IHG’s Gamified Hotel Promotion: Accelerate is Back

by Gary Leff

Information related to the IHG Rewards Club Select Credit Card was neither provided nor reviewed by Chase. I do not have my own direct referral link to this product, and gathered information on its offerings independently.

I receive compensation for content and many links on this blog. Citibank is an advertising partner of this site, as is American Express, Chase, Barclays and Capital One. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by my advertising partners. I do not write about all credit cards that are available -- instead focusing on miles, points, and cash back (and currencies that can be converted into the same). Terms apply to the offers and benefits listed on this page.

IHG Rewards Club has moved to ‘gamified’ promotions with different pieces meant to incentivize behavior among members — with the specifics driven by data about your activity so far, like whether you’re a co-brand credit card holder or an elite.

For instance they’ve had:

They’re back with… Accelerate, you can find your offer here. You’ll have an opportunity to earn a minimum of 30,000 points between September 6 and December 15.

I was getting errors trying to register (IHG Rewards Club IT is the best…) but Frequent Flyer Bonuses pointed out that you can keep trying to register and eventually it goes through.

The nice thing about these offers is that they don’t all require stays (for instance, 500 points for downloading their app) and that they can be stackable. For instance here’s one low-earning example:

  • 3 nights for 2000 bonus points
  • Stay twice at the member-exclusive rate for 2000 points (the 2% or so discount for booking on their website compared to the rate you’d see through an online travel agency)
  • Stay at 2 different Holiday Inns for 2000 points
  • Stay over a weekend for 2000 points

You could make a two night Holiday Inn weekend stay at the Member Exclusive rate, and a second one night stay at a different Holiday Inn at the Member Exclusive rate and earn all four of these bonuses plus the bonus for downloading the app. That’s 5 completed activities.

And then there are bonuses based on the number of activities you complete, such as 10,000 points for completing 3 activities and 15,000 more for completing five activities.

In this example two stays would complete all five challenges and earn a total of 33,500 bonus points.

I’ve also seen 36,000, 45,000 and 60,600 bonus point offers and there are no doubt others. Are you able to register? What did you get?

Of course these are pairable with the signup bonus on the IHG® Rewards Club Select Credit Card which lets you earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening.

The card — which has a $0 annual fee the first year, then $49 — also gives you a complimentary night each year at any of their participating hotels, comes with automatic platinum elite status, and a 10% rebate on your redemptions.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Editorial note: any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Comments made in response to this post are not provided or commissioned nor have they been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any bank. It is not the responsibility of advertisers Citibank, Chase, American Express, Barclays, Capital One or any other advertiser to ensure that questions are answered, either. Terms and limitations apply to all offers.

Comments

  1. I got a 45,000 offer. But I’ll earn 9,500 points on my upcoming stay just off this promotion alone! These have worked great for me in the past. Usually you can get a decent amount of points off one stay.

  2. Stay once – 2000
    7 Nights – 10500
    2 Hol Inn Express (diff props) – 6400
    1 P+C Booking – 1000
    Stay 2 times using corp rate – 2500
    Achievement Bonus – 17600
    Stay once in September – 5000

    Overall – 45000

  3. My offer:
    Stay Once Get 3,000
    Thank you for being a loyal IHG® Rewards Club member. Stay once and earn 3,000 bonus points.
    Stay More, Earn More
    Get closer to the rewards you want when you stay 5 night(s) and earn 10,000 bonus points.
    Comfort Seeker
    Stay at 2 Holiday Inn® hotel(s)—including Holiday Inn Resort® and Holiday Inn Club Vacations®—and earn 6,400 bonus points.
    Big City Bonus
    Stay in 1 of 6 major markets: New York, Chicago, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Houston, and Las Vegas and earn 3,600 bonus points.
    Spend on your IHG® Rewards Club Credit Card
    Book and pay for one stay with your IHG® Rewards Club Credit Card and earn 1500 bonus points.
    Your Achievement Bonus
    Complete 4 of the 5 offers and earn (an additional) 15,500 bonus points.
    September stay – 5,000

    Comfort Once – will do
    Stay more – maybe
    Comfort Seeker – out
    Big City – will do if some DC suburbs count
    Spend on IHG card – will do
    September stay – will do
    If place I stay around DC count as Big City then I may go for Stay More
    and get 4 of 5 – 38.

  4. Finally I got sweet offer.

    With just two stays at a corporate rate in Sept. and 1 reward stay, I can get 33K points. My total is 45.5K but I need 10 additional nights.

