your points on a partner airline.

Finally, with this credit card, you get preferred pricing on award flights (less points required):

You, as the primary cardmember will often require fewer Aeroplan points to redeem for flight rewards through the Aeroplan program than Aeroplan Members who do not hold an Aeroplan co-branded Credit Card.

Redeem towards any travel at 1.25 cents per points. Via their Pay Yourself Back(R) feature, Chase allows an alternative option to redeem Aeroplan points at a rate of 1.25 cents per point to cover travel purchases including airline flights, hotels, cruises, car rentals, rideshares, parking lots, and more. This provides a nice minimum floor on the value of an Aeroplan point. You can redeem unlimited points through 12/31/24 as an introductory offer; in the future it will be capped at 50,000 points redeemed per year in this way. See full Pay Yourself Back details here.

Here’s all of what counts as “Travel”:

Merchants in this category include airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, campgrounds and operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways, and parking lots and garages. Some merchants that provide transportation and travel-related services are not included in this category; for example, real estate agents, educational merchants arranging travel, in-flight goods and services, on-board cruise line goods and services, sightseeing activities, excursions, tourist attractions, RV and boat rentals, merchants within hotels and airports, public campgrounds and merchants that rent vehicles for the purpose of hauling. Purchases from gift card merchants or merchants that sell points or miles will not qualify in the travel category.

Personal experience. I have had this card now for over a year, and here is why I renewed and paid the annual fee for a second year. There are a lot of little things with this card that makes travel better.

• You get 25K elite status on Air Canada with this card (25K automatically for the remainder of the first calendar year, plus the following calendar year, later years with eligible spending), and that lets you check in using the speedy priority line with helpful humans! The same line as business class ticket holders. This 1 on 1 person can help you make flight changes, fix seats, check bags and just make flying smoother rather than trying to flag down the kiosk person trying to help 30 people at once.
• 25k status lets you pick better seats for free and gives you a 50% discount on the preferred seats with extra legroom on (non-basic) Flex economy fares.
• 25k status gets you Zone 2 boarding even on basic economy tickets, which is very early. You know how the line is usually split between “1st class/fancy folks” and “everyone else”? You get to board in the fancy folks line.
• Free checked bags for you and all travel companions with the card. For me, that means my family can check 5 bags for free. 25k status also gives the person with status 2 free checked bags.

Basically, this card helps me feel closer to a business class passenger when I just buy economy tickets and pay for the extra legroom seats. I get the nice check-in line, no hassles with checked bags, TSA PreCheck for security, and true priority boarding so no stress about carry-on space.

Bottom line. The Aeroplan® Credit Card offers a 70,000 point sign-up bonus (redeemable for multiple Air Canada flights or use the Pay Yourself Back feature to offset $875 of travel on ANY airline) and Air Canada flight perks (including free first checked bag and elite status).

I will be adding this offer to the Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers.