When it comes to hotel promotions, often times, the first one people will think of is IHG’s “Accelerate” program. This program, which generally runs three times a year, allows people to earn a ton of extra points by completing stay challenges. For example, here are my challenges for Q2 2018:
Cam’s are…not so good. I’m not really sure how the IHG algorithms decide who gets what offers, so I’m curious to see what my next one looks like.
Continuing on…what’s great about IHG’s Accelerate offers is that they’ve really been pushing their acquisition of Kimpton through additional challenges, on top of what your Accelerate page says. Here’s what my Accelerate landing page looks like:
If you click the terms and conditions link, you’re brought a to a page detailing which properties earn 5,000 points and which properties earn 10,000 points. You can maximize this promotion by earning 30,000 points. That’s either six stays at a 5,000 point hotel, three stays at a 10,000 point hotel, or some combination of the two. You need to register for your Q2 Accelerate Offer, which you can do here, before you book your stays.
For example, let’s look at the Kimpton Hotel Palomar San Diego. For a random one night coming up, you’ll pay $192.00 for the room, with taxes and fees bringing the total to $238.37. If you have Platinum status from the credit card, you’ll earn:
- 1,920 base points
- 960 elite points
- 1,192 points from the IHG credit card
- 10,000 bonus points
Out the door, you’ve just earned 14,072 points for $238. While I wouldn’t buy IHG points at that rate EVER (1.6 cents per point), this is a great opportunity to earn up to 30,000 extra IHG points this summer if you’ve already got Kimpton stays booked, or need to book a stay before 7/31. I’m actually staying at the Ink48 Hotel in NYC later this summer on a cheap Sunday night rate to complete my Accelerate offers for this quarter, so learning after the fact (reading comprehension, I know…) that I would earn and additional 5,000 points was pretty nice.
Let us know if you’ll be taking advantage of this offer and how your Accelerate offers are!
Header image courtesy of IHG – Kimpton De Witt Hotel Amsterdam
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
T&Cs state that the bonus points “will be awarded after your Qualifying Stay of at least two consecutive nights” so doesn’t look like your one night stay example would qualify.
Offer shows up on my Accelerate landing page when I am not signed in. Suggests I “register.” Have never found a registration page. Can’t find offer when I sign in. Made my first stay at a 5000 point Kimpton in Chicago. Points haven’t flowed yet. “Customer service” says allow 6-8 weeks. Do have the [killer] email from May 17 giving offer details and telling me I’m in. So, typical IHG [pretty nice] offer that might [as usual] take a little extra effort to collect.