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The IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card (Rates & Fees) is a solid rewards credit card for business owners looking to save on hotel stays. Cardholders can earn up to 26X total points per dollar spent when staying at an IHG hotel brand, such as Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Kimpton, InterContinental, and more.
Plus, the card gives you additional points at many other categories, free night awards, automatic Platinum Elite status — the second-highest elite tier of the IHG One Rewards loyalty program, and a lot of additional benefits for a reasonable $99 annual fee.
Here's everything you need to know about the IHG Business Card to help you decide if it's a fit for your wallet.
- Earn 140,000 Bonus Points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 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, Hotel Indigo® Hotels & Holiday Inn®
- Member FDIC
- 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)
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IHG Business Card Pros
- Automatic IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite status.
- Fourth night free on award redemptions.
- Annual benefits include a free night certificate and travel credits on your account anniversary year.
- No foreign transaction fees.
IHG Business Card Cons
- The card's 20% discount on IHG points purchases doesn't stack with point sale promotions.
- Limited travel and shopping protections compared to other small-business credit cards.
IHG Premier Business Card Welcome Bonus
The IHG Business Card has a surprisingly valuable welcome bonus. As a new cardholder, you'll earn 140,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
On average, AwardWallet users redeem IHG One Rewards points for 1.44¢ apiece. That makes this sign-up bonus points offer worth around $950. That's pretty solid for a co-branded hotel card.
IHG One Rewards Premier Business Card Benefits
Welcome bonus aside, the IHG Business Card has fantastic under-the-hood benefits that can easily justify keeping it in your wallet every year, given the card's annual fee. Here's a look at all the benefits cardholders can enjoy:
Free anniversary night
On each cardholder anniversary, you'll receive an anniversary free night award with a current point redemption cap of 40,000 points. Even better, there are no spending requirements or hoops to jump through to get it. All you have to do is pay the annual fee when it comes due.
IHG also lets you top off your free night certificates with an uncapped number of points. That means you can use your certificate towards a more expensive award night and use your IHG point balance to cover the difference.
Additional free night award
If one annual free night isn't enough, you can spend your way to a second one. After spending $60,000 in a calendar year on your card, you'll earn another free night award worth up to 40,000 points.
Complimentary IHG Platinum status
IHG Business Card holders are entitled to Platinum Elite status just by carrying the credit card. With your status, you'll enjoy the following benefits as long as you keep renewing your card:
- 60% bonus points on eligible IHG stays.
- Welcome amenity at check-in.
- Complimentary space-available upgrades.
- Earn suite night upgrades, bonus points, and more through IHG Milestone Rewards.
- Guaranteed room availability.
- Early check-in and late check-out (subject to availability).
- No blackout dates for reward nights.
- No points expiration as an IHG elite status member
You can also spend your way to earn Diamond Elite status, which offers more premium perks after spending $40,000 on your card in a calendar year. After meeting the threshold, your new elite status will be valid through the end of the following year.
Fourth night free on award stays
Cardholders who book at least four consecutive nights using IHG points get the fourth reward night free at the same hotel. Even better, this perk is valid for every 4-night increment. So, on long stays, you can get the eighth night free, the twelfth night free, and so on.
In addition, you can use the IHG fourth night free benefit an unlimited number of times. This is a super valuable benefit, especially at higher-end properties.
Save 20% on points purchases
If you're short on points for your next award stay, you can get a 20% discount when you purchase points with your IHG Business.
Unfortunately, you can't stack this discount with other IHG points sales. So, this perk is only semi-valuable when you need to top off your points balance for an award redemption when IHG isn't actively running a sale on IHG point purchases.
Earn $50 United® TravelBank Cash
Both the IHG Business Card and its personal version, IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (Rates & Fees), offer cardholders up to $50 TravelBank credit annually after linking the cards with your United MileagePlus account.
You can use TravelBank credits to purchase United flights. But unfortunately, you can't use them to cover the taxes and fees on an award redemption.
Track your United TravelBank cash expiration and get email alerts before your miles expire by signing up for a free AwardWallet account.
$120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS statement credit
An easy way to offset the application cost for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS is to swipe your IHG Business Card. You'll receive up to $120 in reimbursements for the application fee of enrollment or renewals, every four years.
