On Thursday, Chase unveiled *IHG Premier Select*, a $350-a-year premium(ish) hotel credit card, as part of a sweeping overhaul of its IHG One Rewards card lineup.
Additionally, *ihg rewards club premier* and *IHG Business* are both getting higher annual fees and new perks, and the no-annual-fee IHG Traveler card is being renamed … and reworked, too.
For the many IHG loyalists who already carry the Premier card, this card's changes will likely be the biggest piece of news.
Its annual fee is rising from $99 to $150, and it's adding new credits for airfare and food and drinks at IHG hotels. But the automatic Platinum Elite status that has long been its calling card is being downgraded to Gold status. Existing cardholders will keep Platinum through the end of 2027, but after that, you'll need to spend $15,000 on the card in a calendar year to maintain it.
Chase is also rolling out big limited-time offers across all four cards through Nov. 18. Better yet, existing IHG cardholders can open the new Premier Select and still earn its welcome bonus, a Chase spokesperson told Thrifty Traveler.
For existing cardholders, most downgrades won't take effect until Jan. 1, 2027, and the higher annual fees will kick in on each cardholder's account anniversary in 2027, so if your renewal comes up before the end of this year, you'll pay the old fee for one more year.
From new fees to added perks, here's everything you need to know about these cards.
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Meet the New Top Dog: IHG Premier Select
*IHG Premier Select* slots in above the Premier as the new flagship of Chase's IHG card lineup. It's built for travelers who stay at IHG properties often enough to care about elite status, and Chase pegs its value at more than $1,000 in the first year (their words, not mine).
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- Earn up to 28x total points per dollar spent on stays at IHG properties, including 12x from the card itself
- Earn 6x points per dollar on dining and all other travel, including rideshare
- Earn 3x points per dollar on all other purchases
- Get a $75 Food & Beverage Reward each quarter, worth up to $300 a year, to use at IHG hotels
- Get a $200 statement credit each calendar year after spending at least $250 on flights booked directly with an airline (through 2027)
- Get up to $50 in United TravelBank Cash each year
- Receive an anniversary free night at hotels costing up to 60,000 points, with the option to add your own points to book a pricier property
- Automatic IHG Platinum Elite status
- 20 Elite Night Credits every calendar year, plus two more for every $5,000 spent
- Spend $15,000 in a calendar year: Earn 5 more Elite Night Credits and 20,000 bonus points
- Spend $25,000 in a calendar year: Earn Diamond Elite status
- Spend $40,000 in a calendar year: Get an additional free night at hotels costing up to 60,000 points
- Fourth night free on award stays of four consecutive nights
- Get a statement credit of up to $120 every four years for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS
- annual_fees annual fee
Learn more about *IHG Premier Select*
One of the most interesting benefits here is the 20 Elite Night Credits. These are nights that count toward IHG elite status without you ever having to check in. Twenty nights also happens to be the threshold for IHG's first Milestone Reward. That's the point where the program lets you pick a perk, like a stash of bonus points, a food-and-beverage credit, or a suite upgrade you can lock in ahead of time.
With the Premier Select, you hit that first milestone as soon as the night credits post after you open the card.
Platinum status typically requires 40 nights per year to earn. Pair it with those night credits, and this card gives anyone who regularly stays at Holiday Inn, InterContinental, and Kimpton properties a real head start.
So does its path to Diamond, IHG's top tier. At $25,000 in annual spending, the Premier Select is the cheapest way to spend your way to Diamond status across Chase's IHG card lineup. The Premier requires $40,000, and the business card will require $50,000 starting next year.
Then there's the free night award certificate. The Premier Select's anniversary night covers hotels costing up to 60,000 points. That's the highest cap in Chase's IHG lineup and puts more upscale properties within reach – and you can still top off the certificate with additional points to book something even pricier. Heavy spenders can earn a second 60,000-point free night by putting $40,000 on the card in a calendar year.
The credits come with strings attached, though. For example, the food and beverage credit isn't a $300 lump sum: It's four $75 vouchers, each expiring at the end of its quarter, and each has to be charged to your room bill during an IHG stay. Any value you don't use on a voucher is lost. To get the full $300, you'd need to stay at an IHG hotel every quarter.
The $200 airline credit is much easier to use. Once you've charged at least $250 in airfare to the card in a calendar year, Chase automatically applies the credit. Any airline counts, as long as you book directly with the airline rather than through a travel site like Expedia. But Chase's terms only extend the credit through 2027, so it's not guaranteed to stick around.
