PriorityClubRepresentative posted the official link for the Priority Club Double Points or Double Miles promotion from January 23-April 30, 2012. The promotion code 6673 is a different code than originally published in my January 13 Loyalty Traveler post.  I registered last week using the 2837 code and the new promotion registration page comes back with the message I am already registered for the offer.

The other piece of official news from the FlyerTalk thread is PriorityClubRepresentative states the X stays, for Y points promotion is stackable with this double points or double miles promotion.

Priority Club Double Points or Double Miles (Code 6673 registration page)

• Begins with second eligible IHG brand stay at any Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, InterContinental Hotels and Hotel Indigo, except for Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites earn double points or double miles beginning with first stay.
• No retroactive credit for hotel stays prior to promotion registration date.
• Promotion earns 20 points per dollar at Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, InterContinental Hotels and Hotel Indigo.
• InterContinental Hotels will change earning rate during this promotion when IC hotels in North America, Caribbean and Latin America (about 50 hotels) begin earning 10 points per dollar on February 15, 2012. All other InterContinental Hotels worldwide (about 120 hotels) will maintain earning rate of 2,000 points per stay regardless of hotel spend. Double points will be either 4,000 points per stay or 20 points per dollar depending on date of stay and location.
• Staybridge and Candlewood brands earn 10 points per dollar with double points.
• Link to standard earn rates for IHG brands.

Earning Double Miles with Priority Club

Priority Club has over 40 airline partners for earning miles. There are many earning structures depending on airline and hotel brand. The miles earning rates are shown here.

The US-based airlines of Alaska, American, Delta, United and US Airways earn miles at these rates:

• 2 miles per $1 spend at Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Hotel Indigo and beginning February 15, 2012 at InterContinental Hotels in North America, Caribbean and Latin America. Double miles = 4 miles/$1.
• 1 mile per $1 spend at Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites. Double miles = 2 miles/$1.
• 500 miles per stay at InterContinental Hotels. Double miles = 1,000 miles/stay for all InterContinental Hotels worldwide prior to February 15, 2012. InterContinental Hotels in North America, Caribbean and Central America change to 2 miles/$1 February 15, 2012. There will be no change in miles earning rate for InterContinental Hotels in other regions.

Priority Club Double Points is stackable with quarterly stay bonus points offer.

*** InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club Rewards – Priority Club members may register for one of the quarterly stay promotions running January 1-March 31, 2012. You can only register for one offer so pick the target you are most likely to reach. Stay 3 nights = 5,000 bonus points. Stay 7 nights = 10,000 bonus points. Stay 15 nights = 15,000 bonus points.

Launching a double points promotion five days after devaluing Priority Club points with new higher reward tiers is not the strategy I would have applied to appease consumers. Priority Club Rewards promotion of double points or double miles is almost as repetitive as Marriott Rewards MegaBonus.  This identical offer ran from May 16 to August 15, 2011.

The new double points or miles Priority Club promotion applies to stays from January 23 to April 30, 2012. The main thing to know is registration is required before your stays. There will be no double credit for stays made during the promotion period before promotion registration. SPG is generous in this aspect of promotions in that eligible stays usually receive retroactive credit as long as the SPG member registers by the promotion deadline.

The disappointing aspect of this Priority Club promotion is the registration page is not fully ready even though this offer has been blogged about since the beginning of the week.

Priority Club Double Points 2012

This registration page looks all good until you click the registration link to be met with a page requiring a promotion code to be entered. I have stated several times over the past couple of months that my pet peeve is having a promotion announced, and in this case a registration page available to members, before the promotion registration links are ready.

[ Update Jan 18 2:54pm Pacific Time: The Priority Club Double Points or Double Miles Registration Links in this post changed to registration link posted by PriorityClubRepresentative on FlyerTalk today, the company representative.

Update Friday, Jan 13 - 9:37am Pacific time: Priority Club has changed the promotion registration webpage in the past hour and code 2837 no longer seems to work. I assume they are getting the page redesigned for automatic registration with no need to enter a promotion code.]

BarbiJKM posted code 2837 yesterday on FlyerTalk that appears to work. When I registered using 2837 I received this confirmation message.

Priority Club Rewards 2012 confirmation message using code 2837.

