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IHG’s ‘Set Your Sights’ hotel promotion is the one to beat for Spring 2015

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UPDATE – APRIL 2024:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.  We produce a monthly summary of the top hotel bonus point offers – please click HERE or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ menu above.

Click here for our article on IHG’s ‘2000 Bonus Points’ promotion which runs from 1st April to 31st May 2024. You can register for the offer by clicking here.

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Following the success of its ‘Into The Nights’ promotion, which appears – at least anecdotally – to have succeeded in driving a lot of incremental business this Autumn, IHG Rewards Club is following up with ‘Set Your Sights’.

IHG Rewards Club is the loyalty scheme for Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Indigo, InterContinental etc.  ‘Set Your Sights’ will run January 1st to April 30th 2015 so you will have plenty of time to hit your target.

To find out your personalised target, you need to visit the ‘Set Your Sights’ website here and log in.  This is what I was offered:

Set Your Sights screenshot

Effectively, I need to stay eight nights.  I must include two countries outside the UK and at least four different IHG brands.

In return I will receive 105,700 bonus points which I would value at £500.

At the moment this does not seem credible, albeit the deal does represent a good return on my spending.  I have three Holiday Inn nights booked for January through the ‘Flash Sale’ last month – if they happen to post as qualifying nights, which I doubt, then I will look at this again.

For comparison, this is what my wife got:

Set Your Sights 3

It is not easier or harder …. it is just different.

Her target is 53,800 points for five nights.  This is a lower ‘per night’ average than I got.  However, there is no requirement to stay outside the UK and no requirement to stay at a specific number of brands.  Five cheap weekend nights at a Holiday Inn Express would do it.

However, with a bonus worth no more than £250, the numbers don’t make sense unless I actually need those nights.  I can pick off three of these bonuses with just one night though – 5000 points for one stay, 1500 points for using my IHG Visa to pay for it and 2000 points if I book a Bonus Points package.  This is 8,500 bonus points for one night – I will definitely try to hit that with a stay we would need to make anyway.

It is worth noting that if you are not already an IHG Rewards Club member, you can join up via their site and then immediately go over to the ‘Set Your Sights’ site and see what target you have.  It will be a very easy one – probably even more generous than the one given to my wife.

You can look up your own target at the ‘Set Your Sights’ website.


IHG One Rewards update – April 2024:

Get bonus points: IHG One Rewards is offering 2,000 bonus points for every two cash nights you stay (not necessarily consecutive) between 1st April and 31st May 2024. You can read our full article here and you can register here.

New to IHG One Rewards?  Read our overview of IHG One Rewards here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our article on ‘What are IHG One Rewards points worth?’ is here.

Buy points: If you need additional IHG One Rewards points, you can buy them here.

Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from IHG and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.

Comments (68)

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  • Daz says:

    The “In to the nights” promo was abysmal for me, I managed to get about 30000 points then “sacked it” because the site wouldn’t update to confirm my stays or points. It turned out not worth the money in the end for me as it was 38000 + 38000 bonus.

    This Promo again is not worth it for me to do all the tasks (whilst not as challenging as yours Raffles!), I don’t think the total of 64000 points adds up for me. I will cherry pick the 12000 point for using the app to book 2 stays and 2000 point for applying for the IHG Premium visa card. I won’t be going out my way to exclusively stay 10 nights for 15600 points!

  • Simon says:

    The Into the Nights thing just updated for me!
    How would I actually redeem the free nights? I’ve clicked on some hotels, they just show the price in points. Is there a special page for booking them?

    • Rob says:

      Once you’ve claimed your free nights via the ITN page, they will appear on your IHG Rewards Club account under a special tab. Go into that, select ‘redeem a free night voucher’ and it takes you through the standard booking process. At least, that is how the credit card free night works.

  • Daz says:

    Yes it’s in the T@Cs for the tasks

  • Thunderbirds says:

    Into The Nights promotion all tracked through and I’m now trying to trigger the second batch of benfits. The number of Free Nights seems to be a moveable feast… Did anyone get ” Discover A World Of Hospitality” and if so did you get it to trigger?
    Set your Sights target of 153,700 points looks good but with a target of 38 nights and a need to trigger all 7 offers this may be beyond me this time!

  • Henry C says:

    I don’t get what they’re trying to do now.

