With 6,300+ properties worldwide and a continuously expanding portfolio of luxury brands like Six Senses, Regent, and Kimpton, you’re likely to come across IHG hotels whenever you’re planning out a trip.
If you’re a cardholder of an eligible IHG co-branded credit card, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with IHG Anniversary Free Nights, which are the chain’s version of similar free night certificates issued by Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt.
How to Earn IHG Anniversary Free Nights
For Canadians, it’s worth noting that IHG Anniversary Free Nights are only accessible to those who have gotten started with US credit cards; however, it’s a relatively simple strategy to set up as a one-time task before reaping the rewards year after year.
1. Chase IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card
Applying for the flagship Chase IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card is one of the easiest ways to earn Anniversary Free Nights every year.
Simply by holding the card, you’ll earn an Anniversary Free Night worth up to 40,000 IHG One Rewards points each year. Despite the cap on how many points the Anniversary Free Night can be redeemed for, the redemption can be topped up with additional points for a more expensive award.
The annual fee on the card is $99 (all figures in USD). The Anniversary Free Night every year should more than outweigh the fee, and is a great reason to keep the card past the first year once the welcome bonus is collected.
You can also earn a second Anniversary Free Night by spending $60,000 on the card in a calendar year. For most cardholders, this isn’t realistic – but it’s there for heavy spenders.
As an added bonus, spending $20,000 in a calendar year earns you a $100 statement credit and 10,000 bonus points, which effectively wipes out the $99 annual fee entirely.
2. Chase IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card
The Chase IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card is the co-branded business card in Chase’s IHG portfolio, offering a second avenue to earning Anniversary Free Nights every year.
The annual fee for the Chase IHG Rewards Premier Business Card is also $99, and once again, you’ll get an Anniversary Free Night simply by holding the card.
As with the personal card, you can earn a second Anniversary Free Night upon spending $60,000 on the card every calendar year. This probably isn’t worth pursuing unless you have significant business spending to put on the card and you’re particularly loyal to IHG.
How to Redeem IHG Anniversary Free Nights
IHG Anniversary Free Nights are automatically deposited into your account 12 months after opening the card, and are valid for 12 months after the date of issue (i.e., your stay must take place on a date within that period).
Redeeming Anniversary Free Nights with IHG can be done directly online through the IHG booking engine. By logging into your IHG Rewards account and selecting your name in the top-right corner, and then choosing “Rewards Wallet”, you can access and monitor your Anniversary Free Nights.
You can choose to redeem and book your free night directly on this page by clicking “Redeem”.
After selecting your destination, eligible hotel redemptions will populate. Any hotel that has a room that’s otherwise bookable on points is bookable with an Anniversary Free Night.
Hotels will appear in the order of those redeemable within the value of your Anniversary Free Night, followed by those which will need to be topped up for the redemption.
Of course, to maximize your Anniversary Free Night, you should redeem it for a night that would otherwise cost 40,000 IHG One Rewards points or more, as you can always top up with more points if needed.
The 4th Night Free Perk
One of the most valuable perks of the Chase IHG Premier cards – both personal and business – is the 4th Night Free benefit on award stays.
When you book a stay of four or more consecutive nights using IHG points, you’ll only pay for three of them. That’s an automatic 25% discount on every extended award stay.
This benefit stacks beautifully with Anniversary Free Nights. You could, for example, use a Free Night certificate for one of the four nights and pay the remaining two in points, effectively stretching your certificates even further.
The 4th Night Free benefit is exclusive to Premier cardholders and doesn’t come with the no-annual-fee IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card, making it one of the strongest reasons to pay the $99 annual fee.
Strategies for Maximizing IHG Anniversary Free Nights
Most IHG One Rewards members who have boosted their participation with a co-branded US-issued credit card will find it feasible to earn 1–2 Anniversary Free Nights per year, depending on whether they hold one or both of the personal and business credit cards.
(It’s possible to earn up to four Anniversary Free Nights for those willing to foot $60,000 in spending on each card, although that may not necessarily be worthwhile.)
On the redemption side, the Anniversary Free Night caps out at a maximum of 40,000 points, but you can top up your certificate with additional points to make a more expensive redemption. This means any of IHG’s 6,300+ properties are within reach.
As a Chase IHG One Rewards Premier cardholder who nevertheless doesn’t use IHG as your primary hotel program, you can redeem your Anniversary Free Nights for convenience over comfort.
For example, you can book an overnight crash pad in Manhattan for a stay in which you don’t plan on spending much time in the room. In these cases, it’s nice to be able to cover the room with an IHG Anniversary Free Night for no money out-of-pocket, when the alternative would’ve been paying $250+ (USD) in cash.
But since the Anniversary Free Night can be topped up with points, you can also redeem these certificates more aspirationally by treating it as a 40,000-point discount on one of IHG’s top-tier properties, like Kimpton, Regent, or Six Senses hotels, every now and then.
If you’re deep in the US credit cards game and you’d like to truly maximize the value you extract from IHG, then it’s best to set yourself up with both the personal and business Chase IHG credit cards to earn two free nights every year. Combined with the 4th Night Free perk, you could cover a four-night stay at a premium IHG property while paying for just one night in points.
And of course, if you’re playing the game in two-player mode or more, then replicating this strategy across players would allow you to combine your certificates for a free or discounted stay of up to four nights at IHG’s top properties.
This story originally appeared on princeoftravel
