IHG One Rewards Premier card: the anniversary night, the fourth night free, and the $150 fee

The IHG One Rewards Premier is Chase's main IHG hotel card. On October 1, 2026, its page showed a higher annual fee, a bigger anniversary night and a different status level than before. Here is what the card offers now, what it is worth if you stay at IHG hotels, and what a couple should weigh before applying.

The offer, in Chase's words

• Welcome bonus: "New Cardmember Bonus – 180,000 Points: To qualify, you must make $3,000 in purchases during the first 3 months from account opening."
• Authorized-user bonus: "You will qualify and receive 10,000 bonus points after your addition of an authorized user to your account during the first 3 months from account opening."
• Annual fee: $150.

This is the offer as Chase showed it on October 1, 2026. Check the current offer before you apply.

The anniversary free night

Every year after your account anniversary, the card gives you one free night. Chase's terms: "Your Anniversary Free Night will be valid at IHG® Hotels with a point redemption value of 50,000 points or less (covers one standard room night and tax only), with the ability to add on points from your IHG One Rewards account to redeem your Anniversary Free Night at hotels above your point redemption level."

What that means in practice:

• A night up to 50,000 points is covered in full. The award is worth the price of the night you book, not the cap: a 35,000-point night saves you 35,000 points.
• A night above 50,000 points can still be booked by adding your own points. Chase's page does not say how many points you can add, so check IHG's terms before you count on a large top-off.
• It expires. "Anniversary Free Night must be redeemed, and stay must be completed, within 12 months from date of issue."
• Fees are yours. Parking and mandatory resort fees are not covered.

Whether the night pays for the $150 fee depends on the nights you would actually book. Compare the fee with the cash price of a night you were going to take anyway.

The fourth night free

For slow travel, this is the benefit to look at first. Chase: "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."

Three limits matter. It applies to standard-room award stays only, not "paid stays or Points & Cash bookings." The nights must be consecutive at one hotel. And if you cancel or check out before the fourth night, "the 4th Reward Night is forfeited."

Status, earning and credits

• Status: "Automatic Gold Elite Status as long as you remain an IHG One Rewards Premier cardmember." Spending $15,000 in purchases in a calendar year earns Platinum Elite for the rest of that year and the next, plus 5 Elite Night Credits and 15,000 bonus points. Spending $40,000 earns Diamond Elite.
• Elite night credits: 15 when you open the card and at the start of each calendar year, plus 2 for every $5,000 you spend.
• Earning: 10 points per $1 at IHG hotels; 5 per $1 on flights booked directly with the airline, car rentals, dining, grocery stores and gas stations; 3 per $1 on everything else. Until December 31, 2026, all travel earns 5 per $1; after that, only airline tickets bought directly and car rentals do.
• Credits: up to $100 a year in IHG food and beverage rewards, issued as a $25 voucher each quarter that expires at the end of that quarter; a $100 statement credit each calendar year after $250 of flights bought directly from an airline, through December 31, 2027; and up to $120 every four years for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS.

Who can get the bonus

Chase: "This credit card is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of any personal IHG One Rewards Credit Card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of any personal IHG One Rewards Credit Card who received a new cardmember bonus for any personal IHG One Rewards Credit Card within the last 24 months."

That rule covers every personal IHG card, so an open IHG One Rewards Traveler card blocks the Premier too. IHG business cards are not included.

For couples

Each of you is judged on your own cards. If both of you qualify, two Premier cards mean two welcome bonuses and two anniversary nights a year, for two $150 fees.

The authorized-user bonus has a cost. Adding your partner earns 10,000 points, but the card then appears on their credit report too. Chase: "Chase provides account information to the credit reporting agencies for all account users." One Mile at a Time reports that an authorized-user card usually counts toward Chase's 5/24 limit, "at least in situations where you need to provide your social security number to be an authorized user, and when you're being added on a personal credit card." If your partner plans to open Chase cards, 10,000 points may not be worth one of their five slots. Our guide to Chase 5/24 and 2/30 for couples explains the count.

The points go to one account. "IHG One Rewards points awarded through the use of the authorized user's card will only be credited to the Primary Cardmember's IHG One Rewards account."

Check whether you already have IHG status. The Sapphire Reserve includes it: "Get complimentary IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite Status with your Sapphire Reserve card through December 31, 2027." For a Reserve holder, the Premier's Gold Elite adds nothing; the free night and the fourth night free still do.