IHG brings back its generous ‘Accelerate’ hotel promotion for Spring

UPDATE – APRIL 2024:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.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 its new Spring 2018 promotion – IHG Accelerate. Yes, it is repeating the Autumn 2015, Spring, Summer and Autumn 2016 and Spring, Summer and Autumn 2017 offer!

But that is not a bad thing.

To be honest, during the last two years IHG has been the only major hotel chain offering global promotions which offer genuine outsize 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 8) covers stays from 1st January to 30th April 2018

All hotels are participating

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

This was my target for 49,000 points maximum, comprising:

• 2,000 points for a stay in January
• 5,000 points for referring a friend to IHG who completes a stay by 30th April
• 2,000 points on my next stay
• 10,000 points for staying five nights
• 2,200 points for two stays booked via the IHG app
• 7,200 points for staying three weekends
• 2,500 points for two stays booked via my corporate rate (the company I haven’t worked for in 6 years!)
• 2,800 points for booking two stays on a Bonus Points Package
• 2,000 points for getting the IHG credit card
• 11,300 points for completing six of the seven targets above, excluding the January and referral bonus

This is a pretty weird selection to be honest.  In theory I could trigger it with just five nights, but that assumes I stay at two hotels with a Bonus Points Package and, tougher, at two hotels where my old employer has a corporate deal.  And I need to pretend I still work there ….

My wife got this one for a whopping 82,300 points:

• 2,000 points for a stay in January
• 5,000 points for referring a friend to IHG who completes a stay by 30th April
• 2,000 points on her next stay
• 10,000 points for staying five nights
• 10,800 points for staying three weekends
• 2,400 points for booking a ‘points and cash’ redemption
• 21,600 points for staying in three different countries outside the UK
• 1,500 points for paying for a stay with her IHG credit card
• 5,000 points for renewing her InterContinental Ambassador membership
• 22,000 points for completing six of the seven targets above excluding the January and referral bonus

This is not going to happen.  There is very little chance of hitting the ‘three different countries’ target, which means she needs to get all the others.  Since there is zero chance of doing 3 x 2-night weekend stays in the next four months we can forget about Spring 2018.  We will obviously pick off individual bonuses if we can (5,500 points for a stay in January paid for on her IHG credit card is worth having) but the full target is not happening.

Note that if you have a target which involves meeting a certain ‘food and beverage’ spending target, this is EXCLUDING VAT for UK stays.  IHG also uses a weak exchange rate when converting your spend to US$.  If you were asked to acheive $39 of cumulative spend (£31), you actually need to spend £37 due to the 20% VAT and in reality probably need to do £40 due to the FX rate IHG uses.

A note on rebooking

Most of the time, existing bookings – ie bookings made before 1st January – made online do count for this promotion.

However, if you have an app booking target it DOES specifically state that stays must be booked after the 1st January.  And they mean it, as I found out to my cost once last year.  If you have a ‘book stays via the app’ target then be prepared to rebook in the new year.

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 Spring.  And, with four months to hit your target, you have plenty of time to make the necessary stays.

Log in to the Accelerate website here, register and see what your target is.

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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.