The 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
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:
- Targeted 100,000 point offer after $2,000 in spend. Annual fee is not waived.
- Extra 50,000 points but you’re forgoing $149 ($100 SC + $49 annual fee). You need to value points at 0.298¢ or more for this to be the better value.
- Public 62,000 point offer after $1,000 in spend. Annual fee is waived.
- Extra 12,000 points but you’re forgoing the $100 statement credit. You need to value points at 0.833¢ or more for this offer to be better value.
- 80,000 point offer after $2,000 spend (requires Chase to match you). Annual fee is waived.
- Extra 30,000 points but again forgoing the $100 statement credit. You need to value points at 0.33¢ or more for this to be the better value.
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
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
All cards count towards you’re 5/24 total.
Could you apply for this card if you have applied the same card before 2 years?
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
If you find out, let us know.
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.
Very interesting, that’s a great tip!
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.
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…
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…?
It might be CSR mistake – the points posted as IHG REWARDS CLUB CREDIT BNS PTS
http://imgur.com/a/0HenG
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 😉
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.
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
That’s disappointing. I haven’t seen any blogs bring this issue up; I wonder how widespread it is…
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.
Can anybody tell me what 50000 points would buy in gift cards
I believe it’s between $100-$150 worth of gift cards.
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.
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 🙂
See my reply above.
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?
They recently had a new round of the promo. But no envelopes any more, just everyday 1 free online entry – https://pricelessexperiencessweepstakes.prizelogic.com
Nowhere near as good as the last one though 🙁
No guaranteed points 🙁
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?
Don’t think it matters, but happy for somebody to correct me.
Hello guys, do we have any reecent DP that 80k match is still alive?
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.
March 22nd is the lastest DP: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/psa-chase-might-not-matching-80000-ihg-offer-anymore/#comment-375013
They offered to match me to the 80k offer on April 10.