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Register now: IHG brings back its generous ‘Accelerate’ promotion for the Spring

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UPDATE – APRIL 2024:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.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

But that is not a bad thing.

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 5) covers stays from 1st January to 15th April

All hotels are participating

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

The 1st January start date means that IHG has excluded the Christmas period from both the current and next Accelerate ofers.  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 56,600 points maximum, comprising:

  • 1,000 points for a stay in January
  • 5,000 points on my next stay
  • 10,000 points for staying five nights
  • 5,300 points for booking four stays via the IHG app
  • 16,800 points for staying in IHG hotels in two different countries outside the UK
  • 2,500 points for booking on my corporate rate (of the company I haven’t worked for since 2011)
  • 1,000 points for making any redemption
  • 15,000 points for completing five of the six targets above, excluding the January bonus

This is not a terrible selection of offers.  The corporate rate is tricky because not that many IHG properties offer a special rate to my ex-employer.  However, I already have a four night stay at InterContinental Hong Kong booked in which will help me on my way.  Let’s see.

My wife got an easier one for 41,000 points:

  • 3,000 points on her next stay
  • 1,000 points for a stay in January
  • 10,000 points for staying five nights
  • 2,000 points for applying for an IHG Rewards Club credit card
  • 3,600 points for booking a Bonus Points Package
  • 21,400 points for completing three of the four targets above excluding the January bonus

This is exceptionally easy.  All she has to do is make ONE stay, for one night, on a Bonus Points Package rate!  As long as she also applies for the free IHG credit card, that will be 30,000 points banked.

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.

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.

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 (139)

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

  • Matt says:
    10 Dec10 December 08:42

    Mines unbelievably boring works out as 19 nights (in 3 months):
    Book and stay get 1,000
    Stay 4 nights 7,200
    Stay another 3 nights 3,000
    Stay another 3 nights 3,000
    Stay another 3 nights 3,000
    Stay another 3 nights 3,000
    Stay another 3 nights 15,000

  • MoNkEyMaN says:
    10 Dec10 December 08:47

    My offer is the worst yet. It is basically cumulative in lots of three nights, no other offers apart from1000 points for staying in January. To get the full bonus of 32600 points would involve 19 nights. I don’t travel very often and haven’t stayed with IHG in the last six months. This isn’t going to tempt me.

  • Philip says:
    10 Dec10 December 08:53

    Rob, quick question.

    You mention in the article that you have a pre-existing reservation that will count towards your target. Is it the case? I was confused by the Terms on the site.

    The General Terms (at the foot of the Accelerate offer) state that Stays need to be “completed” during the offer period. Which substantiates the existing reservations counting towards the target.

    However under the Terms for certain Offers, it’s states that Stays need to be booked and completed during the offer period 1/1 – 15/4. Though if this were the case I guess they ought not to have “book” now buttons next to the Offer.

    • Leafwarbler says:
      10 Dec10 December 09:58

      The Terms of all bar one of my offers require the stays to be “booked and completed” between 1st Jan and 15 Apr. I’m guessing that my 3 prepaid stays in Tokyo in February won’t qualify. Pity – that would have almost got me to the bonus.

    • Andy S says:
      10 Dec10 December 09:59

      Hmm that’s a good point, in the past pre-booked stays have counted, but the previous terms have just mentioned “completed”.

      I’ve had a look at my offers terms, most just say about completed between the dates, the only one that mentions booking is the “travel with the app”

      ‘Number of bonus points listed above will be awarded after required number of Qualifying Stays are booked via the official IHG® App and completed between 1st January 2017 and 15th April 2017 (both dates inclusive) ‘

      That could be read either way, it could just mean, ‘must be booked by the app. (any time frame) AND completed between the dates’

      Or ‘ (both)booked and completed between the dates’

    • Relaxo says:
      10 Dec10 December 11:43

      Ooh I had not noticed this discrepancy & have just booked something for 1st week Jan….This could be an issue with my Stay once; January stay; Book using app offers…

      • KevinL says:
        10 Dec10 December 14:04

        For “book via App’ you definately HAVE to book after Jan 1st. I fell foul of that one once. All other should be ok, or at least were in the past.

