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Bits: your new IHG Accelerate target, an Accor / Priority Pass deal

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News in brief:

IHG adds a new Accelerate target for everyone

IHG Rewards Club’s Accelerate is, for most people, the most generous hotel promotion running at the moment.

Here are the headline details of the promo:

IHG Accelerate (Version 6) covers stays from 15th May to 31st August

All hotels are participating

Your bonus is personalised – you need to log in here to discover yours

This was my target for 48,900 points maximum, comprising:

  • 5,000 points for a stay before 30th June
  • 2,500 points on my next stay
  • 10,000 points for staying five nights
  • 5,600 points for staying two weekends (Fri / Sat or Sat / Sun)
  • 11,200 points for staying in IHG hotels in two different countries outside the UK
  • 3,600 points for booking a Bonus Points Package
  • 11,000 points for completing four of the five targets above, excluding the June bonus

….. and, whilst I don’t have much IHG activity this quarter, some of it will be achievable.

IHG has added a new target over the last 48 hours.  You will very likely have an extra target called ‘1,500 points (some have 2,000 points) for a stay in August’.

This is a good extra boost if you can squeeze in a stay, and it may make it more worthwhile to do a mattress run to hit any missing Accelerate targets.

However, this extra bonus does NOT form part of the ‘x,000 points for completing four of the five targets above’ bonus so it doesn’t make that target any easier to achieve.

Priority Pass

An Accor / Priority Pass deal

Le Club AccorHotels has launched an offer with Priority Pass if you buy one of their lounge access passes.

Via this link, an Accor Platinum member receives a 15% discount and between 750 and 2,250 Accor points.  If you are Classic, Silver or Gold in the Accor programme, just change the URL after clicking through by replacing ‘Platinum’ – but the deal is worse.

This isn’t as cheap as the current Priority Pass 10% – 25% off deal (click) to celebrate its 25th anniversary but, when you factor in the value of the Accor points, it is marginally better.

(You can convert 2,000 Accor points into a €40 hotel discount voucher or transfer them into 2,000 Avios in Iberia Plus, which you can then move across to BA.)

It should – not guaranteed, but should – also count as activity on your Accor account and reset the expiry date of your account.

If you don’t already collect Accor points, however, I would just take the lower upfront cash price via the 25th anniversary discount here.   Thanks to Steven for this.

Accor Live Limitless update – April 2024:

Earn bonus Accor points: Accor is not currently running a global promotion

New to Accor Live Limitless?  Read our review of Accor Live Limitless here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our analysis of what Accor Live Limitless points are worth is here.

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

Category

Accor Live Limitless, IHG One Rewards

Comments (128)

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

  • AlexT says:
    25 Jul25 July 03:07

    Are LH First seats available to non-status members of M&M? I believe AF instituted a change where one has to have status with the airline (not simply be a member of FlyingBlue) to even redeem for F award seats…

    • Rob says:
      25 Jul25 July 08:57

      Yes. It is SWISS who blocked F redemptions to non-status members (which is annoying, as I have no status).

      • AlexT says:
        26 Jul26 July 06:08

        Thanks, Rob. Now if only BA could do that, maybe I’d finally be able to find availability and use miles for a long haul redemption other than NYC.

        • mark2 says:
          26 Jul26 July 07:02

          I have had no trouble finding redemptions in F to/from Vancouver, Toronto and Seattle on T-355. I am planning to book in October to go out to Toronto and back from Boston.

  • Simon says:
    25 Jul25 July 06:06

    I made a mistake with my app bookings for Accelerate, I knew I needed to stay between 15th May and 31st August but didn’t realise the booking also had to be made between 15th May and 31st August.

    • GK says:
      25 Jul25 July 06:46

      Yes that wasn’t very clear, got caught out by that on a bunch of stays in May. Fortunately have an August trip too.

    • Crafty says:
      25 Jul25 July 07:03

      They’re incredibly pedantic with all this. Doubt I’ll bother in future.

    • Dan says:
      25 Jul25 July 08:17

      They gave me my bonus even though I had booked prior to 15th May – wording is:

      “Number of bonus points listed above will be awarded after the required number of Qualifying Stays have been booked at the required [“Your Rate”] rate and consumed by the member between 15 May 2017 and 31 August 2017 (both dates inclusive) ” – i guess the booked at your rate is not connected to the dates the stays are consumed.

