Update 10/3/26: Chase has confirmed that the annual fee will be increasing to $99. Free night certificate will now be good on properties costing up to 50,000 points per night and Platinum status & rebate will remain. Terms seem to indicate you’ll be able to top it off, but that hasn’t been confirmed with Chase yet.
Chase issues and manages a legacy IHG card (no longer available to new cardholders) called Chase IHG Select (not to be confused with the new IHG Premier Select with a $350 annual fee). When the product was discontinued in 2018 many cardholders opted to keep the card as it has a $49 annual fee and good benefits such as a free night certificate, platinum status & 10% rebate. When changes to other existing IHG cards were announced there was no information about what would happen to the IHG select legacy card.
Update: Removing rumor as we now have a copy of terms (via garettg on reddit):
There is now a rumor that the annual fee will be increasing from $49 to $99.
I called and spoke with a Chase representative. The IHG Rewards Club Select card’s annual fee will double from $49 to $99 starting with each cardholder’s renewal date in 2027. The benefits for the card will remain the same.
I received the notification that the annual fee will be increased to $99 on 12/02/26 but will not charge until the next renewal date from the statement today
Flyertalk user trucker:
Just had my annual fee hit on my grandfathered Select card. The statement notes a change in terms: the annual fee increases to $99 effective 10/1/2027.
It’s unclear if the annual fee being increased will be the only change or if other benefits will be cut/changed as well. I’m marking this as a rumor until I can see an actual statement that confirms this but based on datapoints I’ve seen I’d been extremely surprised if this isn’t the case.
F.A.Q’s
When will my annual fee increase?
It looks like it will be on your renewal in 2027. For example if you have a renewal in November 2026 you’ll pay $49 and then $99 in November 2027. If your renewal is in January 2027 you will pay $99 in January.
Are any other benefits changing?
We don’t know.
Is it worth keeping at $99?
That’s a personal decision and really depends if any of the other benefits are changing and if new benefits are being added, just remember that if you cancel you’ll never be able to get this card again.
I don’t think the change to the Select card would cause that. If we’re talking about overall change in award pricing that’s something that happens all the time, and the ability to top off a cert make the cert more it valuable.
That’s a terrible value proposition because at $99, you are essentially prepaying for a hotel voucher that has a one year expiration. It might just make more sense to keep the $99 and book a one night hotel stay if and when its needed.
Within a year the same properties that require 40k will now require 50k
Anyone able to top off their FNC yet? I have an award night in my account but can’t top off.
I only get gold elite, not platinum. Any idea if the card “IHG One Rewards Select Credit Card” is different and wont see the annual fees change?
Will the certificate I get this year be capped at 40k or 50k points? What about the cert I already have in my IHG account?
A mix of stays, buying points on sale, and using the card when they offer periodic bonuses that increase the earn rate. I also have the Premier so can leverage 10% back and 4th night free.
If they are letting you top up the 40,000 point award, that hasn’t yet been enabled. I have always used the free nights at Holiday Inn Expresses which go for 20-30k points so that has never really bothered me, as $49 for a $120-150 room after tax is always a good deal.
can you product change to this card from a different IHG card once the first year is over? to keep the platinum status? thinking about doing that next year when the rate changes on my ihg one rewards card.
I agree that I use this at a hotel that is often $200-$300 per night. However I wouldn’t be staying here otherwise. I have to s of points from various programs I’m not using. It will be a tough choice whether to keep this.
My renewal was this September. So looks like next year be 99$. Will see if worth it to keep considering devaluation all the time
Not viable if the Holiday Inn Express requires 45k points for your destination. Which happens more often than you think.
agree
I was hoping for $4 monthly instead of $10 per quarter.
The free night is worth $200
If what I’m reading about the certs being able to be topped up is true, then that’s a point in their favor toward my possibly keeping it as long as the card still gives Platinum Elite status.
Good ol’ days. I remember when the Ritz card would earn you breakfast and lounge on Marriott stays.When IHG certificates were uncapped. I also remember when that Hyatt card free night was uncapped. We used several of them during a 5 night stay at the Park Hyatt Tokyo, Hyatt was even doing these easy “Diamond Challenges” back then, where you just had to give your status from another hotel chain and they’d match it, no hotel stays needed. I used the status I got from the Ritz card for that Diamond match and managed to time the status upgrade with our stay. That allowed us to get this awesome room service breakfast delivered to our Fuji view room every morning at no charge. Compare that to what you get with that card now. The fee went up and the free night certificate got nerfed so badly with constant devaluations that I couldn’t even stay at a decent airport hotel like the one at MCO anymore like I used to.I finally just ended up canceling that card recently after holding it for over 10 years rather than keep renewing it every year. If they raise the fee on the IHG legacy which I’ve had for almost as long and don’t compensate with some better benefits, may have to do the same.Definitely those good ol’ days are nearly RIP. (I say nearly because the Aspire certificates are still great…….until the day they nerf those too)
How? Works at most mid brand hotels.
same here
I struggle to use the cert at $49. This’ll be a drop for me
chase app. Click on card benefits, find the free night award, then terms and conditions Anniversary Free Night is valid at IHG® Hotels and has a point redemption value of 40,000 points or less (covers one standard room night and tax only), with the ability to add on points from your IHG One Rewards account to redeem your Anniversary Free Night at hotels above the 40,000 point redemption level.
My annual fee was last charged 5/1. My anniversary night expires early April. Can I get one more free night before 5/1/27?
I am logged into my legacy ihg account (desktop) and now I see text of ‘now you can add points from …. To redeem your free night …’
Damn, RIP
I have the card too. Where do you this this updated fine print?
The fine print on my select card indicates that a 40,000 pt free anniversary night is an annual benefit with the ability to use points to pay the difference for higher priced stays. This would be new since the free night has previously had a strict cap. If this is true then it’s probably enough for me to pay $99 for this card. It’s basically the reason why I had been paying $99 for the premier. Now that the premier is $149 I’ll probably cancel that one.
Of course there will be new benefits with the higher annual fee. $10 instacart credit, $10 doordash credit and $10 ihg food credit every quarter.
They’d have to throw us a bone if they are doubling the AF. 5 EQN, 50/250 airline credit 2 F&B
Full circle on hotel devaluation. Got some incredible value out of all of them – marriott flights and nights and then $300 restaurant credit on the $450 cards, hilton diamond and uncapped weekend night for $450 awhile back + upgrade/downgrade offers with no hardpull, hyatt best CPP of them all + FN for $75 AF, and now IHG with my 2 consumer cards and business card with 40k nights getting nerfed. It was a good run Doc. RIP churning.