        • Alan says:
          14 Dec14 December 14:36

          Damn, that’s a rubbish system they’ve setup! Thankfully mine’s a cancellable rate so I might just rebook after Jan to play it safe.

  • Danksy says:
    10 Dec10 December 09:05

    Swmbo got..
    5,000 Book and stay Once Get 5,000
    12,000 Stay More, Earn More (6 nights)
    2,900 Travel with the IHG® App 3 bookings required
    4,000 A Bonus Weekend Stay A Friday and Saturday or Saturday and Sunday night stay required
    16,100 Your Achievement Bonus

  • Paul says:
    10 Dec10 December 09:08

    I didn’t honk that the 50,000 point bonuses were very generous and so while I registered I won’t chase this. I have found that achieving all the targets simply results in the next set of targets being much harder to achieve. If I can avoid IHG this spring then hopefully my target in the summer will be more generous.

    • Danksy says:
      10 Dec10 December 09:16

      Indeed!

    • barry cutters says:
      10 Dec10 December 09:19

      simply not the case for me. Im spire elite and have all the last 3 accelerates 100%
      i have a 50k target with the hardest being stay 7 nights in total. i will hit everything apart from the 1000points for getting the credit card.

  • Danksy says:
    10 Dec10 December 09:15

    I got

    5,000 Book and stay Once Get 5,000
    12,000 Stay More, Earn More 6 night(s) and earn 12,000 bonus points.
    6,000 A Bonus Weekend Stay
    21,600 Globetrotter Bonus 3 IHG hotel(s) outside country of residence one hotel stay per country.
    4,000 Stay a Little Longer stay of 4 or more consecutive nights.
    1,900 Eat, Drink and Earn $180 required

    5,000 Renew Your Ambassador Membership
    22,000 Your Achievement Bonus
    1,000 January Bonus Offer

    Sadly we have no travel plans next quarter – the cheapest I could do this for was 6nights at the holiday inn at Barry (Cardiff airport) for £300

  • Scott S says:
    10 Dec10 December 09:37

    I’ll get most of mine. Whilst not as generous as the one just about to finish, it’s a few easy points.
    Not sure if I did enough to finish everything for this one. Stayed last night to complete the 7/7 nights but think I might be one task short (either 3 x weekends or $40 on food/drink).

  • Andy S says:
    10 Dec10 December 09:43

    for the record

    3,000 Book and stay Once Get 3,000
    Thank you for being a loyal IHG® Rewards Club member. Book and stay once and earn 3,000 bonus points.

    16,000 Stay More, Earn More
    Get closer to the rewards you want when you stay 8 night(s) and earn 16,000 bonus points.

    3,500 Travel with the IHG® App
    Book 4 stay(s) with the IHG® App and earn 3,500 bonus points.

    4,000 A Bonus Weekend Stay
    Stay with us for the weekend and earn 4,000 bonus points. A Friday and Saturday or Saturday and Sunday night stay required.

    700 Eat, Drink and Earn
    Spend $80 on food or beverages at IHG hotels and earn 700 bonus points.

    1,500 Spend on your IHG® Rewards Club Premium Credit Card
    Book and pay for one stay at any IHG hotel using your IHG® Rewards Club Premium Credit Card and earn 1,500 bonus points. Terms and conditions apply.

    1,000 Earn When You Redeem
    You earned your points, now use them! Redeem your points for anything, from a digital download to a Reward Night, and you’ll earn 1,000 bonus points.

    10,300 Your Achievement Bonus
    Complete 6 of the 7 offers and earn (an additional) 10,300 bonus points.

    1,000 January Bonus Offer
    Book and stay once in January and get 1,000 bonus points.

    Interestingly I’m sure yesterday it was saying I had to complete all 7 for the 10300 bonus, but now its just 6. 1,4 and 6 should be covered by an existing booking which will also get 2 nts and I think was booked on the app, I have another 4 night booking in March, so only need 2 more nights (but 3 bookings with the app !!), a redemption and a couple of meals.

    Incidentally would booking a redemption on the app count for both of these? Generally redemptions don’t count unless its a specified target so im not sure if it would count for an app booking.

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