  5. My offer – 86,100 Points

    5000 – stay once
    18000 – stay 9 nights
    4400 – stay 3 nights in a IC Hotel
    27200 – stay at 5 IC Hotels in Asia-Pacific region
    5000 – renew Ambassador membership
    21000 – bonus (complete 4 of 5 offers)
    5000 – stay in September for bonus
    500 – Registration bonus for Accelate offers

  6. My offer is great, i could earn up to 86.7k points. For 5 stays across 3 brands :).

    2,000 Stay Once Get 2,000
    Thank you for being a loyal IHG® Rewards Club member. Stay once and earn 2,000 bonus points. T
    7,500 Stay More, Earn More
    Get closer to the rewards you want when you stay 5 night(s) and earn 7,500 bonus points.
    31,200 Discover Our Brands
    Stay at 3 brands and get 31,200 bonus points. Terms

    41,000 Your Achievement Bonus
    Complete 3 of the 3 offers and earn (an additional) 41,000 bonus points.
    5,000 September Bonus Offer
    Stay once in September and get 5,000 bonus points. Terms

  8. Gary,

    I’ve had trouble with these in the past. Earnings aren’t stackable. I’ve made a stay that meets the qualifications of multiple awards but only one will post. Even after calling and escalating only 1 award will post.

  9. I actually might take advantage of this. My offer is:

    Stay once – 3,000
    Stay 5 nights – 10,000
    Use Points and Cash – 1,000
    Use IHG CC – 1,500
    Complete 3 of 4 – 24,500
    Stay in Sept – 5,000

    If Points + Cash is considered a stay and a stay hits multiple requirements this could be lucrative. I could make one P+C booking in September using my IHG CC and make 35,000 points. Those can be, reliably, bought at 0.7 cents or $245 for 35k. Value is probably closer to 0.5 cents but I already have a stash of points so this would be helpful.

  10. After some digging P+C are not “Qualifying Stays” so they only count for stays specifically checking for P+C. If I can find a cheap HI and do a weekend trip with two bookings it might be worth it.

  11. I can get 35,600 points by staying one night with a Bonus Points Package in September and pay with their credit card. So that’s a no brainer. I can get another 10,000 points for staying five nights, which I’d only do if the stays fall into place naturally. It would be great to know how they target people for different offers, since the last promotion was unattainable for me, and I ignored it.

  13. 70,900 for me — and quite easy to hit (I’m Spire Ambassador status):

    – 5,000: Stay Once
    – 10,000: Stay 5 nights
    – 12,800: Stay at 2 InterContinental hotels
    – 1,000: Stay using Points and Cash
    – 3,600: Stay in 1 of 6 major markets: NYC, Chicago, DC, LAX, Houston and Vegas
    – 12,000: Stay in any country in Europe, Greater China, Asia Pacific, Middle East, or Africa
    – 1,500: Book and pay for one stay on IHG Rewards Credit Card

    -20,000: Achieve 6 of the 7 above
    -5,000: Stay once in September

  14. I received a 38,000 offer. I had tried to register yesterday on the website a few times and no luck. I called ihg and was told I could not register until August 25, however after reading this post it worked online the first try.

  15. Can this be combined with the Prestige 4th night benefit? Or do you have to book through the IHG site?

  16. I got a 59,300 offer:
    – 3,000 Stay Once
    – 10,000 Stay 5 nights
    – 24,000 Stay at 2 InterContinental Hotels
    – 2,300 Book/Pay for room with IHG credit card
    – 15,000 Achievement bonus
    – 5,000 Stay once in September
    I already have a 4 night stay booked at an InterContinental in Asia in November, but that just gets me the 3,000 “stay once” bonus (can’t charge it to Chase IHG card, because it was booked with the Citi Prestige – 4th night free perk)
    I’m STRONGLY considering booking a 1 night InterContinental stay in September. The InterContinental is pricey here in LA, but that one night stay is going to net 56,300 IHG points (+ the points for the stay charged to my IHG card) that I will not currently get (only 51,300 if I stay after September).

  17. Just so you know, IHG rewards customer service is terrible. They’re not letting me count one stay for more than one offer in Accelerate. I booked a bonus points package stay and was supposed to receive 3,600 points, but they’re telling me they’re only counting the stay for one of the other offers “stay more, earn more”. Be careful with this promotion. Seems like they’re trying to scam their customers.

Comments are closed.