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

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• guesswho2000 says:

  14 Apr14 April 06:09

  First decent one I’ve had in a couple of years, and with a couple of cancel and rebook using the app, I can hit it with my existing travel plans:
  1,500 – Stay Once
  6,000 – Stay 4 nights
  12,000 – Stay at any two HI hotels (HIX excluded)
  4,800 – Book two stays using the app
  5,000 – Join Intercontinental Ambassador
  11,700 – Complete 4x of the above
  1,500 – Stay once in May

• Charlie says:

  14 Apr14 April 06:52

  I’m relatively new to IHG, having joined in December to get the credit card to pay my tax bill.

  I’m just waiting for my most recent stay to post and I’ll have completed all my Q1 Accelerate goals. I’ve just registered for Q2, and my goals are identical to the Q1 goals I was given:

  500 – download the app (which I’ve obviously already done as part of Q1 – can I delete/download it again, will this just post automatically or is it impossible to achieve now?)
  2000 – stay 3 nights
  2000 – 2 stays using Your Rate
  2000 – discover 3 brands
  23,500 – complete all 4 of the above

  Is it usual to get an identical offer for the 2nd quarter? I was hoping for something a little more exciting!

  On a related point – I also got a New Member Offer:
  2000 – stay 2 nights
  2000 – book 2 stays direct with IHG
  2000 – book 1 bonus points package
  2000 – 1 weekend stay
  7000 – bonus for completing all 4.

  However, none of these have posted/triggered. I was under the assumption that they would stack with Accelerate (which points have posted from my first 2 stays, just waiting for the 3rd to post), as I couldn’t see anything about it not stacking.

  Does anyone have any experience with the new member offer and accelerate running at the same time?

  • Nori says:

    14 Apr14 April 11:11

    Charlie, I ‘ve the same – my Q2 offer is the same as Q1. I may just delete and download the app again. Or maybe when you book via the app it automatically knows that you have the app and you don’t have to do anything. I’ve no idea.

    • John says:

      14 Apr14 April 20:01

      Delete now if not using. Re-download later (had to do this 3 times now, with 4th coming up after May 1st).

      Weird being repeatedly given this very easy target, but points always post.

      Strange target setting algorithm they have at IHG.

      • Charlie says:

        15 Apr15 April 08:30

        Thanks for the tip John – I can’t see me hitting the target this quarter, but an extra 500 points just for downloading an app can’t be sniffed at!

• rossmacd says:

  14 Apr14 April 06:59

  You guys got it easy – my target is 16 nights for 21,000 points. Shouldn’t be too difficult but will require diverting stays away from other chains.

  • Brian says:

    14 Apr14 April 08:40

    21,000 points will get you half a night in London. Is that worth it??

    • Matt says:

      14 Apr14 April 09:18

      agree thats really poor 21,000 points for 16 nights.

      I have 47,600, I can in theory get 35k from two stays carefully done to tick the boxes.
      2,000 Stay Once
      10,000 5 night(s) and earn 10,000 bonus points. Terms
      9,600 Travel with the IHG® App Book 2 stay(s)
      6,600 book 2 Bonus Points Package stay(s)
      3,000 Stay 1 nights at participating IHG® hotels in Germany
      1,500 Book and pay for one stay at any IHG® hotel using your IHG® Rewards Club Premium Credit Card
      1,000 Redeem your points for anything, from a digital download to a Reward Night
      11,900 Your Achievement Bonus Complete 6 of the 7 offers and earn (an additional)
      2,000 May Bonus Offer Stay once in May and get 2,000 bonus points

  • Pangolin says:

    14 Apr14 April 09:46

    How is that possible?

    A stay based bonus (stay X nights and earn Y points) can’t be worth less than 1K per night, and I thought the completion bonus cannot be less than 10K.

    Was the completion bonus 5K? I think you should post it here as I thought what I received last year was as bad as if could get, but yours looks worse.

    I agree with others that it’s hardly worth it. 16 nights at Hilton properties would get you a lot more.

• PJK says:

  14 Apr14 April 07:32

  Does anyone know whether the food & beverage spend has to be in one go or can be cumulative?

  My target is $136 and, normally travelling on my own for single nights, I’d be hard pressed to spend this in one stay.

  Must remember to book a room rate without breakfast!

  • William Dolling says:

    14 Apr14 April 07:39

    It doesn’t have to be one transaction. Just make sure you’re able to charge it to your room and settle at the end of the stay. Settling the bill in the bar or restaurant won’t count.

    • Matt says:

      14 Apr14 April 09:21

      cumulative, I had this before

      • PJK says:

        15 Apr15 April 07:54

        Thanks for that

  • Graham Walsh says:

    14 Apr14 April 08:09

    Mine is $102. Where do they come up with these numbers? Also is it inc or ex vat?

    • Graham Walsh says:

      14 Apr14 April 08:16

      Ignore me, just seen it above, it’s excluding VAT

    • Lady London says:

      14 Apr14 April 09:33

      Ex VAT and to be really safe I’d spend very close to the number of dollars they want, ex-VAT, in pounds.

