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REGISTER NOW: IHG launches its new Accelerate-style points hotel 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UPDATE – APRIL 2024:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.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 loyalty scheme covering InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza etc, has launched its new Spring promotion.

It is fundamentally another version of the long-running Accelerate offer, although this time it is called “Reward Nights. Faster.”

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

It is valid for stays between 15th January and 30th April.  The closing date for registration is 15th March – this is the first time I can remember that IHG has closed registrations early.

Once I had registered, I got the following targets:

10,000 bonus points for staying five nights

19,200 bonus points for staying at three different IHG brands 

5,600 bonus points for 2 x 2-night weekend stays (Saturday plus another night)

8,000 bonus points for four stays booked on the corporate rate of the company I haven’t worked for since 2011, and which has special rates at very few properties anyway ….

3,000 bonus points for one stay in February

42,800 bonus points for completing four of the five targets above

This is fairly useless to me, frankly.  It is virtually impossible to hit the weekends target and I can’t see any scenario under which I could hit the ‘corporate rate’ target.

The 19,200 points bonus for staying at three different brands is an interesting one, however.  If I value an IHG point at 0.4p then I’m getting almost £80 of points back from those three stays – plus my standard points and the 3,000 points for a February stay – which is a good deal.

Realistically, I might be able to achieve 32,200 bonus points.  This would involve staying five nights over the next four months, taking in three different brands and ensuring one stay is in February.

My wife got the following targets:

10,000 bonus points for staying five nights

28,800 bonus points for staying at three different IHG brands

8,400 bonus points for two Holiday Inn stays

10,800 bonus points for 3 x 2-night weekend stays (Saturday plus another night)

6,600 bonus points for booking two ‘Bonus Point Packages’ (this is when the reservation system offers you additional points on your stay in return for paying a slightly higher rate)

This is VERY interesting:

she could earn 35,400 bonus points from just three nights, as long as each was at a different brand and two were ‘Bonus Point Packages’

she could earn 58,000 bonus points (worth £232 based on my 0.4p valuation) from just five nights, as long as they included two Holiday Inn nights, three different brands in total and two of the bookings were for ‘Bonus Point Packages’

IHG Rewards Club Reward Nights Faster bonus points promotion

Conclusion

The new IHG Rewards Club promotion is, at least in my house, surprisingly generous.

We don’t know what Marriott Rewards will do when MegaBonus ends on 31st January (MegaBonus details are here).  However, IHG’s ‘Rewards Nights. Faster.’ offer is looking a lot more generous for us (your position may be different) than Hilton’s new ‘2,000 bonus points per stay’ offer which I wrote about here.

I strongly recommend signing up now, especially as IHG is closing registrations early on 15th March, even though stays until 30th April count.  Remember that only stays from 15th January count – existing bookings are OK and do not need to be rebooked.

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.

Category

IHG One Rewards

Comments (235)

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  • Cora Harrison says:
    4 Jan4 January 13:17

    Earn double points on every stay, starting with your second stay…. yawn…

  • Samuel says:
    4 Jan4 January 13:41

    I got the same as Cora- seems to be similar (worse actually) as the offer in Q4 2018 (unlimited double points). Double Your Stay: Earn double points on every stay, starting with your second stay, up to 40,000 bonus points…

  • nick says:
    4 Jan4 January 14:28

    OT, but I have just logged into IHG and I am STILL showing as Spire. I earned Spire in 2016; it was legitimately valid for 2017; and for reasons I don’t understand I was renewed for 2018. If it continues into 2019 it would be a huge bonus (I actually really value it, as I always seem to get a suite upgrade which is a real benefit with a 1-year old). Have I been super lucky, or are they just late in updating status for 2019?

    • Alan says:
      4 Jan4 January 15:11

      you didn’t buy Ambassador by any chance? some reports of that extending it

      • Genghis says:
        5 Jan5 January 07:49

        I thought that no longer works?

        • Alan says:
          5 Jan5 January 10:00

          Ooh I don’t know, never used it myself as had Spire anyway, just trying to think up a possible explanation 🙂

        • John says:
          6 Jan6 January 08:14

          If you bought Amb in early-mid 2018 you would extend your Spire until end 2019. It doesn’t seem to work any more for new joiners, but people renewing Amb have extended Spire until end 2019 and in some cases end 2020 (remains to be seen whether this gets treated as a gltich and “fixed”).

    • Paul Ashmore says:
      4 Jan4 January 15:21

      My accelerate bar has been set really high this time

      25,600 to stay at 5 brands
      7,200 stay at 3 holiday inns
      7,200 stay 3 weekends
      6,600 when I book 5 bonus points packages
      4,000 book 1 stay of 4 or more consecutive nights

      3,000 for the feb booking (that is simple enough)

      How is it mine is so much harder than the ones mentioned in the article.

    • Sarah says:
      4 Jan4 January 15:31

      I have the same says express 31/12/18 but doesn’t seem to have updated.

    • Daniel Evans says:
      5 Jan5 January 15:36

      My Spire told me it expired on 31/12/19 which is an extra year. I did legit earn the points to extend it but would have got an extra year regardless. I am an Ambassador.

    • MAriusz says:
      6 Jan6 January 12:55

      I was Platinum member for 5 years, staying max 5 nights a year

  • Sarah says:
    4 Jan4 January 15:30

    Anyone know if there’s likely to be any IHG Ambassador offers coming up to purchase new membership? Membership expired but only have option of $200 or 40,000 points to buy new one. Is buying with points decent value at 0.4p?

    • TGLoyalty says:
      4 Jan4 January 16:52

      No option to renew becuase it elapsed?

      The $200 to renew is a good offer 15k points and 10% rebate on all rewards stays

    • Alex W says:
      4 Jan4 January 20:19

      Unlikely I think… you just missed a deal on black Friday.

  • mutley says:
    4 Jan4 January 15:42

    Should be renewal option of $150 as well

    • Sarah says:
      4 Jan4 January 15:44

      Thanks @mutley but it’s not there. Phoned them and they said it was because it expired at end Nov and there was nothing they could do.

      • Alan says:
        4 Jan4 January 18:02

        Ah, damn that’s a shame – the renewal with 10% back on redemptions is definitely quite a nice one. Failing that if you have to apply afresh and have a reasonable number of points I’d say it’s pretty reasonable to pay with points rather than cash – I have a similar valuation of them to you.

  • Jamie says:
    5 Jan5 January 03:02

    Stay at 3 brands and get 28,800 bonus points.
    Stay at 2 Holiday Inn® hotel(s)—including Holiday Inn Resort® and Holiday Inn Club Vacations®—and earn 8,400 bonus points.
    Stay 2 weekend(s), including a Saturday night and another night, and earn 12,000 bonus points.
    Earn 4,000 bonus points when you book 1 stay(s) of 4 or more consecutive nights.

  • Jane says:
    5 Jan5 January 07:47

    Mine’s unachievable this time unfortunately, particularly as I’ve already got non-IHG breaks booked during that period.
    4 brands, 6 nights, points+cash booking (might do that but not sure if they’re good value), bonus points package. And only a bonus if I hit all 4.

  • MichaelG says:
    5 Jan5 January 08:15

    Total option for 137,200 points but won’t hit them all, particularly weekend and consecutive nights. Still should be able to get at least 46,000 points.

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