IHG’s New Promotion Is Live….And It’s Not Called “Accelerate”

a pool with umbrellas and a beach with huts on the water

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IHG may have seriously devalued its rewards program over past year but one thing that has remained constant has been its quarterly “Accelerate” promotions.

While I haven’t had all that much luck with the offers I’ve been getting in the recent IHG Accelerate promotions I know of quite a few people for whom they’ve been pretty good and, as quarterly hotel promotions go, IHG’s have been the strongest for some time.

The last IHG Accelerate promotion concluded at the end of July so it’s a little surprising that its taken this long for IHG to roll out their latest offers. It’ even more surprising that IHG appears to have moved away from the traditional Accelerate promotion format.

a close up of a sign

The latest IHG Rewards promotion is called “Get Double Points plus more” and runs from 16 September through 16 December 2018.

The promotion appears to be the hybrid of a regular double points promo (like we often see from Hilton) and a tailored offering like we have been used to seeing with IHG’s Accelerate promotions.

All IHG members can earn double points starting with their second stay (up to a variable pre-set maximum) when they visit IHG properties between 16 September and 16 December 2018….but they all also seem to have their own added challenge(s) too.

Here’s what Joanna has been offered:

a screenshot of a bonus points

And here’s what IHG has decided to offer me:

a screenshot of a casino bonus points

Both Joanna and I are can only earn double points up to a total of 15,000 bonus points (I’ve seen other accounts that were targeted for higher limits) and we have both been targeted for 5,000 bonus points if we stay at two IHG brands…but I have been given a further challenge.

I’ve also been offered the not-very-tempting challenge of staying two weekends at IHG properties (minimum 2-night stays including a Saturday) for a bonus of just 4,000 points.

Click here to see your offer

Things to note:

  • Award night stays do not count for this promotion
  • Registration is required (link)
  • Stays through third-party sites (Expedia, Orbiz etc..) do  not count towards this promotion
  • Only one room per member per qualifying stay will count towards the promotion
  • No retroactive bonus points will be awarded for Stays prior to Registration

Full terms and conditions for this promotion can be found by following this link.

a building with stairs and a lamp post
InterContinental Sydney

Thoughts

I hope TFM readers got better offers than Joanna and I because our offers are disappointingly weak.

I value IHG rewards points at no more than 0.5 cents each so my total earning power in this promotion is $122.50 and Joanna’s is even worse at $100.

If IHG thinks it’s tempting me to spend 4 weekend nights at its properties with an offer of 4,000 points ($20) they’re delusional…but I don’t think that’s the case.

We keep hearing how occupancy rates at hotels are as high as they’ve ever been so hoteliers have little reason to incentivize people to stay at their properties (it’s why Hyatt has brought out such a poor promotion too).

At the same time it would appear as if the big hotel chains don’t want to be seen not to be offering a promotion at all so they’re coming out with promotions that, at best, are only going to truly benefit a very small number of people – the cost to the hotel chains will be insignificant and that’s how they like it.

There’s nothing in IHG’s latest promotion to interest me, to tempt me into making new stays or to tempt me to move my existing stays over to IHG…but how about you guys?

Has anyone been offered anything interesting or worthwhile?