Time to make final hotel plans to hit your IHG ‘Accelerate’ bonus targets

UPDATE – DECEMBER 2024:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.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.

IHG One Rewards is offering a 100% bonus when you buy points by 13th December 2024. Your annual purchase limit is increased to 300,000 points plus the bonus. Click here to buy.

You will earn 3,000 bonus points for every two cash nights you stay with IHG between 19th September and 31st December 2024. Nights to do not need to be consecutive. Read more in our article here and click here to register.

IHG is running a second promotion for stays at five of its smaller brands. You will receive triple base points between 1st October and 31st December 2024 on stays at voco, avid hotels, EVEN Hotels, Atwell Suites and Garner Hotels. Read more in our article here and click here to register.

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If you are working towards your IHG Accelerate target – and this is probably the most generous hotel promotion you will see this quarter – you have only three weeks left to complete all of your tasks.

As the cheaper Advance Purchase rates tend to disappear about a week before the stay date, you should be planning any final stays now, especially if you are going to end up doing a ‘mattress run’ and booking a room where you don’t stay, only check in.

You can check your progress towards your targets here.

How did we do?

My wife has successfully completed 4 of her 5 tasks and earned 43,200 points.

She could still earn an extra 10,000 points by doing another three nights before the end of April but that is highly unlikely.

The two stays were both ‘necessary’ and so the points were genuinely free.

I am in a trickier position.

I have currently earned 12,600 of a possible 58,200 points.

However, I should have earned another 35,600.  IHG is not accepting that a particular stay was booked via the IHG app, which is a condition I need to trigger to receive the remaining points.  I cannot prove it either way – the confirmation email I got from IHG does not show how I booked.

The issue now is whether I should do a mattress run – as I don’t need a hotel room before the end of the month – to guarantee unlocking the 35,600 points.  As they are worth around £150 it makes economic sense to spend £50 on a room, except for the fact that I believe IHG owes me the points anyway.

Here are some tips to help you hit specific targets:.

IHG has launched a targetted bonus for buying IHG Rewards Club points

Until 15th April, IHG Rewards Club is offering a bonus of up to 75% if you buy points.

Both my wife and I have an Accelerate target which is ‘buy some IHG points’.  If you got that too, now is your best chance to do it as you will receive a 30% bonus on a 1,000 point purchase.

To see if you are targetted for a bonus, visit the IHG ‘buy points’ page here.  You will initially see the normal pricing but the special offer will appear once you are logged in, if you qualify.

‘Earn When You Redeem’ – option 1

Many people have a challenge which involves making a points redemption.

This triggers on making the booking and NOT on completing the stay, it seems.  If you have this challenge, make a hotel booking for a few months down the line – beyond the 30th April promo closing date for safety.  You can always cancel later.

‘Earn When You Redeem’ – option 2

Alternatively, there are some digital downloads available in the IHG rewards catalogue.  The  Language Translator Software is FREE.

A reader downloaded this and it triggered the ‘earn when you redeem’ bonus, albeit it took a month to show up on his Accelerate home page.  Easy!

Warnings when booking for someone else via the app

If you need to make a booking via the IHG app to hit your target, but someone else will be checking in who is not the named person on the account, BE CAREFUL.

You cannot add a ‘second guest’ name via an app booking.  You need to book via the app and then amend the booking via ihg.com to add the 2nd name.

However, this is what happened when I did this on my wifes account:

My name replaced my wifes name as the first guest (this disqualifies her from getting points)

Bizarrely, my wifes name became the ‘company name’ attached to the booking

Her IHG Rewards Club number was wiped from the booking

Luckily, I spotted this at check-out at the hotel.  The property was happy to put her name back as lead guest and add back her IHG number.  The stay tracked OK as an app booking even though it had been modified online.

This is not an issue for desktop bookings because you can add the 2nd guests name (ie the name of the person checking in) during the booking process.  It is only an issue with app bookings.

I’d recommend taking a couple of minutes to visit this page, see how far down the line you are to hitting your targets and then deciding if it makes sense to pursue them or not.

IHG One Rewards update – December 2024:

Get bonus points:

You will earn 3,000 bonus points for every two cash nights you stay between 19th September and 31st December 2024.

Nights to do not need to be consecutive. Read more in our article here and click here to register.

IHG is running a second promotion for stays at five of its smaller brands. You will receive triple base points between 1st October and 31st December 2024 on stays at voco, avid hotels, EVEN Hotels, Atwell Suites and Garner Hotels. Read more in our article here and click here to register.

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.

IHG One Rewards is offering a 100% bonus when you buy points by 13th December 2024. Your annual purchase limit is increased to 300,000 points plus the bonus. Click here to buy.

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.