Originally Posted by bob12403

And remember that you earn 5X bonus points from IHG hotel stays and 2X bonus points from restaurants, gas stations and grocery stores. All count as elite qualifying, so that might give you an even quicker path to Spire.

If your restaurant charges are at places in the RC dining program (where I assume you've registered your IHG MC), you can double dip your way to Spire, because dining points count as elite as well. If you're elite in the dining program that's 5 points/$, plus 2 points/$ for the MC spend=7X your initial spend.