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Register now: IHG brings back its generous ‘Accelerate’ promotion for the Autumn

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UPDATE – APRIL 2024:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.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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IHG Rewards Club, the Holiday Inn, HI Express, Crowne Plaza, InterContinental etc loyalty scheme, has launched a website for its Autumn 2016 promotion – IHG Accelerate. Yes, it is repeating the Autumn 2015, Spring and Summer 2016 offer!

To be honest, during 2016 IHG has been the only major hotel chain offering global promotions which offer genuine value.  Everyone has their own personal target but, for most of us, the challenge is pretty straightforward.

Here are the headline details:

  • IHG Accelerate (Version 4) covers stays from 6th September to 15th December
  • All hotels are participating

This year IHG has excluded the Christmas period.  This is a shame as hotels are traditionally very cheap between Christmas and New Year and it was possible to pick up some ‘mattress run’ nights to hit your target very cheaply.

This was my target for 64,900 points maximum, comprising:

  • 5,000 points on my next stay
  • 5,000 points for a stay in September
  • 10,000 points for staying five nights
  • 3,500 points for booking three stays via the IHG app
  • 6,400 points for booking 2 x 2-night weekend stays
  • 2,500 points for booking two stays using my Corporate Rate (where I haven’t worked for 5 years!)
  • 12,000 points for one stay in North America, South America, Central America, the Caribbean, Greater China, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa
  • 1,500 points for spending $160 on food and drink (this is excluding VAT or local taxes)
  • 19,000 points for completing six of the seven targets above, excluding the September bonus

This is a bit trickier than last time, to be honest.  Even ones that you may think are easy, such as the Corporate Rate one, are not because only about 10% of hotels used to give a special deal to my ex-employer.  The Corporate Rate is also higher in many cases than sale rates.  Spending $160 (roughly £150 when you add back VAT) on food and drink isn’t easy either.

At the moment, I don’t think I can manage this.  My plans are still very flexible for the Autumn so things may change.  64,900 points is also well worth having – even if I had to spend £175 on mattress run nights it would be worth it.

My wife got an easier one for 46,600 points:

  • 3,000 points on her next stay
  • 5,000 points for a stay in September
  • 10,000 points for staying five nights
  • 6,400 points for booking 2 x 2-night weekend stays
  • 3,600 points for booking a Bonus Points Package
  • 18,600 points for completing three of the four targets above excluding the September bonus

It isn’t a no-brainer though.  It would require at least four nights over weekends or five nights midweek to trigger the 46,600 points.  I might be able to justify two mattress run nights if necessary – perhaps another day out before Christmas at the Holiday Inn Brent Cross?!

Conclusion

As long as your target is sensible, this is highly likely to be the most generous hotel promotion you are likely to see this Autumn.

That said, for my household it may be that the maximum bonuses are out of reach.  8,000 to 10,000 bonus points for a stay in September (well, 6th September to 30th September) is not to be sniffed at though.

Log in to the Accelerate website here and see what your target is!

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.

Category

IHG One Rewards

Comments (170)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Craig says:
    19 Aug19 August 07:43

    Error for me too.

  • Paul says:
    19 Aug19 August 07:46

    My target is not worth going for and the exclusion of Christmas kills it dead. My wife however got a better deal but still not something I would chase. We have found that missing out a quarter all together pretty much ensures a more generous target next time round.

  • Andy S says:
    19 Aug19 August 07:57

    re. errors signing up, I’ve seen elsewhere that registration opens on the 25th. but clearly many have managed to sign up already, I wonder if those who have, have already completed q2 accelerate. I have my last stay this weekend..

    • xcalx says:
      19 Aug19 August 08:23

      No, I signed up yesterday for mrs xcalx and I and have not completed an accelerate during the last two offers.

      • Andy S says:
        19 Aug19 August 08:33

        Thanks, that’s that theory blown! I’ve emailed their customer services so we’ll see what comes back !

        • Andy S says:
          21 Aug21 August 14:38

          They came back saying “We have received your inquiry and we are currently working on it. We are in the process of contacting the hotel for further verification. You have our assurance that we will contact you as soon as the hotel responds to our inquiry. ”
          Twits! Wonder which hotel they are contacting ?? I’ve replied saying the problem has resolved itself, that will probably further confuse them!!

  • James says:
    19 Aug19 August 08:15

    Did anyone else have an error in their last Accelerate offer? I was given 5 targets with an overall get 4 out 5 for the bonus. Turns out that this should have said 4 out of 4 as one was excluded from the overall bonus. I aimed for 4 out of 5 like stated and now have been told I have to earn the 5th to get the bonus which is now unachievable.

    • Andy S says:
      19 Aug19 August 08:33

      Yes, sort of – but I realised it was an error. It said “5 out of 6 of the above” and there were only 5 above !, the 6th (below) was the June Bonus. (which was the one that surprisingly counted for an existing stay ending 1st June!)

  • Danksy says:
    19 Aug19 August 08:21

    Error.dor me too!

  • Aliks says:
    19 Aug19 August 08:42

    Its good marketing by IHG – enough to keep me from using my diamond Hilton status for a weekend stay in Athens in November, in favour of a paid night at the Intercontinental.

    Having said that, I am struggling to take full advantage of these offers. With so many points from the spring promotion, all my IHG stays this summer have been on points, or using free nights. I scored nil for the summer promotion, and will probably only get two of my five offers this time round.

    To help with the calculations – what value are people placing on IHG points, assuming redemption against IHG hotel stays? I’m using 0.4p per point.

  • Leo says:
    19 Aug19 August 08:50

    I really struggle to get good value out of points redemptions with IHG at the moment. Consequently I really don’t need any more points – possibly also as a result of using the IHG credit card to pay various sums of cash to HMRC. I can’t see the point in engineering staying in hotels via Accelerate solely to earn points to enable me to stay in the basic room of an IC when I do actually want to stay somewhere…..I know this sounds like heresy. I’m sorry. I’ll get over it.

    • Aliks says:
      19 Aug19 August 09:03

      The ambassador upgrades are generally worth it – certainly worth the annual fee. When combined with the reward points you can get some nice deals.

  • Paul Chisholm says:
    19 Aug19 August 09:12

    It is pretty poor they are the period ends on December 15th. Not all of there members are people who travel on business, I am purely a Leisure traveler and am very loyal to the IHG brand, i will have had well over 40 nights by the end of the year all paid at my expense, to exclude what is a holiday period for most people and a time when people who do not travel on business could meet some of their goals is pretty poor.

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