IHG Rewards Club brings back its generous ‘Accelerate’ promotion for May-July

UPDATE – APRIL 2025:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.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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As I trailed in an article yesterday, IHG Rewards Club, the Holiday Inn, HI Express, Crowne Plaza, InterContinental etc loyalty scheme, has launched a new promotion – IHG Accelerate.  Yes, it is repeating the one it has run every quarter since October 2015!

But that is not a bad thing.

To be honest, during the last two years IHG has been the only major hotel chain offering global promotions which offer genuine outsize 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 9) covers stays from 1st May to 31st July 2018

All hotels are participating

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

This was my target for 55,700 points maximum, comprising:

• 2,000 points for a stay in May
• 2,000 points on my next stay
• 10,000 points for staying five nights
• 9,600 points for two stays booked via the IHG app
• 2,500 points for three stays booked via my corporate rate
• 12,000 points for two stays in any country in North America, South America, Central America, Caribbean, Greater China, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa
• 1,000 points for ANY redemption, including a cheap digital download
• 2,000 points for getting either of the IHG credit cards
• 14,600 points for completing six of the seven targets above, excluding the May bonus

This is a pretty weird selection to be honest.  It is unlikely that I can hit the countries bonus based on my current travel plans.   I will be in the US in May but New York is the sort of expensive city where you should redeem points and not pay cash.

A reader told me that ANY corporate rate code triggers that target.  It does not necessarily need to be the one stored in your account.  This can be handy if you are a contractor and have various different clients over the promotional period.

My wife got this one for a whopping 67,700 points:

• 2,000 points for a stay in May
• 2,000 points on her next stay
• 10,000 points for staying five nights
• 9,600 points for two stays booked via the IHG app
• 6,000 points for staying one weekend
• 18,000 points for two stays in any country in North America, South America, Central America, Caribbean, Greater China, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa
• 1,500 points for paying for a stay with her IHG credit card
• 18,600 points for completing five of the six targets above excluding the May bonus

This is more achievable although, unless some work travel comes up, she won’t be hitting the countries one.  5,500 points for a one-night stay in May, paid for on her IHG credit card, would be a decent result.

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 achieve $39 of cumulative spend (£27), you actually need to spend £33 due to the 20% VAT and in reality probably need to do £36 due to the FX rate IHG uses.

Here is a little tip.  If you travel with your partner, or even if you don’t but you don’t mind booking in their name, you might be able to maximise your points by splitting bookings across accounts.  This makes it less likely that you can get the ‘all targets hit’ extra bonus but, if that is unlikely anyway, mixing and matching may work best.

A note on rebooking

Most of the time, existing bookings – ie bookings made before 1st May – made online do count for this promotion.

However, if you have an app booking target it DOES specifically state that stays must be booked after the 1st May.  And they mean it, as I found out to my cost once last year.  If you have a ‘book stays via the app’ target then be prepared to rebook.

Conclusion

As long as your target is sensible, this is highly likely to be the most generous hotel promotion this Summer.  And, with three months to hit your target, you have plenty of time to make the necessary stays.

Log in to the Accelerate website here, register and see what your target is.

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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.