Priority Club Double Points or Double Miles (registration page)

• Begins with second eligible IHG brand stay at any Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, InterContinental Hotels and Hotel Indigo, except for Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites earn double points or double miles beginning with first stay.
• No retroactive credit for hotel stays prior to promotion registration date.
• Promotion earns 20 points per dollar at Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, InterContinental Hotels and Hotel Indigo.
• InterContinental Hotels will change earning rate during this promotion when IC hotels in North America, Caribbean and Latin America (about 50 hotels) begin earning 10 points per dollar on February 15, 2012. All other InterContinental Hotels worldwide (about 120 hotels) will maintain earning rate of 2,000 points per stay regardless of hotel spend. Double points will be either 4,000 points per stay or 20 points per dollar depending on date of stay and location.
• Staybridge and Candlewood brands earn 10 points per dollar with double points.
• Link to standard earn rates for IHG brands.

Earning Double Miles with Priority Club

Priority Club has over 40 airline partners for earning miles. There are many earning structures depending on airline and hotel brand. The miles earning rates are shown here.

The US-based airlines of Alaska, American, Delta, United and US Airways earn miles at these rates:

• 2 miles per $1 spend at Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Hotel Indigo and beginning February 15, 2012 at InterContinental Hotels in North America, Caribbean and Latin America. Double miles = 4 miles/$1.
• 1 mile per $1 spend at Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites. Double miles = 2 miles/$1.
• 500 miles per stay at InterContinental Hotels. Double miles = 1,000 miles/stay for all InterContinental Hotels worldwide prior to February 15, 2012. InterContinental Hotels in North America, Caribbean and Central America change to 2 miles/$1 February 15, 2012. There will be no change in miles earning rate for InterContinental Hotels in other regions.

Priority Club Double Points is stackable with quarterly stay bonus points offer.

*** InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club Rewards – Priority Club members may register for one of the quarterly stay promotions running January 1-March 31, 2012. You can only register for one offer so pick the target you are most likely to reach. Stay 3 nights = 5,000 bonus points. Stay 7 nights = 10,000 bonus points. Stay 15 nights = 15,000 bonus points.

Priority Club’s “Up to 4x More” promotion started this week and runs from September 15 through December 31, 2011. The basic offer allows points earners to receive 500 bonus points per night and miles earners to receive 100 bonus miles per night for up to 40 nights during the 15 week promotion period. The maximum bonus is 80,000 points or 16,000 miles during the promotion. Bonus points or miles are in addition to regular earning for Priority Club stays.

Registration Page for ‘Up to 4x More’ 80,000 Points Fall Promotion.

Registration Page for ‘Up to 4x More’ 16,000 Miles Fall Promotion.

• No retroactive bonus points or miles are permitted for stays completed before promotion registration.
• Only one room per member per night will count for this promotion.

Up to 4x More refers to the ability to double, triple or quadruple the nightly bonus points or miles with stays in two, three or four different IHG brands during the promotion.

• Bonus Level 1 = 500 points or 100 miles per night, up to 40 nights from September 15-December 31.
• Bonus Level 2 = 1,000 points or 200 miles per night with stays in two different IHG brands.
• Bonus Level 3 = 1,500 points or 300 miles per night with stays in three different IHG brands.
• Bonus Level 4 = 2,000 points or 400 miles per night with stays in four different IHG brands.

Priority Club members registered for the promotion earn 500 bonus points or 100 bonus miles per night for stays through December 31, 2011. In January 2012 the number of different brands stayed will determine the multiplier and bonus points or miles will post in January.

Priority Club represents eight IHG brands:

• InterContinental Hotels – luxury hotel market segment
• Crowne Plaza – upscale hotel market segment
• Hotel Indigo – upscale hotel market segment
• Holiday Inn – upper midscale hotel market segment
• Holiday Inn Express – upper midscale hotel market segment
• Staybridge Suites – upscale extended stay hotel market segment
• Candlewood Suites – midscale extended stay hotel market segment
• Holiday Inn Club Vacations are six U.S. timeshare resort destinations. (The link web page states this is newest IHG brand.)

Market segment classification is based on 2011 STR U.S. Hotel Chain Scale.