The Premier Card Gets Pricier … and Makes You Spend for Platinum
Here's what *ihg rewards club premier* offers:
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- Updated! Earn up to 24x total points per dollar on stays at IHG properties, including 10x from the card itself
- Updated! Earn 5x points per dollar on dining, gas stations, grocery stores, flights booked directly with airlines, and car rental agencies
- Earn 3x points per dollar on all other purchases
- New! Get a $25 Food & Beverage Reward each quarter, worth up to $100 a year, to use at IHG hotels
- New! Get a $100 statement credit each calendar year after spending at least $250 on flights booked directly with an airline (through 2027)
- Up to $50 in United TravelBank Cash each year
- Updated! Receive an anniversary free night at hotels costing up to 50,000 points, with the option to add your own points to book a pricier property
- Updated! Automatic IHG Gold Elite status
- New! 15 Elite Night Credits every calendar year, plus two more for every $5,000 spent
- New! Spend $15,000 in a calendar year: Platinum Elite status, 5 more Elite Night Credits, and 15,000 bonus points
- Spend $40,000 in a calendar year: Diamond Elite status
- Fourth night free on award stays of four consecutive nights
- A statement credit of up to $120 every four years for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS
- Updated! annual_fees annual fee
Learn more about *ihg rewards club premier*.
For years, one of the Premier's best perks has been automatic Platinum Elite status. Platinum is where IHG's perks start to feel meaningful with the possibility for suite upgrades, welcome amenities, and early check-in. Now the card only comes with Gold, which gets you free Wi-Fi and late checkout (subject to availability).
You can still earn Platinum on the Premier, but now you have to spend $15,000 in a calendar year. Existing cardholders get a long runway, though. Chase says current Premier cardholders will keep Platinum status through Dec. 31, 2027. The $15,000 spending clock starts Jan. 1, 2027, and if you hit it that year, you'll keep Platinum for all of 2028. Meanwhile, brand new cardholders start with Gold.
If you'd rather keep automatic Platinum, you can ask Chase to upgrade your Premier to the new Premier Select card … but there's a catch: Your card's anniversary date resets to the day you upgrade, which also changes when your annual fee and anniversary free night arrive.
Also, in exchange for raising the annual fee from $99 to $150, Chase is adding new credits and a larger free night certificate.
The anniversary night now covers hotels costing up to 50,000 points, up from 40,000. But the credits are worth less than their headline numbers suggest. The $25 quarterly food and beverage vouchers each require an IHG stay and expire at the end of the quarter. The $100 airline credit requires that at least $250 in airfare booked directly with an airline be charged to the card each year, and Chase's terms extend it only through 2027.
If you'd use both anyway, the $51 fee increase likely pays for itself. If not, it's a harder sell.
The No-Fee Traveler Card Gets a New Name … and a Catch
The no-annual-fee IHG Traveler card is being renamed. Chase is now marketing it as *ihg one rewards traveler*. Here's what it offers after the refresh:
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- Earn up to 17x total points per dollar on stays at IHG properties, including 5x from the card itself
- Updated! Earn 3x points per dollar on dining, gas stations, and grocery stores
- Earn 2x points per dollar on all other purchases
- Automatic IHG Silver Elite status
- New! 5 Elite Night Credits every calendar year
- Spend $15,000 in a calendar year: Gold Elite status and 10,000 bonus points
- Updated! Fourth night free on award stays of four consecutive nights, which will require spending $5,000 in a calendar year starting in 2027
- No annual fee
Learn more about *ihg traveler*.
The biggest change works against cardholders. The fourth-night-free benefit lets you book four award nights and pay points for only three, and it's one of the most valuable perks on any IHG card. Today, every cardholder gets it automatically, and that won't change through the end of 2026.
But starting in 2027, you'll need to spend $5,000 on the card in a calendar year to unlock it. Once you do, it's yours for the rest of that year and all of the next.
The Business Card Doubles Its Fee but Keeps Platinum
*IHG Business* also got an update. Here's what it offers:
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- Earn up to 26x total points per dollar on stays at IHG properties, including 10x from the card itself
- Updated! Earn 5x points per dollar on dining, gas stations, social media and search engine advertising, flights booked directly with airlines, and car rental agencies
- Earn 3x points per dollar on all other purchases
- New! Get a $25 Food & Beverage Reward each quarter, worth up to $100 a year, to use at IHG hotels
- New! Get a $100 statement credit each calendar year after spending at least $250 on flights booked directly with an airline (through 2027)
- New! Get up to $100 a year in statement credits for Expensify purchases
- Updated! Receive an anniversary free night at hotels costing up to 50,000 points, with the option to add your own points to book a pricier property
- Automatic IHG Platinum Elite status
- New! 15 Elite Night Credits every calendar year, plus two more for every $5,000 spent
- Spend $25,000 in a calendar year: 5 more Elite Night Credits and 20,000 bonus points
- Spend $50,000 in a calendar year: Diamond Elite status, starting in 2027
- Spend $60,000 in a calendar year: an additional free night at hotels costing up to 50,000 points
- Fourth night free on award stays of four consecutive nights
- A statement credit of up to $120 every four years for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS
- Updated! annual_fees annual fee
Learn more about *IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card*.
