Rapid Travel Chai

IHG’s current Accelerate promotion is not yet over and already registration is open for a new round for stays January 1-April 15, 2017. Register here.

I try to be rational in my travel purchases. Accommodation on my solo travel is primarily functional. Still, the gamification of IHG promotions hook me every time. When they taunt me with something like Stay in Brazil, I say, “Game on!” I adore piecing it together to see how many tasks I can complete with each stay.

My offer is similar to my Q4 2016 offer:

Lessons learned from Q4 2016 Accelerate:

• January Bonus Offer mirrors my current promotion September Bonus Offer, which does not count toward Your Achievement Bonus.
• Spend on Your IHG Rewards Club Credit Card is a headache. I did mine in September and still do not have the points. IHG said wait 8 weeks from stay and contact them again, which I coincidentally did today.

Q1 2017 Observations:

• Several of mine have terms that may or may not imply bookings should be made from January 1:
  • Book and Stay Once: “…which must be booked and completed between 1 January 2017 and 15 April 2017 (both dates inclusive)…”
  • Points and Cash: “…have been redeemed/purchased and consumed by the member between 1 January 2017 and 15 April 2017 (both dates inclusive)…”
  • Corporate Account Bonus: “…have been booked at the required corporate rate and consumed by the member between 1 January 2017 and 15 April 2017 (both dates inclusive)…”
• Points and Cash is a new one for me.
• Stay More, Earn More is 7 nights, same as my current, of which I have 5 night completed and won’t finish

Thanks to a confluence of those $400 to Europe fares and expiring Delta and United certs I have several trips to Europe in January. I wonder why IHG hotels in rural Scotland in mid-January are under $50? I think I’ll have Hadrian’s Wall to myself!