Another uncapped free night: Chase and IHG do the right thing

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Good news for IHG Rewards Club Select credit card holders: Chase and IHG have decided to honor the annual free night certificate that comes with this credit card at any property in the world for all certificates issued by May 1st 2019. This card is no longer available for new applications, but if your card recently renewed or will renew between now and next May, your certificate will be valid at any IHG property worldwide.

a bed with a white and black patterned headboard
Use your next certificate issued before May 1st 2019 at any IHG property, including a Kimpton.
You might remember that a few weeks ago, it was announced that the annual free night certificate that comes with the IHG Rewards Club Select Credit Card would now be capped for use at properties that charge up to 40,000 IHG Rewards Club points per night. The announcement was unexpected and the rollout of the change was haphazard at best. There was quite a bit of confusion as IHG originally announced that only certificates issued before May 1st, 2018 would be honored anywhere in the world. They later said that those who signed up between January 1st and May 1st 2018 would receive one uncapped certificate at first renewal. That was strange because it left anyone who had opened the card between May 1st of last year and December 31st of last year without ever receiving an uncapped certificate. As all of those people presumably signed up under the understanding that they would receive an uncapped certificate at first anniversary, it seemed strange to exclude them from the benefit.

Thankfully, IHG and Chase are doing the right thing here by giving everyone a year’s notice and therefore a chance at one more uncapped certificate (as announced in this tweet). That’s good news for many of us who have anniversary dates before May 1st as not only was our certificate this year uncapped, but we will receive another certificate valid at any IHG property worldwide next year as well.

 

It really seems that this is how Chase / IHG should have handled it from the get-go, but it’s good to see that they were responsive to feedback and did right by card holders.

Note that of course this change does not apply to holders of the new IHG Rewards Club Premier or IHG Rewards Club Traveler cards. Those cards still come with an annual certificate valid at any property that charges up to 40,000 points for a free night.

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