Prospective IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card applicants will be excited to learn that Chase announced a massive new welcome bonus worth up to 140,000 points. This offer is for a limited time, but it's not yet been announced when it expires.
The IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card already ranks as the best card for stays at properties within the Intercontinental Hotel Group (which includes Holiday Inn, Regent Hotels and Kimpton Hotels among many others) on CNBC Select's list of the best hotel credit cards, and this bonus adds to the card's many benefits.
CNBC Select has the details on the new welcome bonus currently available.
IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card bonus
- New offer: 140,000 bonus points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
- Old offer: 80,000 bonus points after you spend $2,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
- Bottom line: New applicants can benefit from earning 60,000 more bonus points with the new offer. And the spending requirement only increased by $1,000. If you can meet the requirements of this offer and regularly book rooms at IHG properties, it's a great way to maximize rewards at the hotel chain.
You can qualify for this bonus if you currently don't have this card and have not received a new welcome bonus for this card in the past 24 months.
Added benefits of the IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card
IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card
Rewards
Up to 25X points total per dollar at IHG® (earn 10X points per $1 spent at IHG® hotels as a cardholder, plus 10X base points as an IHG® Rewards Club member and 5X points with Platinum Elite Status, which comes as a benefit of this card); 2X points per $1 spent on purchases at gas stations, grocery stores and restaurants; 1X point per $1 spent on all other purchases
Welcome bonus
140,000 bonus points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual fee
$89
Intro APR
None
Regular APR
17.49% to 24.49% variable
Balance transfer fee
Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater
Foreign transaction fee
None
Credit needed
Excellent/Good
See our methodology, terms apply.
Pros
- IHG® Rewards Club Platinum Elite status, which gives cardholders access to room upgrades, late checkout and other perks
- One reward night after each account anniversary year at eligible IHG hotels worldwide
- Reward night when you redeem points for any stay of four or more nights
- Global Entry/TSA PreCheck credit of up to $100 every four years
Cons
- $89 annual fee
- No annual travel credits
- No introductory 0% APR
- Estimated points earned after 1 year: 188,089
- Estimated points earned after 5 years: 380,446
Rewards totals incorporate the points earned from the welcome bonus
Our methodology
To determine which cards will put the most money back in your pocket, CNBC Select evaluated popular rewards credit cards offered by major banks, financial companies and credit unions that allow anyone to join. We compared each card on a range of features, including travel rewards (points and miles), annual fee, welcome bonus, introductory and standard APR, one-time perks, annual perks, redemption rates, as well as factors such as required credit and customer reviews when available.
CNBC Select teamed up with location intelligence firm Esri. The company's data development team provided the most up-to-date and comprehensive consumer spending data based on the 2019 Consumer Expenditure Surveys from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. You can read more about their methodology here.
Esri's data team created a sample annual budget of approximately $22,126 in retail spending. The budget includes six main categories: groceries ($5,174), gas ($2,218), dining out ($3,675), travel ($2,244), utilities ($4,862) and general purchases ($3,953). General purchases include items such as housekeeping supplies, clothing, personal care products, prescription drugs and vitamins, and other vehicle expenses. CNBC Select used this budget to compare cards that reward specific purchases and estimate how many rewards the average consumer might earn.
We then estimated how much the average consumer could earn in rewards (in the case of airlines cards, it's usually "points" or "miles") over the course of a year, two years and five years, assuming they would attempt to maximize their rewards potential by earning all welcome bonuses offered and using the card for all applicable purchases.
Our final picks are weighted heavily toward the highest five-year returns, since it's generally wise to hold onto a credit card for years. This method also avoids giving an unfair advantage to cards with large welcome bonuses.
While the five-year estimates we've included are derived from a budget similar to the average American's spending, you may earn a higher or lower return depending on your travel habits.
