Card benefits change often, and this page may be out of date by the time you read it. Always check the bank’s page and your card’s guide to benefits for the current terms before you rely on a benefit.
The IHG One Rewards Credit Card (called the IHG One Rewards Traveler until October 2026) is Chase’s no-fee IHG card: no annual fee, a fourth night free on award stays, automatic Silver status, 5 Elite Night Credits a year and 3x on dining, gas and groceries.
The October 2026 refresh renamed it, added grocery stores and the yearly Elite Night Credits, and put a $5,000 annual spend requirement on the fourth night free starting in 2027. It also changed the application rules so that this card and the Premier now block each other. Below is how it earns, what the perks take, the protections in Chase’s own numbers, and my verdict.
IHG One Rewards (no fee) at a glance
- Annual fee: $0
- Current public offer: 125,000 points after $2,000 in purchases in the first 3 months, plus 10,000 points for adding an authorized user (offer listed through November 18, 2026) (as of October 14, 2026, per Frequent Miler)
- Is it the best ever?: As far as I can tell, yes: 125,000 points is the highest offer I’ve found for this card, and it was also available until August 2026. At roughly half a cent a point, that’s about $625 of IHG stays for no annual fee.
- Foreign transaction fee: None
- Best for: People who want IHG points and the fourth night free on award stays without paying an annual fee, and who won’t want the Premier’s anniversary night.
- Skip it if: You stay at IHG at least once a year; the $150 Premier’s anniversary night is worth more than its fee, and because of the new family rule you can’t easily hold both.
- Bank’s page: IHG One Rewards Credit Card on chase.com
Jump to: Highlights · Earning · Credits · Fourth night and status · Insurance · Application rules · My take · The catch · Keep it? · Offer history · Quick Answers
The highlights
- 5x at IHG hotels (up to 17x with membership and Silver), 3x restaurants, gas stations and grocery stores, 3x utilities, internet, cable, phone and select streaming through 12/31/2026 (then 2x), 2x elsewhere
- Fourth night free on award stays of 4+ nights, but from 2027 only after $5,000 of spend in a calendar year
- IHG Silver status; Gold and 10,000 bonus points after $15,000 in a calendar year
- 5 Elite Night Credits when you open the account and each year by February 1
- 30% off IHG points purchases
- $10 monthly Instacart credit while you have Instacart+ (3 months free), DashPass plus $10 off one non-restaurant DoorDash order a month, through 12/31/2027
- Trip cancellation, lost luggage, baggage delay, secondary rental car coverage and purchase protection; no annual fee; no foreign transaction fees
How it earns
| Category | Rate | Caps and fine print |
|---|---|---|
| IHG hotels (booked direct) | 5x | Up to 17x total: 5x card, up to 10x as an IHG member, up to 2x for Silver Elite |
| Restaurants, gas stations and grocery stores | 3x | Restaurants include takeout and eligible delivery; grocery is new in the October 2026 refresh |
| Utilities, internet, cable, phone and select streaming | 3x | Through 12/31/2026 only, then 2x |
| Everything else | 2x | — |
IHG points are worth roughly half a cent each in my eyes, so 3x is about 1.5% back toward IHG stays and 2x about 1%, which is less than a 2% cash back card. They stay active as long as your account has activity at least once every 12 months.
Credits and how to use them
There are no travel credits on this card; the only credits are partner perks that depend on services you may not use.
| Credit | Amount | How often | Where / how | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instacart credit | $10 a month | Monthly | One $10+ Instacart order while you’re an Instacart+ member | Only the first 3 months of Instacart+ are free; after that it renews at $99 a year unless you cancel. Through 12/31/2027; unused months don’t roll over. |
| DoorDash non-restaurant promo | $10 off one order a month | Monthly (quarterly if you activated DashPass before 9/1/2026) | Grocery, convenience and other non-restaurant DoorDash orders with DashPass | Needs its own non-restaurant order each month. Through 12/31/2027. |
| DashPass membership | 12 months free | Once | Activate by 12/31/2027 | Renews at the monthly rate afterward unless you cancel. |
Fourth night free, status and other perks
- Fourth Reward Night free: on a points stay of 4 or more nights in a row at the same hotel, every 4th night is free, with no limit on how many times a year. Starting in 2027 you have to spend $5,000 on the card in a calendar year to unlock it for the rest of that year and the next. It doesn’t apply to paid stays or Points & Cash, and you lose the free night if you cancel or check out early.
- IHG Silver Elite status while you have the card, which adds up to 2 bonus points per dollar on stays (20% on top of the member rate).
- Gold Elite for the rest of that year and all of the next, plus 10,000 bonus points, after $15,000 in purchases in a calendar year.
- 5 Elite Night Credits when you open the account and again by February 1 each year. Elite Night Credits count toward IHG status as if you’d stayed those nights (IHG’s tiers are Silver at 10 nights, Gold at 20, Platinum at 40 and Diamond at 70) and toward IHG’s Milestone Rewards.
- Save at least 30% when you buy IHG points with the card (not combinable with other points sales, and bought points don’t count toward status).
- 10,000 bonus points for adding your first authorized user in the first 3 months.
