Chase IHG Rewards Club Select World MasterCard Review (previously Priority Club Visa)
Updated July 21, 2017.
The Facts
The Math
Since IHG Rewards Club points are normally valued at less than 1 cent per point, this card is not good for general spending. With $49/year, it gives you one annual free night with capacity control, which can be very valuable. This along with other benefits like 5x IHG, 10% point rebates, and waived foreign transaction fees, makes paying the annul fee worthwhile.
The Conclusion
Even though it is not good for general spending, IHG Rewards Club MasterCard is well worth the $49 annual fee if you can make use of its annual free night certificate or complimentary Platinum status.
The Facts
- Annual Fee: 1st year free and $49/year thereafter
- Signup Bonus: 80,000 points after spending $1,000 within 3 months of new account opening and an additional 5,000 points after adding the first authorized user and making the first purchase within the same 3-month period. Historical best bonus of this card: 85,000 points in 2017; 80,000 points for several times in the past years.
- Application Landing Page
- Rewards: 5x InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) hotels, 2x gas, groceries and dining, 1x everywhere else
- Best Use of IHG Rewards Club points: IHG Rewards Club is the loyalty program of IHG whose hotel portfolio includes InterContinental, Hotel indigo, EVEN, HuaLuxe, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, and Candlewood Suites. The best use of IHG points is for hotel stays or upgrades at IHG hotels. The points can also be transferred into miles of 40 airlines; however, the transfer ratio is mostly 10K points = 2K miles (5:1) - not that impressive.
- IHG Benefits: (1) One annual free night at any non-all-inclusive IHG hotel worldwide upon anniversary. Unlike Marriott Rewards Premier Visa or Hyatt Visa, IHG Rewards Club MasterCard's free night is not limited to certain tiers or brands, you may redeem the free nights at their top-tier hotels such as InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa, InterContinental London Park Lane, InterContinental Paris Le Grand, InterContinental Paris Avenue Marceau, InterContinental New York Times Square, InterContinental San Francisco, InterContinental Hong Kong, etc. However, just like Marriott Rewards, there is capacity control when redeeming points with IHG and the same applies to these certificates. (2) 10% rebate in points redemption, up to 100K points a year. (3) IHG Rewards Club top tier status Platinum Elite as long as you have the card - normally achieved after 50 nights. Chase improved this benefit somewhere in 2012 - the card used to offer only Gold Elite status. Even though we applaud this change, benefits come with the Platinum status are not as great as top tier status with other programs like SPG, Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, etc. The reason is that IHG's real deal is InterContinental Royal Ambassador, which can't be obtained by having a credit card. Waived foreign transaction fees.
- The History: Before March 2013, IHG Rewards Club was known as Priority Club. Visa was the network for Chase Priority Club Card and Chase IHG Rewards Club Card until March 2014 when MasterCard took over.
The Math
Since IHG Rewards Club points are normally valued at less than 1 cent per point, this card is not good for general spending. With $49/year, it gives you one annual free night with capacity control, which can be very valuable. This along with other benefits like 5x IHG, 10% point rebates, and waived foreign transaction fees, makes paying the annul fee worthwhile.
The Conclusion
Even though it is not good for general spending, IHG Rewards Club MasterCard is well worth the $49 annual fee if you can make use of its annual free night certificate or complimentary Platinum status.
