IHG brings back its generous ‘Accelerate’ promotion for the Summer

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

UPDATE – DECEMBER 2021: This article is now out of date, but don’t worry. We produce a monthly summary of the top hotel bonus point offers – please click HERE or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ menu above.

You can earn up to triple IHG Rewards base points with IHG’s new Autumn promotion. It runs from 1st October to 31st December 2021. You can register here and our full article on the offer is here.

You will get a 100% bonus when you buy IHG Rewards points by 4th January 2022. Click here to buy or learn more.

IHG Rewards Club, the Holiday Inn, HI Express, Crowne Plaza, InterContinental etc loyalty scheme, has announced its Summer 2016 promotion – IHG Accelerate. Yes, it is repeating the Autumn and Spring offer!

To be honest, IHG is the only major hotel chain offering a global promotion this Summer which offer genuine value. Everyone has their own personal target but, for most of us, the challenge is pretty straightforward.

Here are the headline details:

IHG Accelerate (Version 3) covers stays from 1st June to 31st August

All hotels are participating

Your bonus is personalised – you need to log in here to discover yours

This was my target for 55,000 points maximum, comprising:

6,000 points on my next stay
5,000 points for a stay in June
10,000 points for staying five nights
3,500 points for booking three stays via the IHG app
6,400 points for booking 2 x 2-night weekend stays
2,000 points for booking a Bonus Points Package
1,000 points for purchasing IHG Rewards Club points
21,100 points for completing five of the six targets above, excluding the June bonus

This isn’t bad. Let’s ignore the ‘two weekend stays of two nights’ one as I doubt I will do that.

I will receive 48,600 bonus points – plus the base points – for completing five nights, as long as those nights involve at least three stays (booked on the app) and one is for a Bonus Points Package. This is worth – assuming 0.4p per point of value – £200 of free future stays.

I could earn 13,000 bonus points from just one stay, as long as it is in June and is a Bonus Points Package. I will do my best to hit that if nothing else.

My wife got an even easier one for 55,000 points:

5,000 points on her next stay
5,000 points for a stay in June
10,000 points for staying five nights
4,800 points for booking two stays via the IHG app
3,000 points for booking a Bonus Points Package
27,200 points for completing three of the four targets above excluding the June bonus

All she needs to do is book two one-night stays via the app as she can skip the ‘five nights’ one. Job done, 45,000 points banked! That is £180 of bonus points, plus base points, which should be possible fairly cheaply.

Note: if you have a target saying that you must spend $x on food and drink, be aware that this is EXCLUDING VAT. Ensure you spend ‘x + 20%’ and then add on a bit more because IHG will probably use a duff exchange rate!

Conclusion

As long as your target is sensible, this is highly likely to be the most generous hotel promotion you are likely to see this Summer.

IHG Rewards update – December 2021:

Get bonus points: You can earn up to triple IHG Rewards base points with IHG’s new Autumn promotion. It runs from 1st October to 31st December. You can register here and our full article on the offer is here.

New to IHG Rewards? Read our overview of IHG Rewards here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our article on ‘What are IHG Rewards points worth?’ is here.

Buy points: If you need additional IHG Rewards points, you can buy them here.

You will get a 100% bonus when you buy IHG Rewards points by 4th January 2022. Click here to buy or learn more.

Want to earn more hotel points? Click here to see our complete list of promotions from IHG and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.

Category

IHG Rewards

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Andrew Cooper says:

16 May16 May 12:14

I have participated three times in accelerate, mine is simple but not the best. Quite a lot of points for just one stay. I’m surprised there’s not more variety –

5000 – June Bonus Offer – Stay Once
3000 – Stay once get 3000
30,000 – Double points from my second stay.

I’ve a Lyon booking for June, so that’ll be a nice 8000 points. A bit annoying but I’ve 4 nights booked in May that are just before the promo.
- davef says:
  
  16 May16 May 17:32
  
  So have I , 4 in NY, and what’s worse is that they’re a weekend stay that would complete the challenge for me based on my upcoming june stays. Otherwise I’ve no chance.
AndyS says:

16 May16 May 12:18

I have a stay at the end of the month, checking out 1st June. I guess that doesn’t count as a June stay!
- Andy S says:
  
  17 May17 May 00:11
  
  here is the whole lot:
  ————-
  1,000 Stay Once Get 1,000 Thank you for choosing IHG. We’d like to see you again soon. Stay once and earn 1,000 bonus points.
  
  6,000 Stay More, Earn More Get closer to the rewards you want when you stay 6 night(s) and earn 6,000 bonus points.
  
  4,800 Travel with the IHG® App Book 2 stay(s) with the IHG® App and earn 4,800 bonus points.
  
  3,000 Earn More, Faster Earn 3,000 bonus points when you book 1 Bonus Points Package stay(s) and get to your next reward faster.
  