Insurance and protections
| Benefit | What the bank says |
|---|---|
| Auto rental collision damage waiver | Up to $60,000 for theft and collision damage, secondary in the U.S. (primary outside the U.S. or if you have no other insurance), rentals up to 31 days; you have to decline the rental company’s CDW. This comes from the guide to benefits; the card page doesn’t list it. |
| Trip cancellation / interruption | Up to $5,000 per covered traveler and $10,000 per trip ($20,000 per account per 12 months, per the guide), for prepaid, nonrefundable travel One-way and award tickets: Award trips count: the guide covers trips where all or a portion of the cost is charged to the card or paid with redeemable rewards, so putting award taxes on the card qualifies. It doesn’t mention a round-trip requirement. |
| Trip delay | None |
| Baggage delay | Up to $100 a day for up to 3 days after a 6-hour delay One-way and award tickets: Yes to both: the guide covers round-trip or one-way fares paid all or in part with the card or its rewards. |
| Lost luggage | Up to $3,000 per covered traveler ($2,000 per bag and $10,000 per trip for New York residents) One-way and award tickets: Yes to both, same rule as baggage delay. |
| Travel accident insurance | Up to $500,000 on common carrier trips when all or part of the fare is on the card (per the guide) |
| Roadside assistance | Pay-per-use dispatch at a pre-negotiated price, not free (per the guide) |
| Purchase protection | 120 days, up to $500 per item (90 days for New York residents) |
| Extended warranty | Adds one year to U.S. warranties (up to $10,000 per item), per the guide; the card page doesn’t list it |
The card page lists trip cancellation, baggage delay, lost luggage and purchase protection. The rental car, travel accident, roadside and extended warranty terms, and the one-way and award ticket rules, come from the Guide to Benefits the card page links to (World and World Elite Mastercard, effective 10/01/24). Claims need receipts and the carrier’s or supplier’s documentation.
For how this compares with other cards, see my card travel benefits comparison.
Application rules for this card
- Since the October 2026 refresh, Chase’s page says this card isn’t available if you have any personal IHG card open now (including the Premier), or if you received a new cardmember bonus on any personal IHG card in the last 24 months. So this card and the Premier work like one family: you hold one of them and get one bonus every 24 months (Chase rules).
- The other direction matters too: holding this card blocks you from the Premier, but not from the $350 Premier Select, which is checked on its own. Per One Mile at a Time’s reading of the terms, getting the Premier Select first blocks this card. The IHG business card is checked separately.
- Chase’s 5/24 rule applies: you’ll be denied if you’ve opened 5 or more personal cards from any bank in the last 24 months.
The full rules for every bank are in my credit card application rules guide.
My take
No annual fee, so the real fee is $0 and the 125,000-point bonus (roughly $625 of IHG stays) is pure upside. The fourth night free is the reason to keep it after the bonus, and from 2027 that needs $5,000 of spend a year, which means putting real spending on a card that earns about 1% to 1.5% in my eyes.
The bigger question is the new family rule: holding this card now blocks the Premier, and the Premier’s anniversary night (up to 50,000 points) is worth more than its $150 fee for anyone who stays at IHG once a year. If that’s you, I would get the Premier instead of this card rather than in addition to it.
The catch
There’s no anniversary night, the everyday earning (2x, or about 1% back) is weak, and the 3x on utilities and streaming ends after 2026. From 2027 the fourth night free needs $5,000 of spend in a calendar year, which turns the card’s best perk into a spending requirement.
Holding it blocks you from getting the Premier and its bonus, so a free card can still cost you something.
The Instacart and DoorDash perks only help if you already pay for or use those services, and the Instacart credit needs a $99-a-year membership after the free 3 months. Chase, like other banks with similar hard-to-use credits, hopes that you forget to use these benefits.
Keep it after year one?
The fee is $0, so the only cost of keeping it is that it blocks the Premier. Keep it if you take long IHG award stays and will spend $5,000 a year to keep the fourth night free, or simply to keep the account age. If you’d rather have the Premier’s anniversary night, closing this card is the only way I know of to become eligible again, and only if your last personal IHG bonus was more than 24 months ago.
Offer history
Doctor of Credit’s best-offers list carried a 125,000-point offer on this card (as the Traveler) until it was removed on August 24, 2026, so today’s offer matches it.
Quick Answers
Yes. Chase renamed the IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card to the IHG One Rewards Credit Card in the October 2026 refresh. It still has no annual fee.
As of October 14, 2026 the public offer is 125,000 points after $2,000 in purchases in the first 3 months, plus 10,000 points for adding an authorized user, listed through November 18, 2026.
Yes, on award stays of 4 or more nights in a row. Starting in 2027 you need to spend $5,000 on the card in a calendar year to unlock it for the rest of that year and the next.
Not by applying now. Chase’s page says each of them isn’t available if you hold any personal IHG card or got a personal IHG card bonus in the last 24 months. The $350 Premier Select is checked separately.
No. There’s no anniversary free night; that’s on the $150 Premier (up to 50,000 points) and the $350 Premier Select (up to 60,000 points).
Last checked: October 14, 2026. Card terms change often, so confirm on the bank’s page before you apply. There are no affiliate or referral links on this site, ever; links go to the bank’s own page.