IHG Credit Card Free Night Awards: How To Earn & Redeem Them, Maximize Value

Chase & IHG One Rewards have a portfolio of co-branded credit cards. Three of the four cards — The Brand New IHG One Rewards Premier Select Credit Card (learn more), The New IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (learn more), and The New IHG One Rewards Business Credit Card (learn more) — offer the opportunity to earn free night award certificates, which can be extremely valuable. I’d argue that these cards are absolutely worth having, primarily for the free night certificates, as they help with justifying the annual fee. In this post, I’d like to take a close look at everything you need to know about earning and redeeming IHG One Rewards free night certificates. How do you earn IHG free night awards?When do IHG credit card free night awards post?How long are IHG credit card anniversary free nights valid?At what hotels can you redeem IHG credit card free night awards?Are there blackout dates for IHG free night awards?How do you redeem IHG free night certificates?Can you earn more than one IHG free night award per year?Can you redeem IHG free night awards for others?Do you pay taxes & fees when redeeming IHG free night awards?Are IHG cards worth getting for free night awards?IHG credit card free night award FAQsBottom line Three of IHG One Rewards’ co-branded Chase credit cards offer free night awards as an anniversary benefit, with no spending required: The $350 annual fee IHG Premier Select Card offers an anniversary free night award on your account anniversary, worth up to 60,000 points, plus an additional anniversary free night award worth 60,000 points when you spend $40,000 in a calendar year The $200 annual fee IHG Business Card offers an anniversary free night award on your account anniversary, worth up to 50,000 points The $150 annual fee IHG Premier Card offers an anniversary free night award on your account anniversary, worth up to 50,000 points On top of that, two of the cards offer a second free night award annually based on spending: The $350 annual fee IHG Premier Select Card offers a second anniversary free night award worth up to 60,000 points when you spend $40,000 on the card in a calendar year The $200 annual fee IHG Business Card offers a second anniversary free night award worth up to 50,000 points when you spend $60,000 on the card in a calendar year Below is a chart showing all five opportunities across three cards to earn free night awards with IHG cards currently open to new cardmembers. CardAnnual feeAnniversary free night awardSecond free night awardSpend required for second awardIHG Premier Select Card$350Up to 60,000 pointsUp to 60,000 points$40,000 in a calendar yearIHG Business Card$200Up to 50,000 pointsUp to 50,000 points$60,000 in a calendar yearIHG Premier Card$150Up to 50,000 pointsNoneN/A Let me emphasize that the IHG card portfolio recently underwent a refresh, and free night awards on previously issued cards are still worth 40,000 points. That will continue to be the case through the end of 2026, and then as of 2027, the newly issued certificates will get the higher value of 50,000 points. The same applies to those who have the legacy IHG Select Card, which is no longer open to new applicants — as of 2027, those certificates will also be worth up to 50,000 points, and will be eligible for top-offs. Sometimes IHG also has promotions offering free night awards through non-credit card means, but that’s not a consistent aspect of the program. Use your IHG free night award at the InterContinental Maldives When do IHG credit card free night awards post? The IHG Premier Select Card, IHG Premier Card, and IHG Business Card, all offer anniversary free night certificates, meaning you get your first certificate roughly 12 months after you open your card (you don’t get a certificate the first year, since most people don’t celebrate their zero year anniversary). 😉 You can expect the free night certificate to post automatically, and it will be available for redemption in your account online. They typically post very shortly after your anniversary date. When it comes to the spend based certificates (based on spending a certain amount within a calendar year), those will post within eight weeks of when you reach the spending threshold (and often sooner), rather than only posting on the account anniversary. How long are IHG credit card anniversary free nights valid? IHG credit card free night certificates are generally valid for 12 months from the date of issue. You not only have to book by the expiration date, but you have to also stay by the expiration date as well. This means that if you’re issued the certificate on October 20, 2026, you would have to book and stay by October 20, 2027. Generally speaking, these certificates can’t be extended, so if you don’t use them by the expiration date, expect that you’ll lose them. Use your IHG free night award at the InterContinental Ras Al Khaimah At what hotels can you redeem IHG credit card free night awards? The IHG Premier Select Card, IHG Premier Card, and IHG Business Card free night awards are valid at properties costing up to a certain number of points. The great thing is that you can supplement these certificates with points in order to redeem at more expensive properties. In other words, you could