Reader Aidan was taking a survey for a local focus group and it was geared towards credit cards, hotels and rewards programs. He was asked to rank the two below potential offers:
Contents
80,000 Point Offer + Free Night +$85 Annual Fee
60,000 Points, $29 Annual Fee & No Free Night
Our Verdict
This isn’t the first time Chase/IHG have sent out surveys regarding possible new options and we haven’t see anything come from those. For reference the current Chase IHG card:
- 80,000 points after $2,000 in spend (requires matching)
- $49 annual fee (waived first year)
- Free anniversary night
- Earns at the following rates:
- 5x per $1 spent on IHG Hotels
- 2x points on gas, grocery stores and restaurants
- 1x points on everything else
- Platinum elite status
Best thing about the current card is that you only pay $49 for the annual free night certificate. That’s incredible value and looking at the above two options we’d lose that. Extra night benefit is good and 10x on IHG might mean people actually use an IHG card for those bookings but otherwise the card in it’s current form is better value.Also seems like they want to replace the 10% rebate with a 4th night free benefit.
What makes it seem more likely that Chase/IHG are seriously considering these changes are the fact that the card is currently offering 10x points on IHG purchases for the first 12 months.
What are your thoughts on the above options? Let me know in the comments below.