The Priority Club Rewards Elite Qualification Factor

Priority Club Rewards counts all points earned as elite qualifying points with very few exceptions like points purchased for a Points + Cash reward. The ‘Up to 4x More’ bonus points multiplier happens in January 2012 and provides an elite status jumpstart for Priority Club members when these bonus points post in January. This is one reason to go for points rather than miles since the bonus miles for different brand stays posting in January will do nothing for Priority Club elite status qualification.

Brand multiplier bonus points posting in January 2012 count for 2012 Priority Club elite qualification.

20,000 points earns Gold elite for 2012 and 2013. Stay 14 nights in four different IHG brands and you earn 21,000 Brand Multiplier bonus points in Janary 2012 and two years of Gold elite. Max out this promotion for 40 nights with four different brand stays and the January 2012 posting of Brand Multiplier Bonus Points for 60,000 points earns Platinum elite for 2012 and 2013.

Earning Points at IHG brands

IHG Priority Club Rewards has three different earning rates for points depending on IHG hotel brand.

• InterContinental Hotels = 2,000 points per stay.
• Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Holiday Inn Club Vacations earn 10 points per US$1.
• Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites earn 5 points per US$1.

Participating Airlines for Miles Earners

Miles earning base rates vary between hotel brand and airline partner. Check the Priority Club link for miles earning structure. International airlines tend to have a higher earning base rate for members spending less than $250 per hotel stay.

• American Airlines
• Aeromexico
• Aeroplan (Air Canada)
• AIR MILES Reward Program
• AirTran
• Alaska Airlines
• American Airlines
• Continental Airlines
• Delta
• Lanchile
• United Airlines
• US Airways
• Varig Brasil
• Asia Pacific Airlines
• Air China
• Air New Zealand – Airpoints
• All Nippon Airways
• Asia Miles (Cathay Pacific)
• Asiana Airlines
• China Airlines
• China Eastern
• China Southern
• Eva Air
• Hainan Airlines
• Japan Airlines
• Jet Airways
• Korean Airways
• Malaysia Airlines
• Qantas Airways Limited
• Singapore Airlines
• Thai Airways International

Europe, Middle East and Africa airline partners are not participating in Up to 4x More promotion.

IHG Priority Club offers members around the globe various targeted promotions. The primary global Priority Club promotion currently is double points or double miles from May 16-August 15, 2011.

The unique aspect of Priority Club is a member like me can register for many other targeted promotions and receive bonus points. The promotion code is all that is needed.

Where do I find these promotion codes?

Two places are great resources for finding Priority Club promotion codes easily.

PriorityClubInsider.com lists the major promotion offers for Priority Club and also includes links to discount hotel rates.

The FlyerTalk IC Master Promo Thread 2011 is an even more comprehensive resource for locating dozens of promotion codes that may or may not apply for your stays. This is a thread with 119 posts in 2011 where people list email offers and registration codes and the FlyerTalk moderator updates a master list every couple of weeks in the first post of the thread.

There are promotions for:

• the number of hotel stays you have in three months,
• free InterContinental Ambassador status with 3 InterContinental Hotel stays,
• 300 bonus points for completing a survey,
• Asia-Pacific region member sweepstakes for 480,000 Priority Club points,
• next stay bonuses,
• online booking bonuses.

My personal experience is most stays with Priority Club hotels earn 5,000 or more points when I would expect to earn only 1,000 to 2,000 points based on hotel rate and a primary global promotion like Double Points. These points add up big time for me, often approaching or even exceeding 50 points/$1, for several of my Priority Club stays each year.

Europe, Middle East and Africa hotel specific bonus points.

Asia Pacific Residents (excluding Japan) 480,000 Points Sweepstakes.

• Enter sweepstakes by registering for double points promotion before August 15, 2011 at this link. One entry into sweepstakes just for registration.
• Code 8560 – Grand prize of 480,000 points.
• Sweepstakes Terms.

Stay X Nights, Earn Y Bonus Points

Priority Club offers targeted quarterly bonuses for hotel nights. These codes are offers members received as an email promotion. While I personally do not recall ever receiving one of these targeted offers, my experience and anecdotal evidence from many other members indicate Priority Club members can sign up for one of these offers and receive the bonus points.

These stay X nights, Get Y Bonus Points offers only apply to the first offer the member registers among these and other codes.

