Companies have jumped on board the Uber-referral train as much, if not more, than actual riders. Uber has a good system for that – if a rider refers another rider, they each get $20 in credit (but it does sometimes go higher). It helps both newbie and the regular rider looking for some free rides.
IHG Sweetens The Uber Deal With 2,000 Points & $20 Credit
With companies, they are also offering the same referral rate but I doubt it is for Uber credits in return! For most (like SPG, Amex, Chase, etc) they have kept to the free ride aspect (though you can get $30 in Uber credit with Chase). But, IHG has opted to sweeten the deal by also giving 2,000 points with the $20 credit.
The 2,000 Points
While 2,000 points does not sound like a lot, let’s consider this: a PointBreak hotel night goes for 5,000 points so this puts you at 40% of what you need for a free room! Also, if you transfer your Ultimate Reward points to IHG (which is certainly not the best transfer partner), this saves you 2,000 Ultimate Reward points which could instead be transferred to someone like Southwest where you will get $35 in value.
Getting The $20 In Uber Credit
Since my referral also gives $20 in credit, it is nice that IHG is trying to give a little bit more than that with the offer over what personal referrals give. If you value IHG points, I would go for this referral over mine.
Details:
- Sign-up for Uber here
- Enter promo code IHG
- Credit is good for a free ride up to $20
- For new riders only
- Must be used by 12/31/2016 and applied to the account before 9/30/2016
- Good in the US only
Chase Offer Or IHG Offer?
With Chase offering $30 credit and IHG only offering $20 credit, is it an easy decision to choose Chase? Actually, it is not. It is important to note that the $30/$20 credit is only good for the first ride. That means if you take a $10 Uber ride as your first ride, that will use up all your credit.
So, unless your first ride is going to be an expensive one, it really does not matter which referral you use. An Uber ride of $20 or less is going to use the $20 or the $30 so there is no difference. Almost every Uber ride I have taken as been less than $15 so that would have been the case for me.
If it won’t matter for you, I would go for the IHG offer to get the 2,000 points. If you want to get a lot more of the IHG points without applying for the card, check out this post by Deals We Like for how to mail it in for a lot of IHG points!
