Rewards Canada contributor Bill Wheatley reminds our readers you only have a few days left to register for IHG Free Nights. Faster. promotion. Even if you haven’t planned any IHG stays you’ll want to make sure you register by Friday just to be safe in case your travel plans change and you do end up having IHG stays before the end of April!
A reminder you only have a few days to register for IHG’s Free Nights. Faster. Promotion. Registration must be completed by March 15th, 2019 and the earning period goes until April 30th, 2019. You may remember that IHG ran a similar promotion (Accelerate) last year during the same time period (January – April). These beginning of the year promotions are quite lucrative for me. My bonus point allotment for completing all tasks this year is 134,400 vs. 61,300 last year, more than double the potential reward.
I have only 4 goals that I have to achieve this time round and I must achieve all of them. In previous years they have had up to 8 separate requirements, but it was only necessary to complete 6 or 7 of them. I will be speaking strictly about my offers, yours may differ from mine.
While it is true that my travels do keep me on the road a lot, quite often I find myself in smaller towns that do not have an IHG branded hotel. This does make it a bit harder to complete the requirements, but it is still quite doable. This year’s promotions don’t rely so heavily on number of nights being a main driver, rather it appears they are trying to expand the hotel type (i.e., I have a requirement to stay at 4 different brands). There is also a return of the dreaded Saturday night stay requirement. I say dreaded as most of my traveling is done during the week. However, I have already completed one of the 2 stays. The other one may just be where I book a couple of nights away from home and surprise my wife.
That option is actually quite lucrative to me with my bonus point completion targets. I will need to stay 2 nights (Friday & Saturday). I can get 2 nights locally with a 3,000 point per night (paid) bonus for $252.66 (tax in). My total points for the stay will be 6,000 for the paid bonus and 2,643 (1,762 base + 881 elite bonus) for a grand total of 8,643 points. When you factor in the bonus points I will get for completing all tasks (67,200), my total points accumulation for an extra 2 night stay would be 75,843. Divide that into my cost of $252.66 and I am getting 300 points for the penny. To purchase 76,000 points direct from IHG would cost $760.00 (USD). Factor in exchange rate of 34% and I would be paying over a thousand dollars ($1,018.40) for those same points.
Another thing to take into account when booking a room is the bonus points per night. These can assist you in achieving higher levels quicker (Paid bonus points count towards Elite status). Taking the same example above, the rate for the 3,000 points per night is $14.25 which equates to $28.50 for 6,000 points. (2.1 points per penny) To purchase 6,000 points is $81.00 (USD) multiplied by 34% exchange equals $108.54. (.55 points per penny). However, all that being said I will still attempt to complete the second Friday/Saturday stay through work and then not have to pay the out-of-pocket expense.
To date I have achieved 50% of the requirements towards the full allotment of bonus points for this promotion and have no doubt that I will be able to accomplish all of them. These types of promotions are always a very good thing to register for. Sometimes it may take a bit of extra planning to ensure you obtain all the objectives, but it will be well worth it in the end. 134,400 bonus points can be redeemed for 5 or 6 nights (depending on redemption rates), a very nice bonus to reduce the costs of taking the family out.
Here are the promotion details and link to register and book:
Earn 500 to 40,000 or more Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you
complete stays at IHG Hotels Worldwide. Bonus varies by member. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Register by Mar 15 for stays until Apr 30, 19