Valid July 1 to September 30, 2011

Stay 3, Get 5,000 – Code 3567
Stay 4, Get 5,000 – Code 1555
Stay 7, Get 10,000 – Code 8564
Stay 8, Get 10,000 – Code 6565
Stay 10, Get 10,000 – Code 3568
Stay 12, Get 10,000 – Code 1563
Stay 15, Get 15,000 – Code 8565
Stay 18, Get 15,000 – Code 9549

Go for the best offer you think you can reach. I picked a 7 nights offer this past quarter and I am one night short for 10,000 points. I don’t need a hotel night by June 30 and the cost of a hotel night is not worth 10,000 bonus points to me. I should have signed up for Stay 3 nights, get 5,000 points which I completed in May.

Tutorial on Registering for Multiple Priority Club Promotions

Here is a concise description of the registration process in this FlyerTalk post:

Points FAQ
Q: “How do I register for a promo?”
A: All promotions with a promo code can be reached through this link followed by typing in the promo code manually (or cut and pasting in your browser):
priorityclub.com/register

Q: “Can I register for all these promos?”
A: It’s up to each person to see if they are eligible for the various promotions and you should only register if you’re happy that it will not have any effect on your account. Basically if you have any doubts then either ask or don’t register.

Q: “Can I register more than one code?”
A: Yes – except for Stay “X” nights Get “X” Points/Miles

Q: “I’ve successfully registered but nothing is appearing in my offers?”
A-1) It sometimes takes a day or two for the offers to show up under your offers
A-2) Some of them will show up, but others will never show up
A-3) Some will post
A-4) Others will not post

Pool room at InterContinental Chicago

Double points or miles is the primary promotion for Priority Club for the next three months from May 16 through August 15. Double points or miles begins with your second stay during the promotion period for most brands, except your first stay counts double if Candlewood Suites or Staybridge Suites.

Advance promotion registration is required for Priority Club Double Points or Miles 2011-Q2 promotion. No retroactive points or miles for stays prior to registration.

Earning Double Points with Priority Club

Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites are the extended stay brands of InterContinental Hotels Group. These two brands earn just 5 base points/$1. Double points means 5 bonus points per $1 for a total 10 points/$1.

InterContinental Hotels earn 2,000 points per stay. Double points is 2,000 bonus points for a total 4,000 points per hotel stay at InterContinental Hotels.

All other IHG brands earn 10 points per dollar and these brands include Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Hotel Indigo. Double points = 20 points/$1.

Earning Double Miles with Priority Club

Priority Club has over 40 airline partners for earning miles. There are many earning structures depending on airline and hotel brand. The miles earning rates are shown here.

The US-based airlines of Alaska, American, Continental, Delta, United and US Airways earn miles at these rates:

• 2 miles per $1 spend at Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Hotel Indigo. (Double miles = 4 miles/$1.
• 1 mile per $1 spend at Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites. Double miles = 2 miles/$1.
• 500 miles per stay at InterContinental Hotels. Double miles = 1,000 miles/stay.

Loyalty Traveler analysis:

This is an underwhelming offer. There is not much analysis required for this simple offer.

The more important consideration is what other programs offer at this same time period. Starwood Preferred Guest has a free night for every 3 stays from May 1-July 31 with no earning limit. Hyatt Gold Passport has 10,000 points for 5 nights through June 30 and an additional 5,000 points for every two additional nights. Club Carlson earns one free night for two stays with a limit of one free night through June 15.

Hilton HHonors offers 3,000 Virgin Atlantic miles per stay through June 30.

Keep in mind that your ability to earn bonus Priority Club points can be greatly enhanced by registering for a variety of additional promotion offers. I am writing this from a Holiday Inn Express that is my first paid IHG stay for 2011. I registered for nine different Priority Club promotions yesterday. The base rate I paid should earn 1,030 base points for this hotel stay and 515 Platinum elite bonus points.

I anticipate earning at least an additional 5,000 points from this stay through the nine promotions I signed up for yesterday. These are targetted promotions and not all of them will apply to this stay. But some of them will likely add a load of bonus points to this hotel stay. Most of my paid stays earn over 5,000 Priority Club points. I will update this post with the exact number of bonus points once they post.

How did I sign up for so many bonus offers? Priority Club Insider Current Offers page.

