Your final answer to the IHG Rewards Club Premium Mastercard free night question

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• Robbie says:

  4 Jul4 July 07:38

  How’s best to use Curve for foreign spend and earn 4 points per pound? Add it and amend currency to dollars? Is there a way of amending currency into dollars and using it in the UK?

  • Genghis says:

    4 Jul4 July 08:23

    I presume you’re on about linking Curve to IHG card? I’m not sure how this would work as you have to physically be abroad to get the 4 IHG points. I.e. I bought something for work from a foreign supplier in a foreign currency but only got 2 IHG points / £.

    Not sure why you would even want to do this given the net flat vs net 1% loss.

  • Alan says:

    4 Jul4 July 10:44

    There’s no point trying to get the 4x earning rate for foreign spend as that means you’re then incurring 3% forex fee, which wipes out the benefit (unless someone else picking up the tab).

  • Alex W says:

    4 Jul4 July 11:51

    If you spend on IHG card in a foreign currency it should incur a 3% FX fee from Creation, regardless of going via Curve or spending directly. So in this instance there is no benefit in using Curve.

• jarvester says:

  4 Jul4 July 07:43

  If you cancel and reapply can you get the sign up bonus again? Is there a wait period you need to observe? Thanks

  • Rob says:

    4 Jul4 July 08:09

    Not clear yet (card is only a year old).

• Ian says:

  4 Jul4 July 07:45

  O/T But regarding the HSBC Premier World Elite. I called HSBC yesterday about the 2nd bonus as I hit the £12k spend mark on my March statement (opened the account in December) and have not received the bonus. They refused to admit there is an error on the terms & conditions and offered me no compensation whatsoever.

• Jovanna says:

  4 Jul4 July 07:46

  If this card comes with Platinum status, how many points are required to Spire? Is it the difference between Platinum and Spire or are you starting from scratch?

  • Beefy says:

    4 Jul4 July 07:50

    Scratch. Full 75,000. However the bonus points from the card count towards it so you could argue it’s only 35,000 (less after spending)

    • Felix Flyer says:

      4 Jul4 July 07:54

      I don’t think the 40000 bonus points count towards Spire, only the points for spend. That was certainly the case for my card.

      • Rob says:

        4 Jul4 July 08:09

        Correct. Only spend counts, not the bonus.

        • Genghis says:

          4 Jul4 July 08:24

          So only £37.5k spend for SE.

      • Roger says:

        4 Jul4 July 08:44

        Bonus points do not count.
        Bonus points earned as part of bonus points paid package for hotel stays would count though.

• Paul says:

  4 Jul4 July 08:05

  If only Hilton Barclaycard had a similar offering of a free night when you hit £10k each year I would be all over that !

  • Rob says:

    4 Jul4 July 08:11

    As a commercial proposition (for Barclays) the Hilton card is so stupid it beggars belief. Creation (well, Barclaycard who devised it) really nailed it.

  • Alan says:

    4 Jul4 July 10:45

    Yes, the first year benefit is amazing – free night after £750 – but then in subsequent years it’s rubbish! I’ve churned it a few times but am slightly worried about doing so again in case I can’t get it (as Barclaycard are a bit random with their approvals for this card in my past experience!)

• Toby Hucker says:

  4 Jul4 July 08:08

  Mildly OT: Is anyone having problems getting the full 40,000 intro bonus points? I’ve had 20,000 posted to my account but when querying the other half and their whereabouts I was told:

  ” Thank you for your email dated 22 June 2017 regarding points on your IHG MasterCard.

  I confirm 24,078 points transferred to IHG rewards on the 23 May 2017.

  If you have received a communication from us regarding the bonus points they will transfer to IHG rewards at a later date.”

  Later date?!

  • Genghis says:

    4 Jul4 July 08:27

    Has it been 3 statement months and have you triggered all statements? I applied for the White card and spent £200 and got the 10k IHGs initial bonus. I then did not spend on the card in month 2. Month 3 I spent £1 and a statement was generated along with the extra 10k IHG bonus.

    • john says:

      4 Jul4 July 09:29

      On my white I had 10k on first statement, contacted them querying missing 2nd 10k, they said it would come on next statement (although I had spent on the card)

  • Charlie says:

    4 Jul4 July 09:14

    Though it may not be helpful the full 40,000 for the black and 20,000 for the white cards posted for me on the first statement.

