Chase and IHG have a co-branded credit card portfolio. In a separate article I explain how the entire existing card portfolio was overhauled. In this article, I would like to focus on the brand new premium card that was just launched, namely the IHG One Rewards Premier Select Credit Card with $350 Annual Fee. If you stay at IHG properties with some frequency, you’ll get good value here.
Link: Learn more about the IHG One Rewards Premier Select World Elite Mastercard
IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card Details
The new IHG One Rewards Premier Select World Elite Mastercard has a $350 annual fee and offers the following key benefits:
- Up to $300 in annual food and beverage rewards redeemable at IHG locations; This comes in the form of a quarterly $75 credit that will be deposited into your account, which can be redeemed during a hotel stay, and each must be used during a single stay.
- An annual $200 airline statement credit on eligible flight purchases, currently valid through December 31, 2027; Simply book a flight directly with an airline costing at least $250 and you’ll get a $200 credit on your statement.
- Up to $50 United TravelBank Cash per year, in the form of a $25 semi-annual credit
- A free birthday night valid at a property costing up to 60,000 points, but you can redeem it at more expensive properties by topping up the certificate with points.
- Automatic IHG One Rewards Platinum elite status and IHG One Rewards Diamond status when you spend $25,000 on the card in a calendar year
- 20 Elite Night Credits toward status each calendar year, to help you unlock Milestone Rewards benefits, plus two additional Elite Night Credits for every $5,000 spent on the card
- A fourth night free on rewards redemptions, when you redeem for a consecutive four-night stay
- 12x points on IHG spending, 6x points on dining and all other travel (including rideshare), and 3x points on all other purchases
To celebrate the launch, for applications through November 18, 2026, the IHG One Rewards Premier Select Card is offering a welcome offer of 200,000 points after spending $5,000 in the first three months. Note that eligibility for this card, including the welcome bonus, is not linked to ownership of any other IHG credit card. So you would be eligible for the welcome offer if you have one of the other IHG credit cards, whether personal or business.
My take on the new IHG One Rewards Premier Select card
As you can see, IHG’s new premium credit card falls into the $300-$400 price range, which seems to be a new price point that card issuers are increasingly adding, as a middle ground between cards with reasonable annual fees (fees of around $100) and ultra-premium cards (fees of $600 or more). It is in the same general range as the Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® Credit Card (learn more), Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™ Mastercard® (learn more), etc.
What do you think of the new IHG One Rewards Premier Select card? Well, I think, like the value proposition of many other premium cards these days, the math works out pretty well if you actually stay at IHG properties at any frequency. It just depends on how much effort you’re willing to put in. Some thoughts on the value proposition:
- The $200 air credit is basically valid for me, with the main limitation being that this benefit is currently only available until the end of 2027; this does not mean that it will not be extended, and you can always cancel the card in the future if it no longer works
- Credits of up to $300 on food and beverages are great if you actually stay at IHG properties with any frequency and spend quite a bit on meals.
- Having a more valuable free night is also a huge benefit, and I’d say it’s easily worth $250-300, on its own.
- The status benefit with this card is significant, especially since the status benefits with some of IHG’s other cards are being removed with the current update.
In my opinion, the airline credit and free night alone more than justify the annual fee of the IHG One Rewards Premier Select card, and everything else is just icing on the cake. So yeah, I think there’s a lot of merit in picking up this card, if you’re eligible to be approved for Chase cards.
The first year value proposition is also particularly good. Not only do you get the huge welcome offer, but you can potentially take advantage of things like airline credit twice before the second annual fee is even due.
Conclusion
The IHG One Rewards Premier Select card has just been launched. The $350 annual fee card has plenty of perks, including up to $300 in annual food and beverage credits, up to $200 in annual airline credits, one free night at a property costing up to 60,000 points, IHG Platinum status and much more. Add to that the superb bonus, and you have a good argument in favor of this card.
What do you think of the new IHG One Rewards Premier Select card?
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