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Got the IHG Rewards credit card? Get 10,000 bonus points on your hotel sale booking

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UPDATE – FEBRUARY 2025:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.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, the parent company for Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn Express, voco, Hotel Indigo etc, has just launched a new sale.

The rules are simple:

  • you receive a 30% discount on Best Flexible Rate With Breakfast
  • you must stay a minimum of three nights
  • you must book by 11th May
  • you must stay between 17th May and 5th September
  • sale only covers hotels in the UK and Europe
IHG hotels spring sale

You can find out more on the IHG website here.

Unfortunately sale bookings are not fully flexible. You need to pay a deposit for the first night of your stay at the time of booking and this is not refundable.

This seems like an unfair one-way bet in favour of IHG, to be honest. If a hotel is forced to close after you have booked, it will refund you but your trip is ruined. If you cannot travel due to Government restrictions but the hotel is open, IHG is keeping your money.

Bookings can be amended but this will be “in line with the individual hotel’s policy which may vary by hotel.”

If this was all the sale had to offer, I would not be over-excited. You are not even receiving a full 30% saving, because the discount is calculated off Best Flexible Rate which would be fully refundable. The saving should really be compared to a non-refundable rate.

If you have the IHG credit card, it gets a lot more interesting

If you have one of the two UK IHG credit cards, the sale becomes a lot more interesting.

Credit card holders will receive an additional 10,000 bonus IHG Rewards points when they make any booking in the sale.

I would value 10,000 IHG Rewards points at £40, which makes a noticeable difference on a stay at a cheaper brand such as Holiday Inn Express.

What is NOT clear is whether the 10,000 points count towards elite status or not. I am guessing that they do not, because they will be awarded by IHG and not by Creation, the credit card company.

IHG hotels spring sale

Here is the small print:

“Cardholders of the IHG Rewards Club UK Credit Card or IHG Rewards Club Premium UK Credit Card from Creation Financial Services that use their IHG Rewards Credit Card to book their qualifying stay at participating IHG Hotel and Resorts in the Europe Spring 2021 Promotion will receive an additional 10,000 IHG Rewards Bonus Points. IHG Rewards Members with a Miles earning preference will earn Points.

Bookings must be made through IHG Brand websites, IHG App, CRO or directly at hotel. You must make your booking using your IHG Rewards Club Credit Card or an IHG Rewards Club Premium Credit Card during the Booking Dates for stays during the Stay Dates and in accordance with the terms of the Europe Spring 2021 Promotion, to qualify.

The 10,000 Bonus Points cardholders earn from this Promotion are separate from and in addition to the base points earned from credit card transactions. You must be an IHG Rewards member to collect Rewards points.

Allow up to 4 to 6 weeks for Promotional bonus points to be credited. For new IHG Rewards Club Credit Card accounts opened during the promotional period, please allow 4 to 6 weeks after the promotional period for Bonus Points to be credited. Bonus Points under this Promotion will be earned on the first qualifying stay during the Stay Dates and can only be earned once per card holder and will only be awarded to the IHG Rewards account registered to the main cardholder and cannot be earned by an additional card holder.”

New credit card applicants will also receive this offer

The wording above makes it clear that new applicants for the IHG credit card will receive this deal.

This means that, if you thinking of making a booking in the sale, you may want to think about getting the IHG Rewards credit card first. You need to use your IHG credit card to make the booking if you want the 10,000 bonus points.

The credit card is a pretty decent product in its own right – you would get a 10,000 point bonus for signing up (this is separate to the 10,000 points offered here), you earn 1 IHG Rewards point per £1 spend, the day-to-day spend points count towards elite status and the card is free.

Our full review of the IHG Rewards credit card is here.

Full details of the IHG sale can be found here.


IHG One Rewards news

IHG One Rewards update – February 2025:

Get bonus points: IHG is offering double base points on cash stays until 31st March 2025. This kicks in from your second cash stay during the offer period. Read more in our article here and click here to register.