  • John says:

    14 Apr14 April 09:55

    Actually, I booked a room with breakfast last summer, and surprisingly the breakfast charge contributed to my F&B spend target (but I didn’t hit the target as I wasn’t expecting it to count, and I rarely pay to eat in hotels).

    I think it would work as long as the rate is bookable without breakfast and you select the option to “add breakfast for €15” or however much.

• John O'Sullivan says:

  14 Apr14 April 07:32

  I got an easy 54k points off them last time. I have a very achievable 42k this time that doesn’t fit with my forthcoming travel plans. The targets themselves are simple e.g. stay five nights.

  I’ve not been a frequent user of IHG and my targets seem to be aimed at drawing me into more frequent “achievable” usage.

  It has worked for them and so far this year I’ve stayed Cardiff Indigo, Vilamora CP, , HIX Exeter. I’m also booked in to IC Istanbul, Estoril and Park Lane, plus CP Rome. I suspect next years accelerate targets will be more complex. If status match continues next year however could be more of a Hilton year.

  Status value hasn’t been consistent from IHG. One Cardiff stay was upgraded to a room with free mini bar (nice), one Cardiff stay wasn’t. Vilamoura (a higher room upgrade) and a drink for two at the bar, HIX drink at the bar.

  For me as a leisure traveller with two retirement celebrations, a 30th wedding anniversary and a trip to Rome to see Ire in the 6 Nations the value is in the access to a significant number of points (also using reward nights from two CC’s) that has allowed me to heavily subsidise stays at IC’s that I otherwise wouldn’t want to pay out on. One reward/free night at Estoril, Two at Istanbul, Two at Park Lane , Two at Rome CP.

  For others that may be small potatoes, for us it is a pattern of stays that would be in a price range that would make us wince, even for special occasions.

• Neil says:

  14 Apr14 April 07:41

  I’ve got 94,100 points up for grabs! It requires the following:

  Stay once 1,500
  Stay 8 nights 12,000
  Stay at 3 different HI 10,800
  Book 2 stays via app 9,600
  Stay 2 weekends (2 x 2 nights) 28,800!
  Redeem points 1,000
  Get IHG Credit card* 2,000
  Complete 6 of 7 above 26,900
  Stay in May 1,500

  *I took out the IHG Premium credit card in March, this was on last quarters targets, however the terms of the new credit card offer state I must take out a credit card between 19th Feb & 31st July – then make a murchase between 1st May and 31st July. As long as I make a purchase in that period am I likely to qualify for next quarters target, despite qualifying for last quarters target?

  In general I think IHG are really clever with their Accelerate promotion, the number of nights required is always slightly more than I did the previous quarter (including reward nights) for me I have not booked a weekend stay with IHG not using points for around a year, however used to do so every month or two. It pushes all the right buttons for me, it looks achievable in general and rewards me enough for putting my spend to them.

  • Fenny says:

    14 Apr14 April 12:05

    Mine was similar to this – but spend on the cc as I already have it – for 50,100 points. I haven’t done the Accelerate for the last 2 quarters as the requirements were so far outside my normal usage it wasn’t worth even going for the stay 1 night targets.

• Graham Walsh says:

  14 Apr14 April 08:20

  I didn’t complete my Q1 challenge as I didn’t visit anywhere outside of Europe. So they give me the challenge again!!!

  Looks like 1 night will be worth a 5.5k bonus. Don’t think I’ll make anything else, unless I go to a conference in Vegas and do 2 mattress runs there (probably not worth it as prices will probably be high).

  Complete all of your Accelerate offers and earn 65,000 total bonus points.
  2,000 Happy Birthday Bonus
  10,000 Stay 5 night(s)
  9,600 Book 3 stay(s) with the IHG® App
  12,000 Have 2 stays in any country in North America, South America, Central America, Caribbean, Greater China (China Mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan), Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa
  9,000 Book and complete 6 Your Rate Bonus Point Package stay(s)
  1,200 Spend $102 on food and beverages when you stay at IHG® hotels
  1,500 Book and pay for one stay at any IHG hotel using your IHG® Rewards Club Credit Card
  17,700 Bonus – Complete 6 of the 7 offers
  2,000 Stay once in May and get 2,000 bonus points.

  Others
  Stay during the final week of Accelerate, 25-31 July, and get 2,000 bonus points.

  Stay once in June and get 2,000 bonus points
  Stay once in July and get 2,000 bonus points

  • @mkcol says:

    14 Apr14 April 15:15

    Is it your birthday?

• Adam says:

  14 Apr14 April 08:20

  stay at 2 brands for 26,700 points – now that’s what I’m talking about
  8000 for 4 nights, 8400 for staying at 2 different HIX
  2000 for a stay in May (prob not), 2000 for a stay by end of July (prob yeah)
  1500 for booking with black card (easy)
  6600 for booking a Bonus Points stay
  5000 for joining Ambassador (yeah, right)

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