There are always a number of different kinds of Priority Club promotions that you can take advantage of. Some of them are combinable with each other but then some are not. I hope that this post clarifies the situation.
1. Quarterly Stay-Bonuses
Priority Club has been sending out targeted offers for years for X number of points after Y number of nights.
There are normally 3 to 4 thresholds of 5K, 10K, 15K, and sometimes 20K points after certain number of nights. You can only register for ONE of these promotions. After you have registered, you cannot change the selection.
You should always register for the version of this promotion that you are certain to achieve.
2. Global Promotions
These are the type of promotions that Priority Club advertises on print media and often all over the properties as well.
They are not tied to quarters but can vary in length and promotion type. This year (2012) there has been two global promotions so far; one for double points or miles and the other one for 1000 extra Priority Club points per night.
3. Welcome Back / New Member Bonuses / Next Stay Bonus
These are normally emailed or mailed. You will receive a code that yields anywhere from 1000 to 3000 points for one stay. Sometimes these are eligible only for Gold or Platinum Priority Club members.
4. Anniversary Bonus Offers
These are very lucrative ones. You will typically receive 1000 bonus points per stay for 60 to 90 days after you sign up. Sometimes they only work for Gold or Platinum member accounts.
5. Ambassador Accelerator
After you sign up for Ambassador membership, you are then eligible for 20K bonus points for every 15 nights spend at InterContinental hotels. You are not automatically signed up for this offer.
6. Airline Specific Offers
Sometimes there are offers for double/triple airline miles in selected airline programs. I don’t always write about these as I don’t find them to be very lucrative. You have to choose miles as your earning option and these often conflict with some other bonus points promotions.
7. Hotel Specific Promotions
Sometimes hotel advertises a rate or rates that include number of bonus Priority Club points. Often these rates are higher than some other discounted rates that the property offers. These tend to be geared towards reimbursed business travelers that may find it beneficial to book artificially high rate but which includes bonus points that the traveler can later use i.e. for their vacation.
8. Rebate Promotions
Priority Club has had different kind of rebate promotions in the past few years. They normally require a two night weekday or weekend stay. Then you need to fill out rebate forms and mail them out to the rebate processed and hope that they correctly fulfill the promotion. Your reward is normally a MasterCard or Visa prepaid debit card for $50 or $75.
9. Other One Time Bonus Points Promotions
There are often promotions that could be brand specific i.e. earlier offer of 15K bonus points after 6 nights at InterContinental hotels or 5000 bonus points for a weekend stay.
10. Surveys / Quizzes / Toolbar / Shopping Promotions
There are number of onetime bonus opportunities that are not tied to stays at all. These tend to come and go. You can earn thousands of points per year just completing them all as they come.
Most of the time you can double or triple dip (or even more) multiple Priority Club promotions if you plan correctly.
Things to keep in mind:
1. Your account may not be eligible for specific promotion
You may get an error message that you have signed up for a promotion or the promotion code is invalid. This normally means that you have already signed up for a variant of the offer.
2. Geographical Requirement
Some promotions may require for your address on file with the Priority Club to be in the certain region (mainly in the United States. If your address in in UK, the promotional points just won’t post.
3. My Promotions
The promotion may show in your “My Promotions”, but it doesn’t mean that the points will actually post. You need to fulfill the terms and conditions of the promotion as well that are sometimes unknown.
4. Delayed Promotional Points Postings
Some promotions don’t actually yield the points at the time your stay posts. There are some bonuses that can post weeks after the qualifying activity has happened. It just shows up as an additional line on your points history. This depends how Priority Club does their sweeps.
5. Conflicting promotions
Sometimes signing up for one offer will disqualify you from other one. There is no way to unregister after you have signed up for an offer. Earlier in the year there were two different offers for InterContinental stays. After I signed up for one, I was disqualified from the other one.
Under no circumstances should you call Priority Club regarding a promotion that you were NOT originally targeted for.
I know, it is terrible that certain promotion won’t register or the points post. I have gone through this numerous times with Priority Club. You should never, however, call and inquiry about promotions that you were not targeted for i.e. received an email offering the promotion or a post card on the mail.
I will post about new Priority Club bonus points opportunities as they happen.
Make sure that you have signed up for our blog email updated and follow us on Twitter and like on Facebook. I will always make a post when there is exciting Priority Club promotion or bonus point opportunity around.
