In mid 2018 Chase replaced the old Chase IHG Select card with two new cards: IHG Premier & IHG Traveler. When the Traveler card launched it had a $29 annual fee. I’m not sure when this change occurred, but this card no longer carries an annual fee. The benefits on this card are as follows:
- Card earns at the following rates:
- 5x points per $1 spent on IHG properties
- 2x points per $1 spent on gas stations, grocery stores and restaurants
- 1x points per $1 spent on all other purchases
- Gold elite status when you spend $10,000 on your card each calendar year
- Fourth Reward Night Free on any stay of 4 or more nights
- 20% discount when purchasing points
This is useful to know because the select card no longer offers an unrestricted free night, those free night certificates issued after May 1st 2019 can only be redeemed on properties costing less than 40,000 points a night. For some it’s still worth keeping that card, but if you were planning on cancelling then the Traveler card might be an attractive downgrade option now that it carries no annual fee. This card also comes with some Mastercard benefits such as cell phone insurance.
Hat tip to reader Tan
The rep says the $29 Traveler card is the only option for downgrade now.
Does anyone recently downgrade to no annual fee Traveler card, not $29?
In response to the thread below with @Dschwa32, wanted to add a DP:
TL;DR: the $29 annual fee on the product-changed Traveler card is being removed. Going forward it will have no annual fee for all cardholders.
The annual fee on my Premier came due around the same time as @Mike and having previously seen the thread I was anticipating Chase offering me a $29 downgrade. The rep I spoke to offered no retention on the Premier (“we don’t do retention at Chase?”) but did offer to downgrade me to the Traveler card with no annual fee. I accepted.
A few days later I received a letter from Chase with new terms for the card and noticed it had a $29 annual fee listed. I called Chase a 2nd time and talked to a different rep. Apparently all IHG Traveler cards (even those under the old pricing structure) are being switched to no annual fee but Chase’s system sometimes has trouble differentiating between fee vs. no fee for the same card. The point is the rep claimed that eventually no annual fee will be charged for anybody with the Traveler. In the interim sometimes the system will tell reps a $29 annual fee should be added but in practice it either won’t be added or if it is added Chase will automatically add an offsetting statement credit for the same amount. If you’re in a similar position and weighing downgrading to a $29 card vs. cancelling I’d encourage you to downgrade and assume the problem will be taken care of for you. The IHG Traveler will be no annual fee for the indefinite future with no plans to change.
Called to downgrade IHG Premier to IHG Traveler and was told my downgrade ‘offer’ was a $29 annual fee for Traveler card. Talked to a supervisor and was given no explanation of the difference vs the $0 annual fee seen on their website. He told me to apply for that card online if I wanted the $0 annual fee. Chase ‘customer service’ at its finest…
I tried to downgrade to the IHG Traveler card as well in the last week and was told the fee is $29. It was explained to me that the card originally came with a $29 annual fee but Chase had few people signing up for the card so started offering the card with no annual fee to new subscribers but since the card originally had a $29 annual fee when launched that fee still applies for product trades since that is how the computer is programmed. He also made it sound like the $0 annual fee for the Traveler Card is a temporary promotion for new card signups.
Same experience here today. It seems very sleazy of Chase to have 2 versions of the exact same card, one with no AF and another with $29 AF for downgraders only. Sleazy
I had the same experience just now. Except the rep explained to me that I might be charged the $29 but it will be reversed. And going forward I will never be charged the $29. He explained that this $0 annual fee is going to end December 31 and then the card will have a $29 annual fee again for all new cardholders, but existing cardholders will be grandfathered into the $0 annual fee. Will update as the situation develops 🙂
I have the premier card with 89 annual fee currently. am i still eligible for the sign up bonus of this traveler card?
“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. ”
I assume the traveler card is a different product from the premier card. m i right?
It appears that ‘no annual fee’ didn’t last long. Is the Traveller link now dead? Also, only one Mastercard listed on Chase’s site: https://creditcards.chase.com/mastercard-credit-cards
I clicked on the link and the no fee Traveler card is still there.
This card should have never had an AF
Just checked what I can get for 40,000 points and it is clearly worth the $49 for me.
Definitely.
The most expensive night in 40K Holiday Inn that I’ve seen was $400+ in Chicago on the marathon weekend, but $100-150 or even $200 per night is quite common in the US.
Just canceled my IHG card a couple of days ago. Wasn’t offered downgrade to this no-fee version and didn’t know about it. I’m not going to feel bad about it – IHG point aren’t worth much and they’re hard to earn compared to others.
“can only be redeemed on properties costing less than 40,000 points a night.” Its actually 40,000 or less.
The old “IHG Rewards Club Classic Credit Card” has no AF and Gold status for no spend, that still may be a better PC candidate than this one…though the award Fourth Night Free could be high value…