Chase Introduces New IHG One Rewards Premier Select Credit Card and Refreshes the Portfolio

Chase and IHG announced a full overhaul of the IHG One Rewards credit card lineup on October 1, 2026: a brand-new Premier Select card at the top, and real changes — some good, some not — across all three existing cards. If you hold any of these cards today, the fine print is worth reading before your next renewal.

The New Card: IHG One Rewards Premier Select

The Premier Select Card carries a $350 annual fee and sits above the existing Premier card as IHG’s new top consumer product. Chase says it’s worth over $1,000 in first-year value. Key benefits:

• Up to $300 in annual Food & Beverage Rewards ($75 per quarter)
• $200 annual airline statement credit
• Up to $50 in United TravelBank Cash
• Anniversary Free Night, redeemable up to a 60,000-point category (you can top up with your own points for pricier hotels)
• Up to 28X total points on IHG stays, 6X on dining and other travel, 3X on everything else
• Automatic Platinum Elite status
• 20 Elite Night Credits every calendar year, plus 2 more for every $5,000 spent
• 4th Reward Night Free when you redeem points for a consecutive 4-night stay

Annual Fees: What’s Changing

Standard Card (Formerly Traveler): What Changed

Still no annual fee, but the mix of benefits shifted:

• Added: 5 Elite Night Credits every calendar year, and 3X points on grocery store purchases.
• Changed: the 4th Reward Night Free benefit is no longer automatic on every qualifying redemption — it now requires $5,000 in annual spend to unlock.
• Changed: the spend threshold for automatic Gold Elite status dropped from $20,000 to $15,000 in annual purchases.

Premier Card: What Changed

• Added: up to $100 in quarterly IHG Food & Beverage Rewards, a $100 annual airline statement credit (requires $250+ in flight spend to trigger), a bigger anniversary Free Night cap (40,000 → 50,000 points), and 15 Elite Night Credits a year plus 2 more per $5,000 spent.
• Removed: automatic Platinum Elite status is gone — new Premier cardholders get Gold Elite instead. Existing Premier holders keep Platinum through the end of 2027 before the downgrade applies to them too.

That last change is the one to pay attention to: if automatic Platinum was the main reason you held the Premier card, the $51 fee increase comes with a real benefit cut, not just added credits.

Business Card: What Changed

• Added: up to $100 in quarterly F&B rewards, a $100 airline statement credit, a $100 Expensify credit, a bigger anniversary Free Night cap (40,000 → 50,000 points), and 15 Elite Night Credits a year.
• Removed: the United TravelBank Cash benefit is discontinued after December 31, 2026. Office supply store bonus categories are also narrowed.
• Unchanged: automatic Platinum Elite status stays intact on the Business card.

Welcome Offers (Through November 18, 2026)

Timeline for Existing Cardholders

If you already hold a Premier or Business card, Chase is sending notifications in October 2026 detailing your new benefits. The annual fee increases don’t hit existing cardholders until 2027 — you won’t see the higher fee on your next statement, only at your next renewal in 2027. That gives current holders a window to decide whether the added credits are worth the higher cost, or whether it’s time to downgrade or cancel before the new fee applies.

Is It Worth It?

It depends entirely on which card and whether you’ll actually use the new credits. On the Premier card, the added F&B and airline credits can offset the $51 fee increase if you use them — but losing automatic Platinum is a real downgrade if status was the point of holding the card. On the Business card, the fee more than doubled while the United TravelBank Cash benefit disappears entirely, so the new credits need to get used to make the math work. The new Premier Select card is the one genuinely new option — worth a look if you want Platinum status and bigger annual credits and are fine paying $350 a year for them.

Bottom Line

This is the biggest shake-up to the IHG–Chase card lineup in years: a new top-tier card, real fee increases on both paid cards, and a mix of added credits against some cut benefits. See our full comparison of IHG credit cards for how these stack up against each other once the new terms take effect, and don’t let the October notification sit in your inbox unread if you’re deciding whether to keep a Premier or Business card past your next renewal.

Frequently Asked Questions