Update 12/12/19: Another round has gone out.
Contents
The Offer
- Chase is sending out offers to existing Chase IHG Select cardholders offering to upgrade them to the Chase IHG Premier card. If you upgrade you will receive 10,000 bonus points after you upgrade and make your first purchase
Our Verdict
The Premier card has an $89 annual fee vs the $49 annual fee on the select card. This helps you compare the cards:
| Select | Premier | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | $49.00 | $89.00 |
| Free night certificate | Yes | Yes |
| Earning rate at IHG | 5x | 10x |
| Earning rate at gas stations, grocery stores & restaurants | 2x | 2x |
| Earning rate on all other purchases | 1x | 1x |
| Elite status | Platinum | Platinum |
| Free award night when you redeem points for any stay of 4 or more nights | No | Yes |
| 10% rebate on points booking | Yes | No |
| TSA Pre-Check/Global Entry | No | Yes |
| 20% discount on points purchases | No | Yes |
For most people upgrading won’t make sense as people will want to pay the lower annual fee for the free night certificate.
Hat tip to teal2212
View Comments (25)
Just received this “upgrade” offer for 10k points. Will not be upgrading. IHG points have little value
When does the new annual fee kick in?
I have select, thinking about cancelling. My anniversary is 03/2020.
Should I just upgrade, pocket the 10k points, and then cancel everything before my anniversary to avoid the af?
The anniversary free nights are not very valuable to me now that they are capped at 40k.
Wont upgrade even if the offered 30k. 50k is when i will start maybe thinking about it.
I had both cards until this summer. I had to cancel the Premier as I have zero points and have never had more than 80,000 points altogether at any given time (not enough for four nights) can't justify paying $89 for a free night certificate that I can't use in places I want to go to. I see this offer as paying $40 for 10,000 points, and then paying an additional $40 each year for no additional benefit unless you're always going to have enough points to take advantage for the fourth night free benefits.
As I don't stay many places for four nights, I prefer the rebate and the $40 lower annual fee.
I currently have the select. Once I fall under 5 / 24 my plan is to apply for the Premier and redeem the points stacking the benefits of both cards (4th night free (premier) and 10% back (select)), then convert Premier to no annual fee traveler, since the traveler has the 4th night free benefit I still can stack the two benefits, and would just have to pay a $49 annual fee to do so.
Is it possible to get both the Traveler and Premier cards for the sign-up bonus?
Great plan... forgot that the no AF has 4th night free too. No need in that many certificates, but with downgrade option it is a good combo.
I think Premier is worth keeping due to the free night certificate. Hard to find a hotel for $89 so def will make that money back
Agreed this is an offer for suckers. That's $40 every year for as long as you hold the card. If you hold the card another 10 years, you are paying $400 for 10000 points, which is worth $50.
That is unless you never use the free 4th night reward benefit. If you use it 4 times in next 10 years, conservatively, you are coming out ahead. For people LOL/24 I do think this is a respectable offer.
It's not as clear as you're making it sound. With the old card those 4 4 night stays would have earned you 1.6 nights back worth of points. You would only need to have 24 more nights of stays that are less than 4 nights to make up the difference. If most of your stays are shorter you're probably better off with the old card.
how would one get enough points to redeem? if you're LOL/24 you can't apply and get the sign up bonus. It's also a terrible card to put regular spend on. 1x on all purchases equivalent to 0.5% cash back. It would only make sense if for some reason you travel for work and you're employer only does IHG hotels and let's you pay for it.
Using "Cash+Points then Cancel" method you can easily purchase IHG points for 0.6 cpp or some times for 0.5 cpp. Very often booking an award night with purchasing points at 0.5 cpp is much better than paying cash (as award booking includes all the fees and taxes as well and has a much better cancellation policy compared with lowest rate which is usually non-refundable).
Still I am keeping the old card (unless I get to apply for new in addition to the old), as I think 10% on every award stay is better than 4th night free as it happens much more frequently. Also, keep in mind, 4tn night free is inaccurate description of this benefit. It is actually "rebate" of your 4th night, as you need to have points enough for all 4 nights, and then you get points for one night back.
Good luck.
The 10% is a rebate. The 4th night is not. You only need points for 3 nights
Many people already have lot of ihg points in account.
Or if you just got the signup bonus, until you use up your points and 4th night freebies.
Can you just take the upgrade offer, then downgrade?
Downgrade options are usually not available to the products which have been discontinued. I am almost sure the answer is NO in this case.
This is an offer for suckers.
If you care about IHG and already have the old card, just get the new card IN ADDITION to keeping the old card. The sign-up bonus for the new card is huge. No reason you can't get the new one and have both (assuming you're not LOL/24)
Most people on this site, including myself, are over 5/24.
Don't upgrade and get both because the 10% rebate and 4th night stacks.
You can get 32.5% off from both Select and Premier together.
For example:
25,000 per night
4 night stay - 1 free night = 75,000
75,000 * 10% = 7,500
Total after both cards 67,500 points
So, I have both cards, I'm yet to book a stay after getting the IHG Premier card.
Do I get the best of both worlds?
In other words, would I get the 10% back and 4th night free?
That's correct. Definitely my favorite combination