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My Accelerate offer requires 6 of 7 steps being fulfilled. 5 can be done with just 1 stay.
Today is the first day that you can register for the IHG Accelerate promotion that runs between September 1st and December 31st, 2017. If you’re unfamiliar with IHG Accelerate it’s a promotional program that IHG runs quarterly that allows its members to earn bonus points by completing a set of criteria individualized for each member. In the past I haven’t been THAT enticed by my offers, but this time around I think I may just bite and go for it. I have a few trips planned for the rest of the year, and I can fulfill 6 of the 7 criteria with just 3 stays. Lemme show you my thoughts on it and how I’m thinking of getting it done.
Take a look at my Accelerate Offer. You can go here to Register for yours
One of my criteria mandates that I stay with a “bonus package” which would give me 1000 bonus points. My Accelerate offer is technically 80,300 points.
At first glance it looks like I’d have to do a lot. HOWEVER. If we dig into the deal we actually find 66k bonus points can be had with just 3 stays + joining IHG Ambassador, which I’ve been heavily considering for a while.
Let’s focus on the 7 “Grey’d out” offers. Here’s how 5 of those can be satisfied with just 1 stay
- Stay Once earn 2000
- Earn 6600 with a bonus package
- These aren’t much more expensive than flexible bookings anyways and I’ll earn some more bonus points
- Stay in Europe, China, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa
- I’m planning on spending New Years in Europe so I should be able to make this happen
- Spend on your IHG credit card
- easy enough
- Join Ambassador
- I’ve been leaning towards doing this for awhile anyways ( I could even use the points option to save on cash outlay)
If I join Ambassador and stay at say a Holiday Inn in Europe, with a bonus package, and pay for it with my IHG card I’ll cross 5 items off the list.
You can use points to join Ambassador:
I could…
Use 32k to buy Ambassador. I’d get 5k back as a bonus which nets out to 27k points for Ambassador. I’d still be ahead on IHG Accelerate by almost 40k points and have an Ambassador account. Not too shabby.
That leaves me with just 1 item left to achieve the 6/7 requirement
Here are the two remaining options
- Staying at 3 different brands earns 19,200 points
- 5 nights earns 10, 000 points
Staying at 3 different brands not only nets me more points ( 19,200 vs 10k), but if I do one of those stays in September I’ll earn an additional September bonus of 3000 points
The brands that make up IHG
Assuming I’ve joined Ambassador, an option that would give me a free extra night would be utilizing Ambassador’s BOGO weekend night at Intercontinental hotels. Would be a fun way to stack a free night with a promotion
How much are IHG points worth?
You can always buy IHG points for $0.007 using a dummy booking. Meaning…if I were to net 66k points I’d be earning $462 worth of points. As long as my three nights totaled less than this value, it’d be worth mattress running just to make the promotion work. Right now, I think I have a couple nights I can switch into IHG to complete two of the 3 stays, which means getting the 3rd may be worth renting a cheap Holiday Inn somewhere to complete the challenge.
66k Points guarantees me a free night at any IHG in the world.
IHG’s top tier is 60k points per night. Since I have the IHG credit card from Chase I get 10% back on all redemptions. Meaning 66k points would get me a free night anywhere AND leave me with 12k points – enough to take advantage of a couple PointBreaks nights on a roadtrip ( those are only 5k a night).
The Intercontinental Carlton Cannes is in an amazing location and can go for INSANE PRICES during the festival. This promotion would get me a free night there. I could also use the free night that the IHG credit card awards yearly to stay 2 nights free of charge. Amazing.
Go here to register and find out what your IHG Accelerate promotion is offering you!
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
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It 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. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 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)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
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® Card is great 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: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.
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