    • Brighton Belle says:
      25 Jul25 July 09:19

      Same here. It’s the second time IHG have run banner adverts saying BOOK NOW for the accelerate promo only to find if you indeed book now it won’t count for accelerate. Customer service didn’t care that their promo is sloppy.

      • Crafty says:
        25 Jul25 July 14:34

        This should be reported to AS A.

        • Waribai says:
          25 Jul25 July 22:45

          Try their twitter team. They are much more understanding and usually give you the benefit of the doubt.

  • Rick says:
    25 Jul25 July 07:28

    How do I find Last minute return flight to any EU destination from London?
    This’ll be for one person at weekend for each of next four weekends.

    Any pointers greatly appreciated

  • Joe says:
    25 Jul25 July 07:58

    Crafty, pedantic is a good word but it does not do justice to their attitude. On May 1, I got an email from IHG, as a Platinum Priority Club member, including [exact quotes]:
    Your dream getaway can now be a reality. Because when you register for Accelerate, and stay at one of your favorite IHG hotels, you’ll get 2,500 bonus points for your first night’s stay. And you’ll be all set to earn even more points on additional stays between May 15 and August 31.
    So relax. Whether your next trip means pitching new clients or meeting old friends, Accelerate is working hard to get you more.
    How easy is this?
    1. Register for Accelerate
    2. Book and stay at any of your favorite IHG hotels by August 31
    I registered on May 11 and immediately made a paid fully cancelable reservation for June using my Chase IHG Visa card to guarantee payment. Part of my Accelerate offer was a bonus for using the card. If I completed three of the four Bonus challenges I would also get an Incentive Bonus. Well guess what, the “small print” required the paid booking to be made after May 15 to count. Yes, you are right I didn’t read the small print just fell for the beginning of the email, “you’ll be all set to earn even more points on additional stays between May 15 and August 31.”
    Now IHG as part of their dedication to long standing Elite members of their loyalty program, have told me, sorry you do not qualify because even though you stayed and paid with your card, you booked four days too early, because only bookings made after May 15 qualify. Yes, if I had realised I would of course have canceled the booking and rebooked after May 15. Seems that IHG devotion to customer loyalty is nothing more than hot air. I have been a member for 10 years most of that time Platinum but also 18 months as Spire. I effectively let that lapse after another of IHG’s tricks and spent more time in Marriotts. I have stayed in IHG properties this year mainly in IC properties both revenue and points stays but it seems that four days is more important to IHG than 10 years of loyalty. My head tells me to make another stay in August but my heart tells me not to bother!

    • Crafty says:
      25 Jul25 July 08:00

      Agreed. It’s just poor management of their customer loyalty programme.

      • Fahd says:
        25 Jul25 July 08:11

        Does this pedantism apply only to app/IHG CC bookings or to standard bookings via the website as well? Have got a few stays booked in September for the Q3 promotion.

        On a separate note, does anyone know when this is likely to be announced?

    • Brighton Belle says:
      25 Jul25 July 09:20

      +1

  • chris says:
    25 Jul25 July 08:56

    Slightly OT.

    I booked an IHG points reservation last week based on sketchy plans. I then cancelled this 24 hours later and got a full points refund.

    Today the hotel gave me 300 points welcome welcome amenity!

    Ker-ching!

    • Rob says:
      25 Jul25 July 09:02

      Check there isn’t a no-show fee on your credit card.

      I once forgot to cancel a London redemption for my brother. The next morning I saw the welcome amenity points. I also saw a £300 pending credit card charge for the no show even though I had used points (this is in the rules – points come back, you get charged fully flex cash rate).

      It was 9am. I dashed across London to the hotel and had a fight about whether I was allowed to check in at 10am given that checkout was 11am. They finally agreed that I could do this, so I checked in and the £300 was refunded.

      Apparently you are meant to check in by midnight although the chance of that standing up in court, given the room is paid, is nil.

      • chris says:
        25 Jul25 July 09:12

        Definately have the check out notice on my account. will check the card later its at home.

        Date Posted Activity Type Description Total Earned Elite Qualifying Points
        24-Jul-17 Other Welcome Bonus Points 300 pts. 0 pts.
        20-Jul-17 Redeem Reward Night stay reversal for 22-Jul-2017 30,000 pts. 0 pts.
        19-Jul-17 Redeem Redeemed points for Reward Night stay on 22-Jul-2017 -30,000 pts. 0 pts.

