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IHG One Rewards Credit Card (Formerly Chase IHG Traveler) Review
[2026.10 Update] The no-annual-fee IHG card receives a refresh today. It remains $0 annual fee and is currently offering an all-time-high welcome bonus of 125k+10k IHG points. But now the fourth-night-free benefit will require $5,000 in annual spending to unlock.
Here are the main changes:
- Fourth Night Free: Starting in 2027, you will need to spend $5,000 on the card each year to unlock the fourth-night-free benefit on award stays. Previously, simply holding the card was enough.
- Bonus categories: Grocery stores have been added as a 3x category, while the previous 3x bonus on monthly bills has been removed.
- Spending bonus: Spending $15,000 in a calendar year now earns IHG Gold Elite status plus 10k bonus points. This replaces the previous structure of earning 10k bonus points after $10,000 in spending and Gold status after $20,000.
- Elite Night Credits: Cardholders now receive 5 Elite Night Credits (ENC) each year. Previously, the card did not offer any annual ENC.
Since the card has no annual fee, its main appeal for many people was simply keeping it around for the fourth-night-free benefit on award stays. Requiring $5,000 in annual spending to unlock that benefit is therefore a major nerf on the card.
Contents
Application Link
Benefits
- 125k+10k offer: earn 125,000 IHG points after spending $2,000 in the first 3 months, and an additional 10k points if you add an authorized user. This is the best offer on this card.
- IHG points are valued around 0.5 cents (Hotel Points Value). So the 135k highest offer is worth about $675.
- Earn 5x points at IHG property; earn 3x points at dining, gas station, and grocery stores; and earn 2x point on other purchases.
- Earn 10,000 bonus points after spending $15,000 and making one additional purchase each calendar year.
- 30% off on when you purchase IHG points with your card.
- Spend $5000 to unlock: redeem 3 nights, get the 4th night free.
- Complimentary IHG Silver Membership as long as you have this card. Get IHG Gold Membership if you spend $15k.
- 5 Elite Night Credits each year.
- No foreign transaction fee.
- No annual fee.
Recommended Application Time
- [5/24 Rule] If you have 5 or more new accounts opened in the past 24 months, Chase will not approve your application, no matter how high your credit score is. The number of new accounts includes all credit card accounts, not only Chase accounts. See this post for details about how to possibly bypass this rule.
- This product is available to you if you do not have a current IHG Rewards Credit Card and have not received a new Cardmember bonus within the last 24 months. Note that what matters here is the time you got the sign-up bonus, not the time you open the account or close the account. This does not apply to Business Card Credit Card products.
- Don’t apply for more than 2 Chase credit cards within 30 days, or it’s highly likely that you will get rejected.
- We recommend you to apply for this card after you have a credit history for more than a year.
Summary
The $99 annual fee version IHG Premier card has higher bonus and gives you a free night every year, so it is more recommended to apply for the IHG Premier card if you are interested in IHG hotels. This IHG traveler card has no annual fee, so it is a good downgrade option.
Related Credit Cards
- Chase IHG One Rewards (this post)
- Chase IHG Premier
- Chase IHG Business
- Chase IHG Premier Select
| Chase IHG One Rewards | Chase IHG Premier | Chase IHG Business | Chase IHG Premier Select | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Fee | $0 | $150 | $200 | $350 |
| Free Night | none | 50k | 50k | 60k |
| IHG Status | Silver | Gold | Platinum | Platinum |
| Coupon Book | none | $100 IHG F&B ($25/quarter) + $100 Airline Credit + $50 United TravelBank | $100 IHG F&B ($25/quarter) + $100 Airline Credit | $300 IHG F&B ($75/quarter) + $200 Airline Credit + $50 United TravelBank |
After Applying
- Call 800-436-7927 to check Chase application status. This is an automated telephone line, and the information has the following meanings: Receive decision in 2 weeks means your application is probably approved; Receive decision in 7-10 days means your application is probably rejected; Receive decision in 30 days simply means your application requires further review and there’s nothing to tell you for now.