One of the best ways to maximize how many points you earn for hotel stays is to pay with a credit card that earns bonus points.
The best card to use differs based on which hotel chain you’re staying at. We’re therefore starting this new series to explain the best card to use with each chain. (n.b. we don’t have credit card affiliate links – here’s why – so these recommendations are unbiased and based solely on my own opinions.)
Today, we’ll look at the best credit card to use for IHG hotel stays.
The Best Card
If you’re staying at one of IHG’s brands, my favorite card to use is the IHG Rewards Club credit card. There are a couple of reasons why I think it’s the best option:
- You earn 5 points per dollar spent at all of IHG’s brands
- It comes with Platinum status. If you wouldn’t have status with IHG otherwise, this means you’ll also earn a 50% bonus on your base points, so an additional 5 points per dollar at most of their brands).
Even More Bonus Points
There’s also a chance that you’d earn even more bonus points than that. IHG frequently run Accelerate promotions where you earn additional points for completing certain challenges.
If you have the IHG credit card, one challenge that seems to crop up each time is a bonus for using your card to pay for a stay – often 1,500 points or more. That makes it even more rewarding to pay with the IHG Rewards Club credit card.
An Alternative Card
A different option would be to use the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card. That’s because it earns 3 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent on all travel.
Many people value 3 Ultimate Rewards points more highly than 5 IHG Rewards Club points, which isn’t an unreasonable valuation. Given that we’ll be living in hotels for the next five years though, we’ll be able to redeem our IHG Rewards Club points more strategically than the majority of people can. That means we can stretch the value of 5 IHG points per dollar further than 3 Ultimate Rewards.
This card has a $450 annual fee though, so you’d need to value the other benefits highly enough to make it worthwhile.
Another Alternative Card
The Citi Prestige card offers the fourth night free when booking your stay either through their portal or via the concierge.
If you’re booking a two week trip, this won’t save you much money as a percentage of your stay. You’ll save ~20% for a four night stay though (taxes and fees aren’t included in the discount, so it’s not a true 25% discount). That might make this card worth using, but its $450 annual fee might not outweigh how much you’d save if you’re not frequently making use of the card’s benefits.
Other Posts In This Series
Check out the other posts in this series to find out the best credit cards to use for stays at:
Your Thoughts
Do you think there’s a better card to use for stays at IHG hotels? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
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