    • signol says:
      26 Jul26 July 00:02

      I’ve been proactively given the welcome bonus points in the morning of check-in, then at the desk chose the drink voucher…

  • Michael says:
    25 Jul25 July 08:58

    I find there are always very good alyernatives to IHG, often in more convenient areas and most times at lower rates anyway. I stopped bothering with IHG. Their customer service is dreadful.

    • JamesB says:
      25 Jul25 July 15:01

      I’ve been trying to cancel my IHG account for two months. It is a painstaking process and they will not take no for an answer. I ultimately resorted to legal threats. I thought I had finally got a result only for a brand new club level card to arrive last week with my name and number on it. I’m hoping that’s just delay, I can no longer sign into my account and have stopped receiving emails.

  • Harry says:
    25 Jul25 July 09:10

    If I make a booking at an IHG property and check in and out via the app but do not actually turn up, does anyone know if that is treated as a “real” check in that will get me the points etc.? How can you know in advance if a particular property is one of the “select hotels for Elite members” that have app check in?

    • Genghis says:
      25 Jul25 July 09:20

      But you still have to collect a physical key. IHG don’t do Digital key, do they?

      • Rob says:
        25 Jul25 July 11:43

        Under the Innkeepers Act, you must physically sign in at a hotel even with a digital key. You have no contract with the hotel unless you do this.

        • Mark says:
          25 Jul25 July 14:45

          ?!? Is that the Innkeepers’ Act of 1794, or a more recent one? Seems a bit ‘dated’!

          • Rob says:
            25 Jul25 July 16:06

            Not really. When did digital keys come in? 2 years ago? Standard contract law would presume that you should sign something on arrival.

        • the_real_a says:
          25 Jul25 July 16:48

          Hmmm… Self check-in at the Premier inn in Manchester. Using the automated terminals to digitally check in and the card pops out the machine without me signing anything, nor talking to anyone whatsoever.

          • Rob says:
            25 Jul25 July 16:59

            Just telling you what Starwood told me! Might be easier if it is a ‘no extras’ hotel as they wouldn’t have any contractual charges to contractually impose.

          • the_real_a says:
            25 Jul25 July 17:50

            Ah that would make sense!

          • JamesB says:
            25 Jul25 July 22:13

            Same at Village Hotels where I stayed for first time last week.

        • JamesB says:
          25 Jul25 July 22:20

          If no signature = no contract then how can they impose cancellation policies, no shows etc. It would imply ‘a reservation is not worth the paper it’s written on’ which is clearly not the case in practice.

      • Alan says:
        25 Jul25 July 18:19

        Even if they did – if you had a digital key issued, but then never actually used then I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t count as a stay.

        • John says:
          25 Jul25 July 19:36

          Is that so? I thought digital key meant that you were properly checked in. E.g. Rob wouldn’t have had his problem with forgetting about the IC redemption if they had offered, and he obtained, the digital key

          • Alan says:
            25 Jul25 July 19:49

            I can’t see hotel chains leaving such an obvious workaround having to physically stay – this would mean you could mattress hop without even visiting the country. Normally they block customers from doing this sort of thing, otherwise you could just book lots of nights in a cheap property.

  • Tracy says:
    25 Jul25 July 09:42

    O/T any chance of a tesco/avios conversion bonus soon? I have tesco vouchers with a use by date of 31/08?

    • Genghis says:
      25 Jul25 July 10:04

      I doubt it but we’ll find out soon. Vouchers come out 31 July.

    • the real harry1 says:
      25 Jul25 July 10:12

      you can give your vouchers another 2 years’ life by redeeming the minimum amount & getting the balance back as change

      • Genghis says:
        25 Jul25 July 10:25

        …but remember the change counts towards the 30k quarterly cap

      • HayMow says:
        25 Jul25 July 11:00

        You don’t even have to redeem the minimum amount – ring them up and they’ll put the whole voucher into the next quarter’s mailing, as I found last time. If a reason’s needed just say nothing you want to redeem for at present. .. As Genghis says, does unfortunately count to the 30k cap, but I’ll never get anywhere near that

    • Rob says:
      25 Jul25 July 11:42

      Unlikely I’m afraid given what we’ve seen over the last couple of years. The 50% bonus glory days are long gone.

      • Tracy says:
        25 Jul25 July 13:32

        Thought as much, will phone and ask if they can be extended, then cross my fingers and hope for a bonus at some point lol

    • The Original Nick. says:
      25 Jul25 July 17:18

      We all wish!

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