I am planning to fulfill my IHG Rewards Club Accelerate promotion with three hotel nights at three different hotels in London. Next week in London, I will use IHG Rewards Club’s Accelerate promotion as a hotel rate discount. I am redeeming 50,000 points for two Points and Cash hotel nights in London and Accelerate bonus points earned will replace nearly 94% of the 50,000 points I spend. Accelerate will not earn me any free hotel nights with the promotion’s bonus points. I’ll settle for a good hotel rate discount staying at IHG properties.
IHG Rewards Club Into the Nights in fall 2014 earned me two free hotel nights after $235 in hotel spend. I fulfilled Into the Nights tasks with two hotel nights in London and Dublin last November 2014. My two free IHG nights were worth about $1,000 at InterContinental Park Lane London and InterContinental Le Grand Paris.
IHG Rewards Club Accelerate
Loyalty Traveler – IHG Rewards Club Accelerate Sep 1–Dec 31 targeted offers (August 24, 2015).
My tasks for IHG Rewards Club Accelerate
1. One Stay for 5,000 points.
2. Five Nights for 6,800 points.
3. Three stays on Points and Cash for 3,600 points.
4. Pay for one IHG stay with IHG credit card for 1,500 points.
Complete 3 of 4 tasks for 33,100 bonus points.
Accelerated Math
Need: three hotel nights in London.
I can skip the Accelerate five nights task and still earn 33,100 bonus points with three more hotel nights. I already have one IHG Rewards Club Points and Cash reward night from InterContinental Geneva, Switzerland.
One night at two different IHG hotels on Points and Cash reward nights in London are 25,000 points + $70 each night. A paid night at a Holiday Inn London Heathrow is $80 USD. Three IHG hotel stays meet my Accelerate requirements for completing three of four tasks.
I canceled my PointBreaks stay at Crowne Plaza Heythrop Park near Oxford, UK due to the hotel location being rural and nights being long and dark this time of year. Our plans changed to stay in London.
$200 USD per night is a relatively low hotel rate for London hotels. IHG has several hotels in central London at 35,000 points per reward night. That is a lot of points to pay. I could stick with a Days Inn London Hyde Park Points and Cash reservation with Wyndham Rewards at 3,000 points and $95USD per night. After crunching numbers, IHG looked like a better deal.
The math is spend IHG points and earn most of them back for two $70 hotel nights in central London through the IHG Rewards Club Accelerate promotion.
Spend: 50,000 IHG Rewards Club points + $220 for three nights in London.
Cash portion is $140 for two Points and Cash nights in London + $80 USD for one paid hotel night at LHR before morning flight. I get 10% of redeemed points back with IHG Rewards Club MasterCard, so Points and Cash net cost is 45,000 points + $140 for two nights/two stays.
Earn: 41,700 points with IHG Rewards Club Accelerate bonuses.
Net Cost: $220 + 3,300 IHG Rewards Club points for three hotel nights in London.
Discount Hotel Nights in London now, instead of more IHG points for Free Nights later
My travel situation during the Accelerate promotion did not require five paid hotel nights in September and October when I stayed many nights in Eruope using IHG PointBreaks. Most of my hotel stays are planned for the remainder of 2015, and I have no need for five IHG paid nights to earn the Accelerate bonus.
IHG Points and Cash reward nights make London more affordable by only requiring me to spend $70 per night, while redeeming points already in my account. Hotel nights in London are my immediate travel need and I have the points to book IHG Points and Cash stays.
IHG Rewards Club Accelerate bonus points make choosing IHG hotels while in London a good value for me. Rather than not earn the Accelerate bonus at all, two IHG Points and Cash stays will replace nearly all the points I spend in London, while I pay an average of $75 per night for three hotel nights on my trip to Europe.
Loyalty Traveler – Into the ‘Free’ Nights at InterContinental London Park Lane (July 11, 2015)
Loyalty Traveler – InterContinental Le Grand Hotel, a storied institution of Paris (Sep 30, 2015)
Loyalty Traveler – Liberté and free nights in Paris (Sep 30, 2015)
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