If your holidays lean towards InterContinental, Kimpton or Holiday Inn, a cobranded IHG credit card from Chase can quietly upgrade your stays — think free anniversary nights, elite status and food-and-beverage credit. The catch is that welcome bonuses swing wildly, and applying at the wrong moment can cost you tens of thousands of points. A running analysis by The Points Guy tracks the offer history of Chase's IHG cards to pinpoint when a bonus is actually worth your application.

The sweet spots are clear once you see the numbers. On the $99-a-year entry-level IHG One Rewards card (no annual fee tier at the bottom, Silver Elite status and five elite night credits), the baseline offer has long hovered around 80,000 points after $2,000 of spending in three months. The current offer sits at 125,000 points — roughly $750 by TPG's October 2026 valuations — which matches the card's best-ever level. The advice here: anything near the top of that range is a good time to apply; 80,000 is not.

The $150-a-year IHG One Premier is where things get more interesting. Its welcome offers have bounced between 140,000 and 185,000 points over the past two years, but the all-time best was five free nights worth up to 60,000 points each after $4,000 of spending — a deal worth as much as $1,800 that is no longer live. TPG's rule of thumb: apply when the offer hits at least 170,000 points, whether as raw points or a free night certificate sweetener. The current offer of 180,000 points after $3,000 of spending clears that bar.

For frequent guests, the newest and richest card is the $350-a-year IHG One Premier Select, which launched with 200,000 bonus points after $5,000 of spending in three months — valued at about $1,200. That launch offer is the only one recorded so far, so there's no trend line yet, but it also comes with a free anniversary night worth up to 60,000 points, Platinum Elite status, 20 elite night credits a year and up to $300 annually in quarterly food-and-beverage credits. The Premier, by comparison, gives Gold Elite status, 15 night credits and a smaller anniversary night plus $100 in annual dining credit.

A few caveats matter before you apply. Chase's 5/24-style restrictions can block applications if you've opened too many cards recently, and some of the best historical offers — like those five-free-night deals — have simply disappeared. Welcome bonuses also sometimes come with tiered spending requirements stretched over six months, so read the fine print on the minimum spend before committing. If you're sitting on an application decision, the data suggests waiting for the premium offers rather than grabbing the lowest-tier 80,000-point deals that come around several times a year. For anyone with a few IHG stays planned, timing your application around one of these peak offers could cover a decent chunk of a holiday's hotel bill.