IHG Rewards Club - my thoughts, status matches and promotions (including 2014 summer promotion)

In spite of being a Hilton HHonors and SPG loyalist for as long as I can remember, IHG's Rewards Club program is one that has caught my attention rather recently. I like the fact that they run as many parallel promotions as they do, most (if not all) of which are stackable, meaning you can qualify for more than one promotion for each stay, which can really get the points earning going along rather nicely. They also used to have rather easy (if convoluted) access to get status matched to the Platinum tier of the program, and it was not a challenge. Sadly, IHG has recently stopped offering status matches.

I applied to get matched to their Platinum level last year, expecting some stays, and it was granted. Unfortunately, those stays didn't happen, and so I was downgraded earlier this year. Since their status matches (as with virtually all loyalty programs that offer matches) are one-time, I decided to forego the 2k points I'd earned on that account, and I set up a new account, which I was able to status match again to Platinum. This time the stays did happen (read here, here and here), and by registering for various promotions, including the Big Win, I've earned about 65k points to date. That is enough to get me on average, 1-3 nights of stays at normal redemption rates  (depending on location). That's not bad for having stayed 4 nights with IHG, and strategised some promotions. I'd also be eligible for about 13 nights if booked on PointBreaks (5k a night).

About IHG status matches

As I mentioned before, IHG used to status-match, but they've stopped doing that quite recently. Nonetheless, it seems that there continue to be very rare instances of status matches being approved. I've heard of one from a friend who got Platinum status approved this Monday. I'm hoping (but not very hopeful) that they will bring it back. Sad to see such a nice one go by! I managed a suite at the Crowne Plaza, Gurgaon, just for being a Platinum member (and with virtually zero points to my account).

I also got an upgrade to a studio suite at the Holiday Inn Mumbai International Airport.

A word on promotions

The best thing about IHG's promotions are that there are always enough going around, and, they are stackable. Many miles/points addicts have structured their Big Win stays such that they qualify for the maximum possible points (or as near as possible), and to be honest, that was one of my main incentives to stay at the Intercontinental Marine Drive in Mumbai last month.

However, no matter what websites and blogs you look at, not all the promotion codes stated there will work for you. Codes usually don't work for many reasons, such as they're for the same promotion, they've expired, or they apply only if your address is in certain countries. I've explained this in a bit more detail in this earlier post. That includes what not to do, if you don't see yourself getting registered for a promotion.

While you're at it, do check out this FT thread on active promo codes for 2014.

One of these days, I might even try out every 4-digit number to see what promo works! Maybe I'll just outsource that one...

2014 Summer promotion

So what's next? IHG's 2014 Summer promotion, called the Reel Summer promotion. By the look of the logo (shows a bottle of Coke and a movie reel), I'm guessing there's more that's yet to be announced about this promotion.

The offers are similar to the ones below:

Stay 3 Nights Earn 5,000 Points (Codes 7093, 7057)
Stay 7 Nights Earn 10,000 Points (Code 5989)
Stay 8 Nights Earn 10,000 Points (Codes 5155, 7052)
Stay 10 Nights Earn 10,000 Points (Codes 7055, 4985)
Stay 12 Nights Earn 10,000 Points (Codes 5156, 4987)
Stay 15 Nights Earn 15,000 Points (Code 2113)
Stay 18 Nights Earn 15,000 Points (Codes 6340, 5163, 1029, 5153)

(HT: LoyaltyLobby)

Note that these generally seem to be targeted, and so may not necessarily be stackable. Nonetheless, you could try registering for these promos, here. The following promotions are also available, but are really not useful. Further, registering for these may override the promo in the previous list, for corresponding number of stays. So be careful, and register for these only if the previous ones don't work.

Stay 4 Nights Earn 2,000 Points (Code 4988)
Stay 7 Nights Earn 2,000 Points (Code 7048)
Stay 8 Nights Earn 2,000 Points (Code 6339)

In fact, these are so pathetic, my suggestion would be that you don't register for these at all.

Conclusion

I said it before, and I'll say it again. IHG has caught my attention. The per point value may not be great, but you can earn a bucketloads of them at one go, if you're lucky enough to be able to maximise registration for promotions. And the PointBreaks do help. I may not be a fanboy yet, but I'm a fan of this program, now.