PROMO: Earn Bonus Points For InterContinental Stays & 10,000 Points With Ambassador Status

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On top of its quarterly Accelerate promotion (which is both mostly woeful and not open to all members) IHG Rewards has now launched a couple of new promotions targeted at travelers booking stays at its InterContinental properties.

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Offer 1 – Bonus Points On Stays

All IHG Rewards Club members can earn 3,000 points per stay made at IHG’s InterContinental properties between 26 September and 30 November 2019.

Registration is required to participate in this promotion (link) and the promotion will pay out a maximum of 15,000 points.

As with all IHG Rewards promotions, award stays do not appear to qualify for this promotion and readers should pay close attention to the terms & conditions (reproduced at the end of this post) to ensure that whatever rate they’re booking will trigger the bonus (a number of special rates are excluded from this offer).

I value IHG Rewards Club points at 0.4 cents each, so the 3,000 point bonus on offer for up to 5 stays is equivalent to a $12 rebate – that’s not exactly a lot and probably not enough to sway most people’s decisions when it comes to choosing where to stay.

Offer 2 – Sign Up For Ambassador Status & Get Yet More Points

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In addition to the offer above, IHG is offering a bonus of 10,000 points to any Rewards Club member who signs up for InterContinental Ambassador status (annual fee of $200 or 40,000 points) by 30 November 2019 (full terms and conditions are reproduced at the end of this post)

Also, newly minted InterContinental Ambassador status holders will double their earnings from promotion #1 (above) to 6,000 points per stay.

I value the lump sum 10,000 points bonus at $40 so that’s a nice effective rebate on the $200 Ambassador annual fee and may be enough to make the status worthwhile for anyone planning a number of stays at InterContinental properties over the next year.

For someone planning one or more InterContinental stays by 30 November 2019 the Ambassador status promotion is even more tempting as the 6,000 points on offer per stay are worth at least another $24 – with one stay during the promotion period a new InterContinental Ambassador member will have effectively saved at least 32% off the price of membership…and that’s not bad going.

Link to full details of the InterContinental Ambassador program

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Bottom Line

The 3,000 extra points available to all IHG Rewards Club members each time they stay at an InterContinental property by 30 November (max 5 stays) will be a nice bonus for anyone who was already planning an InterContinental stay but shouldn’t be enough to tempt someone into a stay that wasn’t already being considered or to tempt someone into changing their plans.

The InterContinental Ambassador promotion is more interesting as it offers a good rebate off the cost of membership without too much effort being required.

I would, however, urge caution before anyone signs up to the InterContinental Ambassador program as it’s easy to persuade oneself that there’s a lot of value to be had out of the benefits on offer.

If you stay (or plan to stay) at IC properties on a frequent basis over the next year then Ambassador status will almost certainly make those stays a little better and possibly more comfortable while an infrequent guest at InterContinental properties will struggle to recoup the cost of membership.


TERMS AND CONDITIONS (per IHG)

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts Promotion Terms and Conditions

Must be an IHG® Rewards Club member and must register their member number in advance to participate in the InterContinental Hotels & Resorts Promotion (“Promotion”). The Promotion stay period is between 26 September 2019 and 30 November 2019 (both dates inclusive) (“Promotion Period”) with the registration period beginning on 11 September 2019 (“Registration”). Three Thousand (3,000) bonus points will be awarded on every InterContinental Hotels & Resorts stay during the Promotion Period following Promotion registration. 

Maximum bonus points awarded is 15,000 bonus points during this Promotion Period for each registered member (on top of base points earned). A Qualifying Stay is defined as 1 or more consecutive nights at an InterContinental Hotels & Resorts property. A stay constitutes a Qualifying Stay when paying qualifying rates, which include most business and leisure rates at InterContinental Hotels & Resorts worldwide. Three Thousand (3,000) bonus points are not issued for stays booked through an Online Travel Agency or for Non-Qualifying Room Rates and Non-Qualifying Stays. Non-Qualifying Room Rates and Non-Qualifying Stays are subject to standard IHG Rewards Club Membership Terms and Conditions and 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, most rates booked through most third party web sites, complimentary hotel stays and any other rates not defined as a Qualifying Room Rate. Only one room per member per stay will be awarded the applicable points. No retroactive points will be awarded for stays prior to registration. At the end of the promotion the member can choose to have the bonus points converted into miles by calling the service center as per the IHG Rewards Club Membership Terms and Conditions. 

Please allow up to 4 to 6 weeks for points to be credited after checkout. This Promotion is subject to standard IHG Rewards Club Membership Terms and Conditions and earning structure, which can be obtained by visiting www.ihgrewardsclub.com. IHG reserves the right to remove a member’s points if fraudulent use of the offer is detected. IHG Rewards Club reserves the right to cancel, suspend and/or modify the Campaign any time with or without notice. IHG reserves the right of final interpretation of these Terms and Conditions. Members must make any promotional inquiries within 60 days from the end of the campaign, after which Member’s will no longer be able inquire about discrepancies in points received.

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts Ambassador Enrolment & 6,000 bonus points per stay offer:

Ambassador enrolment and stay bonus points may require up to 6 weeks to be deposited into your account. Only valid for Ambassador programme members enrolled during the Promotion Period. Must sign up and pay for Ambassador membership between 11 September 2019 through 30 November 2019 to qualify for the 10,000 bonus points. These points are not Elite qualifying and will not count towards status in IHG® Rewards Club.

As a newly enroled InterContinental Ambassador member you are eligible to receive the additional 3,000 bonus points per stay. (3,000 bonus points per stay upon Promotion Offer registration + an additional 3,000 bonus points per stay after joining the Ambassador programme = 6,000 bonus points per stay at InterContinental Hotels & Resorts for newly enrolled Ambassador members.)

Maximum bonus points awarded for stays under the Ambassador enrolment bonus is 15,000 (on top of 15,000 stay bonus points for Promotion offer) for the entire Offer period. 

InterContinental Hotels Stay Bonus max earning = 15,000 bonus points
Ambassador Enrollment Bonus max earning = 10,000 bonus points
New Ambassador Stay Bonus max earning = 15,000 bonus points

*Complimentary Weekend Night: The complimentary weekend night may only be redeemed via intercontinental.com/ambweekend. It is valid on the second night of a paid weekend stay on the Ambassador Complimentary Weekend Night Rate. Weekends may vary by region. Must present ID & member number at check-in. Reservations must be cancelled at least 48 hours prior to the day of check-in in order to avoid a cancellation fee. Complimentary Weekend Night is valid at all InterContinental Hotels & Resorts globally, excluding InterContinental Alliance Resorts. Advance reservations are required and when joining the Ambassador programme in hotel, the Weekend Night cannot be redeemed for the current stay.