Travel and purchase protections
Lastly, cardholders can also leverage a list of travel, purchase, and shopping protections:
- Trip cancellation and interruption insurance
- Travel and emergency assistance services
- Auto rental collision damage waiver
- Purchase protection
- Extended warranty protection
- No foreign transaction fees
IHG Business Card Earning Rates
If IHG is your brand of choice, these bonus categories for this card will help your point balance add up quickly. However, other cards might provide a better return on your spending — outside of purchases at IHG properties. On everyday and select business purchases, you'll earn points at the following rates:
- 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)
Redeeming Points with the IHG Business Card
IHG stays
The most straightforward way to redeem your IHG points is for free stays at hotels participating in IHG One Rewards. IHG uses a dynamic pricing model; rooms can cost as little as 5,000 points per night and up to 175,000 points per night (or more at select luxury brands that are dynamically priced).
Still, it's possible to obtain excellent value from IHG award stays with a little effort. For some redemption inspiration, check out our guide to the best IHG redemptions for luxury stays.
Airline partners
It is possible to convert your IHG points to more than 40 airlines if you're short on miles for a free flight. Given the generally poor transfer ratios, this isn't a high-value use of your points. You'll usually get better value from your points by booking free (or nearly free) hotel nights.
Here's a snapshot of some of the airlines you can transfer IHG points to:
Other ways to redeem IHG One Rewards
An option we don't recommend for redeeming IHG points is through gift cards, merchandise, or digital media. Generally, you'll get poor value from your points on redemptions by redeeming points this way.
You can use your IHG points for exclusive experiences for One Rewards members, like sports tickets, tours, personalized experiences, and more. You can get great value for your points depending on what you redeem for.
Application Restrictions and Strategy
As a Chase-issued product, the IHG Business Card is subject to the bank's infamous 5/24 rule. Even though most business credit cards don't add to your 5/24 count, you still need to fall under this metric to get approved for this or other Chase credit cards.
Therefore, if you've opened five or more credit cards in the past 24 months and they show up on your credit report, you'll likely be denied for this card.
Other credit card application restrictions also make it unlikely that you'll be approved for more than one business card with Chase in less than 90 days. You also can't receive the bonus on this card if you currently have the card or received a bonus on it in the last 24 months. From the offer terms:
“This new cardmember bonus offer is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of this business credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of this business credit card who received a new cardmember bonus for this business credit card within the last 24 months.”
Cards That Compete With the IHG Business Card
If this isn't the right card for your small business wallet, here are some other options to consider:
- If you want rewards you can use with more than IHG, look into the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (Rates & Fees). It earns transferable Ultimate Rewards points, which you can transfer 1:1 to IHG but also can use with airlines, hotels, or the Chase travel portal.
- If you want a hotel credit card but aren't loyal to IHG, consider the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card (Rates & Fees). This card provides entry-level status with World of Hyatt and lets you spend your way to status. Its earning categories also adapt to you.
- If you're over 5/24 and want a hotel card, look at the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card(Rates & Fees). You'll receive complimentary Marriott Bonvoy® Gold Elite status, a free night award each year (worth up to 35,000 points), and up to 7% off paid rates by holding this card.
$95Rates & Fees
- 3X points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year
- 1X point per $1 on all other purchases
$199Rates & Fees
- Up to 9X total points per $1 spent at Hyatt – 4X points per $1 on qualifying purchases when you use your card at Hyatt hotels & 5X points per $1 you can earn as a World of Hyatt member
- 2X points per $1 spent on fitness club and gym memberships
- 1X point per $1 everywhere else
In addition, you'll earn 2X points per $1 spent in your top three spend categories each quarter. Eligible categories include:
- Dining
- Shipping
- Airline tickets when purchased directly with the airline
- Local transit & commuting
- Social media & search engine Advertising
- Car rental agencies
- Gas stations
- Internet, cable & phone services
$125Rates & Fees
(Terms apply)
- 6x Marriott Bonvoy® points on each dollar of eligible purchases at hotels participating in the Marriott Bonvoy® program.
- 4x Marriott Bonvoy® points on each dollar of eligible purchases made at restaurants worldwide, at U.S. gas stations, on wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers and on U.S. purchases for shipping
- 2x Marriott Bonvoy® points per dollar on all other eligible purchases
Bottom Line
For current or prospective IHG loyalists, the IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card offers a suite of perks that can easily justify the annual fee. With automatic Platinum Elite status, a fourth reward night free, and a great welcome offer, this card is an easy keeper for anyone who spends even a few nights at IHG properties each year.
- Earn 140,000 Bonus Points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 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, Hotel Indigo® Hotels & Holiday Inn®
- Member FDIC
- 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)
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card (Rates & Fees), IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (Rates & Fees), Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (Rates & Fees), World of Hyatt Business Credit Card (Rates & Fees), and Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card (Rates & Fees)
