The premium IHG Premier Select card from IHG and Chase is perfect for frequent IHG guests, yet also packs enough punch that really anyone can get way more in value than the annual fee.

Highlights:

• Up to $300 a year in Food & Beverage Rewards at IHG properties, issued as $75 at the beginning of each quarter. Unused rewards expire at the end of that quarter.
• A $200 airline statement credit once per calendar year when you make one qualifying flight purchase of more than $250 directly with an airline.
• Up to $50 in United® TravelBank Cash annually, issued as $25 twice a year (and like the current version of the benefit, they’ll expire after roughly 6 months if not used).
• An anniversary free night with a 60,000-point redemption cap. You can add unlimited IHG One Rewards points to book a night above that cap.
• Automatic IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite status and 20 elite night credits each calendar year, plus two more elite night credits for every $5,000 spent on purchases with the card.
• Diamond Elite status after $25,000 in card spending in a calendar year and an additional free night worth up to 60,000 points after $40,000 in card spending in a calendar year.
• A fourth reward night free when you redeem points for four consecutive nights at an IHG hotel.
• 12X points per dollar with the card on eligible IHG hotel purchases (up to 28X total, including on-property points earn). The card earns 6X on dining and other travel, including rideshare, and 3X on other purchases.

It’s worth noting that the included 20 annual elite nights gets you the 20 night Milestone Benefit form IHG One Rewards – and that benefit can be used to choose a Confirmable Suite Upgrade award valid for a stay of up to 5 nights. If a suite is available when IHG confirms your upgrade (beginning at 14 days before your stay), you could use it on an eligible five-night Reward Night stay while the card’s fourth-night-free benefit reduces the points cost to four nights.

All in all, you can be in a suite for up to 5 nights, while paying for just 4 nights in a standard room.

Earn 12X points per dollar with the card on eligible IHG hotel purchases, or up to 28X total, including on-property points earn.

Earn 6X on dining and other travel, including rideshare

Earn 3X on all other eligible purchases.

Earns bonus points for spend in the following bonus categories:

The IHG One Rewards Premier Select World Elite Mastercard® has a $350 annual fee, so the question is whether you will actually use its IHG benefits throughout the year.

For a frequent IHG guest, I think the answer could easily be yes. The card offers an anniversary free night (up to 60,000 points with the option to top off), easy-to-use and useful credits, automatic Platinum Elite status and something I find especially compelling: 20 elite night credits every calendar year that count toward IHG Milestone Rewards.

Those 20 credits get you to the first Milestone Reward choice upon account opening. You can choose 5,000 points, two Food & Beverage Rewards or a Confirmable Suite Upgrade that can be used on an eligible stay of up to five nights. You have to select the upgrade and confirm it under IHG’s booking and availability rules, but that is a huge benefit from this card – every year! It is separate from the complimentary room upgrades that come with Platinum status and depend on availability at check-in, although getting Platinum status with the card is obviously also going to improve your stay.

The credits can make the annual fee work for you, as long as they fit the way you travel.

The Premier Select offers one $200 airline statement credit each calendar year after a single qualifying flight purchase of more than $250 directly with an airline. I like that it’s a direct airline booking you can manage yourself, rather than via a specific portal where the portal owns the booking.

It also provides up to $300 a year in Food & Beverage Rewards at IHG properties, issued as $75 each quarter. Unused quarterly rewards expire, so I would not count the full $300 unless you expect to visit IHG properties regularly. Cardmembers can also receive up to $50 in United® TravelBank Cash, issued as $25 twice a year, issues in January and July and expiring roughly 6 months later. You can generally stack two on one reservation if you time the January credit’s expiration and July credit’s issuance.

If you use the airline credit and all four quarterly Food & Beverage Rewards, their combined face value is $500, more than the $350 annual fee. That is an appealing calculation, but the two benefits are not interchangeable with cash, although I find the airline credit so easy to use that it’s like cash, though the food and beverage rewards require eligible IHG charges within each quarter.

But the statement credits are only half the story.

Each account anniversary brings a free night reward with a 60,000-point redemption cap, though you can add unlimited IHG One Rewards points for a night priced above that cap. Separately, the card provides a fourth reward night free when you redeem points for four consecutive nights. If four-night IHG stays are already part of your travel plans, that benefit can make your points go considerably further.

For spending, the card earns 12X points per dollar with the card on eligible IHG hotel purchases, or up to 28X total, including on-property points earn. It earns 6X on dining and other travel, including rideshare, and 3X on other purchases. Using our 0.4-cent estimate for an IHG point, 6X represents roughly 2.4 cents in estimated redemption value per dollar spent. Your actual value will depend on how you redeem the points.

Card spending can also lead to bigger IHG benefits.

The Premier Select awards two additional elite night credits for every $5,000 in purchases. Spend $25,000 in a calendar year and you can earn Diamond Elite status; spend $40,000 and you can earn an additional free night worth up to 60,000 points, with the option to add points above the cap.

Diamond status from spending does not grant the 70-night Milestone Rewards, so I would keep the status benefit and the elite night credits separate when deciding whether that spending makes sense.

Compared with the $150 IHG One Rewards Premier World Elite Mastercard®, the Premier Select costs $200 more each year. In return, it offers up to $300 more across the airline and Food & Beverage benefits if you use them all, a 60,000-point rather than 50,000-point anniversary free night cap, automatic Platinum instead of Gold, and 20 rather than 15 annual elite night credits. The Premier Select also earns more on eligible IHG purchases, dining and other travel, while Premier has stronger bonus categories for gas stations and grocery stores.

Bottom line:

The Premier Select makes the strongest case for someone who stays with IHG often enough to use the quarterly rewards, values the 20-night Milestone choice and can put the anniversary free night to good use. I would be more cautious if your IHG stays are occasional or you are considering $25,000 in spending solely to earn Diamond. But for the traveler this card is built for, there is a lot here to justify the annual fee and a place in your wallet.