  800 Eat, Drink, and Earn Spend $40 on food or beverages at IHG hotels and earn 800 bonus points.
  
  34,400 Your Achievement Bonus
  
  Complete 5 of the 5 offers above and earn (an additional) 34,400 bonus points.
  
  5,000 June Bonus Offer Stay once in June and get 5,000 bonus points
  ==========
  bit harsh I have to do all 5 for the bonus, last time it was just 4 out of 5 !
  
  Is it ever worth buying the bonus points package? Always seems more expensive than the cash and points and cancel trick! Do the bonus points go towards status?
Liz says:

16 May16 May 12:56

I registered for Accelerate on my account and my husbands. I have made all my bookings on my account for qualify for all my points. My husband got an email confirming registration but I didn’t get an email confirming my registration. Hope these bookings will all be ok???
- Liz says:
  
  16 May16 May 12:58
  
  *to qualify for*
  - Liz says:
    
    16 May16 May 13:09
    
    Thinking about it – if I got access to my list then I had to have accepted the t&c’s and registered. Just not got a confirmation email.
James67 says:

16 May16 May 13:33

My offer is identical to that received by Rob’s wife so I too will settle for the 45k. Did the issues around app bookings not getting recognised last time round get resolved? IIRC IHG were claiming that they were made on mobile sites and refusing to honour them.
Stuart says:

16 May16 May 14:25

OT – Intercontinental Ambassador,

Have booked 4 nights at Intercontinental (3 x 50000 points and 1 x Barclays free night) in December. Don’t have any plans to visit another IC – is it worth joining Ambassador, and if so, should I hold off until nearer the time to maximise the year? Already IHG spire…
- Rob says:
  
  16 May16 May 14:43
  
  If a) you would use the ‘free weekend night as long as you buy another night’ voucher and/or b) would really value the 4pm late check-out which is guaranteed, then probably not.
  
  That said, you won’t lose money either – you get 5,000 points for joining and you’d get a welcome gift and a free Pay TV film on each stay, plus a guaranteed upgrade each time (unless you are at one of the handful of hotels which refuses to give AMB benefits on reward stays).
  - Kipto says:
    
    16 May16 May 18:49
    
    Do you know which ones the handful are ?
    - Rob says:
      
      16 May16 May 19:42
      
      Best bet is to look at the reviews in the IC forum at Flyertalk. I have never had a problem myself.
  - James67 says:
    
    16 May16 May 20:05
    
    And I think somebody commented something along the lines that they got their spire extended for a further year and another 25k spire honus for joining ambassador? Or perhaps I got the wrong end of the stick.
- Jon says:
  
  16 May16 May 19:43
  
  I had a five-night reward stay at IC Hong Kong a while back, so I joined IC Ambassador (like you, was already Spire). Wasn’t massively impressed with the benefits to be honest. Got a one-category room upgrade – appreciated the gesture, but wasn’t really anything special, just a slightly bigger room. Nice view of the building site next door 😉 The late checkout wasn’t of use to me, but I did use the free pay movie (although I wouldn’t have missed it particularly if it hadn’t been offered). The welcome gift was rather odd – a small jar of steak seasoning… (Slightly surprised that got through airport security without comment or scrutiny when I left HK…) On top of the ongoing saga of not actually getting the welcome pack, card, free night certificate etc six months in, I doubt I’ll renew next year, and might even ask them to refund this year’s fee. I haven’t stayed at any ICs since. Hilton does a far far better job of making its Diamond and Gold HHonors members feel valued, in my experience. My future business will be going to them,
Anne says:

16 May16 May 14:37

I logged in and received the following message: “We’re sorry, but you’re not eligible for this campaign.” I checked the terms and conditions but couldn’t find any stipulation as to why I would NOT be eligible. Any ideas?
- Waribai says:
  
  17 May17 May 04:32
  
  Yes, your address is probably not a UK one
Hopic says:

16 May16 May 15:01

5000 Points for one night in June
1000 Points on my next stay
Double Points for all stays up to 38,000…

Think I’ll give that a miss then!
Gary M says:

16 May16 May 15:11

Got mine. But since I’m still trying to get them to recognize bonuses from the last one, and they are saying “because the promotion has ended, and your points have posted, we cannot help you any more” .
So not really in a hurry to try this one.
- Trickster says:
  
  16 May16 May 22:53
  
  Have you tried handling it through the missing points option on the site? I’ve had success this way.
  - Gary M says:
    
    17 May17 May 18:19
    
    I’ve never been able to do that, because it always rejects the accererate 2016 as a an entry. and as it was a “stay 3 times” or something similar, there was no way to enter it. I just meail them now.
    
    However, they must read HFP, because 24 hrs after I posted, I got the points credited 🙂