As we move into 2018, many people will be looking at their calendars and pencilling in both work and leisure travel for the next few months.
Four of the big hotel chains have released details of their promotions for the first part of 2018 and I would recommend registering for all of them. You never know when you might end up with an unexpected stay at one of these hotels.
Hilton Honors
Promotion name: Points Unlimited
What is the promotion?
- Registered Hilton Honors members will earn 2,000 Points per stay.
- In addition, you will earn an extra 10,000 Points after every 5 stays.
- There is no limit to the total amount of bonus points that may be earned during the promotion period with this offer.
Promotion dates: January 1, 2018 through April 30, 2018
Registration required: Yes. Register via this link
Participating hotel brands: Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Curio Collection, Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Canopy by Hilton, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Embassy Suites, DoubleTree by Hilton, Hilton Grand Vacations, Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Home2 Suites, Hampton by Hilton, Tru by Hilton and Tapestry Collection by Hilton
Hampton by Hilton Hotels in Mainland China are excluded
Are Reward (points) stays eligible for the “Points Unlimited” promotion?
Members will earn Bonus Points with the “Points Unlimited” promotion if they have incidental charges during a Reward Stay, provided such charges are deemed eligible folio charges.
In other words, it should be worth charging a cheap item from the minibar to your room to make sure you trigger the bonus points.
IHG Rewards Club
Promotion name: IHG Accelerate
What is the promotion? For the last few years, IHG Rewards Club has been running a promotion known as Accelerate. I wrote a detailed piece explaining the Accelerate promotion back in August of last year. Essentially, Accelerate gives members personalised targets and tasks – with bonus points being awarded upon their completion.
To give you a better idea of what this looks like, here is my Accelerate challenge for this ‘quarter’:
Promotion dates: January 1, 2018 through April 30, 2018 (inclusive).
Registration required: Yes. Register via this link
Participating hotel brands: InterContinental®, Crowne Plaza®, Hotel Indigo®, Holiday Inn®, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites®, Candlewood Suites®, Kimpton®, EVEN® or HUALUXE® hotels worldwide
Are Reward (points) stays eligible for the Accelerate promotion? No. Reward nights do not count as a qualifying stay in terms of hitting your personalised targets.
Starwood
Promotion name: SPG® Great Weeks, Grand Weekends
What is the promotion?
- You’ll earn double Starpoints at participating SPG® hotels and resorts beginning on your second stay.
- Plus, each time an eligible stay includes a weekend night,* you’ll get a bonus of 500 Starpoints.
- There is no limit to the total amount of Bonus Points that may be earned during the Promotion Period with this offer.
*If the eligible paid stay includes a Friday or Saturday night (Thursday or Friday night in the Middle East).
Promotion dates: Between January 16 and April 15, 2018
Registration required: Yes. Register via this link
Participating hotel brands: A full list of participating hotels worldwide can be found on this page.
Are Reward (points) stays eligible for this promotion? No. Stays booked with Free Night Awards or Cash & Points do not count as qualifying stays for this promotion. Even if part of the stay is reserved using an Award and part is paid, the Registered Member will not receive bonus Starpoints for any part of the stay.
Marriott
Promotion name: MegaBonus – Yes, that is the same name that they’ve used for what seems like the last 73 promotions!
What is the promotion?
- Get 2,000 bonus points per stay starting with your second stay
- Plus an extra 1,000 bonus points when your stay includes a weekend night*.
- Earn up to 50,000 points during the Promotion Period with this offer.
A weekend night is generally defined as a Friday or Saturday night except in the Middle East where it is defined as a Thursday or Friday night.
Promotion dates: 16th January to 15th April 2018
Registration required: Yes. Register by 31st March 2018 via this link
Participating hotel brands: Per the T&C’s on the Marriott website, this is a list of participating hotels/chains worldwide.
Are Reward (points) stays eligible for this promotion? No.
Verdict
None of these promotions stands out as being particularly outstanding. That said, I am quite tempted to complete my IHG Accelerate target.
Looking at my offer, if I made 2 stays (booked through the IHG app) and took out an IHG credit card – that would yield a return of 32,000 IHG points. Given that you can ordinarily acquire IHG points for just under 0.4p a point using this trick, the cost of my stays would have to undercut that price. If I can pick up a couple of cheap nights for around £40 or thereabouts, I may well jump in.
Either way, it’s a good idea to take a couple of minutes to simply register for all of the various offers.
What do you make of these offers?