The additional promotion offers should generate a far larger bonus than I would receive if this stay qualified only for double points. That would only be an additional 1,030 bonus points. Double points and miles begins May 15, 2011.

Update Tuesday, April 26: My Holiday Inn Express stay posted yesterday with 8,500 bonus points from 4 of the 9 promotional bonus offers. A $1o3 base rate hotel night after tax was $111 and earned a total 10,045 points in Priority Club. This same hotel requires 15,000 points for a free night.

I Guess I’m Not Ready for an InterContinental Life

Aside: I signed up for InterContinental Ambassador April 2, 2011 and paid for my membership with 32,000 Priority Club points. I have been waiting for my Ambassador membership kit. Yesterday I noticed the 32,000 Priority Club points are back in my account and I am not listed as an InterContinental Ambassador.

Was I rejected from InterContinental Ambassador membership?

Update April 22: Ambassador customer service says they were having website problems earlier this month and they have no record of my enrolling in InterContinental Ambassador on April 2.

I have my Ambassador Congratulations Mr. Garrido screenshot and I actually posted an image of my InterContinental Platinum Ambassador card on this blog.

I am quite disappointed in the customer service response when I called to inquire about the issue today.  I was looking forward to paid stays at the Venetian and Palazzo this weekend. My cash is going elsewhere.

Priority Club’s 2011 kickoff promotion is the same promotion offered for Q1-2009. Earn 3,000 bonus points for every three nights; up to 30,000 bonus points for 30 nights for hotel stays from February 1 to April 30, 2011.

Miles earners can choose 1,000 miles every 3 nights instead of points; up to 10,000 bonus miles. This is actually the better earning value if you regularly convert points into miles with Priority Club. Points-to-miles exchange in Priority Club is a fixed rate of 10,000 points = 2,000 miles, so this offer for 1,000 miles every 3 nights is equivalent to earning 5,000 Priority Club points. Miles are the better bonus, if you do not need points.

Priority Club 2011-Q1 Bonus Points Promotion registration link.

Priority Club 2011-Q1 promotion for 3,000 bonus points or 1,000 bonus miles every 3 nights.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis

3,000 bonus points after 3 nights works out to just 1,000 bonus points per night. This is equivalent to $300 in bonus base spend per 3 nights. That is the same promotional value as last year’s 2010 Q1 offer for 1,000 points per night, up to 20 nights, and an overall relatively low promotional bonus value.

Comparison of Priority Club 2011 Q1 with other current hotel program offers: 

Best Western Rewards – 3 stays = 1 free night at any Best Western in U.S., Canada or Caribbean

• 36,000 points value if free night used at the highest reward category hotel = $3,600 base points spend equivalent or $1,200 per stay. And remember a stay can be just one hotel night.

Marriott Rewards – Two stays = 1 free night at Category 1-4 hotel.

• Category 4 reward night is 20,000 points value.
• 20,000 points = $2,000 hotel base spend.
• $1,000 hotel base spend per Marriott stay can mean $1,000 base points equivalent value for 1 night.

Starwood Preferred Guest – Double Points + 500 points per night on Thursday-Sunday nights.

• $100 Thursday night stay earns $100 base points (double points) + $250 base points equivalent (500 points for Thursday night) = $350 base points equivalent for one night.

Priority Club Rewards – 3,000 bonus points every 3^rd night.

• 3,000 bonus points = $300 hotel base spend. The only real advantage to this offer compared to others is for the person with extended stays during the work week. Best Western and Marriott bonuses are based on stays so the bonus is much harder to earn if you have 4 or 5 night stays. SPG is better, but only if you stay on weekends. It is certainly easier to find a cheap IHG hotel compared to a cheap Starwood.

Hotel Loyalty Programs 2011 Q1 Promotion Value scaled to Base Points Equivalent Value (BPEV)

BPEV = the amount of hotel spend required to earn the same number of base points being given as a promotion bonus. BPEV provides a method for comparing the value of promotions in different loyalty programs using a similar scale correlated to the program’s base points earn rate.

Best Western = $3,600 BPEV for 3 stays ($1,200 BPEV per stay). Assume your free night can be used at a 36,000 points reward hotel with a rate of $200.

