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A month in…I’m well on my way.
IHG Accelerate is a quarterly promotion that IHG offers to its members. While I’ve been targeted for decent offers in the past, this year was different. I got an offer that would net me north of 80k points with just three stays. I had to make use of it. I thought I’d update you guys on my progress, but also remind you to register and see what you’d been targeted for as well.
Don’t forget to register. You can do so here.
Here’s a look at my progress. 1 Month down. I need to hit 4/5 of remaining requirements to get my bonus .
I took a weekend trip to Tokyo earlier in the month, and to start the trip off, we spent a night at the LAX Crown Plaza. For $115, it was not only a solid deal, but it ticked off 2 requirements, and one bonus.
I have a weekend to New York planned as well, and scored a very good deal at an IHG property. That will help with the 3 brands requirement.
I’m currently planning a weekend trip to Shanghai later in the year…
I may be crazy, but I’m really on a weekend warrior kick, plus I have 2 SWUs left and want to make good use of them.
Staying in Shanghai will tick off the stay in any country ( Asia, Great China, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa) requirement. My original plan was to stay just one night at the Intercontinental, and then hit up the JW Marriott as well. However, I’ll already have 2 nights at IHG by the time I go in November, so if we stayed there the whole time and did one night with a bonus package, I’d not only hit the 5 night bonus, but also the bonus package requirement. This would stitch up the whole Accelerate and I wouldn’t need to join Ambassador.
However, Marriott has a promotion whereby you can earn a free night after just 2 stays. Seems silly to not get one of those stays while in China and get to experience another hotel.
I’ll keep you guys updated. Have you registered? How’s it going?
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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