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Are you interested in saving thousands of IHG One Rewards points per year? Here's a trick you may not know about: You can get the fourth night free when booking award stays at IHG properties. This fantastic credit card perk allows you to book an award stay of four or more nights using points and one of those nights will be completely free.
Let's take a look at exactly how the IHG fourth night free benefit works — as well as how to get this valuable benefit.
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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, one of the nights 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?
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 a fourth night free. Eligible new cardholders can earn 120,000 bonus points after spending $2,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.
- Our Highest Points Offer of 2025! Earn 120,000 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
- 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 2X points from IHG® with Silver Elite Status, a benefit of this Card
- Earn 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 earn a whopping 5 Free Nights after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
This card has a $99 annual fee and comes with an IHG free night worth up to 40,000 points — issued as an Award Night Certificate on your account anniversary — a TSA PreCheck, Global Entry, or NEXUS application fee credit every four years, and automatic Platinum Elite status. The free award night alone makes the annual fee more than worth it, not to mention the other perks that the card offers.
- Our Best Offer of 2025! Earn 5 Free Nights
- 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 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 6X points from IHG® with Platinum Elite Status, a benefit of having this card
- Earn 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 140,000 bonus points. You'll also enjoy a free night, TSA PreCheck, Global Entry, or NEXUS fee credit, and Platinum Elite status.
- 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, Indigo® Hotels & Holiday Inn®
- Member FDIC
- Rates & Fees
- Earn 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 6X bonus points for having IHG®Platinum Elite Status, a benefit of having this card
- Earn 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 these three IHG credit cards, you can take advantage of the fourth night free. Unfortunately, you won't be eligible for the IHG fourth night free perk if you only have 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 transfer to IHG at a 1:1 ratio in 1,000-point increments. 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.
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 4th Night Free
Start here and log into 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 “award 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!
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 check out extra late 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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