Are The NEW IHG Credit Cards Worth It?

So I'm going to launch into a slightly different style of video today. This is going to be my reaction to Chase and IHG's new credit card lineup. Inside we've got a lot. We'll talk about the $0 newly refreshed IHG card. IHG's also refreshed another one of their cards at the $150 price point now. And then we have a brand new premium card launching from IHG. This is the IHG One Rewards Premier Select World Elite Mastercard. For all three of these cards, I'll talk to you exactly about what their key benefits are and what they'll actually earn you if you're spending on them. And I'll give you my grades for the card and tell you where exactly I'm seeing value or what we're really missing with this whole lineup. We're going to look at what all three bring to the table. I'll start with IHG's lowest annual fee card and we'll work our way up to the new premium offering that they've just debuted. You'll see how the benefits stack and then I'll tell you my reaction to them and where I'm actually grading all three out at. First up, we've got the IHG One Rewards World Elite Mastercard. Now note, this was formerly known as the IHG One Rewards Traveler card. New name, but a lot of the same structure. Again, $0 annual fee. It's the only card in three card personal lineup that does come with a $0 annual fee. You'll earn in three different ways on the card. First off, when you're spending on IHG properties, you'll get 17x points back. That breaks down to 10x points from being an IHG member, 5x points from holding the credit card yourself, and 2x points from being a Silver Elite member, which comes guaranteed as soon as you're accepted for the card. You'll also earn 3x in dining, gas, and grocery, and 2x points back in everything else. Now, quick note about IHG points and their valuations. When you're spending on this card and earning points to eventually redeem at IHG properties, a typical IHG point is worth about 0.6 cents apiece. That means if you're spending in that 3x category and you're trying to get a cash value for kind of what that means, well, that's worth about 1.8% back on those dollars that you're spending in to be redeemed then later on for IHG properties. It's a little complicated to get your mind around, but once you're used to it, it becomes really easy. I'll point out the good and bad values as we go, so that'll just make things easier on your side. Now, this card being the intro card in the lineup doesn't have a lot of benefits. As I've already said, it comes with Silver Elite status, which is their lowest level of status. There are no good benefits included in there, in my opinion, but you do get 2 p.m. late checkout. You'll get five Elite Night credits, and the traditional book three nights on points, get your fourth night free. However, with this card, it's now got some terms and conditions. Even though you're holding the $0 annual fee IHG card, to get this benefit triggered, you have to spend $5,000 first on the card. When you do, that book three nights, get your fourth free, will trigger for the rest of the year that you've earned it in, plus the entire subsequent year. However, this is a downgrade from the last version of the card, where just by holding it, you'd get that full benefit automatically with no spend requirement. Let's move up the ladder and look at the IHG OneRewards Premier World Elite Mastercard. This card used to be in at $99, but now we're looking at, of course, an annual fee increase up to $150. However, with that, you'll earn a lot more when you spend. You'll get 24x back at IHG properties. This is 10x from being an IHG member. 10x from holding the card, and 4x back from your Gold Elite status that's granted automatically with the card. You'll also get 5x back in flights booked directly, rental cars, and then dining, gas, and groceries. This card earns a flat 3x back on everything else. Now, in terms of earnings, you're looking a lot better. I'd like to note when you're spending in that 5x category, if you're taking the commonly accepted value for IHG points, well, that's about 3% return on spend for every dollar you do in those categories, and that's really not bad. Let's talk benefits. This card really starts to turn things up. You've got your anniversary free night. It's valued at 50,000 points that you're allowed to pick a room in, and you can top that off with your own points if you need to. However, this benefit does not trigger until your card member anniversary, which means that if you're getting this card, well, it's going to be into year two when you get your first free night award certificate, so keep that in mind. However, in the meantime, you'll also get a whole bunch of other benefits triggering automatically. You have a $100 annual food and beverage credit. This is an on-property credit, and it's divided into $25 quarterly amounts. You also get some airline credits, an $100 airline credit when you book at least $250 in flights. You also get $50 in United Travel Bank cash, although this is not some gift card that can stack infinitely as long as you're holding the card. It's divided into two, and then that credit expires essentially six months after you get it loaded. The card comes with a credit for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry. It also comes with the Gold Elite status that I mentioned previously. Not a ton in there either, but you do get Hertz five-star status in addition to the late checkout, which are the two most valuable perks that I see in that benefit list. You get 15 elite night credits, and the standard book three nights get the fourth night free. Now, let's move on to the brand new release, the IHG One Rewards Premier Select World Elite Mastercard. This card comes in with the highest annual fee at $350, but if you're comparing to, say, Marriott's top card, the Bonvoy Brilliant, or Hilton's top card, the Aspire, those cards carry $650 and $550 annual fees respectively, so the Premier Select looks relatively normal in comparison. This card will earn you 28x back when booking at IHG Properties, and part of that comes from your automatic Platinum Elite status. You'll also get 6x back on dining, all other travel and rideshare purchases, and 3x flat back on everything else you buy. Let's talk premium benefits. You'll get an anniversary free night, same terms and conditions as the