Welcome to our quarterly roundup of the various promotions being offered by the major hotel chains for the next few months.
Hilton Honors
Promotion name: Double Points
What’s the offer? Earn double base points on every stay.
Promotion dates: 1st May 2018 through 31st August 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 pre-existing reservations eligible? Yes. As long as you have registered for the promotion prior to check-out, you’ll earn double base points no matter when this stay was booked.
IHG Rewards Club
Promotion name: IHG Accelerate (yes – again!)
What’s the offer? 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 sets you personalised targets to complete – with bonus points awarded for each task completed.
To give you a better idea of what this looks like, here is my awful enticing Accelerate challenge for this ‘quarter’:
Promotion dates: 1st May to 31st July 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 Preferred Guest (SPG)
Promotion name: SPG More Nights, More Starpoints
What’s the offer? Beginning on the third eligible night, registered members may earn 250 bonus Starpoints per night within the earning period at SPG hotels and resorts participating in the promotion up to a maximum earning of 12,000 bonus Starpoints.
Promotion dates: 16th April to 20th July 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.
Marriott Rewards
Promotion name: MegaBonus – Yes, it seems that Marriott much like IHG Rewards Club and their Accelerate promo seem to have committed to using the same promotion name for at least 10 years!
What’s the offer? Starting with your third night, earn 750 bonus points on every night of every stay, up to 36,000 points.
Promotion dates: 16th April to 20th July 2018
Registration required: Yes. Register by 30th June 2018 via this link
Participating hotel brands: Per the T&C’s on the Marriott website, these are the participating hotels/chains worldwide.
Are Reward (points) stays eligible for this promotion? No.
Verdict
None of these promotions has me thinking my travel and hotel stay plans for the next few months.
Even my Accelerate target is disappointing and dull. I used to consistently get targets like this, but last quarter’s offer was far more appealing. No such luck this time though.
The SPG/Marriott offers have the potential work out nicely, although I’m not a fan of hotel chains only offering bonus points after you’ve completed a certain number of nights/stays – in this case starting from your third night.
Either way, I always recommend taking a couple of minutes today to register for all four offers. That way, you’ll never run the risk of missing out on bonus points for an unexpected hotel stay because you forget to register before staying.