Hotels

IHG Accelerate reminder and update

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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.a screen shot of a black circle with a red star and a black circle with a star and a star with a star

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.

a building with a fountain in front of it
The Intercontinental Shanghai – courtesy of ihg.com

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.

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Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card


4.8
4.8/5
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott.

Welcome Offer

60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months

Annual Fee

$95

Points Earned

Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards

  • 3x on dining
    •  including eligible delivery services for takeout
  • 3x on select streaming services
  • 3x on online grocery purchases
    • (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
  • 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel Portal
  • 2x on all other travel
  • $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Chase Travel
    • The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
  • 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 Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
  • Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
  • Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
    • Primary rental car coverage is my favorite

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.

The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

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