Sign Up For IHG’s First Promotion Of 2019 (A Minimum Of 40,000 Points On Offer)

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IHG has launched its first promotion of 2019 and, as with most recent IHG promotions, this one centers around tasks/challenges that can vary from individual to individual. Registration is now open and the promotion runs from 15 January to 30 April 2019.

The hotelier has continued its recent move away from calling its promotions “IHG Accelerate” (this one is called “Free Nights Faster”) but anyone used to the Accelerate promotions of old will find the promotion’s format very familiar.

IHG Free Nights Faster – Headline T&Cs

• You must be an IHG^® Rewards Club member and must register your member number in advance to participate in the promotion (register via this link)
• Upon Registration members will be presented with the opportunity to earn at least 40,000 bonus points upon completion of all offers presented.
• You must register for the promotion by March 15, 2019.
• Members will be awarded bonus points listed for each individual Promotional offer after completing the requirements of each individual offer.
• Each Offer must be completed between January 15, 2019 and April 30, 2019 (both dates inclusive).
• The bonus points earned through individual offers can be used for redemption opportunities towards Reward Nights, merchandise and other redemption opportunities. See individual Offers for the specific terms and conditions per Offer type.
• 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.
• 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.
• No retroactive bonus points will be awarded for stays prior to registration.

See the promotion page for full T&Cs

My Promotion

IHG Rewards has very kindly saved me some time here by offering Joanna and I the exact same promotion so I only have one example to provide (but remember that your promotion may look entirely different)

The maximum number of points we can each earn in the promotion is 40,000….

….and these are what our challenges look like if we want to earn the points:

Thoughts

It’s not exactly compelling is it? 🙂

I guess if I was planning to stay at IHG properties anyway the additional earnings would be nice to have but I can’t help but feel that IHG is missing the point here somewhat.

IHG Rewards knows my booking history (very few cash bookings over the past 24 months) and can see my future bookings too (no cash bookings at all) and yet it doesn’t seem to be making any attempt to tempt me to move bookings across from other hotel chains.

Let’s take the challenges one by one:

• I already have the IHG app so I’m not sure why I’m being asked to download it again
• 2,000 points (valued at $10 max) isn’t nearly enough of an incentive to get me to move 4 nights to IHG properties
• 3,000 points (valued at $15 max) for staying at 2 different brands would be an easy bonus to pick up if there was any kind of other incentive to stay at IHG properties….but there isn’t.
• 4,000 points (valued at $20 max) in exchange for staying 3 weekends (6 nights) is a laughable offer.
• 10,000 points and 20,000 points for completing 3 and 4 of the challenges (respectively) would have been nice bonuses to earn had the challenges been in any way enticing…but they’re not.

Essentially IHG is offering me 40,000 bonus points to stay a minimum of 6 nights (across 3 weekends) at its properties and, at a value of $200, that’s not enough to tempt me to move my stays across from Marriott.

Bottom Line

Clearly IHG doesn’t actually feel the need to try to entice me to move some of my stays over from Marriott (forward bookings must be looking good) and that’s absolutely fine – that’s IHG’s prerogative – but the math is relatively straightforward here for me.

What it all comes down to is the fact that the benefits I get from my Marriott Platinum Premier status are worth more to me than the 40,000 points I would earn by moving at least 6 nights across to IHG properties so there’s no incentive for me to change my plans.

Had I been planning to stay at IHG properties anyway (and had someone else been paying for my stays) the 40,000 points would have been a reasonable bonus to have but, as that’s not the situation I’m in, this promotion is a bust me.

Check what challenges/bonuses IHG has set for you via this link