Chase IHG Rewards Club Select World MasterCard (previously Priority Club Visa, discontinued for new applications)
Updated April 12, 2018. Note this product has been discontinued since April 2018, please see the updated IHG Rewards Traveler and Premier MasterCards.
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 thereafter
- Signup Bonus: not available at this point. Historical best bonus of this card: 85,000 points in 2017; 80,000 points for several times in the past years.
- 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 anniversary free night at any non-all-inclusive IHG hotel worldwide upon anniversary. IHG Rewards Club MasterCard's free night used to be not limited to certain tiers or brands, you may redeem the free nights at their top-tier hotels, which costs 60K-70K IHG points or $300-$800 such as InterContinental Bora Bora Resort & Thalasso Spa, InterContinental Le Moana Bora Bora, InterContinental London Park Lane, InterContinental Paris Le Grand, InterContinental Paris Avenue Marceau, InterContinental New York Times Square, InterContinental San Francisco, InterContinental Hong Kong, etc. Note that there is still capacity control when redeeming points with IHG and the same applies to these certificates. However, in April 2018, Chase devaluated this feature by limiting the free night certificates issued after May 1, 2018 to the properties that are redeemable at 40,000 points or less per night, essentially excluding the top 200ish properties (~4% of their total properties). (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.
- Other Benefits: 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.