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 (17)

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

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    Wording suggests stay as singular but does it specify either way explicitly whether it’s one time or multiples?

    • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

      Bonus Points under this Promotion will be earned on the first qualifying stay during the Stay Dates and can only be earned once per card holder

  • BJ says:

    Interesting if you definitely want or need an IHG hotel for three consecutive nights. For those that don’t the offer needs to be appraised within the context of 3 nights at other chains with ongoing offers. For example, you could collect 10000+ bonus points with 3x 1 might fully flexible stays at Hilton, and some have good free night offers from Marriott. Very much a case of horses for courses at the moment but then isn’t it always.

    • Backpacker says:

      Hi BJ, what’s the free night offers from Marriott some people are getting?
      I try to keep up with as much as I can on the site, but I can’t always get through the dail 200-300 comments on the daily thread… 🙂

      • BJ says:

        Some people got offers to stay two nights and get one free night certificate if I recall correctly. Personally I never ever get any decent offers from Marriott.

      • Harry T says:

        Personalised offers that are targeted at individual accounts, usual for casuals who don’t stay at Marriott. I’ve never had a targeted promotion, despite racking up 75 nights in 2020.

  • Anna says:

    Compare prices before booking – e.g. the Kimpton Charlotte Square is £195 pn night in May with the offer, but the member flexible rate is only £186 (albeit without breakfast) and obviously doesn’t require the first night deposit.

  • Andrew says:

    There’s also a chance that the 10k pays out on any booking such as a 1 night stay during the offer period. Terms aren’t totally clear, although I think it’s more likely to require this 3 night restrictive stay.

  • r* says:

    I doubt I’ll ever book a non-cancellable room again. Not that I did much pre-covid, but to do so atm unless youre certain youll be staying somewhere seems crazy.

    Hiltons recent sale have been non-cancellable too, its as tho the hotels (and the guests) have learnt nothing.

    • The Savage Squirrel says:

      Well maybe guests have learned nothing, but you can fully understand why hotels still offer a non-refundable option…

  • Jonathan says:

    Any chance the black IHG card will return to new applications for this deal ?!?

  • Chris Heyes says:

    1* I’ve always booked non-refundable rates usually 10/12 Months in advance
    Not had one refuse me, in 50+ odd years
    My first question to “the manager” is can you rebook me for a later date or if not a refund. (i preferer rebooking as we can travel whenever)
    Yes even Hotels.com, although i speak to the Hotel manager direct first
    The manager of Hotel Boulderardo “Boulder” gets special thanks refunded back in my account within 3 days last year, although booked again for this.
    That is the quickest refund I’ve ever had, from U.S. as well

    • Aston100 says:

      Chris, I think you are very lucky not to have had refund issues on non-refundable bookings in 50+ years.
      Last year, I had some grief with a HI in Paris who were citing some French law to get around giving a refund – the hotel was actually closed!

      • kitten says:

        that’s France. There was actually a law. A bit off topic but I have a growing impression consumer protection in France is ‘ retarded ‘ in many ways. I’d be interested to know if anyone who knows about this thinks it is correct.

        On no refunds when hotel is actually closed the Italian governnent did the same I think.

        Those governments seem to have set up so you have to take a voucher which you can get refunded but only in 12 or 18 months. They are making the consumer take the credit risk if the hotel going bust in the meantime I think.

        • r* says:

          They did. Holiday inn malpensa refused a refund stating the italian decree bs when they were closed. Amex soon saw off that bs.

    • Anna says:

      Chris, you’ve obviously got the gift of the gab – you always seem to get upgraded to suites as well!

    • C says:

      Historically, I booked refundable rates if I see something appealing or need to lock it in, and then switch to a cheaper non-refundable rate close in when my plans are definite. For leisure travel, I have no trouble with rates that are refundable until, e.g., 3/7 days before arrival.

      For business travel, it’s always refundable, or else a very short period prior to arrival. Too many meetings cancelled at the last minute over the years….

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