The business card's annual fee is more than doubling, from $99 to $200, which is the steepest increase in the lineup. In exchange, it's picking up the same food and beverage vouchers and airline credit as the Premier, plus up to $100 a year toward Expensify, and its anniversary free night now covers hotels costing up to 50,000 points.
Most importantly, the business card keeps automatic Platinum Elite status, with no spending required. Compare that to the Premier, which costs $150 and requires $15,000 in annual spending to reach Platinum. For $50 more per year, the business card automatically gets you Platinum. If you have a small business or side hustle, that makes it the best value in the lineup for anyone who cares about status.
Even the Grandfathered IHG Select Card Is Getting Pricier
If you still carry the old IHG Select card, which Chase stopped offering to new applicants years ago, you're not off the hook either.
A Chase spokesperson confirmed to Thrifty Traveler that its annual fee is doubling from $49 to $99, starting with each cardholder's 2027 annual fee renewal date.
Limited Time Offers Through Nov. 18
To mark the launch, Chase is offering elevated bonuses on all four cards through Nov. 18. Each one also comes with 10,000 bonus points for adding an authorized user or employee card in the first three months.
- *IHG Premier Select*: bonus_miles_full
- *ihg rewards club premier*: bonus_miles_full
- *IHG Business*: bonus_miles_full
- *ihg one rewards traveler*: bonus_miles_full
Who's Eligible?
The Premier and the no-annual-fee card aren't available to anyone who currently holds a personal IHG card or who earned a new cardmember bonus on any personal IHG card in the past 24 months. Business cards don't count toward that rule.
The New Premier Select Card is the exception. Existing IHG cardholders can apply for it and earn its welcome bonus through early next year, a representative for Chase told Thrifty Traveler, as long as they meet Chase's usual approval standards.
On top of that, Chase's 5/24 rule applies. If you've opened five or more credit cards from any bank, not just Chase, in the past 24 months, Chase will almost certainly deny you.
Read More: Master Guide to Credit Card Applications: All the Rules You Need to Know, Bank by Bank
The Couponization of Credit Cards Comes for IHG
There are only three certainties in life: death, taxes, and travel credit cards getting coupons and higher annual fees.
How Chase is doing it with the IHG cards has become the industry's standard playbook. Rather than simply charging more, card issuers stack up a book of coupons to justify the higher price. Here, that means quarterly food and beverage vouchers, annual airline credits, and an Expensify credit on the business card.
On paper, those add up fast, which is how Chase can claim the Premier Select is worth more than $1,000 in the first year. In practice, each one comes with its own fine print, expiration dates, or spending minimums, and several are only guaranteed through 2027.
We've watched this play out with the Sapphire Reserve and with the ever-growing list of credits on the Amex Platinum. Now it's reaching mid-tier hotel cards, which used to be refreshingly simple: pay a modest fee, get a free night worth more than that fee, and keep the card in your wallet.
Did the Premier really need a $25 quarterly food voucher? What IHG loyalists valued most was automatic Platinum status and a free night for less than $100 a year. Starting in 2028, that perk will require either $15,000 in annual spending or a $350 card, and that's the real trade Chase is asking Premier cardholders to make.
To be fair, not everything here is worse. The Premier Select is a genuinely compelling card for anyone who regularly stays with IHG. The bigger free night caps are real upgrades, and the elite night credits make IHG's Milestone Rewards far easier to reach.
But the people who'll feel these changes most are casual cardholders who kept the Premier around for a cheap free night and Platinum perks without having to think about it.
Bottom Line
If you stay with IHG often, this refresh gives you more ways to win, whether that's the new Premier Select, the business card, or the Premier with enough spending to keep Platinum.
But if you carry the Premier mainly for automatic Platinum status, 2027 is decision time: Put $15,000 on the card to keep Platinum for 2028, upgrade to the Premier Select, or settle for Gold. Until then, there's no need to change anything, because most of the cuts don't take effect until next year.
