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IHG has launched its “Easy Like Summer” promotion in which it’s offering a number of incentives to those ready to book travel for stays in the next 3 months (approximately). Three separate incentives are on offer covering discounts on room rates, bonus points and extra savings through IHG’s fuel rewards program so there should be something here for everyone.
IHG’s Easy Like Summer Promotion
First the headline terms & conditions:
The Sale Prices
- The Easy Like Summer Sale promotional rate is valid only for bookings made with the “Easy Like Summer” rate June 16, 2018 through July 15, 2018.
- Stays must be consumed July 1, 2018 through September 16, 2018 at participating IHG hotels in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Caribbean, Central America and South America.
- The discount ranges from 20%-30% off the Best Flexible Rate and requires a two night minimum length of stay.
- Discount varies by hotel, blackout dates apply, rooms subject to availability.
- Reservation requires full prepayment for the entire stay at the time of booking and is non-refundable.
- To earn the IHG Rewards bonus points you must be an IHG Rewards Club member with a registered address in North or South America.
Bonus Points
- Advanced registration (via this page) is required in order to participate in “2,000/5,000 Point” campaign.
- 2,000 bonus points will be awarded on all Qualifying Stays in North and South America at Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, Holiday Inn Resort, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites brand hotels after completing 2nd Qualifying Stay, between July 1, 2018 and September 16, 2018 (“Promotion Period”) (both dates inclusive).
- 5,000 bonus points will be awarded on all Qualifying Stays in North and South America at InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton Hotels, Hotel Indigo, Crowne Plaza and Even brand hotels after completing 2nd Qualifying Stay, during Promotion Period.
- Member will only receive bonus points for one offer for each Qualifying Stay (i.e. – a member who is registered and completes a Qualifying Stay at a Holiday Inn Express® hotel will only be eligible for the 2,000 point offer for that stay).
- Maximum bonus award is 30,000 bonus points per member during this campaign.
- A Qualifying Stay is defined as one night or consecutive nights at the same hotel, regardless of frequency of check-in/out.
- A stay constitutes a Qualifying Stay when paying qualifying rates, which include most business and leisure rates at InterContinental, Kimpton Hotels, Hotel Indigo, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Hotels, Holiday Inn Express, EVEN Hotels, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites.
- Bonus points are not issued for stays booked through Online Travel Agencies or for Non-Qualifying Room Rates and Non-Qualifying Stays.
- No retroactive points will be awarded for stays prior to registration.
Fuel Rewards
- Offer valid in the United States only from 7/1/18 – 9/16/18 (“Offer Period”).
- You must register for the promotion (link to promotion) and complete one stay at a participating hotel during the Offer Period to be eligible for the one-time promotional Fuel Rewards savings of USD $0.25/gallon.
- Discount code will be provided via email 2-4 weeks after first stay is complete.
- Must be a member of the Fuel Rewards program to redeem discount at a participating Shell station.
- Once discount code is received, it must be added to the member’s Fuel Rewards® account by 10/15/18 and must be redeemed at the pump within 45 days of adding the discount code to the account.
- The discount is on top of the everyday IHG® Rewards Club savings of up to 7¢ per gallon with the Fuel Rewards program
Link to Full Terms & Conditions
Thoughts
If you’re based in the Americas there could be some useful savings here but you need to be aware of a few things:
- The discounts on offer are based on the best flexible rate and not the cheapest rate so, unless you were planning on booking a flexible rate anyway, the true cost savings will be lower than the advertised 20-30%.
- The discounted rates are only available for bookings of 2 nights or more but there’s no such restriction on the bonus points promotion.
- Even though the discounts are based on a flexible rate the actual booking you’ll be making will not be flexible and will require you to pay the full amount in advance.
- Don’t miss the crucial condition which states that bonus points will only be awarded starting with the second stay in the promotion period – guests staying just once will earn nothing.
I’m not sure that anything here would lead me to make a booking with IHG that I wasn’t planning on making anyway but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t value to be had here.
A lot of people prefer to make flexible bookings because their plans are fluid so, for those individuals, the 20-30% discount could be very useful.
The fact that bonus points aren’t earned until the second stay is an annoyance but if you’re a regular at IHG properties and you have stays planned then they’re a nice bonus to have. I value IHG Rewards points at no more than 0.5 cents each so the effective rebates on offer are $10 and $25 respectively.
The fuel rewards bonus is a real money saver despite it being quite low and only a one-off discount. When combined with the existing savings….
….it will give IHG Rewards members a discount of up to 32 cents per gallon.
Savings are limited to 20 gallons of fuel so the maximum saving available is $6.40 – not exactly a carrot to make anyone move a stay over to IHG but potentially a reasonable bonus if you were planning a stay anyway.
Bottom Line
If you were planning one or more IHG stays for July to mid-September then this is a promotion worth considering (especially for those who normally make flexible reservations) but I don’t see all that much here which would incentivize anyone to go out of their way to make an otherwise unplanned IHG stay.
Don’t forget to register via this link if you want to make the most of any of these promotions.
