Earlier this week, I wrote about new promotion from IHG that allows members to earn up to 71,000 bonus points and noted that there were some issues with similar promo last year (and just received an unfortunate update from a reader).
Members that live in Asia-Pacific (excluding Greater China), Middle East & Africa can earn up to 71,000 bonus points for just three stays in the same area through December 31, 2018, including 1,000 bonus points just for registration!
You can access and sign up for this offer on IHG’s website here.
READ MORE: IHG Rewards Club Rate & Bonus Points And Miles Promotions
Here’s an update from a reader:
I have recently stayed at Intercontinental Bangkok from the 14th to 19th Feb. The AMEA 20,000 bonus points posted successfully with the stay. Yesterday, to my horror, the 20,000 bonus points got clawed back by IHG. I have sent them an email to clarify on this. I am based in Singapore btw. I’ll update you on their response.
Here’s what I wrote earlier about this promotion:
Here’s how the bonus points add up:
You get 1,000 bonus points for signing up, 10,000 bonus points after your first stay and 30,000 bonus points after two additional stays. You will get 10,000 bonus points for each stay that is at InterContinental hotel.
Registration confirmation:
Email Confirmation:
My Offers (access here):
For some reason the offer tracks twice on my offers?
Conclusion
Just crazy that they appear to have clawed back the points immediately after they posted. I will post an update once I hear back from the reader about the IHG’s response.
I will have InterContinental stays coming up in the area over the next two weeks that should fulfill the three stay requirements of this promotion and will keep readers updated too.
Here are the terms and conditions of this promotion:
Must be an IHG® Rewards Club member and must register member number in advance to participate in this promotion. Members will receive bonus points upon registration and on completion of each of the first three Qualifying Stays booked directly on any IHG website or mobile site at InterContinental®, Crowne Plaza®, Hotel Indigo®, Holiday Inn®, Holiday Inn Express® and Staybridge Suites® hotels and resorts in Asia Pacific (excluding Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan), the Middle East and Africa between 19 February 2018 and 31 December 2018 (“Registration”). The bonus points will be provided as follows: 1,000 points for registration; 10,000 points for the first Qualifying Stay; and 30,000 points after the third Qualifying Stay. For every stay at an InterContinental Hotel, an additional 10,000 bonus points will be awarded after the first Qualifying Stay and after the third Qualifying Stay. A stay is defined per IHG® Rewards Club Membership Terms and Conditions as one night or consecutive nights at the same hotel, regardless of frequency of check-in/out (“Stay”). A Stay is constituted a “Qualifying Stay” when member pays qualifying rates, which include most business and leisure rates at InterContinental®, Kimpton®, Crowne Plaza®, Hotel Indigo®, Holiday Inn®, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites®, of not less than USD$50. Bonus points are not issued for Non-Qualifying Room Rates or Non-Qualifying Stays. “Non-Qualifying Room Rates” or “Non-Qualifying Stay” include the following: net wholesale individual and group rate, certain package rates, employee discount rate, friends and family rate, crew rate, special discounted contract rates, seasonal worker/crew rate, 50% travel club discount rate, travel industry discount rate, distressed passenger rate, IHG® Rewards Club Reward Nights/Airline Hotel Reward rate, rates booked through third party web sites, complimentary hotel Stays and any other rates not defined as a Qualifying Room Rate at IHG’s sole discretion. Only one room per member per Qualifying Stay will be awarded the applicable bonus points. All bookings and stays are to be completed during promotion period between 19 February 2018 and 31 December 2018. No retroactive points will be awarded for stays prior to Registration. Rates are per room, per night and are subject to availability. Blackout dates apply. This Promotion is subject to standard IHG® Rewards Club Membership Terms and Conditions and earning structure, which can be obtained by visiting www.ihgrewardsclub.com. Other promotional terms and conditions apply. This exclusive offer is valid for original recipient only and cannot be combined with other promotions. Except as otherwise stated in the terms and conditions, please allow up to 2 to 3 weeks for bonus points to be credited after checkout. IHG reserves the right to remove a member’s bonus points or cancel a member’s account if fraudulent use of the Promotion is detected. IHG® Rewards Club reserves the right to cancel, suspend and/or modify the Promotion at any time with or without notice. Members must make any promotional inquiries by 60 days from the end of the campaign promotional period.
