New Chase IHG Offer: 50,000 Points & $100 Statement Credit (AF Waived First Year)

The Offer

Direct link to offer

  • Chase IHG card is offering the following bonuses:
    • $100 statement credit after first purchase
    • 50,000 points after $2,000 in spend within the first three months of account opening
    • 5,000 points for adding an authorized user after they make their first purchase

chase ihg

Card Details

  • This product is available to you if you do not have this card and have not received a new cardmember bonus for this card in the past 24 months
  • Chase 5/24 rule does not apply to this card
  • Annual fee of $49 waived first year
  • Free night certificate on your card member anniversary, can be used at any IHG property
  • 10% rebate on all points that are redeemed (maximum of 100,000 per year)
  • Platinum Elite status for as long as you’re a card member
  • Card earns at the following rates:
    • 5x points at IHG properties
    • 2x points at gas stations, grocery stores & restaurants
    • 1x points on all other purchases
  • No foreign transaction fees

Our Verdict

To see if this is a good deal we need to compare to what else is available. Currently there is technically three offers available, they are all the same apart from the sign up bonus and whether the annual fee is waived or not:

I personally think the both the targeted and match offer are way better than this 50,000 points + $100 offer. But this offer is better than the 62,000 point public offer. As always if you have any questions about Chase cards I’d recommend reading this first.

Hat tip to reader Stephen P

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31 Comments
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Shell
Shell (@guest_403196)
May 8, 2017 08:14

FWIW, there have been reports of this being counted as part of the 5/24, but not being denied due to 5/24, which is a different flavor from the CSR

VJ
VJ (@guest_394971)
April 24, 2017 13:22

Could you apply for this card if you have applied the same card before 2 years?

Jack
Jack (@guest_394421)
April 23, 2017 15:51

My last go around with this card was March 2017. I received a bonus in May…right about 24 months.

I guess I have to call in to find out how long until this offer expires…cutting it close

Pavel
Pavel (@guest_394283)
April 23, 2017 10:08

One data point I haven’t seen nowhere, when you sign for the lower bonus (let’s say the 50000) and then ask to be matched to the 80000, the extra 30000 points are counted towards the spire elite status (unlike the base bonus).
I’ve been matched for the 80000 a month ago.

Kumar
Kumar (@guest_402830)
May 7, 2017 12:53

I have a counter DP, applied in 2016 Dec for Chase IHG 60K offer, matched to 80K offer in Jan 2017 but the posted points didn’t count towards Spire elite status.

Jay
Jay (@guest_402849)
May 7, 2017 13:20

Really? I was matched from 60k to 80k like everyone else, but the extra 20k points definitely did not count towards earning Spire Elite.

I wonder why we have different experiences…out of curiosity, how did the points post on your IHG activity feed? This is how my match posted (the 20k is the match, the 5k is the AU bonus):

http://i.imgur.com/WwAlaMK.png

So based on how few DPs I’m seeing for this (in fact yours was the first that I’ve ever seen), despite the countless users who were successfully matched up to the 80k offer, I’m inclined to believe that it may just have been a one-off mistake by the CSR who credited your match…

Jay
Jay (@guest_402850)
May 7, 2017 13:22

Unless, for some extremely odd reason, matches from this 50k offer to the 80k offer are treated differently from matches from the 60k offer to the 80k offer, but I can’t imagine why that would be…

Or maybe something changed within the last 4 months…?

Pavel
Pavel (@guest_402859)
May 7, 2017 14:04

It might be CSR mistake – the points posted as IHG REWARDS CLUB CREDIT BNS PTS

http://imgur.com/a/0HenG

Jay
Jay (@guest_402951)
May 7, 2017 18:38

Yeah, the fact that it coded as “BNS PTS” implies that it’s probably the CSR’s mistake, since regular spending on the IHG card (which is indeed supposed to go towards elite status) also codes as “BNS PTS”, vs. “ACTVTN PTS” for signup bonuses and matches.

A similar (but more wide-scale) CSR mixup occurred back in 2015, when many, many users received the full 80k signup bonus erroneously credited as EQPs rather than non-EQPs, thus instantly receiving Spire status after finishing the min. spend. DoC wrote about this too:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ihg-launches-spire-elite-status-receive-25000-bonus-points-or-gift-platinum-status-do-credit-card-points-count/
http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/07/13/spire-elite-status-with-ihg-rewards-club-credit-card/

Ah well. It at least means that with the right CSR, some of us can get lucky 😉

harv
harv (@guest_394275)
April 23, 2017 09:43

I recently cancelled this card because it was too difficult to use the free annual night. I searched a 60 day period at a nice IHG property in Chicago and only 6 of the 60 days were available. I also search a month at a low level IHG property in London England and there were no award nights available.

P
P (@guest_394378)
April 23, 2017 14:02

that’s true with a lot of their hotels. Also calling in doesn’t help much with finding an award might. I much prefer hyatts free night since you can call in and the rep might be able to find one

Cory
Cory (@guest_394411)
April 23, 2017 15:32

That’s disappointing. I haven’t seen any blogs bring this issue up; I wonder how widespread it is…

MSer
MSer (@guest_394672)
April 24, 2017 02:20

Very widespread. Always complaints about lack of availability, but since the pimps and credit card shills masquerading as travel experts have financial interest to market the living H out of any/card that pays them a commission, don’t expect honesty from them.

Never clicking on any blogger affiliate link is the only way to get unbiased reviews.

Jc
Jc (@guest_394268)
April 23, 2017 09:25

Can anybody tell me what 50000 points would buy in gift cards

P
P (@guest_394374)
April 23, 2017 14:00
  Jc

I believe it’s between $100-$150 worth of gift cards.

J.
J. (@guest_394206)
April 23, 2017 04:01

Hello Doc,
Does chase consider this card as different from the no annual fee IGH credit card. I don’t want to cancel no fee card but would like to apply for this one for the bonus.

Jana
Jana (@guest_394433)
April 23, 2017 16:23
  J.

I would also love to know that… Indont really want to cancel my no AF card because of the age of the account, but still want to take advantage of new sign up bonus 🙂

Abey
Abey (@guest_394197)
April 23, 2017 03:23

I keep this card for the annual free night.
Its one of the very few hotel cards (if not the only one) that gives you an annual free night at any category. Unlike Marriotts 1-5 and Hyatts 1-4.
By the way does anyone remember the IHG priceless promotion with the 96 envelopes and index cards? I got like 70,000 points out of it. Are they gonna run it again?

Filip
Filip (@guest_394201)
April 23, 2017 03:48

They recently had a new round of the promo. But no envelopes any more, just everyday 1 free online entry – https://pricelessexperiencessweepstakes.prizelogic.com

Mike L
Mike L (@guest_394359)
April 23, 2017 13:20

Nowhere near as good as the last one though 🙁

Dong
Dong (@guest_394189)
April 23, 2017 02:40

I still have a no annual fee version of ihg card, but got it more than 2 years ago. shall I close the old one before applying?

Jana
Jana (@guest_394170)
April 23, 2017 01:03

Hello guys, do we have any reecent DP that 80k match is still alive?

P
P (@guest_394371)
April 23, 2017 13:58

You have to SM Chase and just ask them to confirm what offer is associated with your card and tell them you saw an offer for 80k. Then ask if they will match it. They did with me last year but without the statement credit. I didn’t take the offer tho.

E.
E. (@guest_394959)
April 24, 2017 13:10

They offered to match me to the 80k offer on April 10.