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With hotel loyalty programs continuing to raise the number of points needed for stays, any way to get an edge helps. Enter IHG's fourth night free perk, allowing you to get the fourth night free when you book an award stay of four or more nights using points. This is a great way to save thousands of IHG One Rewards points per year and make the cost of your stays more manageable.
Let's take a look at exactly how the IHG fourth night free benefit works — as well as how to obtain it.
Page Contents
What is the IHG Fourth Night Free?
IHG offers a fourth night free to eligible IHG rewards cardholders when using points to book award stays of at least four nights. This means when you book a room for four or more nights, the fourth night will automatically price at zero points.
This perk is valid for every four nights — meaning it's also the eight night free, the 12th night free, and so on. So feel free to extend that vacation and take advantage of the discount!
Best of all, this perk can be used repeatedly throughout the year. There is no limit to the number of times eligible IHG members can take advantage of the fourth-night-free benefit.
This awesome benefit comes with only a couple of limitations:
- Your stay must be fully booked with points. You won't be able to get an IHG fourth night free if you book a Points + Cash rate.
- The nights must be consecutive nights at the same hotel. It won't work on trips where you stay four nights in a row, but at different IHG hotels.
Who is Eligible to Book an IHG Fourth Night Free?
Whereas other brands give similar perks to loyalty members, IHG requires travelers to have a co-branded credit card. Three IHG rewards credit cards offer this amazing perk:
- IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card
- IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card
- IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card
The first is the IHG One Rewards Traveler Card. This IHG card charges a $0 annual fee yet gives you automatic Silver Elite status and unlocks the fourth night free perk. Eligible new cardholders can earn 2 Free Nights + 40,000 bonus points after spending $2,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.
- Limited Time Offer! Earn 2 Free Nights + 40,000 Bonus Points
- No Annual Fee
- Earn up to 17 total points per $1 spent when you stay at IHG Hotels & Resorts
- Earn 3 points per $1 spent on purchases on monthly bills, at gas stations, and restaurants. Earn 2 points per $1 spent on all other purchases
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- Redeem 3 Nights, Get the 4th Night Free
- IHG One Rewards Bonus points are redeemable at Hotels & Resorts such as InterContinental®, Crowne Plaza®, Kimpton®, EVEN® Hotels, Indigo® Hotels & Holiday Inn®
- Member FDIC
- Rates & Fees
- Earn up to 17X points total per $1 spent when you stay at an IHG hotel
- 3X points per $1 spent on dining, utilities, select streaming services, and at gas stations
- 2X points per $1 spent on all other purchases
The earning for spending at IHG hotels breaks down as follows:
- Earn 5X points for being a IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Cardmember
- Earn up to 2X points from IHG® with Silver Elite Status, a benefit of this Card
- Earn up to 10X points from IHG® for being an IHG® Rewards Club Member (Being a cardholder is not required to earn this bonus for participating in the IHG® loyalty program)
The second card (and my personal favorite) is the IHG One Rewards Premier Card. You can currently earn 165,000 Bonus Points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. In addition to the fourth night free, this card offers an IHG free night worth up to 40,000 points on your account anniversary; a TSA PreCheck, Global Entry, or NEXUS application fee credit every four years; and automatic IHG Platinum Elite status. The free award night alone makes the $99 annual fee more than worth it, not to mention the other perks that the card offers.
- Limited Time Offer! Earn 165,000 Bonus Points
- Enjoy an Anniversary Free Night at IHG Hotels & Resorts. Plus, enjoy a fourth reward night free when you redeem points for a consecutive four-night IHG® hotel stay.
- Earn up to 26 total points per $1 spent when you stay at IHG Hotels & Resorts
- Earn 5 points per $1 spent on purchases on travel, at gas stations, and restaurants. Earn 3 points per $1 spent on all other purchases
- Automatic Platinum Elite status as long as you remain a Premier cardmember
- Global Entry, TSA PreCheck® or NEXUS Statement Credit of up to $120 every 4 years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to your card
- IHG One Rewards Bonus points are redeemable at Hotels & Resorts such as InterContinental®, Crowne Plaza®, Kimpton®, EVEN® Hotels, Indigo® Hotels & Holiday Inn®
- Member FDIC
- Rates & Fees
- Earn up to 26 points total per $1 spent when you stay at an IHG hotel
- 5X points per $1 spent on purchases on travel, gas stations, and restaurants
- 3X points per $1 spent on all other purchases
The earning for spending at IHG hotels breaks down as follows:
- Earn 10X points for being a IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card member
- Earn up to 6X points from IHG® with Platinum Elite Status, a benefit of having this card
- Earn up to 10X points from IHG® for being an IHG® One Rewards member (Being a cardholder is not required to earn this bonus for participating in the IHG® loyalty program)
The final card offers similar perks to the IHG One Rewards Premier Card but is designed for small business owners. Apply for the IHG One Rewards Business Card and meet the spending requirements to earn up to 200,000 bonus points. You'll also enjoy a free night each cardholder anniversary; TSA PreCheck, Global Entry, or NEXUS fee credit; and IHG Platinum Elite status.
