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Register now: IHG brings back its generous ‘Accelerate’ hotel promotion for spring

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UPDATE – APRIL 2025:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.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.

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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!

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IHG One Rewards news

IHG One Rewards update – April 2025:

Get bonus points: IHG is not currently running a global promotion.

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.

  • Louie says:
    10 Dec10 December 22:46

    1,000 January Bonus Offer – Book and stay once in January and get 1,000 bonus points.
    1,000 Book and stay once and earn 1,000 bonus points.
    7,200 Stay 4 Nights – Get an additional 7,200 bonus points after night 4.
    3,000 Stay 3 more nights – Get an additional 3,000 bonus points after night 7.
    3,000 Stay 3 more nights – Get an additional 3,000 bonus points after night 10.
    3,000 Stay 3 more nights – Get an additional 3,000 bonus points after night 13.
    3,000 Stay 3 more nights – Get an additional 3,000 bonus points after night 16.
    15,000 Stay 3 more nights – Get an additional 15,000 bonus points after night 19.

    Hubby’s offer. No thank you.

  • Louie says:
    10 Dec10 December 22:52

    1,000 Book and stay Once Get 1,000
    5,000 Get closer to the rewards you want when you stay 5 night(s) and earn 5,000 bonus points.
    3,600 Earn 3,600 bonus points when you book 1 Bonus Points Package stay(s) and get to your next reward faster.
    30,400 Your Achievement Bonus – Complete 3 of the 3 offers and earn (an additional) 30,400 bonus points.

    Better but probably won’t as we’ve not got many hotel stays due in that period.

  • Pascal says:
    10 Dec10 December 23:51

    I’ve got 4 doable. And two tricky one’s. The tricky:
    Apply for the credit card. I’ve applied last week! The Ts and Cs mention that there should be a paid transaction between Jan and April. Should I wait 2 weeks to use the card?
    Same problem for the next:
    Extend your Ambassador membership. Well it ends in December! So I have extended a few weeks ago… Mhh not sure how to reach the 5 out of 6?

    • Peter says:
      11 Dec11 December 11:32

      I’ve had the same thing. Apply for a credit card but I received mine a month ago and have already spent on it. Frustrating!

      Anyone know if they will change this if I phone them up?

  • Robert says:
    11 Dec11 December 07:09

    Got the 41,000 offer smilier to your wife’s Rob.

    To be honest, it’s probably the poorest acceleration offer I’ve had so far, and unlike the previous one, I’m unlikely to complete it.

    Not sure I’ll be doing 8 nights during this period, and booking on the app means forgoing the bonus booking through HFP, which was worth while on the previous offer, but won’t work for me this time I don’t think.

    2,000 points on her next stay
    1,000 points for a stay in January
    12,000 points for staying eight nights
    2,000 points for applying for an IHG Rewards Club credit card
    2,200 points for booking twice with the app
    21,800 points for completing three of the four targets above excluding the January bonus

  • Dale says:
    11 Dec11 December 15:09

    I have a really easy 3 out of 4 offer, but my query is about the current accelerate promo. I have completed all of the challenges and 3 days left….but the last qualifying stay hasn’t credited through accelerate yet. I am presuming that even though the promo runs out of time, their system will know you have completed the challenges in time and award the points?

    • Andy S says:
      11 Dec11 December 16:46

      Yes I was in a similar position last time, the final stays didn’t credit until after the end date but still counted and I got all the points

  • Mark says:
    11 Dec11 December 16:45

    I am a gold member does this mean I. Get a extra 10 % on top as well?

  • Nigel Venables says:
    11 Dec11 December 20:15

    Do anyone get the autumn offer changed mid offer to make it harder to achieve. I did and currently in conversation with ihg to put it right. Luckily I screen shotted the old offer so they shouldn’t have any excuse. Basically they are trying to remove the stay once in September from the count of offers hit to trigger the bonus award.

    • Andy S says:
      11 Dec11 December 22:50

      erm, no, for me the “stay in september” was never part of the 5 out of 6 or whatever. Never has been. I guess if it said that for you it was a mistake.

  • Vivian says:
    12 Dec12 December 12:25

    41,000 points target (similar to Rob’s wife):

    2,000 points on next stay
    1,000 points for a stay in January
    7,500 points for staying five nights
    1,500 points for applying for an IHG Rewards Club credit card
    3,600 points for booking a Bonus Points Package
    25,400 points for completing three of the four targets above excluding the January bonus

    One January night at HIX Croydon (£51.30 bonus points package at the weekend) should give me 33,500 points.

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