IHG’s New Accelerate Promotion Is Live……But It’s Not Working Very Well!

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Sometimes I wonder if IHG and British Airways share an IT team as neither appears to be able to do very much right.

IHG has released details of its summer 2019 Accelerate promotion which is due to start tomorrow (1 May 2019) but, at the time of writing, a large number of people (including Joanna and me) can’t actually register.

Here’s what we know:

• You must be an IHG Rewards Club member and must register your member number in advance to participate in the promotion.
• Upon Registration (as defined below), members will be presented with the opportunity to earn bonus points upon completion of all offers presented.
• You must register for the promotion by 18 June 2019.
• By clicking “one click registration” you are registering for the promotion and agreeing to receive IHG Rewards Club marketing communications and the terms and conditions of the Campaign and Privacy Statement.
• Members will be awarded bonus points listed for each individual Promotional offer (“Offer”) after completing the requirements of each individual Offer.
• Each Offer must be completed between 1 May 2019 and 31 August 2019 (both dates inclusive).
• Only members that qualify for this promotion as defined by IHG Reward Club’s terms and conditions can participate in this promotion.
• Registered members are not allowed to participate in concurrent campaigns
• A Stay is defined as per IHG Rewards Club Membership Terms and Conditions as one night or consecutive nights at the same hotel, regardless of frequency of check-in/out.
• 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.

The full terms and conditions can be found on the IHG Accelerate promotion page

I’d love to be able to tell you what kind of offers/deals/challenges Joanna and I have been targeted for but both of our accounts generate the following message when we try to register:

We’re also not alone as I’ve seen numerous people complaining (on Twitter and elsewhere) that they’re getting a similar message or one that says that IHG are experiencing technical difficulties.

From comments I’ve seen on other blogs and on Flyertalk it looks like this Accelerate promotion is following the same patterns as most of the other recent IHG promotions we’ve seen.

There are bonuses to be earned for staying at a number of different brands, bonuses for staying at specific brands, bonuses for staying over weekends and, amongst other things, the ever returning bonus for staying a set number of nights at IHG properties during the promotion window.

So far I’ve seen target offers ranging from ~16,000 points up to ~100,000 but most have been in the 25,000 to 40,000 points range….which isn’t all that impressive.

Bottom Line (for now)

I value IHG Rewards points at no more than 0.5 cents each so most of the bonuses I’ve seen are offering an effective rebate of between $125 and $200.

Considering the number of nights that need to be consumed to get some of these rebates I don’t see these offers as offering much of an incentive for people to move stays to IHG.

Let me know what you got offered by IHG Rewards in the comments below (it’s always interesting to compare different people’s offers) and I’ll share what IHG targeted Joanna and me for once its IT team finishes reading coding for dummies and gets the promo working for us.