(EXPIRED) IHG Rewards Promo: Earn No Bonus On 1st Stay, 2x On 2nd, 3x On 3+ Stays

IHG Rewards has opened registration for its next promotion which starts on October 1 and runs through the end of the year. It’s sadly a fairly weak promotion as you’ll only get its full benefits when booking at least three paid stays during the promo period.

The Deal

• Earn 2x points on your second IHG stay and 3x points on your third and subsequent stays.
• Possible additional promotion: Chase IHG cardholders earn 3,000 bonus points on your second stay and another 3,000 bonus points on your third stay.
• Direct link to registration.

Key Terms

• You must be an IHG® Rewards member and must register your member number in advance of staying, to participate in the “3X” promotion (“Promotion”).
• Members can pre-register for this Promotion starting 15 September 2021 through 30 September 2021. Members will be able to register, stay, and earn for this Promotion beginning 01 October 2021 and ending on 31 December 2021 (“Promotion Period”).
• Upon registration, members will be presented with the opportunity to earn 2X points upon completion of their second qualifying stay, and then 3X points completion of their third qualifying stay and all subsequent qualifying stays, during the Promotion Period when paying a Qualifying Rate (as such rates are defined in the IHG Rewards terms and conditions).
• For the Promotion, earning “2X” or “2X points” or “double points” on a 2nd qualifying stay means the member will receive two (2) times the “base points” the member would normally receive just for being an IHG® Rewards Club member. For example, under the Promotion, for a one-night second (2nd) qualifying stay at a rate of $100.00, the member would earn 1,000 base points (10 points per USD x $100 = 1,000 points) and an additional 1,000 promotional bonus points, for a total of 2,000 points. For the Promotion, earning “3X” or “3X points” or “triple points” on a 3+ qualifying stay means the member will receive three (3) times the base points on their 3rd qualifying stay, and all subsequent qualifying stays. For example, for a one-night third (3rd) qualifying stay at a rate of $100.00, the member would again earn 1,000 base points (10 points per USD x $100 = 1,000 points) and then an additional 2,000 promotional bonus points, for a total of 3,000 points.
• The promotional bonus points under this Promotion are calculated based solely on the base points the member is eligible to earn for a qualifying stay just for being an IHG Rewards Club member, and any Elite status bonus points or any other bonus or promotional points the member may be eligible to receive for the same stay are not included.
• You must register, book, and stay on or before 31 December 2021 to earn points during the Promotion Period.
• By clicking “click to register” you are registering for the Promotion. Members will be awarded points based upon the number of stays consumed during the Promotion Period at IHG brand hotels, with some exclusions. Offer available at participating Six Senses properties, as identified on each hotel’s booking page.
• Promotion Period begins on 01 October 2021 and ends 31 December 2021. Members will only receive points for stays occurring within the Promotion Period.
• A stay can begin before the Promotion Period or end after the Promotion Period but will only receive the Promotion bonus points for dates within the Promotion Period.
• Nights that occurred before or after the Promotion Period are excluded.
• The points earned during the Promotion can be used towards Reward Nights, can be redeemed for merchandise, or for other redemption opportunities.
• Qualifying Stays are a minimum 1-night stay booked under a Qualifying Rate, with total spend exceeding US $30 for each night. Note that multiple checkouts for consecutive qualifying nights at the same hotel will count as one (1) qualifying stay; non-consecutive qualifying nights at the same hotel may count as separate qualifying stays.
• The Promotional Period includes 92 nights and the maximum number of promotional bonus points that can be earned is 70,000 over the entire Promotional Period.
• For additional details on Qualifying Stays and Rates, please see the full IHG Rewards Members Terms and Conditions.
• Only one room per member per Qualifying Stay will be eligible for the applicable points, or other benefits (if any) available under the applicable Promotion. If more than one member checks into the same room, only one member is eligible for the applicable points, or other benefits (if any) available under the applicable Promotion. If a member books more than one room on the same night, they will only receive Promotion points on one room and points will be based off the room with the higher average room night rate over the Promotion Period.
• IHG Rewards Members with a Miles earning preference will earn Points.
• No retroactive points will be awarded for nights prior to member’s registration in the Promotion.
• Except as otherwise stated in the terms and conditions, please allow up to 4 to 6 weeks for Promotion points to be credited after checkout.
• Possible additional terms
  • For cardmembers in the United States using an IHG® Rewards Club Credit Card from Chase, an additional 3,000 bonus points will be awarded on your second Qualifying stay and an additional 3,000 bonus points will be awarded on your third Qualifying stay during the Promotion Period at any IHG Hotel and Resort worldwide, with some exclusions. Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for Promotion bonus points to be credited. No additional bonus points for IHG Rewards Club credit card use will be awarded past the third Qualifying stay. For new Chase IHG Rewards Club Credit Card accounts opened during the Promotion Period, please allow 4 to 6 weeks after the Promotion Period for bonus points to be credited. The “up to 6,000 bonus points” cardmembers earn from this offer are separate from points earned from credit card spend on IHG transactions. IHG reserves the right of final interpretation of this offer. This offer is not from Chase. Chase is not responsible for the provision of, or failure to provide, the stated benefits and services. Bonus points will post directly to your IHG® Rewards account and will not appear on your credit card statement. The “up to 6,000 bonus points” cardmembers earn from this promotion is in addition to the points earned through the 3X Promotion. Cardmembers have an opportunity to earn, at most, 76,000 promotional bonus points over the entire Promotion Period.

Quick Thoughts

This appears to be a resurrection of IHG’s most recent global promotion that ended back in mid-August, although it might be even weaker than that one. That other promotion offered no bonus on your first stay, double points on your second stay and triple points on your third stay like this new offer, but had an added element. Chase IHG cardholders earned 3,000 bonus points on their second stay and again on their third stay.

I say that this new promo might be even weaker than their previous offer because I’m not sure if they’re offering Chase IHG cardholders an extra 3,000 bonus points on their second and third stays again. The registration page doesn’t list it as being included which leads me to believe that they’re not offering cardholders those bonus points again. However, the email from IHG regarding the 2x/3x promotion includes an image referencing up to 6,000 bonus points and the email also contains the additional terms listed above. I’m therefore not sure if its inclusion in the email is correct or if it’s just a poor copy/paste job seeing as the promotion is otherwise identical to their last one other from the promo dates.

If you’ll be booking a bunch of paid stays with IHG by the end of the year, earning triple points is a nice return, especially if you have the IHG Premier credit card. Even if the 3,000 bonus points on your second and third stays aren’t part of this offer, you’d still earn triple points, 10x on the Premier card and 5x from Platinum status meaning you’ll earn 45x points from your third stay onwards.

It’s just a shame that if you only book one paid stay with IHG by the end of the year you won’t earn any bonus points – that’s even worse than Marriott’s sub-mediocre offering.

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