Compare the Features and Benefits of IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card and
World of Hyatt Business Credit Card

The IHG Rewards Traveler Credit Card is IHG’s no-annual-fee credit card. As such, it doesn’t offer the excellent perks that come with the IHG Premier Credit Card — like a free night each account anniversary, automatic Platinum Elite status, and other travel perks.

However, the IHG Traveler Card still offers surprisingly good benefits for a no-annual-fee card. You’ll get IHG Rewards’ intro level Silver Elite status, fourth night free on rewards stays, and a 20% discount on purchases of IHG Rewards points.

Silver Elite status doesn’t offer too many perks — 20% bonus points at IHG hotels and resorts, a shot at late checkout, and not having to worry about point expiration. Cardholders can spend $20,000 in a calendar year to upgrade to Gold Elite status. Gold Elite status includes 40% bonus points at IHG hotels and resorts.

In addition to the sign-up bonus, IHG Rewards Traveler Credit Card cardholders will earn bonus points on IHG hotel stays, dining, gas stations, select streaming services, and utility monthly bills. Cardholders earn 2 points per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases. Considering the IHG Rewards point value is only around 0.4 cents per point, that’s not the best possible return on your other purchases.

So, you might just want to limit using your IHG Traveler Card to IHG hotels and resorts. By charging IHG hotel stays to their IHG Traveler Card, cardholders will earn a total of at least 17 points per dollar spent:

• 5 points per dollar spent by charging the IHG hotel stay to their IHG Traveler Card
• 10 points per dollar spent as an IHG Rewards member.
• 2 bonus points per dollar spent at as Silver Elite (or more if you have a higher tier of IHG Rewards elite status)

For those unfamiliar, the IHG Rewards loyalty program includes a wide range of hotel brands. On the luxury side, you can earn and redeem IHG points at InterContinental Hotels, Kimpton, Hotel Indigo, Six Senses, and Regent Hotels. On the flip side, you can earn and redeem IHG points for stays at Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, Candlewood Suites, and Staybridge Suites. That range of earning and redemption options is truly impressive.

The World of Hyatt business credit card is literally packed with reasons to have it. To me, the main reason is that you can use your business spending to earn elite night credits. For someone that values Globalist status (which is often referred to as the best top tier status of any US hotel chain – with good reason!) and has business with high spend, the ability to earn 5 elite night credits per $10,000 in spend is great.

Keep in mind you’ll also earn 4X World of Hyatt points per dollar spent at Hyatt properties and then 2 points per $1 spent for the top two of the following eight spend categories you spend on each calendar quarter —with no cap: dining; airline tickets purchased directly with the airline; car rental agencies; local transit and commuting; gas stations; internet, cable and phone services; social media and search engine advertising; and shipping.

If you spend a lot on those categories, your $10,000 in spend earns you 20,000 World of Hyatt points (worth about $340 using our own valuations of points and miles) as well as 5 elite status qualifying nights.

One thing to note is that there are other Chase credit cards that earn better for some of the above categories. For instance the Chase Ink Business Preferred earns 3X Chase Ultimate Rewards (which transfer back to the World of Hyatt program 1:1) on all travel (beating 2X on the World of Hyatt Business card for airline and car rental spend) and 3X on internet, cable and phone services; social media and search engine advertising; and shipping. However, that caps out at $150,000 in combined total spend whereas the World of Hyatt business credit card has no cap. You could spend $500,000 on these (top two each quarter, remember) and earn a whopping million points whereas you’d earn significantly less on the Chase Ink Business Preferred due to the $150,000 cap. Basically, you can earn a ton of Hyatt bonus points!

Beyond that, this card offers automatic Hyatt status in the form of Discoverist status. While it’s the lowest elite tier in the World of Hyatt program, it normally would take 10 nights to earn and still offers some nice perks such as premium Internet, complimentary bottled water, a preferred room within your booked category, the ability to earn 1 American Airlines AAdvantage mile per $1 spent at Hyatt (in addition to your Hyatt points), and a 2pm checkout (based on availability). Not only that, but you can “gift” this same Discoverist Hyatt status to up to five employees as well.

And don’t forget, this card gives you access to the Hyatt Leverage program. Hyatt Leverage provides your company with a discount code for stays at a Hyatt property, just like big corporations get! I have personally saved significant money using my own Hyatt Leverage discount.

Another great benefit of this card is the primary car rental CDW / LDW coverage as long as the rental is for business purposes. I really love credit cards with primary CDW insurance because you know you won’t have to involve your personal insurance, potentially owing a deductible, if something happens. I once had a Jaguar I rented from Hertz get keyed in a parking lot and Chase took care of it 100%.

It’s also got some nice protections for items you purchase, with both Purchase Protection (theft or damage to a newly purchased item) and Extended Warranty.

All in all, the World of Hyatt Business credit card is an incredibly well rounded card for those that are loyal to Hyatt and, by extension, the World of Hyatt loyalty program.