previous card, doesn't trigger until year two, but the cap is lifted by 10,000 points. Any room under 60k points is yours for free, and you do still have the ability to top off. You'll get a $300 food and beverage credit, again, on property, but this one's divided quarterly into $75 increments. You'll get a $200 airline credit, minimum booking, again, $250, no dividing throughout the year, and the same $50 in United Travel Bank cash for the same conditions as mentioned before. Platinum Elite status, now we're still talking, but it's only the second highest level status, so good, but still not life-changing in my opinion. Here, you'll get Hertz five-star status, some complimentary upgrade potential, and a welcome amenity to check in are some of the bigger benefits in that status level. You'll get a TSA PreCheck credit, 20 Elite Nights automatically, which is enough for your first milestone at IHG. Milestones allow you to pick additional rewards based on how many nights you're staying, and this card already triggers the first one for you. And last but not least, of course, it does include, they book three nights, get the fourth night when booking on points for free. All right, now that you know what each card brings to the table, let me give you my reaction and rating for what each card can do. As I talk through these cards, I want you to keep in mind that if you haven't watched this channel before, I mostly speak from the perspective of someone looking for really good value. That means I want my credit cards to give me way more out in monetary value on the other side than I'm paying in as a loyal card holder. With that being said, let's grade them out. First of all, that $0 annual fee card. This card receives an F. Simply put, this card lost the biggest aspect that would have made it decently valuable in the past, and that's the ability to simply hold it, book three nights on points, and get the fourth night free. Adding a spending requirement to trigger that kind of defeats the purpose of this card because I really wouldn't recommend spending a ton on it in the first place anyways. However, the one thing I'll note is during this limited launch period celebration, there were some insane welcome offers on all of these cards. The launch signup bonus, which I'm personally valuing at $750, that is no joke and maybe better than anything I've seen on a $0 hotel card. So keep that in mind if you're at least considering this card. This could be the time to jump on it. Let's look at the Premier World Elite MasterCard, the $150 offering. At a minimum, so many of you guys will be able to use this as a keeper card. That anniversary free night. Now it's in year two, but once it starts rolling, that will pay for the card itself. Most hotel rooms these days are at least $150. And if you use that towards a nicer one, well, you're already in the surplus territory. However, in the first year, the nice welcome bonus will tide you over until that benefit starts to kick in and keeps on rolling. Now there's a few benefits I don't value a ton, but it may give some of you some additional surplus. That's the food and beverage credit. Nice to have, but $25 isn't a ton and you're not really relying on that for serious value. The United Travel Bank and TSA PreCheck is available on so many cards these days that you probably already have one that is giving you that. However, I really like the $100 airline credit. That is pretty much guaranteed money back if you're at least flying once a year. And the spending multiplier in the 5X category has some really valuable spending options and you can earn some serious points just using your IHG card selectively in only those areas. Now the new card, the Premier Select World Elite MasterCard, $350 is again, not a price tag that scares me away. And overall, I give this card a strong B plus. Here's how I see it working best. The biggest ad's right off the top to work down the annual fee. Let's talk about the anniversary free night. Already spoke to it, but if you at least assign it a value of $150, we've got an effective $200 left to work down on the card. Coincidentally, that's exactly what that airline credit is valued at. If you stay once and fly once in the year, which could happen in the same trip, boom, your annual fee is covered. Now let's talk about the surplus value that most people will get after wiping out both of those, which really should be no problem if you're really looking at this card. I think the biggest opportunity for surplus value is actually in that food and beverage property credit. This goes up to $75. At $25 on the lower version of the card, well, at a more expensive property, it's not gonna get you very far, but this could get you a full meal for maybe multiple people and definitely multiple runs for beverages, snacks, drinks, et cetera. Everything else in this card, I'm not valuing a super ton, but for some of you, it may add just a nice little flare to make things better. The travel bank cash, the TSA pre-check credit, and the Platinum Elite status is gonna be good, but not life-changing. I think things like the milestone benefit triggering automatically are really cool, could be fun, and this card is definitely one for someone who's confident they will travel and fly at least once a year and then want some of those extra perks on top. Here's my final breakdown in short. The $0 card, stay away from it. There's pretty much no use. $150 card is my personal favorite just by a bit because for pure value, what you spend versus what you're gonna get out, that one just mathematically works out the best for most people. And then the $350 Premier Select card, that one is just a tick, and I mean a sliver below in terms of grade value, but you're gonna get your money back and then you're gonna get all these little benefits on top, which for some people, that is definitely the way you wanna go because you love and enjoy those experiences. Now, I hope you enjoyed the breakdown. I will have more to come on these with how they compare, stack up in the market, every different way to twist so much more value out of them than just the initial launch video, but appreciate you guys sticking around. Let me know what you think about these cards down below in the comments. Definitely an exciting day for credit card enthusiasts out there and certainly for IHG fans as well.