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‘The Big Win’ from IHG Rewards Club returns in January

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UPDATE – APRIL 2024:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.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 / Crowne Plaza etc hotel group, has announced that its current promotion, ‘The Big Win’, will return in January.

You may have read some of my recent posts (eg this one) about ‘mattress run’ nights I did in cheap locations to hit the low target on my wifes account.  I spent just under £200 to earn over 100,000 IHG Rewards Club points, which should get me around £600 of free stays if used properly.

IHG Rewards Club

Registration for the January edition of ‘The Big Win’ should open on Monday.

It will run from January 1st to April 30th.

There is little more to say at the moment, until we see what sort of targets people are getting.  If IHG has set the bar a lot higher than it did for the Winter promotion, it won’t be much fun – but let’s see.

The registration page is now open and is here.

My own account needs 10 nights which is very unlikely.  My wife needs 3 nights / 3 brands / 3 Saturdays, so effectively 3 Saturday nights would do it.  Saturday is a terrible day for us to do mattress run nights, though, and her bonus is only 31,000 points anyway.

My Mum has the most useful selection.  5 nights required (any days) across 3 brands, must include 2 HIX properties (same OK or different?).  Bonus of 98,000 plus the usual points.  This looks worth a punt.  I think I will see what comes up naturally between now and Easter, and then try to pick up some cheap nights over the Easter break right at the last gasp.


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 (115)

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  • Wesi says:

    Does anyone know if you still get the 10,000 points which come usually with the Visa card? And I assume that the Big Win points won’t count towards Elite status?

    • Rob says:

      The base offer is now 15,000 points, not 10,000, if you follow any of the links from the IHG website including the Big Win site.

      You will get these on top of the Big Win bonus for getting the credit card. What makes this clear is that you need to book and pay for a stay with the Visa to get the Big Win bonus, whilst the credit card sign-up bonus is automatic.

      And, yes, the Big Win points do NOT count towards status. The 15,000 from getting the credit card do, though.

  • cmcbugg says:

    Does any one know what happens if you don’t physically check out on Flexible rates with HIX, but just leave.
    Past stays I’ve had at HIX have been pre-paid, so I’ve just left as soon as I checked in and everything has been fine.
    Now I have a couple of stays which are not prepay (in China) – so I was wondering what would happen if I didn’t check out. I’d try to get them to charge my credit card during check in just to be safe – but just wondered what other people’s experiences may have been on non pre-paid rates.

    • guesswho2000 says:

      I expect you’d be charged as normal and checked out? However, a word of warning – I recently stayed at HIX in Beijing, despite crossing the box to be charged in CNY, I was billed in GBP using their DCC rates. This did not please me as I was using a forex fee free card. But never mind, I got a ton of points from that stay, so they can have their few pounds, this time!

  • will says:

    new bigwin site seems down. guess its being updated

  • James P says:

    I signed up for the 15,000 credit card bonus at the weekend (via this link). I had the paperwork through today to sign and return the contract. Should I cancel my application and apply via the big win site, or will it count automatically towards the promotion. Thanks in advance…

    • James P says:

      when I said I ‘signed up via this link’ I meant through the headforpoints.com credit card offers, not the big win link.

      • Rob says:

        I doubt it matters. The trigger appears to be paying for the stay with a PC credit card.

        Actually, thinking about it, perhaps paying for a stay on my Mum’s account using MY PC credit card may do the trick?

        • davef says:

          It has to be the £99 black visa as well according to the Big Win email I just received.

          So will that be 20k points for taking the card and another 20k for the big win? Time will tell

          • Wesi says:

            My email also states Black, but the website still says Visa. Well, I’m not paying £99 for it so I’ll be going with Raffles suggestion that we’ll be fine.

          • Rob says:

            My Mum’s does not say this. Interesting.

        • Will says:

          Very interested if that works for you. I read the challenge as standard card so who knows about the £99 one

    • Rob says:

      You’re fine. The trigger is paying for a stay with a PC credit card. My guess is that paying for a stay with a credit card starting with the right prefix is all they want.

  • Isolde says:

    Raffles,
    I have also received the PCR Visa link. However I have recently (1 month ago) cancelled a PCR Black Visa as I rarely used it, didn’t need it for Platinum status and got tired of chasing points after 3 months waiting.
    Does anyone have a view on Barclay’s approach to re-applications and rewarding points? Would it be best to ignore the offer this time around, especially as I may need the PCR Visa to retain Platinum in 2015.
    Thank you for any advice.

    • Rob says:

      Look under the bonus. Does it require all your targets or just 6/7? That will let you know if its worth trying the credit card app again.

      It’s then up to you. Nothing wrong with trying an application, it won’t hugely hurt your credit if rejected.

  • Alan says:

    OK when I try and click through to the CC offer I instead seem to receive the survey (which is very similar to the previous one) and it then tells me I’ve completed the survey component and it’s added 100 pts to my a/c! (which it hasn’t yet). All a bit badly coded…

  • JD says:

    After getting a 121500 points big win in 2013 I was rewarded with a poxy 34000 big win for 2014. Nice to see IHG rewarding loyalty. (Been a member since Lets hope for some more bonus point codes outside of the 2014 big win otherwise its not worth doing this one!

    • davef says:

      And I got the opposite. 88k for the current big win but a much easier 121k for the next.

      Only 8 nights, 2 Sat, 2 brands, 2 Holiday Inns, 2 citys (inc manchester where I can do a 34 quid HI on an Sat night, 15 mins from home) + the CC which I was going to apply for anyway.

      I’m currently plat and stayed around 40 nights this year.

      It’s very random.

  • Will says:

    Excited about big win 2014. Mainly due to what ifs

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