40,000 points sign-up bonus for IHG Rewards Club Black Visa still working

On our credit cards pages, I list a link for the IHG Rewards Club Black credit card which shows 40,000 points.  I don’t make a big song and dance about it, because the link was sent out in January and – whilst the web page is still live – it wasn’t clear if it still worked.

I’m pleased to say, though, that it does.

A HFP reader applied for the IHG Rewards Club card at the end of October and just received his first statement.  The 40,000 bonus points posted OK.

For the first year, this card is a pretty good deal:

There is a £99 fee, admittedly

You receive 40,000 IHG Rewards Club points for signing up.  You should be able to get at £200 of value from these for free nights at InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Crowne Plaza, Indigo etc hotels.  If you used them for 8 free nights during the PointBreaks promotions then the value you receive would be off the scale.

The earnings rate is OK.  2 points per £1 on normal spend (worth 1p) and 4 points per £1 on foreign spend (worth 2p).

Importantly, when you spend £10,000 in a year you receive a voucher for a free night at ANY hotel in the IHG group.  I used mine at the InterContinental New York last year, a very nice five-star – see my review.

Given that most Visa and MasterCard options for earning Avios are not great – the Tesco MasterCard is the best option for most at 0.6 Avios per £1, unless you qualify for HSBC Premier – this card is OK.

Putting £10,000 through the card would earn 20,000 IHG points to add to your 40,000 points sign-up bonus.  Used together with the free night voucher, you will have enough for 2 free nights at, say, InterContinental Le Grand in Paris, IC Times Square New York, IC Hong Kong, IC Park Lane London etc – worth at least £500.

Knock off the £99 fee and that is a net return of 4% on your £10,000 of spending.

You also receive Platinum status in IHG Rewards Club for as long as you hold the card.  If you stay at Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, HI Express etc properties on a regular basis, you should find that the £99 fee pays for itself purely for the Platinum card.  (This benefit is not mentioned on the website, but it does exist.)

The link to the 40,000 points sign-up page is here.  Confusingly, the card is still called Priority Club Black Visa despite the rebranding to IHG Rewards Club earlier in the year.

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IHG One Rewards update – April 2024:

Get bonus points: IHG One Rewards is offering 2,000 bonus points for every two cash nights you stay (not necessarily consecutive) between 1st April and 31st May 2024. You can read our full article here and you can register here.

New to IHG One Rewards?  Read our overview of IHG One Rewards here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our article on ‘What are IHG One Rewards points worth?’ is here.

Buy points: If you need additional IHG One Rewards points, you can buy them here.

Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from IHG and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.