Aug 8, 2017, 12:23 pm
Last edit by: beachmouse
Another quarter, another Accelerate. Answers to some Frequently Asked Questions below:
For newcomers to IHG promotions, note that Holiday Inn Express and Holiday Inn (including Holiday Inn Resorts) are two different brand categories for these things. If your dashboard says 'stay at a Holiday Inn Express' as one of the tasks and you stay at a Holiday Inn, it will NOT credit for the Holiday Inn Express task. (and vice versa)
An award stay only counts toward a task that specifically requires an award stay and will not count toward other tasks and night requirements for the purposes of the promotion. (Award stays do count toward general elite qualification, but that's outside this promotion)
At IHG, points + cash stays are simply points stays where you bought some of the points at the time of the reservation. Once you finish the reservation, a points + cash stay shows as a points stay. Thus points + cash stays only count for tasks where they are specified, and not other tasks.
Doing a points + cash booking and then cancelling it does NOT trigger a 'buy points' task completion. A 'buy points' task is a points transaction that is processed through points.com
The 'pay with your IHG credit card' task has typically been very slow to post. If it does within about two weeks of completing a stay, that's relatively quick, and it will often be several weeks beyond that, depending on when your statement closing date is and how IHG's system sweep is timed.
Some offers require booking within the promotion period in addition to staying during the promotion period.
Registration & dashboard link:
https://www.ihg.com/content/us/en/offers/q3accelerate2017
For newcomers to IHG promotions, note that Holiday Inn Express and Holiday Inn (including Holiday Inn Resorts) are two different brand categories for these things. If your dashboard says 'stay at a Holiday Inn Express' as one of the tasks and you stay at a Holiday Inn, it will NOT credit for the Holiday Inn Express task. (and vice versa)
An award stay only counts toward a task that specifically requires an award stay and will not count toward other tasks and night requirements for the purposes of the promotion. (Award stays do count toward general elite qualification, but that's outside this promotion)
At IHG, points + cash stays are simply points stays where you bought some of the points at the time of the reservation. Once you finish the reservation, a points + cash stay shows as a points stay. Thus points + cash stays only count for tasks where they are specified, and not other tasks.
Doing a points + cash booking and then cancelling it does NOT trigger a 'buy points' task completion. A 'buy points' task is a points transaction that is processed through points.com
The 'pay with your IHG credit card' task has typically been very slow to post. If it does within about two weeks of completing a stay, that's relatively quick, and it will often be several weeks beyond that, depending on when your statement closing date is and how IHG's system sweep is timed.
Some offers require booking within the promotion period in addition to staying during the promotion period.
Registration & dashboard link:
https://www.ihg.com/content/us/en/offers/q3accelerate2017
IHG Accelerate Q3 2017 (1st September to 31st December)
Nov 7, 2017, 3:59 am
#346
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: FRA
Programs: MileagePlus Premier Silver, IHG Spire Elite, HHonors Silver, RapidRewards
Posts: 382
1. You buy points for $X.
2. You then immediately redeem them + more points from your account balance towards a stay.
Nov 7, 2017, 5:07 am
#347
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Programs: MR LT Titanium, IHG Plat.,UA Premier Silver, & PA/OH Turnpike Million Miler
Posts: 2,309
--Jon
Nov 7, 2017, 9:30 am
#348
Join Date: Apr 2016
Programs: BAEC, Flying Club, HHonors, Gold Passport, IHG Rewards, Le Club Accor, Club Carlson
Posts: 323
Could anyone confirm if my coporate booking (I work for the employer in question) will work for accelerate? I ask as I only need two nights to complete my Q3 task and this will take me over the line. If not I will do a mattress run as the final two night will net me 27000 points.
Nov 7, 2017, 9:34 am
#349
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Pacific Northwest
Programs: UA Gold 1MM, AS 75k, AA Plat, Bonvoyed Gold, Honors Dia, Hyatt Explorer, IHG Plat, ...
Posts: 16,813
Could anyone confirm if my coporate booking (I work for the employer in question) will work for accelerate? I ask as I only need two nights to complete my Q3 task and this will take me over the line. If not I will do a mattress run as the final two night will net me 27000 points.
Nov 7, 2017, 11:10 am
#350
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 398
Will using American airlines IATA number invalidate my stays for Accelerate?
Went through AA's portal and noticed it automatically drops in an IATA number into the IHG booking. Prices seem the same. I know AA wants credit for the shopping portal purchase. But the IHG site references IATA as "travel agency codes" which are excluded under the T&Cs of the promo.
Booking directly off the IHG website with the IATA. Not through a third party like expedia.
Went through AA's portal and noticed it automatically drops in an IATA number into the IHG booking. Prices seem the same. I know AA wants credit for the shopping portal purchase. But the IHG site references IATA as "travel agency codes" which are excluded under the T&Cs of the promo.
Booking directly off the IHG website with the IATA. Not through a third party like expedia.
