I’ve written about the Accelerate promotion offered by IHG Rewards Club (the loyalty program for InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn hotels etc) here on Tricks of the Trade a number of times in the past.
Accelerate is essentially a set of personalised stay targets. Bonus points are awarded for each target that you meet, with a larger bonus triggered upon completing a certain number of the tasks.
The last Accelerate promotion ended on 31st July and members have been awaiting news of the next IHG promotion – Accelerate or otherwise. Well, we now have the details – but I’m not sure it was worth the wait…
Double points plus more (but not much more!)
Looking back, I’ve not really had much luck with IHG Accelerate promotions. I’ve got friends who are definite Accelerate fans though having netted large amounts of bonus points, at minimal cost and effort, in the past.
My targets have always required an unrealistically large number of hotel nights. In an ideal world, you’d complete all of your Accelerate targets via hotel stays you had to make anyway, but I’ve always felt a good Accelerate target is one that has you contemplating a mattress run to complete it if required. Historically, I’ve rarely had a target that is even close to mattress run territory.
Here’s what I’ve got this time around:
So, a total of 24,500 bonus IHG points available assuming I make at least two weekend stays of at least two nights each. Oh, and I’d have to max out the double points element too. Thanks, but no thanks.
It seems this special IHG treatment isn’t entirely reserved for me – John at Loyalty Lobby reports receiving an equally poor offer.
How to register
You can view your target by logging in to this page of the IHG website.
Feel free to post your offers in the comments section, hopefully, they aren’t all as uninspiring as mine 🙂
This offer is valid between 16th September and 16th December 2018.
While you can register from today – DON’T make any stays before the 16th September as you won’t receive double points and they won’t count towards your personalised target.
Full T&Cs are available here
Verdict
Let’s hope this is just a temporary blip and double points + weaker Accelerate targets doesn’t represent the long-term future for IHG promotions.
With Marriott strengthened following the completion of the Starwood merger, the likes of IHG and Hilton have their work cut out to ensure they don’t fall behind. Watering down popular promotions such as Accelerate certainly wouldn’t be the way to go about it.
View your personalised IHG offer on this page