Compare the Features and Benefits of IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card and
United℠ Business Card

The IHG One Premier Credit Card can justify its place in any traveler’s wallet.

After earning the excellent sign-up bonus, cardholders continue to be rewarded with IHG Gold Elite status, an annual free night award worth up to 50,000 points, your fourth reward night free on a reward stay of four or more consecutive nights, $100 back on $250.01 or more booked directly with any airline, $50 per calendar year (two $25 credits per half year) in United TravelBank Cash, and a Global Entry/TSA PreCheck/NEXUS application fee credit.

The $150 annual fee is instantly brought down to $50 in my book with the airline credit. It’s just to easy to use when it’s $100 back on $250.01 or more booked directly with any airline.

And then you also get 15 elite night credits (meaning only 5 more for a choice of a Confirmable Suite upgrade…) and the free night reward worth up to 50,000 points (conservatively worth $200 at a low 0.4cpp valuation of IHG points).

That’s before the stack of other benefits like DoorDash, Instacart, Global Entry / PreCheck / Nexus reimbursement, etc.

Those perks easily justify the annual fee, even if you use a more rewarding card for everyday spending.

Cardholders earn bonus points in a variety of categories, including 10X IHG points on eligible purchases at IHG hotel brands and 5X points on flights booked directly, car rentals, dining, grocery stores & gas. All other purchases earn 3X points.

MilesTalk values IHG Rewards points at 0.4 cents each. That means IHG Premier Card cardholders can expect an approximate return of around 4% on spending at IHG Hotels and 1.2% on other purchases.

For those unfamiliar with IHG Rewards, the IHG Rewards program includes hotel brands like InterContinental Hotels, Six Senses, Kimpton, and Hotel Indigo on the luxury end and Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn, and Staybridge Suites for more practical stays.

For travelers that generally stay at least four nights, the IHG One Premier Card’s fourth-night free benefit can save you a bunch of points. All you need to do is book at least four consecutive nights at an IHG hotel using your IHG Rewards points. And IHG will automatically discount one night to zero points — giving you a free reward night.

You’ll get this perk whether you’re staying at a practical Holiday Inn or staying at ultra-luxurious InterContinental Hotels.

So is the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card worth it?

If you stay at IHG even a handful of times a year, it’s hard not to appreciate the value, especially when it makes it so easy to stack up Elite Night Credits with the card.

• 15 Elite Night Credits that come with the card each year.
• Then earn 2 Elite Night Credits for every $5,000 spent on purchases with your card.
• And then earn 5 Elite Night Credits (ENC) after you spend $25,000 on purchases each calendar year as a head start towards a Milestone Reward and your next status tier faster. These 5 ENC are in addition to the 2 ENC you receive for every $5,000 you spend on your card.
• These qualify towards Milestone Rewards

Elite credits qualify you for Milestone Rewards (and of course, you can earn enough for Diamond status which requires 70 elite nights in a calendar year). For example:

• 20 nights: Choose one of 5,000 bonus points, two Food & Beverage Rewards, or one Confirmable Suite Upgrade.
• 30 nights: Choose 5,000 bonus points or two Food & Beverage Rewards.
• 40 nights: Choose two rewards from 10,000 bonus points, five Food & Beverage Rewards, one Confirmable Suite Upgrade, and an Annual Lounge Membership. You can choose the suite upgrade and lounge membership as your two rewards.

From the 15 ENCs granted with the card and just 5 more from IHG brand hotel stays or card spend, you can pick a Confirmable Suite Upgrade. That gets you a suite upgrade for up 5 nights. After choosing a Confirmable Suite Upgrade, book an eligible stay of up to five nights, then call IHG between 14 days and 24 hours before check-in to request the upgrade, subject to suite availability. It can be used on a Reward Night stay with the card’s fourth-night-free benefit.

The $150 annual fee doesn’t seem like much when you get the $100 airline credit, the annual free night up to 50,000 points, the 15 elite night credits, the Gold status, and the quarterly Food and Beverage credits at IHG ($25 per quarter). In fact, I think quite a good deal.

If you want Platinum status right off the bat, you could consider the IHG One Premier Select Credit Card or the IHG One Premier Business Credit Card.

If you’re a business owner contemplating on getting a personal United credit card, it’s worth taking a closer look at the United Business Card first.

Cardholders earn 2x unlimited miles on a diverse range of bonus categories, including United purchases (which includes United flights, seat upgrades, wifi or onboard purchases), dining including eligible delivery services, gas stations, office supply stores, and local transit and commuting. All other purchases accrue 1x miles. And don’t forget, beyond the initial hard inquiry when applying for a business card, it won’t report to your personal credit as long as you remain in good standing.

The annual fee is $150 (occasionally waived for the first year, based on the bonus offer being offered at the time, although the offers that waive the annual fee the first year also generally offer less miles.)

Fortunately, maximizing the card is effortless thanks to its number of tangible benefits. You can get every first checked bag free on United flights and even earn an annual $125 United credit after purchasing five United flight purchases. Coupled with the opportunity to enter the United Club twice per year ($59 value each time), that’s roughly a $200+ value off the bat toward travel.

Then you have the rideshare benefits ($8 back as a statement credit each month from January through November and up to $12 back for the month of December. Yearly opt-in is required.) for up to $100 a year back and then perhaps less commonly used perks like the credits for FareLock, United Hotels, JSX, and Instacart.

Other non-tangible, yet equally useful, benefits that the United Business Card provides include priority boarding, a 25% discount on inflight purchases, and the ability to earn Premier Qualifying Points every year from spend (see the next paragraph for details). Depending on how often you’re flying United every year, these perks offer elite-like benefits just by holding this card.

And don’t forget the ability to earn PQPs towards elite status from spend. You’ll earn 1 PQP for every $20 you spend on purchases with your Business Card – up to 4,000 PQPs per year.

If you were purely looking to earn United miles, however, you might well do better with the Chase Ink Business Preferred® Card which would earn 3X Chase Ultimate Rewards points on the first $150,000 spent on all travel purchases, has similar trip protections, and its points transfer 1:1 to United – but also to more than a dozen other airline and hotel partners.

We have a detailed comparison of the United Business Card vs. the Chase Ink Business Preferred Card.

Chase is the issuer of this business card and is quite generous when it comes to providing travel and purchase coverages with high limits. Plus, Chase tends to offer partner benefits exclusively for cardholders.