One of the best perks of the Chase IHG Premier and Chase IHG Traveler credit cards is the ability to get a fourth night free when using your IHG Rewards points.
You can also use this benefit unlimited times to save you thousands of points each year.
How to Book an IHG Fourth Night Free
To book your free night, you need to log into your IHG account tied to your IHG Premier or Traveler card. If you just got your card, you may have to wait a few days for it to become linked to your account.
After signing into your account, try booking a stay of four or more consecutive nights. You should see the fourth night free displayed on the payment screen, as long as you have enough points for three nights.
In the situation below, the first two nights are 21,000 points, the third night was 25,000 points, and the fourth night would have been 25,000 points, if not for the fourth night free.
You can try to use IHG’s new dynamic award pricing to your advantage by booking the first few nights at lower rates and then using your 4th free night when the points price is higher.
This 4th-night free benefit also works in multiples of four (8th, 12th, 16th) for free nights, so you don’t have to go through the hassle of booking multiple stays on an 8+ night hotel stay.
However, the 4th-night free benefit only applies if there is the availability to use points to book the entire stay. If one of the nights, including the 4th night, is unavailable on points, you cannot use the benefit.
You can also not take advantage of the 4th-night free benefit on stays where you are combing points and an annual free hotel night certificate.
Chase IHG Premier vs. Chase IHG Traveler
The Chase IHG Rewards Premier and Chase IHG Rewards Traveler card both offer the fourth night free benefit.
I prefer the Premier card, which has an $89 annual fee, over the no annual fee Traveler card for several reasons:
- The Premier card typically offers a much better sign-up bonus.
- A free annual hotel night (likely worth at least $100).
- Valuable IHG Platinum elite status (versus less useful Gold Elite status with the Traveler card).
- An extra 5x points at IHG Hotels over the Traveler card.
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck fee credit.
Stacking with 10% Points Rebate
The fourth-night free benefit will also stack with the 10% points rebate from the old IHG Rewards Club Select credit card.
That card is no longer available for new sign-ups, but many people, including myself, hold both the IHG Select and the IHG Premier card to take advantage of the 10% rebate on top of the fourth night free.
For example, in the 67,000 point booking above, the IHG Select card would rebate 6,700 points to your IHG account on top of the 25,000 point savings from the fourth night free, for a total savings of 31,700 points.
The Verdict
IHG’s fourth night free is a great way to save points on longer award stays, especially if you can use your free night when the dynamic pricing is its’ highest level.
The best way to take advantage of the fourth night free is with the Chase IHG Rewards Premier because of its valuable benefits.
