Priority Club up to 2,000 bonus points or 400 miles per night Sep 15-Dec 31

Priority Club announced its main promotion for up to 80,000 bonus points or 16,000 miles for hotel stays from September 15 through December 31, 2011. The points promotion is 500 points per night. Stay in 2, 3 or 4 different InterContinental Hotels Group brands to earn double, triple, or quadruple points.

• Earn 500 Priority Club bonus points per night.
• Stay in two different IHG brands during promotion and earn 1,000 bonus points per night.
• Stay in three different IHG brands during promotion and earn 1,500 bonus points per night.
• Stay in four different IHG brands during promotion and earn 2,000 points points per night.
• A maximum 80,000 bonus points may be earned after 40 nights.
• 500 points per night will be earned at time of stay and the 2x, 3x or 4x bonus points will post after the end of the promotion in January 2012.
• Miles earners can choose 100 bonus miles per night and receive the 2x, 3x, 4x bonus for miles, up to 400 miles per night and a maximum 16,000 bonus miles for the promotion.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis

Stay 4 nights in one Holiday Inn Express at $100 per night as a base Priority Club member during this promotion:

•  4 nights x 500 bonus points per night = 2,000 bonus points
•  4 nights at $100 night x 10 points/$1 = 4,000 base points.
•  $400 in hotel spend earns 6,000 total Priority Club points.

Stay 1 night with average spend of $100/night in four of the seven different IHG brands from Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, InterContinental Hotels, Staybridge Suites or Candlewood Suites.

• 4 nights x 2,000 bonus points per night if four different IHG brands = 8,000 points.
• 3 nights at $100 night x 10 points/$1 = 3,000 base points (Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Crowne Plaza).
• 1 night at $100 night x 5 points/$1 = 500 base points (Candlewood Suites).
• $400 spend earns 11,500 points.
• Platinum member earns additional 1,750 elite bonus points = 13,250 points.

The Value of Priority Club points

Priority Club points are typically valued at about $6 per 1,000 points. In my example above with stays in four brands for 4x points, the value of Priority Club points is about $70 on $400 in spend. That is not a particularly attractive rebate when using $6/1,000 points valuation.

Standard rewards like 25,000 points for Crowne Plaza or 30,000 points for InterContinental will often be around $6/1,000 points redemption value when the Crowne Plaza is $150 night room rate or the IC $180 night room rate. Often you can get higher redemption value since these hotels can be much higher priced. Unfortunately the reward rate of 25,000 points for many Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels with a $100 per night rate lowers the redemption value of some hotels to less than $6 per 1,000 points.

One of the most attractive features of Priority Club is its discount reward night specials with PointBreaks and Last Minute Rewards where it is often possible to get $20 per 1,000 points redemption value. These types of rewards mean 11,500 points a base member can earn in this promotion with four stays in four IHG brands at a cost of $400 can offer a hotel rebate of $230.

That is a good value rebate through this Priority Club promotion.

There are more than 2,500 hotel properties in Priority Club available at 15,000 points in the Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Candlewood Suites brands.

Last Minute Rewards for the first weekend of each month brings the cost of nearly all participating hotels to 12,500 points or less per reward night.

Last month I altered my hotel reservations to take advantage of two hotels with $100 per night rates on the Priority Club PointBreaks list for 5,000 Priority Club points per reward night.

Good Value Promotion for the Casual Traveler and Decent for the Road Warrior too 

You may be an IHG Road Warrior and have 40 nights during this promotion as a real possibility. A maximum 80,000 bonus points after 40 nights may seem like a small bonus when viewed as two free InterContinental Hotel nights.

For the casual traveler the opportunity to earn 1,500 to 2,000 bonus points per hotel night is a good value bonus for single night stays or extended stays. These are not large bonuses compared to free night offers of the past couple years across major chains, but this is a decent promotion and the first one out of the block among the major hotel loyalty programs for the last quarter 2011.

One final point to keep in mind is the promotion states the 2x to 4x bonus points will post after December 31. That means these bonus points will post in 2012 and count for 2013 Priority Club elite status.

Someone like me who already has qualified for 2012 Platinum elite will start 2012 with bonus points. Priority Club confers Gold elite (10% bonus points) after earning 20,000 points in a calendar year. My simple four nights in four IHG hotel brands example earns 6,000 bonus points posting in 2012. Platinum elite takes 60,000 points. This promotion can be a jumpstart to 2013 Priority Club elite membership.

IHG Promotion Registration link.