IHG Free Night Certificates (2021)
Get Free Hotel Nights with Credit Card Certificates, Guide to the IHG Rewards Club
If you have the IHG Rewards credit card, you will receive a free hotel night every year a few weeks after your account anniversary.
Quick take
Up until recently, the IHG card was a "must have" card. The annual fee was only $49, and the free night could be used at any of their hotels, including a set of luxury InterContinental hotels around the world.
Now, the certificate can only be used for hotels that cost 40,000 points or less per night, substantially limiting the certificate's value. At the same time, the annual fee has risen to $89/year. On the other hand, the certificate can be used pretty much whenever any room is available, even if there is no regular award availability.
Nevertheless, you should still be able to get good value from this card—just not enough to make it a huge priority. There should be good opportunities to use the certificate for nights that are worth $150 to $250 per night. 40,000 IHG points are usually valued at about $200, but the certificate is worth less, because it expires after one year.
You can probably get a more valuable night from the Hyatt certificate, but the IHG certificate is easier to use, because there are around 4,000 eligible hotels, located in every corner of the world.
Existing cardholders of the recently discounted card, can get the new version of the card as well, to get two free nights every year (for a total of $138 in annual fees).
Great places to use your free night
Here are a few articles with ideas for using your certificate:
- The Best Hotels for Redeeming the New IHG Premier Card’s Free Night
- 20 Awesome Hotels You Can Still Book With the IHG Card's Annual Free Night
- Best Use Of Chase IHG Free Night Certificate Post Devaluation
Expiration rules
The stay must be completed within 12 months from the date of issue. Don’t let it expire.
Other details
- If there is a standard room available, they should be bookable with your certificate. The terms of use give IHG the ability to limit the availability of rooms, but in practice, they are easily used—if you can use points, you should be able to use the certificate. And you can often use certificates, even when a room is not available with points.
- You can only use them for standard rooms. That can make it difficult to use at a few aspirational properties.
- You can cancel your free night reservation, subject to the normal cancellation policy of the hotel. If you do, the certificate will be returned to your account.