    • Alan says:

      4 Jul4 July 10:47

      LOL lucky you 😀 For most of us it’s taken until statement 3, and I think we’ve also all put through initial transaction upon receiving card (to trigger first amount) and then put through another one to trigger statement 3. Not sure of anyone that received the second tranche without generating a 3rd statement from a small spend.

      • Liz says:

        4 Jul4 July 13:05

        My hubby got the 20k bonus twice on his card. I got my 40k after month 1 in March and month 3 in May – last week I got a text from IHG saying I had reached the qualifying spend and 40k will be added to my account – not sure if this is a really late message or if I will get the points again at the next statement – I don’t normally receive texts from IHG so not sure it’s legit! Watch this space!

        • Alan says:

          4 Jul4 July 13:08

          I got the same text but assumed it was just late as it came a few days after second tranche of 10k. Sadly only got 10k first month too so no mega free double up for me lol.

        • Liz says:

          4 Jul4 July 13:28

          I’m glad i wasn’t the only one to get the text – it’s odd it came 6 wks after my second batch of bonus pts – will see on 24th when my next statement posts.

  • Tobeman says:

    4 Jul4 July 14:11

    Thanks all – I’ve had 3 statements (last came in 2 weeks ago) and still waiting unfortunately. Will give it another month and chase but the Creation Customer Services do seem truly inconsistent.

    • Alan says:

      4 Jul4 July 14:31

      Hmm – did you have spend on the 3rd statement, or was it just an empty one from clearing the balance from a previous month?

• CV3V says:

  4 Jul4 July 08:08

  For me, I really don’t get the point of this card, have IHG Spire status (which I now maintain without making any stays) and yet IHG are at the bottom of the hotel pile for where I stay due to the randomness of the status benefits and on points redemption even less benefits. Points earning through promos such as Accelerate means it’s easy to earn points which in turn weakens the value of the IHG points earned on card spend and the voucher. I would much rather commit my credit card spend to earn points for a hotel scheme with better and consistent status benefits, or put the £10k spend through a BAPP and earn 15,000 avios (which is always of better value to me for long haul 241 bookings).

  • Roger says:

    4 Jul4 July 08:40

    I kind of agree.
    Never makes sense for me to redeem points as cash value always seem cheaper and as a result have built up healthy balance. I can’t value IHG points more than .33p

    • CV3V says:

      4 Jul4 July 10:23

      I built up 250,000 IHG points with little effort and repeatedly cancelling points bookings when the cash rate was better value. Current intention is to blow the lot at IC Strings in Tokyo (already found somewhere outside for breakfast).

      The most satisfying IHG experience I have had was the time I was being checked in when a suited chap effectively pushed in presenting his gold IHG card and asking to check in. The staff asked him to wait, and then informed me of my Spire benefits.

  • Leo says:

    4 Jul4 July 08:58

    Completely subjective – if you are paying your tax and VAT on a card then this can be no brainer. I hit the target without putting any day to day spend on it. I just pay my tax. I “feel” as though I am spending £99 for an IHG night – this year I used it for Le Grand in Paris, the nightly rate on Hotels.com was £380. My other alternatives would be to use a Hilton card to get gold status at 10K spend (which I don’t need as am diamond) and a one-off certificate or maybe the Lloyds 7K voucher which I think would be a bit of a faff for me as I’m not a single traveller….

    • CV3V says:

      4 Jul4 July 10:04

      Hilton Gold status via Amex Plat benefits, combine with Hilton Barclaycard and get a free night voucher after spending £750. As others have said, the Barclaycard can seemingly be churned and keep getting a free night voucher. Then voucher or points booking combined with Gold (or Diamond) status and you get free breakfast (guaranteed) and lounge access (if Diamond).

      Used the above approach for a free night at Conrad London, excellent room, lounge and breakfast. An IHG redemption would never have come close.

      • Genghis says:

        4 Jul4 July 10:07

        So you can spend £750 on the Hilton card and get the free night benefit and can then churn this say once a year. But what do you do after spending the £750 on the Hilton card? Continue to spend on the Hilton card earning 0.6% return or spend on the IHG black card (assuming year 2 so no bonus) earning 2.5% return? The two schemes and cards are not mutually exclusive.

• rams1981 says:

  4 Jul4 July 09:12

  OT with supercard going, if you don’t have a lloyds card what’s the other alternatives? Curve charges 1% right

  • Alan says:

    4 Jul4 July 10:50

    Yep. Lots of fee-free options (PO, Halifax, Revolut, Monzo, etc.) but if you want points abroad then Lloyds is the main one really (or suck up the 1% Curve fee, can still be worth depending upon earnings rate of the card you link it to).

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