now book a hotel costing 70,000 IHG points by redeeming one free night certificate worth 60,000 points, plus redeeming 10,000 points. This makes it much easier to get full value out of the certificate. This is some incredible flexibility to have, and makes these certificates much more valuable. Note that a majority of IHG properties are bookable for under the amounts that these certificates are for, though admittedly many of the luxury and aspirational properties around the globe cost more. So it’s nice to be able to redeem for stays at those properties with these certificates. Even without exceeding the cap, I’ve been able to redeem at some fantastic hotels, ranging from the InterContinental Ljubljana, to the InterContinental Johannesburg, to the Kimpton Miami. All of these properties would have cost $200-350 per night if paying cash. Use your IHG free night award at the InterContinental Ljubljana Are there blackout dates for IHG free night awards? IHG credit card anniversary free night certificates come from the same inventory as points stays, so if you can redeem points for a stay, you can also redeem this certificate. IHG One Rewards advertises “no blackout dates,” though this is different than the “no blackout dates” policies from Hilton Honors and World of Hyatt. Let me explain: With Hilton Honors and World of Hyatt you can redeem points for a stay as long as a standard room is available for sale Meanwhile with IHG One Rewards, the program allocates a certain amount of inventory to points bookings, so there will be some availability every night, but not every standard room is available using points or free night certificates If planning in advance this shouldn’t be an issue, with very few exceptions. How do you redeem IHG free night certificates? On the account anniversary of the IHG Premier Select Card, IHG Premier Card, and IHG Business Card, the free night certificate will automatically be deposited in your IHG One Rewards account. To access these certificates, log into your IHG One Rewards account, and navigate to the “See Rewards Wallet” section. IHG free night reward booking process That will bring you to a section that shows “Redeem your rewards,” and then “Free Nights and booking rewards.” IHG free night reward booking process If you click on the “Details” button, you can see the expiration date of your certificate. The “View Details” button on the next page will also show you the terms associated with the certificate, including how many points it’s potentially worth, confirmation that the certificate can be topped off with points, etc. IHG free night reward booking process If you click the “Book Free Night” button, you’ll be brought to the main IHG booking page, where you’ll see the free night certificate listed as one of the rate preferences. IHG free night reward booking process Once you enter a destination, you’ll see all the options for redeeming your certificate. You’ll see that properties show a “Chase Anniversary Night” rate. In some situations, the price is listed as “FREE,” which means that the free night award covers the stay. Meanwhile other properties will show a certain number of points, which is the supplement needed on top of the certificate. If a property has a resort or destination fee, that should also display on the search result page. IHG free night reward booking process IHG free night reward booking process If a property only shows a cash rate, that means there’s no availability using points or free night awards. However, you can click “View available dates,” and then it will show you a calendar with availability. IHG free night reward booking process The final confirmation page will show the cancelation policy for the booking, which should be identical to what it would be if you were outright redeeming points. This is typically going to be a pretty flexible policy, but varies by property. IHG free night reward booking process Let me emphasize that if you want to book a longer stay and not all nights are being booked with free night awards, you’ll need to book those reservations separately. In other words, if you’re staying at a hotel and are using a free night award for one night and points for three nights, you’d need to reserve this as two separate reservations. Furthermore, IHG credit cards offer a fourth night free perk on award redemptions, but that only applies when redeeming points, and not when redeeming free night awards. So that’s something worth being strategic about, if you are planning a stay of four nights. Can you earn more than one IHG free night award per year? It’s absolutely possible to earn more than one IHG free night award per year. As you can see, with the three IHG cards currently open to new cardmembers that issue free night awards, you could potentially earn up to five free night awards, including three as anniversary perks, and two for spending. If you’re strategic, it’s possible to get approved (and earn the welcome bonuses) on all three cards. If you’re looking to book a longer stay but don’t have enough free night certificates, you can always supplement a free night award by redeeming points for another night. And if you don’t have many IHG points, note that IHG One Rewards often sells points at a discount, which can represent a great deal. Use your IHG free night award at the Kimpton Seafire