IHG One Rewards

How IHG Accelerate gets my parents 41,000 bonus points for $33

a screenshot of a website

IHG Rewards Club Accelerate is one of my favorite recurring promotions. Terms on the current offer running May 1 to July 31 appear to be the most favorable offers in a couple of years based on the tasks my wife and parents received.

My offer requires only two stays at any IHG hotel anywhere to earn 30,000 bonus points, as long as I book my two stays through the IHG app and pay for one of the stays with my IHG Rewards Club card. No plans in place yet for my stays.

IHG check in for the parents

This morning I decided to check my father’s IHG Accelerate offer. They have not had good offers in the past two years. I assumed this time would be a similar low value offer.

To my surprise, I realized he already had reservations in place for two IHG hotel stays at a Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express.

IHG Accelerate May 1-July 31, 2018

Earn 42,500 bonus points

  1. 1,000 bonus points – stay once.
  2. 4,000 bonus points – stay 4 nights.
  3. 8,000 bonus points – stay at two Holiday Inn Express hotels.
  4. 6,600 bonus points – book a bonus points package rate.
  5. 20,400 bonus points – complete 3 of 4 tasks.

a screenshot of a website

Turns out my parents already had booked 5 hotel nights with 3 nights at a Holiday Inn Express and one night at an airport Holiday Inn in my father’s account and one Holiday Inn Express hotel night in my mother’s account.

As booked, their 5 nights on 3 stays in IHG hotels would earn 5,000 bonus points with my father’s IHG Accelerate offer. I saw it was time for a family intervention.

Today, this Holiday Inn Express airport hotel is priced $4 more than the rate my mother booked in March 2018.  Rebooking that reservation in my father’s name meets the 2 Holiday Inn Express stays.  And by paying an additional $29, they could book a 1,000 bonus points package rate.

IHG Rewards Club Accelerate Bonus Effect = 36,000 additional bonus points for $33 more

Today, by changing only one hotel night in my parents’ IHG bookings for the Holiday Inn Express airport on a senior rate under my mother’s IHG account to a 1,000 Bonus Points Package Rate under my father’s account paying $33 more, my dad will earn an additional 36,000 bonus points with IHG Accelerate tasks and achievement bonuses.

A simple change to one night of their hotel reservations without even changing hotels allows my father to earn 41,000 IHG Rewards Club points with his current IHG Accelerate offer by paying $33 more than the reservations they had booked.

Not so lucky with the wife’s IHG Accelerate

This morning I also decided to check my wife’s Accelerate offer. She has had crap offers several times in a row with something like 3,000 bonus points for each 3 nights. Her winter 2018 Accelerate offer was 34,000 points after 18 nights.

Her current offer is the first reasonable bonus offer I have seen in quite some time.

IHG Accelerate May 1 – July 31 Earn 30,000 bonus points.

  1. 500 bonus points for downloading IHG app.
  2. 2,000 bonus points for staying 3 nights May 1-July 31.
  3. 2,000 bonus points booking 2 times using IHG member Your Rate. This is our most common rate booked for international stays where AAA discount not offered.
  4. 2,000 bonus points for 3 Holiday Inn stays.
  5. 2,000 bonus points for a Fri-Sat or Sat-Sun weekend stay.
  6. 21,500 bonus points Achievement Bonus for completing all 5 tasks.

This can be accomplished in 4 hotel nights on 3 stays at Holiday Inn brand hotels with one of those stays a 2-night weekend.

I doubt we will complete her Accelerate task since I only need 2 hotel nights to earn 30,000 bonus points and she needs 4 nights to earn 30,000 bonus points. Her Accelerate tasks have day of week and brand restrictions, while my offer is good for any two IHG hotel stays on any night of the week.

Nearly all our hotel nights in Europe this summer will be reward nights with IHG Rewards Club, Best Western Rewards, Choice Privileges, Hilton Honors, Radisson Rewards, Marriott Rewards and SPG. I don’t think we will need 6 paid hotel nights by July 31.

IHG will be my target hotel chain for any paid nights we do need over the next three months.

3 Comments

  • w May 3, 2018

    Don’t you have to book between May 1 to July 31 timeframe? Or am I mistaken?

  • bc May 6, 2018

    The terms and conditions say you have to book after May 1st, but I’ve always gotten points on stays that I had already booked before the Accelerate period started. YMMV.

  • Ric Garrido May 7, 2018

    @w – Promotion terms only state stay during May 1-July 31 dates. There is nothing stating reservations must be booked May 1-July 31.

    I have seen that term listed on past Accelerate offers for my Points & Cash reward stay task.

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