    The 2 Big Wins were brilliant for me, and ended up with me basing all my work stays around IHG, thus throwing thousands in their direction.

    Into the Nights wanted 15 nights from me which would have been tough, so I didn’t bother.

    Now I sign in to Set Your Sights – 32 nights and $800 spend on food and drink in ihg properties.

    I just don’t get it.. Having done well out of me in the previous promotions, they’re now making It impossible to do. Club Carlson on the other hand offered me double points or double elite nights on all stays October-December, so I’ve been using them instead.

    • Peter says:

      You have to realise that IHG aren’t interested in just throwing easy, free points at people! The whole point is that they are trying to drum up business. If you’ve thrown lots of work stays their way, they’ll be thinking that you are a heavy stayer – and so make your current target difficult to achieve, because if they made it easy, it would be pointless for them (though full of points for you!). That’s why the offer for new members is so easy – it’s designed to encourage people who don’t otherwise stay at IHG.

      I really don’t understand why people who stay a lot complain about having difficult targets to achieve. These bonus promotions are not rewards for your loyalty – they are an attempt to get you to stay more than you would usually.

  • xcalx says:

    My offer of 62,000 is 8 nights 3 outside the UK in 3 different countries, 4 Brands plus App booking etc. and for that reason I’m out. Mrs xcalx has a similar offer. The into the nights promo was also poor for us. A far cry from the 2 Big win promos which netted us over 650,000 with minimal stays and outlay. IHG have probably noticed our stay pattern of booking cheap and redeeming for expensive hotels.

  • Seb says:

    I’ve got a fairly easy task.

    3 nights in total
    2 nights must be a weekend
    Book two stays through the App
    Stay at two different brands
    Download the App

    All of the above gets me 50,500 points.

    However, I have a couple of questions as I’m new to IHG.

    1) when it asks for three nights in total, does my weekend stay qualify towards both targets or just the one?

    2) Are HI and HIE two separate brands?

    Any help would be greatly appreciated!

    • Think Square says:

      I had similar targets for Into The Nights. You could achieve them all with a 2 night weekend stay at a HIE plus a single night at an HI (or vice versa), all booked through the app.

      I completed Into the Nights because it was easy, and it came at the end of the year after I’d already renewed Hilton Gold. They’ve raised the bar considerably for me on Set Your Sights. I won’t be bothering.

      • Sebastian says:

        Thank you for the help. I think I will hit this as 50,500 points for three nights is a steal, especially if I hold out for the 5,000 point offer, while I am also going to take the Premium Credit Card as I have a two week stay in a Crowne Plaza in July and I want the IHG Platinum status for that stay.

        However, I do have one more question. In regards to IHG Platinum Status, will IHG provide me with access to an executive lounge at an Intercontinental if I’ve got Platinum? I ask as I am a Hilton Gold and they’re exceptional at providing me with all the additional benefits.

        • Alan says:

          No, you’d need to be a member of their paid Ambassador programme to get upgrades at IC properties. Some go above and beyond and provide some benefits for IHG Platinum members, but they’re under no obligation to do so and I’ve not heard of any providing Exec Lounge access.

          • Rob says:

            When we were at Le Grand in Paris, my wife was given a letter informing her that she had special benefits for being Platinum, such as 2pm check-out. There is a sense that IC hotels appear to be making a little bit more effort. Zero chance of lounge access though, at least at those IC’s which charge a fat premium if you try to buy at reception (€120 at Le Grand I think, per night).

          • Alan says:

            Indeed I had a one-cat upgrade at the IC San Francisco and the IC Wellington as a Plat but wasn’t expecting (and didn’t receive) lounge access. In general it seems that most properties do try to give some sort of recognition.

            Of course at time of check-in is an interesting time to express interest about paying for AMB membership as I think in some properties the front desk agent may receive a bonus for doing so and thus be able to provide a decent upgrade 🙂

    • Rob says:

      Yes, HI and HIE are treated as separate brands. And, yes, the same stay counts towards multiple targets.

    • Fenny says:

      Stay the 2 weekend nights at the HIX – cheaper and breakfast is included! Then the third nigh at HE to hit the targets.

  • Dwadda says:

    I suppose it would be better to sign up first to see if getting an IHG credit card is one of your goals and then take out the triple point credit card?

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