Grand Cayman Can you redeem IHG free night awards for others? The free night certificates issued with the IHG Premier Select Card, IHG Premier Card, and IHG Business Card, have to be used for a reservation in the name of the primary cardmember. Some have had luck making a reservation for two guests, then adding the second guest’s name, and then having them check in, but that’s not a published policy. Do you pay taxes & fees when redeeming IHG free night awards? When redeeming an IHG free night certificate, you generally don’t have to pay any percentage-based taxes or service charges, since for those purposes the rate is zero. That being said, if there’s a fixed per-night tax or tourism fee, or if there’s a resort or destination fee at the property, you are on the hook for that. The destination fee will typically be listed on the page that displays rates. Use your IHG free night award at the Hotel Indigo Dubai Are IHG cards worth getting for free night awards? The IHG Premier Select Card, IHG Premier Card, and IHG Business Card, offer a variety of valuable perks, which in my opinion more than justify the annual fee. But I’ll take it a step further — with each card I think the free night certificate alone nearly justifies the annual fee, in and of itself. But of course you don’t just have to view it this way, as there are so many other perks to the cards. For example, each offers IHG food & beverage rewards, which can save you on the cost of on property spending at IHG properties quarterly. That very nicely compliments the free night awards, since it lets you get even more value from those stays. Use your IHG free night award at the Kimpton EPIC Miami IHG credit card free night award FAQs How do you earn a free night certificate with an IHG credit card? The IHG One Rewards Premier Select Credit Card, IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card, and IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card, issue free night certificates every year on the account anniversary. Two of the three cards also offer the opportunity to earn an additional free night award with spending. When do IHG credit card free night certificates post to your account? The IHG free night award certificate posts automatically on your card account anniversary, about 12 months after you open the card. You don’t get one in the first year. Meanwhile the spend based certificates typically post within eight weeks of reaching a spending threshold. How long are IHG free night certificates valid? IHG free night award certificates are generally valid for 12 months from the issue date. You must both book and complete your stay by the expiration date, and certificates usually can’t be extended. What hotels can you book with an IHG free night certificate? IHG free night award certificates typically have a maximum value in terms of the number of points of the property. If a hotel costs more, you can redeem additional points to make up the difference. Are there blackout dates for IHG free night certificates? IHG advertises no blackout dates, but availability works differently than at Hilton or Hyatt. Certificates draw from the same inventory as points stays, and IHG sets aside a limited number of rooms for points bookings each night. If you can book a stay with points, you can book it with the certificate, and planning ahead helps. How do you redeem an IHG free night certificate? Log into your IHG One Rewards account, go to “Rewards Wallet,” and select “Book Free Night” under Free Nights and booking rewards. Enter your destination and dates. Eligible hotels show as “Chase Anniversary Night FREE” or as the certificate plus a points top-up. Can you earn more than one IHG free night certificate per year? Yes, between IHG’s credit cards issuing free night awards, it’s potentially possible to earn up to five of these per year. Can you use an IHG free night certificate for someone else? When using an IHG free night award, the reservation must be in the primary cardmember’s name. Some travelers report adding a second guest to the booking, but IHG doesn’t publish this as an official policy. Do you pay taxes and fees on a free night certificate stay? When redeeming an IHG free night award, you usually don’t have to pay any percentage-based taxes or service charges, since the room rate is treated as zero. You will still owe fixed per-night taxes, tourism fees, and any resort or destination fees charged by the property. Is the IHG credit card worth it for the free night certificate alone? Across the board, IHG credit cards represent a great value, thanks to the ongoing perks offered. The free night awards are a major part of the value proposition, and a great incentive to pick up one of these cards. Bottom line There are lots of great perks to the IHG Premier Select Card, IHG Premier Card, and IHG Business Card. However, I’d argue the single best perk is the anniversary free night certificate offered with each card. These can be redeemed at properties costing up to 50,000 to 60,000 points per night. You can even top off these certificates with points, to be able to redeem at more expensive hotels, which greatly minimizes breakage. If you travel with any frequency and stay at IHG properties, then having multiple IHG cards should be a no-brainer. What do you make of the value of IHG’s free night awards?