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Want to save thousands of IHG Rewards points per year? Here's a trick: Take advantage of a program like an IHG Fourth Night Free when booking award stays! This amazing credit-card perk allows you to book an award stay of 4+ nights using points to get one night completely free. Zero points!
Let's look at how the IHG fourth night free benefit works.
Page Contents
What is IHG Fourth Night Free?
IHG offers a fourth night free to eligible IHG rewards cardholders when booking award stays of at least four nights. This means when you will 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 — which means that it's also the 8th night and 12th night free. 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 only 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 booking.
- 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 $0 annual fee yet gives you automatic Silver Elite status and a fourth night free. Eligible new cardholders can earn 80,000 bonus points after spending $2,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. Plus up to $50 in IHG® statement credits on purchases at IHG® Hotels and Resorts during the first 12 months from account opening..
- Earn 80,000 bonus points plus up to $50 in IHG® statement credits.
- No Annual Fee
- Earn up to 17 points total 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
- 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 140,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Plus, earn up to $100 in IHG® statement credits on purchases at IHG® Hotels and Resorts during the first 12 months from account opening.!
This card has a $99 annual fee and comes with an IHG free night — issued as an Award Night Certificate on your account anniversary, a TSA PreCheck or Global Entry $100 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.
- Earn 140,000 Bonus Points plus up to $100 in IHG® statement credits.
- Enjoy an Anniversary Free Night at IHG Hotels & Resorts. Plus, enjoy a reward night when you redeem points for a consecutive four-night IHG® hotel stay.
- Earn up to 26 points total 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 card member
- Global Entry, TSA PreCheck® or NEXUS Statement Credit of up to $100 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
- 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® Rewards Club Member (Being a cardholder is not required to earn this bonus for participating in the IHG® loyalty program)
The last card is similar to the IHG One Rewards Premier Card but is designed for small business owners. Sign up for the IHG One Rewards Business Card and meet the spending requirements to earn 140,000 bonus points. Plus, you'll get a free Award Night every cardholder anniversary, automatic Platinum Elite status, and a TSA PreCheck or Global Entry application fee credit. This card also charges a reasonable $99 annual fee.
- Earn 140,000 Bonus Points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
- Enjoy a Reward Night after each account anniversary year at eligible IHG hotels worldwide. Plus, enjoy a reward night 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 card member
- Global Entry, TSA PreCheck® or NEXUS Statement Credit of up to $100 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
- 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 being a IHG One Rewards Premier Business 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® Rewards Club 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. But 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.
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 with points. If you need to top off your IHG rewards points to do so, you have a few options.
The first is that you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to IHG. You can transfer points to Chase's transfer partners if you have an eligible card — such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve® credit card. Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfer to IHG at a 1:1 ratio in 1,000-point increments. So 1,000 Ultimate Rewards points would equal 1,000 IHG points once transferred.
You can also transfer points from Bilt rewards. These rewards are earned through the The Bilt Mastercard® and are also transferred at a 1:1 ratio to IHG. Note that Bilt Rewards require a minimum of 2,000-point transfers.
Additionally, you can buy IHG points and add them onto the points you already have. The price of buying points goes down the more points you buy. For example, 1,000 points will cost you $13.50 ($1.35 per point), while 25,000 points will cost you $287.50 ($1.15 per point). Throughout the year, IHG often runs a sale on buying points. This often drops the price as low as 0.5 cents per point. It's a good idea to keep an eye out for these sales because you can get extra points for free!
Now, let's go over what it looks like to actually book a stay with this option.
How to Book an IHG 4th Night Free
Start by logging into your IHG account associated with your eligible credit card. Once logged in, conduct a 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 stay at, 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).
Once you choose your room, you can click “rate details” to see the breakdown of each night's cost. As you can see below, the fourth night automatically shows up costing zero points.
One note: you will only be able to see the points per night cost breakdown if you have all of the points you need to be able to book the room. Otherwise, it will tell you that you do not have enough points available.
From there, go through the standard booking process by entering your personal information and proceeding to confirm your award booking. It's that simple; no extra steps required!
Wrapping it up
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 avoiding 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.
Have you taken advantage of an IHG 4th Night Free? We'd love to hear about your experience in the comments!
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
I am booking a stay for 4 days in Frankfurt with points. Why I don’t see the fourth night free?
That’s concerning, Carrie. Did you ever get it to price out with the fourth night free? If not, I’d love to hear which property you were trying to book.
As a Marriott member I’m familiar with this idea (they do 5th night free) but now I need to check out IHG! What a deal.
the screen now shows you the average cost per night with the bonus night factored in. you have to look for details per night.