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REGISTER NOW: IHG Rewards Club launches a mini-Accelerate promotion

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UPDATE – APRIL 2024:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.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 scheme covering InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza etc, has launched its new Autumn promotion.

It is fundamentally a slimmed-down version of the long-running Accelerate offer, although it is being described as a ‘double points’ promotion with extra targets.  Perhaps they thought the original Accelerate format was too complicated?

You can find out your targets, and register, on the IHG website here.

It is valid for stays between 16th September and 16th December.

Everyone gets this target:

Earn double base points on every stay, starting from your 2nd stay, to a maximum of 15,000 bonus points

I got the following extra targets:

11,200 bonus points for staying at two different IHG brands

6,800 bonus points for making four bookings using the corporate code of the firm I haven’t worked for since 2010!

12,000 bonus points for making two stays of 4+ nights

15,000 bonus points for completing three of my four targets

This is fairly useless to me, frankly.  To hit 15,000 base points would require spending $1,500, before VAT, on IHG stays over the next three months (plus the spending on the first stay, which won’t be doubled) and that isn’t happening.

The 11,200 points bonus for staying at two different brands is an easy one, howeverIf I value an IHG point at 0.4p, as I do, then I’m getting £45 of points back from those two stays – plus double base points on the 2nd stay – which is a good deal.

My wife got the following extra targets:

11,200 bonus points for staying at two different IHG brands

3,200 bonus points for booking two stays on the IHG app

8,400 bonus points for staying two weekends (a Saturday night and another night)

Again, this is not hugely exciting.  However, 11,200 points for two brands is straightforward enough, as is the app bonus.

IHG Rewards Club double points promotion

Conclusion

The new IHG Rewards Club promotion is very similar to Hilton’s new offerYou can read about the Hilton offer here.

Both companies are offering double base points and both are offering a ‘twist’.  With Hilton, the twist is triple base points at luxury and resort hotels as well as 2,500 Lufthansa miles for stays until 31st October.  With IHG, it is personalised extra targets which may or may be achievable.

We don’t yet know what Marriott / SPG is planning for its first promotion since the merger, but I’m sure we will find out soon.

I strongly recommend signing up now, partly because you might forget otherwise, and partly because you won’t know – until you’ve seen your targets – whether it is worth moving stays to IHG brands.

You can register for the new IHG promotion here.


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.

Comments (143)

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

  • HAM76 says:

    No bonus points for completing all offers for me this time which means that won’t worry about staying two weekends. 8,400 points never pays for the 4 nights required unless I’m missing a trick.

    • BJ says:

      The trick you might be missing is that your two night weekend stay does not need to be consecutive nights in the same hotel. It only needs to be consecutive nights at any 2 IHG hotels. Thus, in most cases with your two nights you can also hit, for example, 2 brands, 2 app bookings or 2 bonus point targets so it becomes a case of killing 2+ birds with one stone.

      • Lyn says:

        That sounds like an optimistic reading of the Ts&Cs for the weekend stay.

        • BJ says:

          Worked for me in last two accelerates, found out by accident. I doubt it is supposed to track this way but it appears to do so.

        • Genghis says:

          @BJ why the name change from @James67?

        • BJ says:

          @Genghis, there were some abusive comments. Thankfully they are very rare in HFP, but changed it due to one who became too tiresome.

      • HAM76 says:

        @BJ Thanks, that is definitely good to know! I’ll review my trips to see if there is any that I could extend this way.

        • BJ says:

          To be on the safe side try it with one weekends first. If it works then you can consider whether it is worth repeating. My own personal rule of thumb with accelerate is ‘Can I get
          over 2.5k+ points per £10 spent’. If I can then I do it because I know I will get that back on redemotions in key cities such as London, particularly during expensive times.

  • Felix Flyer says:

    I got one rather unexciting offer. 12000 points for 2 stays of 4 nights or more. May well be doing more Hilton business this quarter.

  • BJ says:

    Based on your targets and mine it is difficult to describe as “mini” because the points on offer exceed what I have received in previous accelerates. However, based on offer feedback yesterday the majority seem to be receiving relatively few points and targets so I suppose it is fair enough. With mine I can get over 60k for 4 nights over two weekends in three brands with two bonus points stays so it looks like another weekend each in Aberdeen and Newcastle for me. I can do this for under £200 yielding a potential return of £350.

  • Ian M says:

    I got…

    11,200 bonus points for staying at two different IHG brands.

    8,400 points for staying at 2 Crowne Plaza Hotels.

    8,400 points for staying 2 weekends including a Saturday night and another night.

    I was going to book a 5 night stay at an IHG hotel today for 14th – 19th September. Anyone know if that means I’ll get double points for the 16th-19th part or because I check-in before the promotion starts will I not get a bonus?

  • Stephen C says:

    25,600 points for staying in 5 brands. I’ve only stayed in 3 brands ever so no chance. Hopefully the next Point Breaks are a bit more appealing.

    • Ross says:

      I only got offered 16,000 for 5 brands, so definitely not worth it for me.

      • Matt says:

        I have a whopping 38,400 for staying at 3 brands.

        In total I have 113,400 offered!

  • Fraser says:

    I got 5,200 bonus points for five different corporate stays. How unexciting. And the other targets (2 x weekend stays, 2 x bonus point packages) are by definition NOT going to be corporate stays, so they want 7 stays from me. No chance.

  • Paul says:

    Mehhh. I have gone right off IHG and I have Spire membership. There is simply no recognition, no tangible benefits and my stay at the Willard in Washington one of the worst experiences in avtop end hotel ever.
    Hilton on the hand do try and the free breakfast offer is very valuable if occasionally inconsistently.

    • Brighton Belle says:

      +1. Just hit Spire but Hilton Diamond challenge delivers more benefits than a few extra IHG points.
      I won’t be staying in any IHG property until April 2020 if there’s a choice. IHG need to be shaken out of their complacency. A free bag of crisps and a mini bottle of wine does not encourage my loyalty. It just feels mean and indifferent.

    • Kipto says:

      Paul, I am booked into the Willard in April. What was wrong with your stay ?

  • Nick Burch says:

    Oddly, I don’t have a “complete x targets” one this time. Maybe because I’ve always failed to over the years, due to there always being some impossible or crazy ones set for me?

    Mine are:
    * 15,000 – Double Your Stay – Earn double points on every stay, starting with your second stay, up to 15,000 bonus points
    * 22,400 – Discover Our Brands – Stay at 4 brands
    * 2,900 – Travel with the IHG® App – Book 3 stay(s) with the IHG® App

    Does seem a bit off that there’s a cap on the maximum number of double points I can earn? Not sure I’ll get there, but why cap it, why not have it unlimited double earnings like Hilton etc?

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