Nov 8, 2017, 11:37 am
#351
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Los Angeles, California
Programs: IHG Diamond Elite, Hilton Diamond, Hertz President's Circle
Posts: 3,531
Will using American airlines IATA number invalidate my stays for Accelerate?
Went through AA's portal and noticed it automatically drops in an IATA number into the IHG booking. Prices seem the same. I know AA wants credit for the shopping portal purchase. But the IHG site references IATA as "travel agency codes" which are excluded under the T&Cs of the promo.
Booking directly off the IHG website with the IATA. Not through a third party like expedia.
Went through AA's portal and noticed it automatically drops in an IATA number into the IHG booking. Prices seem the same. I know AA wants credit for the shopping portal purchase. But the IHG site references IATA as "travel agency codes" which are excluded under the T&Cs of the promo.
Booking directly off the IHG website with the IATA. Not through a third party like expedia.
Nov 8, 2017, 12:15 pm
#352
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: UK
Programs: BAEC Gold, IHG Gold, Virgin FC Red
Posts: 626
Now this is strange! Looking at my points statement I have received 1500 points for using the IHG card (UK) as part of accelerate. Yet this task hasn't "ticked off" my dashboard!
....
The CC spend task needs to complete on the dashboard for me to get the 6/7 tasks bonus as I am not going to get the 7th.
....
The CC spend task needs to complete on the dashboard for me to get the 6/7 tasks bonus as I am not going to get the 7th.
Nov 8, 2017, 1:09 pm
#353
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 284
Nov 8, 2017, 1:14 pm
#354
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: RSW
Programs: Delta - Silver; UA - Silver; HHonors - Diamond; IHG - Spire Ambassador; Marriott Bonvoy - Titanium
Posts: 14,185
I had the final necessary task fail to credit during a previous Accelerate. The IHG rep was very clear that he could see that this task would have triggered the Accelerate bonus itself, so he posted the points I would have received for the qualifying task and the completion bonus both.
Nov 8, 2017, 3:55 pm
#355
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: VPS
Programs: IHG Diamond, Delta PM, Hilton Gold, Accor Gold, Marriott Silver
Posts: 7,260
While there are occasional glitches in the system, 99.5% of the time, the rule of thumb is that if you click through a portal and get to the actual IHG web site to do your booking, all things loyalty point related with IHG will credit like they would if you just go straight to IHG.com. Using the OTA's own interface (ie. booking from a booking.com page) to create a booking is where you don't get credit with IHG for the stay.
Nov 8, 2017, 4:21 pm
#356
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 398
thanks guys...I came to the same conclusion that it shouldn't be a problem.
However, I still opted not to risk it and not use the portal this time. It was a potential 81,000 IHG points gamble! 600 AA points didn't seem like it was worth jeopardizing it for.
However, I still opted not to risk it and not use the portal this time. It was a potential 81,000 IHG points gamble! 600 AA points didn't seem like it was worth jeopardizing it for.
Nov 8, 2017, 5:20 pm
#357
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: SFO
Programs: AA Plat, IHG Plat, HH Diamond, Hyatt Plat, Hertz Gold
Posts: 1,933
FWIW I tried booking a dummy points and cash reservation to trigger the "Stay for less" task. Almost two weeks later, and it still hasn't credited. I can always rebook another stay in December for p&c, so I'll wait a little while longer to see if it works. I accidentally missed the p&c discount that worked for stays through December, so I booked using the other promotion that worked for stays until end of November.
Nov 9, 2017, 1:20 am
#358
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: South West England
Programs: BA exec club, Flying Blue, VFC, IHG Rewards, EasyJet Plus
Posts: 233
That doesn't really answer the question....
FWIW I tried booking a dummy points and cash reservation to trigger the "Stay for less" task. Almost two weeks later, and it still hasn't credited. I can always rebook another stay in December for p&c, so I'll wait a little while longer to see if it works. I accidentally missed the p&c discount that worked for stays through December, so I booked using the other promotion that worked for stays until end of November.
FWIW I tried booking a dummy points and cash reservation to trigger the "Stay for less" task. Almost two weeks later, and it still hasn't credited. I can always rebook another stay in December for p&c, so I'll wait a little while longer to see if it works. I accidentally missed the p&c discount that worked for stays through December, so I booked using the other promotion that worked for stays until end of November.
In fact the "stay for less" task is the only time a stay on points actually counts for accelerate, although of course it won't also count for your "Stay xx nights" if you have one.
Last edited by travellingtechie; Nov 9, 2017 at 1:22 am Reason: added a quote to make it clearer
Nov 9, 2017, 1:43 am
#359
Join Date: Apr 2016
Programs: BAEC, Flying Club, HHonors, Gold Passport, IHG Rewards, Le Club Accor, Club Carlson
Posts: 323
Nov 9, 2017, 1:58 am
#360
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Everywhere else
Programs: Miles and frowns, IHG aluminum
Posts: 346
Where exactly can I find info on what counts for a hotel in X city? I see a list of hotels for the NYC bonus, but not for the Boston, Chicago, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Orlando or San Francisco one. In this case it's an airport hotel, but a good 20-30 miles away from downtown.