REGISTER NOW: IHG One Rewards launches its new Autumn bonus points offer

UPDATE – APRIL 2024:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.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 One Rewards has announced a new global promotion following a fallow few weeks.

You need to register here. A bit of thinking is involved because you need to choose between TWO different options.

IHG One Rewards is the loyalty scheme covering InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Crowne Plaza and Hotel Indigo among other brands.

How does IHG’s new bonus points promotion work?

The offer runs from 13th October to 31st December.

You must register in advance via this link. Registration is now open.

You can learn more about IHG One Rewards in our overview article here.

What will you earn?

It’s up to you, interestingly:

As you can see from the image above, you can choose from two options:

• 2,000 bonus points for every two cash nights or

• 10,000 bonus points for every four cash nights

Reward stays do not count.

Existing bookings DO count so there is no need to rebook anything.  Only one room per stay counts towards the offer, so if you are booking multiple rooms you should put each in a different name.

Which option is best?

For those who do a lot of hotel stays, this isn’t a tricky choice. You are substantially better off with ‘10,000 points for every four nights’ rather than ‘2,000 points for every two nights’.

Let’s say you ended up with seven nights, and on New Year’s Eve you were kicking yourself for not triggering the 8th night. You would still be better off than if you’d chosen ‘2,000 points for two nights’, as seven nights earns 6,000 points under the first option and 10,000 points under the 2nd.

The only people who should choose ‘2,000 points for every two nights’ are those who are fairly confident they will only complete two or three paid nights during the period from 13th October to 31st December.

Even then …. if you were confident of doing three nights, you might be tempted to register for ‘10,000 points every four nights’ on the basis that something is likely to come up. You are only gambling 2,000 points and could potentially gain an extra 6,000.

What is the bonus worth?

The standard earning rate in IHG One Rewards is 10 points per US$1 (93p) excluding taxes.  I value an IHG One Rewards point at 0.4p although you can often do better, which means your base return is 4p per 93p spent, ie 4.3%.

Of course, most HfP readers will have some sort of IHG One Rewards status.  This comes with a status bonus (applies to base points only):

• 20% bonus for Silver Elite
• 40% bonus for Gold Elite
• 60% bonus for Platinum Elite
• 100% bonus for Diamond Elite

Under this offer, and assuming you do an exact multiple of two or four nights:

• you get an extra 1,000 points (£4) per night with the ‘2,000 points for every two nights’ offer

• you get an extra 2,500 points (£10) per night with the ‘10,000 points for every four nights’ offer

This means that the offer is heavily geared towards people doing low value stays at, say, Holiday Inn Express-style hotels. There isn’t much here for anyone planning a week at InterContinental Maldives.

Conclusion

If you can do four nights, or a multiple of four, over the 10 weeks that this promotion is running, you will do OK. Bonus points worth £10 per night are not to be sniffed at, especially on low cost stays.

If you’re planning some heavy spending before New Year, you may be better off with Hilton’s current offer. This is worth double base points on all spending – so ideal for expensive hotels – plus an extra 2,000 points if you checkout on a weekday. Our article on that is here and you can register here.

Marriott’s offer is, if anything, worse than the IHG promotion – you get 2,000 bonus Marriott Bonvoy points for every two nights, and your first stay after registration doesn’t count at all. You can read more here and register here.

Radisson, Accor and Hyatt are not offering any global promotion at present.

Click here to register for IHG’s new bonus points promotion.  It kicks in for stays from 13th October but you can register today.

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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.