Register For IHG’s “Unlimited Double Points” Promotion (+ Bonus For IHG Credit Card Holders)

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IHG Rewards has now announced the promotion that it will be running for most of what remains of 2020 and registration is now open for anyone wishing to participate. How well this promotion suits you compared to the promotion that just ended will depend on how many stays you plan to make, but holders of an IHG Rewards Club credit card should do particularly well on their first stay.

IHG Rewards Q4 2020 Promotion

• Registration required (here) by 15 December 2020
• Upon registration, members will be presented with the opportunity to earn bonus points upon completion of nights when paying Qualifying Rates.
• All Qualifying Stays (a minimum 1-night stay booked under a Qualifying Rate, with total spend exceeding US $30) between 1 October 2020 and 15 December 2020 after registering for the promotion will be awarded double points.
• Bonus Points will only be awarded from the base points earned with each qualifying stay.
• There is no cap on the total number of points awarded for the duration of the Promotion.
• All bookings must be made by 15 December 2020.
• All stays must be completed by 15 December 2020.
• Bonus Points earned during the Promotion are not elite qualifying.
• For cardmembers using an IHG Rewards Club Credit Card from Chase, an additional 10,000 Bonus Points will be awarded on your first qualifying stay during the promotional period at any IHG Hotel and Resort worldwide.
• For new Chase IHG Rewards Club Credit Card accounts opened during the promotional period, please allow 4 to 6 weeks after the promotional period for bonus points to be credited.
• No retroactive bonus points will be awarded for nights prior to registration in the Promotion.

Link to full terms and conditions

Thoughts

The last IHG Rewards promotion (which ended on 8 September) offered double points on guest’s first two stays, triple points on a guest’s third stay, and quadruple points on all stays after that but there was a limit of 400,000 bonus points on offer.

Here we have a much simpler promotion – double points on all stays – with no limit to the number of points on offer and, generally speaking, this is a less generous promotion than the one that just ended (most people were never in danger of hitting the ceiling on the number of points available in the last promotion so the triple and quadruple points available from the third stay onwards offered a better deal than the one we have now).

However, having said that, this latest promotion may still be more lucrative than the last one for a significant number of people. Specifically, these are people who hold an IHG Rewards Club co-branded credit card.

Related Reading: IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card Review

Let’s face it, in the current climate most people aren’t making a significant number of hotel stays, so the number of people who rack up more than two stays at IHG properties between the beginning of October and 15 December will pale into insignificance compared to the number who make 2 stays or less.

Everyone making two stays or less will be no worse off than they would have been under the old promotion (they may even be better off if those two stays are particularly expensive as this promotion doesn’t cap the number of points on offer), and if they hold an IHG Rewards Club credit card the 10,000 bonus points they’ll earn after their first stay should ensure that their earnings are boosted significantly.

Example Earnings:

The IHG Rewards Club Premier credit card bestows Platinum status on all cardholders so, assuming a spend of $200/night across a three-night stay, this is what a holder of the IHG Rewards Club credit card could expect to earn on their first stay during the promotion period:

• Base points earings (10 points/dollar) – 6,000 points
• Bonus earnings from the 4Q promotion – 6,000 points
• Platinum Elite bonus earnings (50% bonus) – 3,000 points
• IHG Rewards Club Premier credit card base earnings (10 points/dollar) – 6,000 points
• IHG Rewards Club Premier credit card promotion earnings – 10,000 points

That’s a total of 31,000 bonus points across the 3-night stay.

I value IHG Rewards Club Points at 0.4 cents each (based on the value I know I can easily get from them) so the 31,000 bonus points equate to a rebate of $124 (~21%).

A 21% rebate on a 3-night stay is pretty impressive, and I could have made things look even more impressive by using a 1-night stay at $200/night as an example as that would see a cardholder earning 17,000 bonus points (worth $68) which equate to a rebate of 34%.

Clearly, because the credit card bonus is a one-off, the effective rebate on offer drops significantly after the first stay, but for anyone booking 2 stays or less this is still a better promotion than the last one. How much things taper off for people making 3+ stays will depend on the relative cost of the stays made after stay 2 but, just to show that it doesn’t have to be all bad news after stay 2, an IHG Rewards Club credit card holder spending $200/night on four 1-night stays will still earn more points under the new promotion than they would have done had the 4x promotion still been in play.

Related Reading: IHG Rewards Club Traveler Credit Card Reviewed (No Annual Fee)

Bottom Line

For IHG Rewards Club members with a co-branded credit card and who don’t plan on making more than two stays, this is almost certainly a better promotion than the last. If you don’t have a co-branded credit card (and cannot get one) this promotion is still as good as the last if you make 2 stays or less…it goes downhill after that.

Overall, as far as IHG Rewards Club promotions go, this isn’t too bad but it’s still not even close to being as lucrative as the various promotions that Hyatt has on the way, and although the premise is similar, this isn’t as good a promotion as Hilton’s double points offer (Hilton’s offer includes double elite night credits as well).

Personally, I plan on making a single, low-cost, stay with IHG to trigger the credit card bonus, and then I’ll almost certainly be moving most of my stays across to Hyatt.

In conclusion: If you’re a die-hard IHG Rewards Club fan and were always planning on sticking with IHG through Q4 this is probably just about as good a promotion as you could expect. For everyone else, there are richer pickings elsewhere.