- Limited Time Offer! Earn up to 200,000 Bonus Points. Earn 140,000 Bonus Points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Plus, earn 60,000 Bonus Points after spending a total of $9,000 in the first 6 months from account opening.
- Enjoy an Anniversary Free Night at IHG Hotels & Resorts. Plus, enjoy a fourth reward night free when you redeem points for a consecutive four-night IHG® hotel stay.
- Earn up to 26 total points per $1 spent when you stay at IHG Hotels and Resorts
- Earn 5 points per $1 spent on purchases on travel, at gas stations, select advertising, and restaurants. Earn 3 points per $1 spent on all other purchases
- Automatic Platinum Elite status as long as you remain a Premier Business cardmember
- Global Entry, TSA PreCheck® or NEXUS Statement Credit of up to $120 every 4 years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to your card
- IHG One Rewards Bonus points are redeemable at hotels such as InterContinental®, Crowne Plaza®, Kimpton®, EVEN® Hotels, Indigo® Hotels & Holiday Inn®
- Member FDIC
- Rates & Fees
- Earn up to 26X total points per $1 spent when you stay at an IHG hotel
- 5X points per $1 spent on travel, dining, social media search engine advertising, and at office supply stores and gas stations
- 3X points per $1 spent on all other purchases
The earning for spending at IHG hotels breaks down as follows:
- Earn 10X points for charging your stay to your IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card
- Earn up to 6X bonus points for having IHG®Platinum Elite Status, a benefit of having this card
- Earn up to 10X base points for being an IHG® One Rewards Member (Being a cardholder is not required to earn this bonus for participating in the IHG® loyalty program)
If you hold one of the three above IHG credit cards, you can take advantage of the fourth night free. The only IHG card that doesn't offer the IHG fourth night free perk is the no-longer-available IHG® Rewards Select Credit Card.
Related: Which IHG One Rewards Credit Card Is Right for You?
How to Top Off Your IHG Account to Book an Award Stay
Before you can take advantage of an IHG fourth night free booking, you need enough IHG points to pay for a reward stay. If you need to top off your IHG rewards points, you have a few options.
First, you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards to IHG. The ability to use Chase's 14 hotel and airline transfer partners comes from holding an eligible card, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees) or Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Rates & Fees). Chase Ultimate Rewards points generally transfer to IHG at a 1:1 ratio in 1,000-point increments (unless there's a Chase-to-IHG transfer bonus). That means 1,000 Ultimate Rewards points would equal 1,000 IHG points once transferred.
Additionally, you can transfer points from Bilt Rewards. These rewards are earned through The Bilt Mastercard® and are also transferred at a 1:1 ratio to IHG. Note that Bilt Rewards require a minimum transfer of 2,000 points for Blue members, 1,000 for all other members.
One final option is to buy IHG points and add them to the points you already have. The price of buying points goes down the more points you buy, and IHG often runs sales on buying points. This regularly drops the price as low as 0.5 cents per point. It's a good idea to watch for these sales if you're thinking about buying points to top off your balance before making a redemption.
Now, let's go over what it looks like to actually book a stay with this fourth night free option.
How to Book an IHG Fourth Night Free
Start here and log in to your IHG account associated with your eligible credit card. Once logged in, search for your preferred location and dates. Make sure to select the rate preference “reward nights” to see what hotels are available for booking with points.
You can scroll through all the available options for your dates and see how much each hotel charges per night — displayed as the average nightly cost for the duration of your stay.
Once you find the hotel you want to reserve, click “select hotel” to see the room options. As you can see, it automatically discounts the points to reflect the fourth night being free (the top number that is crossed off). One note: You'll only be able to see the points per night cost breakdown if you have all of the points needed to book the room. Otherwise, it will tell you that you do not have enough points available.
From here, go through the standard booking process by entering your personal information and proceeding to confirm your award booking. You'll notice that the fourth night is reflected as 0 points. It's that simple — no extra steps required!
Imagine using this perk at truly exceptional properties and saving a large chunk of points. For example, staying at the beautiful InterContinental Bora Bora Resort Thalasso Spa can cost over 200,000 points per night. But, by utilizing the IHG fourth-night free benefit, the average price per night drops to 150k. Over a four-night stay, that's a savings of over 200k points!
In this case, booking four nights at the InterContinental Bora Bora Resort Thalasso Spa for 602k points would save you approximately $5,000 — or about 0.83 cents per point — which is better than the 0.68¢ AwardWallet users typically get for their IHG points.
Related: The Top 14 IHG Hotels Redemptions for Luxury Stays
Bottom Line
As you can see, the IHG fourth night free benefit is an amazing perk that is easy to get, easy to use, and can save you thousands of points each year. The hardest part is to avoid booking an IHG hotel for only three nights. After all, you're leaving a free night on the table if you do that!
Since this perk can be used an unlimited number of times, it might be worth using the perk even if you only intend to stay for three nights. IHG counts award nights towards elite status, and adding that extra night allows you to earn an extra night toward status and check out as late as you want since you'll have your room reserved until the next day.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card (Rates & Fees), IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (Rates & Fees), IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card (Rates & Fees), Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees), and Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Rates & Fees)
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