(EXPIRED) New IHG Promo: Earn Up To 4x Points, Stacks With Latest Accelerate Promo

IHG Rewards Club has unexpectedly launched a new promotion for paid stays at their properties. I say unexpectedly because their latest Accelerate promotion is still running which means you can stack the two promotions.

Depending on what your targeted Accelerate offer included, this additional promotion combined with portal cashback and up to 25x on the IHG Premier card makes IHG stays worth considering even more.

The Deal

• Earn bonus points at IHG properties based on your number of stays:
  • 1,000 bonus points after your first stay
  • 2x bonus points after your second stay (limit 200,000 bonus points)
  • 3x points after your third stay (limit 200,000 bonus points)
  • 4x points after your fourth stay (limit 200,000 bonus points)
• Direct link to registration.

Key Terms

• Stays must booked by December January 15, 2019 and completed by January 31, 2020.
• Registration required.
• Total spend for booking a qualifying stay must be over $30 USD with minimum stay of 1 night.
• A Stay constitutes a “Qualifying Stay” when member pays qualifying rates, which include most business and leisure rates at InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites, Kimpton, EVEN, avid, voco, Regent Hotels & Resorts or HUALUXE hotels worldwide.
• Bonus points are not issued for Non-Qualifying Room Rates or Non-Qualifying Stays. “Non-Qualifying Room Rates” or “Non-Qualifying Stay” include the following: net wholesale individual and group rate, certain package rates, employee discount rate, friends and family rate, crew rate, special discounted contract rates, seasonal worker/crew rate, 50% travel club discount rate, travel industry discount rate, distressed passenger rate, IHG® Rewards Club Reward Nights/Airline Hotel Reward rate, rates booked through third party web sites, complimentary hotel Stays and any other rates not defined as a Qualifying Room Rate at IHG’s sole discretion.
• Only one room per member per Qualifying Stay will be awarded the applicable bonus points, or other benefits (if any) available under the applicable Offer. If more than one member checks into the same room, only one member is eligible for the applicable bonus points, or other benefits (if any) available under the applicable Offer.
• Each Promotion Offer of bonus points is available only once to each member.
• IHG Rewards Club Members with a Miles earning preference will earn Points.
• No retroactive bonus points will be awarded for Stays prior to Registration.
• Except as otherwise stated in the terms and conditions, please allow up to 2 to 3 weeks for Promotion Offer bonus points to be credited after checkout.

Quick Thoughts

When IHG launched its Q4 Accelerate promo, I was a little underwhelmed with the offers my wife and I received. Accelerate offers are targeted though, so your offer might be better or worse than ours.

I’d mentioned at the time that I didn’t think it’d affect our bookings through the rest of the year, but this additional promotion has me rethinking that. Even more so now that my wife has the IHG Premier card which is earning 25x for paid IHG stays in the first year.

To give an example of how lucrative these stacking opportunities could be, let’s assume we book two stays that each last four nights and that both take place over the course of a weekend, a scenario that’s consistent with stays we still need to book for this year. I’ll also assume we’ll spend $85 per night before tax and that one stay is at a Candlewood Suites and one at a Holiday Inn Express. Here’s what our spending and earnings would be, along with a reminder of my Accelerate tasks:

Spend

• $85 * 8 nights = $680 before tax.

Point Earnings

• Candlewood Suites stay:
  • $85 * 4 * 5 base points per dollar (Candlewood Suites only earns 5x base points) = 1,700 points.
  • $85 * 4 * 2.5 bonus points per dollar (50% bonus for having Platinum status with the IHG Premier card) = 850 points.
  • $85 * 4 * 25 bonus points per dollar (from IHG Premier card during first year) = 8,500 points.
  • 1,000 bonus points from new promotion for the first stay = 1,000 points.
• Holiday Inn Express stay:
  • $85 * 4 * 10 base points per dollar (Holiday Inn Express earns 10x base points) = 3,400 points.
  • $85 * 4 * 5 bonus points per dollar (50% bonus for having Platinum status with the IHG Premier card) = 1,700 points.
  • $85 * 4 * 25 bonus points per dollar (from IHG Premier card during first year) = 8,500 points.
  • $85 * 4 * 10 bonus points per dollar from new promotion for the second stay = 3,400 points.
  • 5,600 bonus points (from Accelerate ‘Saturday Stays Bonus’ task) = 5,600 points.
  • 12,000 bonus points (from Accelerate ‘Stay A Little Longer’ task) = 12,000 points.
• Total = 46,650 points.

That’s an average of 5,831.25 points per night which is a great return, especially considering that’s more than enough points for a free night if you can find one of their 5,000 point PointBreaks properties that work with your travel plans. Not only that, but you can periodically earn 10% cashback for IHG stays booked through a shopping portal. That would reduce the $680 pre-tax cost to $612, making it an even better deal.

The 46,650 points could then be maximized thanks to the fourth night free on award stays with the IHG Premier card. If you also have the old IHG credit card that offers a 10% rebate on redeemed points (which we both do), you can stretch those points even further.

This example is fairly specific to our travel, so you’ll want to run the numbers for your own plans, especially seeing as your Accelerate offer is likely different to ours. However, if, like us, you recently applied for the IHG Premier card and so are earning 25x for paid stays over the next year, it’s certainly worth considering all these stacking opportunities now that you can also earn up to 4x bonus points with this new promo.

If your travel plans include a stay(s) at an InterContinental, you can also earn up to 6,000 bonus points per stay for that too.

h/t One Mile At A Time

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