Marriott Rewards = $2,000 BPEV for 2 stays ($1,000 BPEV per stay). Assume your free night is at a Marriott Rewards category 4 hotel worth about $200.

Starwood Preferred Guest = $350 BPEV for one $100 paid weekend night. A 3-night stay (Thu-Sun) would earn the equivalent in bonus points of $1,050 BPEV for one stay.  The SPG member would still be about 500 points shy of a 3,000 points category 2 reward weekend night or a category 3 Cash & Points night. 2,500 SPG points are worth about $100 if redeemed for good value.

Priority Club Rewards = $300 BPEV for 3 nights. 3,000 bonus points is about 20% of the 15,000 points needed for most Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels or Candlewood Suites. The new PointBreaks list will be coming out any day now for February and March hotel stays. PointBreaks hotels are only 5,000 points per night and will give the best points redemption value.

Placing 2011 in Recent History Context

The Priority Club 2010 Q1 offer last year was 1,000 points every night – up to 20,000 points after 20 nights. This year’s deal has a higher bonus threshold at 30,000 points, but limits earning bonus points to every three nights. I find that more restrictive and open to leaving points on the table if you find yourself at 4 or 8 nights or something in between multiples of 3 nights at the end of the promotion.

Priority Club’s 2010 offer also included the choice to earn 200 bonus miles every night instead of points. That worked out to be the same rate Priority Club points convert to miles (10,000 points = 2,000 miles). The current 2011-Q1 offer of 1,000 miles every 3 nights is better than the 2010 Q1 miles offer.

My point in showing the 2010 Q1 offer is to place the current offer in the context of the hotel industry occupancy and room rate recovery underway across the industry. Virtually every hotel loyalty program has a weaker offer at the present time compared to their 2010 Q1 promotion with the notable exceptions of Best Western Rewards and Marriott Rewards.

But don’t be discouraged yet for 2011. The offers in 2010 Q1 were among the lowest value bonus offers of the year and then Q2 2010 spread free nights galore across the hotel loyalty world.

I do not anticipate a repeat of 2010 free night promotions this spring 2011, however, the slow winter season in North America and Europe tend to have the weakest offers of the loyalty program year and the surge in mid-year travelers tends to get the promotions rolling as competition heats up for frequent guests.         

In the meantime, free nights are currently being offered through Best Western and Marriott. Take advantage of these high-value offers now. There is no guarantee we will see any more free night offers in 2011.

For the interim you may want to check this thread for other Priority Club bonus offers that will certainly add some additional points to your IHG stays.

Priority Club Survey for 300 points

FlyerTalk 2011 Priority Club Master Promo thread

Loyalty Traveler Milestone – on a personal note – I noticed this is my 1000^th Loyalty Traveler blog post since January 2008. Happy Anniversary Loyalty Traveler.

Loyalty Traveler 1000 posts Milestone

The fall 2010 Priority Club promotion title Sweet Dilemma probably encapsulates the feelings of many members for this offer. Promotion registration is required by December 20, 2010. You must register for either free nights or double miles/points.

The good news:

• You can earn one free night after two stays, up to five free nights during the promotion period September 20-December 31, 2010.
• You can redeem free nights beginning November 1, 2010 for hotel stays from December 1, 2010 through May 31, 2011. Free nights can be booked at http://www.priorityclub.com/bookfreenights
• Sweet Dilemma free nights offer appears to be combinable with the Crack the Case promotion.

 The bad news:

• Asia-Pacific region IHG hotels are not participating in the free nights portion of this Priority Club promotion. You cannot earn free night credit or redeem free nights in Asia-Pacific hotels. Stays in Asia-Pacific region are eligible only for double points or miles portion of this promotion offer.
• If you register for free nights, then you will not earn any base or elite points or miles during the promotion period from September 20 through December 31, 2010, even after you maximize the free night offer of five nights. So if you complete 10 IHG hotel stays by October 1, you will earn five free nights but you will be ineligible for earning base points and elite points on all your paid stays for the remainder of 2010.
• Free night reservations may not be cancelled without forfeiting free night credit.
• Double points or miles begins with second stay at any IHG hotel worldwide.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis:

Two stays at a Holiday Inn and you can have a free night at an InterContinental Hotel. Most Priority Club members will likely get the best value from free nights. A free night is worth 30,000 or 40,000 points for an InterContinental Hotel. This promotion is potentially worth an equivalent 200,000 points for someone who maximizes the use of free nights at upper tier InterContinental Hotels.