I registered for the 40k Book Direct Promo last year. I contacted their customer service center at Phillipine when my final 2 stays points were not posted. They ask for email to prove that I’m invited for the promo. Fair enough, I’ll just bring my business elsewhere. I don’t bother registering anymore and their website clearly states ” This exclusive offer is valid for original recipient only.”
I wouldn`t give IHG any business except redeeming the remaining points since their Best Rate Guarantee is a scam, and Customer Service in Philippines is a nightmare. Not surprised at all to learn that they deducted points.
IHG’s BPG is kinda irrelevant 2018 onwards as the first night is no longer free thus not worth chasing anymore.
It was always crazy and unsupportable to give a $200 room foc if OTA price was $3 less. It was probably abused beyond original intent as hawks only booked if first found a BPG opportunity rather than booked/stayed where they needed then checked and found BPG opportunity…. I am quite suprised BPG offeringwas not canned much earlier.
If IHG promises BRG just to catch your business (the lowest rate is non-refundable, so you stuck staying there anyways) and doesn`t intend to fulfill the promise, it is a scam. More and more people get turned off from IHG nowadays, and that is well deserved.
exactly. i booked the lowest rate which is non-refundable. they refused my BRG by saying non-sense. I ended up staying with them and losing almost 200 dollars. I hate IHG ever since.
According to the T&C’s the stay must be between 19 February and 31 December 2018. If the reader stayed 14-19 February (checking out on 19 February?) then I can see why the stay might not count, though you can debate whether 18/19 February should count.
Agreed Probably as this guest stayed 14-19/Feb checked out on 19th Feb, thus final paid night was 18th Feb and thus this promotion should not apply. Probably badly programmed I.T. that just used the date stay posted to guests IHG account rather than actual dates of stay itself (or bad I.T. used checkout date instead of day of stay 1day before)
Of course the other possibility also exists IHG cracking down on those guests in Asia who registered without receiving the email, which is stated in offers t+c’s. I am sure IHG do not intend every Asian addressee IHGer to benefit, and idea of promo is to encourage Asian IHGers who have not stayed last year/recently to stay at IHG.
agree! anyway this is meant for targeted members only, and not as per what LoyaltyLobby says – you can register, but you wont get the points.
The terms state that the stays must be completed between 19 Feb and 31 Dec..which technically means the stay can be counted as qualifying but i think it was meant to read stays from 19 Feb and completed by 31 Dec…also they may have stayed for 4 nights but even on different bookings, they only qualify as one stay which means they should have only got 10k points?
I’m also currently in Singapore and had trouble signing up for the latest offer AMEA. I reached out to IHG yesterday. I received an email back today stating that I was already signed up for the Accelerate program. I replied to customer service. The current offer stated a potential to earn 71,000 points(not 87,600) and is referred to as AMEA, NOT Accelerate. We’ll see what happens…..
“This exclusive offer is valid for original recipient only and cannot be combined with other promotions.”
unable to sign up. it just said this offer is not available in your country. But i am from Indonesia!! I’ll try to email them to clarify. I got my last year AMEA 40k point offer after i contact them like 2 month ago. They did not deposit my point and even did not give me 1,000 point for registering. But after their 2 month investigation, i got my 40k deposited. 😀
@John … any update on your owns stays? Another IHGer on FT is reporting that the minimum average room rate must now be US$100, up from US$50 in the original T&C’s. Of course no one was told.
I tried to register but it is asking me for a Code !!
where do I get the code??