Another hotel promo is out, this one from IHG. It is a targeted promo with a base level of earning set at 65,000 points. It is also a promo to share with the ability to earn 1 free night to share as well. Here are the details.
Earn At Least 65,000 IHG Points
IHG has run some great promos over the last couple of years but this one, for many people, is going to be a bit disappointing. With the offer I received, it would require me to be a pretty faithful IHG visitor to earn the total – or very hungry to receive the points. Unfortunately, I am neither one so it will be one that passes me by.
– Share Forever Promo Link
If you are an elite member, your first bonus points will be tiered based on that – 5K points for general member, 6K points for Gold, 7K points for Platinum, and 8K points for Spire.
Here is the offer I received:
- 5,000 points with first night stay (if by May 31, 2016, 1,000 points if after that)
- 1,400 points with 2 total nights
- 3,000 points with 4 total nights
- 20,000 points with 9 total nights
- 40,000 points with 24 total nights
- Total – 65,400 points for 24 nights
Then, there are the awards to share:
- 1,000 points to share after first night by September 5
- 1 free night to share after 15 nights by September 5
This promotion must be registered for and the potential award levels are targeted. It runs for stays between May 1 – September 5, 2016.
Many of the offers I am seeing are requiring in excess of 20 nights with some requiring 40 nights for this promotion to earn the max amount of points.
The share part of the promo allows you to designate a recipient to receive the 1,000 points and then the free night if you stay the 15 nights required. If I was doing this, it would be my wife so we could get a stay somewhere together. If you plotted that right, it could be very valuable even though it is restricted to IHG hotels in the Americas. But, it could be redeemed for the high end tier at 60,000 IHG points giving even more value to the promotion.
My Analysis Of The Offer
To me, IHG has kind of shot themselves in the foot. They have hiked up the point requirements for some of the more preferred, higher-end properties, they ran a promotion that allowed people to get at least around 50,000 points just for sending in postcards, and they raised the public offer on their credit card recently. Not only that, but you can still purchase 100,000 IHG points for $565 or pay a bit more for points on a daily basis.
For me, I will be pursuing the Hyatt offer over this one. Even though both hotels are transfer partners from Ultimate Rewards, Hyatt points can be much more valuable than IHG points. With the Hyatt promotion, it is possible to earn 75,000 points after only 25 nights – no targeted numbers.
This offer could be valuable if you already have travel planned at IHG properties but it is not really a mattress-run worthy promo given the high number of nights required and the lower amount of points offered (relative to the award chart). The Free Night to share makes it interesting but not enough for most people.
What was your offer? Will you go for it?
My offer is for 35 nights and my wife’s is 28 nights. We both stay a lot of nights at IHG hotels and get “rewarded” with offers like this where they are hard to meet. To me I’m going to stay at a bunch of IHG hotels most likely as I travel in rural areas with limited choices so it matters little I guess. My only other choice is to stay at Hampton Inn or Fairfield Inn typically since I don’t like Super 8 or Days Inn, etc. I like both but Hampton cheats you on less points per night (same reason I don’t stay at Candlewood or Staybridge) and the free nights that Marriott gives on promos are only good for 6 months which doesn’t always work for me. I have to use a corporate credit card so at least I can get these bonus points.
I agree the offer is not great but they do give you about 5 months to hit the base goals. I doubt I’ll hit 35 nights but most likely 25 to 30 with IHG during this period.