REGISTER NOW for IHG’s new October – December bonus points promotion

IHG Rewards has launched its Autumn promotion and you can register now via this link. It bears a striking resemblence to the previous May to August promotion ….

It could be very lucrative if you have some high value IHG stays coming up over the next few months, although the small print makes things a little fiddly.

You will receive:

• nothing on your first stay
• double points on your second stay
• triple points on subsequent stays

How does the new IHG Rewards promotion work?

Here are the rules in a nutshell:

• the offer is valid for stays from 1st October to 31st December

• existing bookings count – you don’t need to rebook anything

• you must register in advance via this page of ihg.com – and registration is open now

• you earn nothing extra on your first stay after registration

• you receive double base points on your second stay after registration

• you receive triple base points on your third and subsequent stays

The number of bonus points you can earn is capped at 70,000. If you book multiple rooms at the same hotel, you can credit up to nine to your account in most countries but you only receive the bonus on one room.

Reward nights appear to be excluded. My best guess is that a redemption does not count as your first or second stay in terms of building up to the ‘3x’ level.

Mr & Mrs Smith bookings DO count. This could swing you between deciding whether to book one directly or via the IHG site.

How valuable is this offer?

Once you get to your third stay, it is looking pretty good. Let’s assume that an IHG Rewards point is worth 0.4p (which we usually say it is) and that you have Spire Elite status and earn a 100% elite bonus.

• You spend £100 in a UK hotel …..
• …. which is £95.23 before VAT
• …. which is equivalent to $131.58
• You earn 10 base points per $1 at most brands, x3 as part of this offer, plus a 100% Spire Elite bonus on top
• You therefore receive 40 points per $1
• You receive 5,263 points for your stay ($131.58 x 40)
• At 0.4p, the points are worth £21.05
• You receive points worth 21% of what you paid

The snag, of course, is that you receive no bonus on your first stay and only 2x points on your second stay. This puts you in a frustrating position if you have an expensive IHG stay coming up.

You may even find that you would be better off doing a cheap one-night mattress run before your main stay just to push you into double or triple points. This is not necessarily the sort of behaviour that a promotion should be encouraging at the moment.

How does this compare with other promotions on the market?

Hilton Honors is offering something similar. You receive double base points all stays between now and 31st December.

Our article on the Hilton bonus points offer is here and you can register here.

Hilton has no ‘valid from your 2nd / 3rd stay’ rule unlike IHG. This means it is more attractive if you are only planning one expensive booking during the promotional period. If you are back to regular hotel stays, the IHG Rewards promotion will be better as the bulk of your stays will trigger triple points.

Marriott Bonvoy is offering a flat 1,500 bonus points per stay until 12th December. This kicks in from your first stay after registering. The IHG Rewards offer is likely to work out better if you are making regular stays, unless you are doing lots of c £50 one night bookings.

Our article on the Marriott bonus points offer is here and you can register here.

Conclusion

IHG’s new Autumn promotion may work well for you if you are planning multiple stays over the next three months. It is less useful if you are only planning one or two IHG stays.

That said, it would be silly not to register even if you don’t have any nights booked yet.

You can register now on this page of the IHG website.

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.