My points bonanza from a one-off Holiday Inn Express stay

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• Garreth Todd says:

  18 Jul18 July 07:37

  I took advantage of these too and got 11,602 for a night in the High Wycombe Holiday Inn (which work paid for).

  I was then able to book a rewards night at HI Wembley for 10,000 points – cash value of the stay was around £130.

• david flacks says:

  18 Jul18 July 08:06

  I just managed 14986 for a 2 night stay in Madrid which cost around £65 per night

  Qualifying Nights 2
  Earning Details 1,624 pts.
  Bonus Points Earned 812 pts.
  ELITE MEMBER NEXT STAY BONUS 3,000 pts.
  ELITE MEMBER NEXT STAY BONUS 3,000 pts.
  1,000 BONUS POINTS FOR 60 DAYS 1,000 pts.
  ANNIVERSARY BONUS OFFER 1,000 pts.
  WELCOME BACK BONUS 1,500 pts.
  NEXT STAY BONUS 1,500 pts.
  NEW MEMBER BONUS PROMOTION 1,500 pts.
  NEW MEMBER BONUS PROMOTION 50 pts.

  Followed up by 9000 points for a 2 nighter in Hull
  I’ll be ditching HI next year though when the platinum expires because I’ve no chance of re-qualifying after the recent scheme changes.

  • James67 says:

    18 Jul18 July 10:05

    Consider picking up black visa if a fee waiver promo comes up.. In reality though the 40k can be worth much more than the fee so I am happy to psyup if I have too.

    • david flacks says:

      18 Jul18 July 20:17

      yes, if they do another fee waiver I’ll do it. I cancelled my black in Jan when the fee kicked in and switched to the Hilton offer instead. So I’m outside the 6 months and should be a ‘new customer again. Not worth it for me to pay the £99 these days.

• Will says:

  18 Jul18 July 08:08

  I have a stay booked this Saturday (booked a few weeks back) I just applied the codes. Am I likely to still get the bonus points?

  • Alan says:

    18 Jul18 July 08:20

    Yes, you only need to register the codes prior to your stay, not prior to booking 🙂

    • Rob says:

      18 Jul18 July 10:10

      Prior to stay posting is usually OK, so 5 days after check out!

• david flacks says:

  18 Jul18 July 08:19

  Yes as long as you register before check in you should get them

• Thunderbirds says:

  18 Jul18 July 08:59

  Will, yes you should. The system will check what codes you have active after the stay has been completed. That is why you should be careful when you activate the codes as all (?) are time limited.
  I’ve noticed that many people look down on the IHG Priority Club Rewards and they quote the erratic nature of the benefits. However, I have to say that over the last couple of years I’ve been pleased with the results . I accept that staying at a HI or HIE doesn’t give them too much scope for room upgrades (at Sheffield HIE the upgrade is to the top floor!) and the check-in freebies have been limited (ranging from nothing [HIE T5] to a bottle of water, chocolate bar and a free drink at the bar [HIE Rotherham]) but when staying at the Crowne Plaza for the last 6-7 times I’ve always had a one level room upgrade and in many cases 2 level (standard to club). My stays have mainly been at airport hotels so perhaps that skews the results. It could also be that I spend 60+ nights in their hotels each year, though I’m told that an individual hotel’s view of your account is quite limited for privacy reasons. One hotel told me they only see reservations at their hotel and your points balance which I find hard to believe.
  I’ve used Point Breaks 4 nights for 20k saving £240 for example but tend to use my points for set piece holidays, last year 6 nights at CP Times Square and next year 6 nights at HI The Rocks in Sydney. Both of these will have saved me above £1,000 each stay. Given the relative ease of collecting points, as demonstrated by the example above.
  I’ve timed joining the Ambassador program to coincide with my future travel plans so I’ll be interested to see what I can squeeze from the weekend reward night.
  I’d be interested to know if anyone feels another program is fundamentally better. I don’t have first hand experience of other Hotel Programs but from what I read elsewhere they all have their faults.

• James67 says:

  18 Jul18 July 10:01

  Have still to do my stay. What rates are you folks booking? Does it need to be best flexible? In past nearly everything I booked came up as nonqualifying stay which is quite disappointing. Thx.

• Thunderbirds says:

  18 Jul18 July 10:11

  Any public rate available on the web-site should work even the super saver rate for booking in advance, I use that quite often. The only rates that MIGHT not work are Friends & Family or corporate rates etc. The only time I see non-qualifying is when I have over-lapping stays i.e. I book two rooms for the same date(s) the one I’m in will qualify (for status nights) the other will not. Both should get you points.

  • James67 says:

    18 Jul18 July 12:38

    Thx but it seems something odd about my account. All advance purchase rates have posted as nonqualifying. I was going to give the 35% off best flexible rate a try.

    • Thunderbirds says:

      18 Jul18 July 13:07

      Drop them an e-mail explaining the problem and ask them why, giving a specific example, then wait a week until they eventually get back to you. A phone call would be better but you will need to hang on a while for them to answer. I’m assuming that you have read the explanation of what a non-qualifying stay is but just for completeness it is as follows:

      What is a Non-Qualifying stay? When a stay is Non-Qualifying, the nights do not count towards earning Elite status. Depending on the location and specific situation, it can also mean that no IHG® Rewards Club Points are rewarded for this stay.
      Some reasons why a stay might be Non-Qualifying:
      •It was booked using a discounted rate, such as a group rate or a discounted contract rate.
      •It was paid for using points or miles (Reward night).
      •It was booked through a third-party website.
      •It overlaps another stay. (Only one room will be credited per member per night).

      • James67 says:

        21 Jul21 July 10:09

        Thanks this is helpful to know. I almost always book advanced purchase rates and it is these that never post. But according to your info above I see know reason why they shouldn’t. In the past I have conacted them as you suggested. When I eventually got replies I get a standard blurb along the lines ‘deeply discounted rates do not qualify for reward points’ and that is why I did not get them. Seems a little ironic when even my London stays at £20.12 did qualify.

        • Rob says:

          21 Jul21 July 13:28

          ‘30% off Best Available Rate’ is the rule which I think is even in the T&C’s. Advanced Purchase rates will always count as they are never 30% off Best Available.

          The ONLY rates that should not count are Friends & Family and deeply discounted corporate deals, plus stuff like airline crew rates.

        • James67 says:

          21 Jul21 July 18:26

          Thx Raffles. I was close to booking the 35% off rates so I guess I best givrthose s miss now.

        • Rob says:

          21 Jul21 July 18:30

          Most of these codes are one offs, so you only need 1 stay at less than 30 per cent below Best Available to trigger most of them. And often the 35 per cent off rates will post as qualifying.

• Simon says:

  18 Jul18 July 13:46

  I am around 1000 points short of redeeming my points for a 2-nighter stay.

  Is there anywhere where I could earn 1000 points without a hotel stay? I know you can buy them, but these are like in increments of 25,000 right?

  I am not really a fan on the HI/HIX brand, but I’ll take somewhere for free.

  • Rob says:

    18 Jul18 July 14:01

    No, you can buy just 1,000 I think.

  • Trickster says:

    19 Jul19 July 10:31

    Depending on where you are booking you might find a decent points plus cash rate. For example a CP property at say 35k points per night, may be available for £30k plus $40 too.

  • Thunderbirds says:

    22 Jul22 July 09:33

    Simon
    I don’t know whether this will be valid for you or whether it is still active but if you watch the IHG Visa Card video at priorityclub.com/uk1000 and use code EMAMWDZA24 you might be lucky and get 1000 points…

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