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UPDATE – APRIL 2024:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.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

  • Markc62 says:
    21 Aug21 August 10:13

    This is the 3rd ‘Accelerate’ I’ve registered for – anyone else noticed that their possible total earnings have gone down each time, or is it just me! My first one totalled 80k+, second 55k+, and the latest 44k+! The first was easy, but I won’t manage to hit all of them in the current or the next, but I now have enough points for at least 5 nights in a top category property. Thanks Rob – I also haven’t had any notification from IHG.

    • AndyS says:
      21 Aug21 August 10:51

      Yep, every time the offers are harder and the rewards are less. I wasn’t going to bother chasing mine this time but I already have 7 nights booked out of target of 9 (was 4 on the first, 6 on the second) so booking two more on the app will achieve about 3 of the targets. Got to work it all out when home…

      • Andy S says:
        21 Aug21 August 18:16

        Yes, just two stays booked through the app, one as a “bonus points” stay, and a random redepmtion of some points for a digital download will get me 5 of the 6 and trigger that bonus. the only outstanding thing would be spending $70 on food and drink which only yields an extra 800 points

        • JamesWag says:
          31 Aug31 August 21:59

          One of my goals is to book two stays via the app. Could they be reward redemptions using points and still meet the goal correctly ??

  • Matteo says:
    21 Aug21 August 13:23

    Hi, if I use HFP double IHG points link to book a IHG stay will it be eligible for the current and the new IHG Accelerate Promotions? THX!

  • lee says:
    21 Aug21 August 23:27

    Do you just use the best available rate from the drop down for the ihg accel?

  • Alan C says:
    23 Aug23 August 07:40

    I have done and completed every one of the IHG Challenges over the past few years. Yes the points earned have dropped a bit but mine seem to be easier to achieve even though I am now a Platinum Ambassador. .Just a quick question. My family – and everyone else – all have the Sept stay bonus. Will a stay on the 30th Sept and checking out October 1st qualify?

  • E1ghty says:
    23 Aug23 August 19:42

    Perhaps unethical, but my accelerator offers to make two bookings with two different brands… Would this work if I made flexible bookings and then cancelled them?

    • Alan says:
      23 Aug23 August 19:52

      No as you have to complete the booking by staying at the property 😉

  • John Tickner says:
    25 Aug25 August 11:23

    My partner has 30,000 double points starting with second stay.

    Does that mean ‘up to 30,000’ in doubling of points from 2nd stay, or a 30,000 bonus from 2nd stay?

  • Judge says:
    25 Aug25 August 17:00

    Do you really have to wait until the start of the offer period before booking in order to qualify for the “Book 2 stays” offer? It doesn’t seem logical. I have just been told by IHG customer service that a reservation I made on 30th May, well after registering for summer Accelerate, did not count as the offer dates are 1 June – 31 August. Do you think this is correct, or have I been wrongly advised (in which case I should contact them again)? This has meant I have failed to meet my completion target/bonus.

    • Rob says:
      25 Aug25 August 17:31

      The exact wording seems to vary by task. For app booking targets this has been enforced in the past, occasionally.

  • Russell says:
    30 Aug30 August 12:10

    Can any help re: corporate rate target? My company doesn’t have an IHG account, therefore I don’t have a corporate rate available. Is there any way I’m able to “access” the corporate rate? Thanks.

    • JamesWag says:
      31 Aug31 August 22:01

      One of my targets is to book two stays through the app. Would reward redemptions satisfy the this promotion target equirements ??

      • Rob says:
        31 Aug31 August 22:15

        No

        • JamesWag says:
          1 Sep1 September 17:44

          Cheers 🙁
          Got a couple of free nights to take before Dec 31st and am thinking of taking my parents to Bordeaux The Grand for a couple of nights. Shame I can’t hit an accelerator target with them or the 80k points (or 60k+$120) I’ll spend for the 2nd room 🙁

          • JamesWag says:
            1 Sep1 September 18:57

            Have IHG Plat status but not Ambassador. Doesn’t seem much point in taking it out for this trip, unless others have experience of this hotel (Bordeaux Le Grand) honouring Ambassador status benefits (include. upgrade) on reward nights ????

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