The general consensus among Priority Club members on the value of points is $6 per 1,000 points. The five free nights offer has a potential $1,200 promotion bonus value. Redeeming your free night for a $240+ InterContinental Hotel night is likely an easy exchange to find considering the high cost of luxury class InterContinental Hotels.  Just remember that you cannot use free nights for Asia-Pacific region hotels.

I see this IHG offer as a low entry promotion given the easy access to over 3,000 Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels with rates under $100 per night. Earning a high value luxury class hotel night for two stays costing under $200 is a great value promotion opportunity.

Earning five free nights for under $1,000 over the next few months is a way to meet your hotel needs this fall while earning enough nights for a high-value vacation in 2011. Five nights at a hotel like the InterContinental Amstel in Amsterdam next spring can easily be a $2,000 value.

I recommend throwing as many short hotel stays to Priority Club as your top alternative to your primary hotel program. And if Priority Club is your primary hotel program, then you may want to get your five free nights and shift some hotel stays over to another hotel program for extra bonuses this fall. The exclusion of base and elite points through December 31, 2010 for all stays completed after maximizing the free nights offer is a real drawback for high frequency Priority Club members.

You may have a not so sweet dilemma if Priority Club is your main program. Choosing free nights as a Priority Club platinum member means forgoing 25 points per $1 for your stays from Sep 20-Dec 31, 2010. It will take you $6,000 to $8,000 in hotel spend to reach the equivalent value of 150,000 to 200,000 points you will receive with free nights.

This IHG fall 2010 promotion announcement leaves only Hilton HHonors left to announce its major fall 2010 promotion. Starwood went with double base points based on nights and triple base points with 10 or more nights. Hyatt has 10,000 points per 5 nights. Marriott has MegaBonus offers for up to two free nights, but the free nights are only valid for the lowest 4 of 8 hotel award categories. Marriott also has triple miles. Compared to the other bonuses this is a high-value, low hurdle to earn promotion offer from IHG Priority Club.

Loyalty Traveler promotion rating = 5 keys (one of best promotions of 2010)

Links: IHG Priority Club Sweet Dilemma Promotion

Sweet Dilemma FAQ

Terms & Conditions clause shows combinability of Sweet Dilemma with Crack the Case promotion offer:

14. Frequency Credits:

(a) During Free Nights Promotion Period: Once registered for the Free Nights Promotion and during the Promotion Period, Members will not earn base or elite Priority Club points, airline miles, or any other frequency credit earning preference Members have chosen (“Frequency Credits”) for the room rate, food and beverage charges or any other incidental charges for any stays at any IHG hotel (except at hotels in those countries in which the Promotion is void), whether pursuant to this Promotion or otherwise, even if the Member has previously registered for, or is otherwise qualified for, another promotion and even if the Member has already earned the maximum of five Free Nights during the Promotion Period. In other words, participation in this Free Nights Promotion excludes the receipt of base and elite Frequency Credits for stays from the date of registration for this Free Nights Promotion until December 31, 2010. Bonus Frequency Credits, however, will be awarded pursuant to the terms of any other promotion in which Member is participating.

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club Sweet Dilemma Fall 2010 Promotion

U.S. based Priority Club members can earn a $50 gift card for every IHG brand stay worldwide that includes a weekend night, Friday or Saturday, from May 14 through August 31, 2010. The gift card offer becomes activated with the second qualifying stay during the promotion period. There is a maximum earning limit of $500 in gift cards.

Gift card certificate expires in 12 months from date of issue. Gift card certificates should be awarded within six weeks of qualifying stay.

Priority Club member registration is required.

Priority Club members must choose between earning a) Double Points or Miles and b) the $50 Gift Cardoffer. You can’t switch offers once you have made your selection.

I initially wrote about the Priority Club summer promotion on April 15, however, the link for the “Hit it Big” gift card offer, an additional US resident component of this summer offer was not yet active.

Personally, I selected the gift card offer.

There are too many great opportunities to put much effort into IHG stays this summer when other programs allow members to earn free nights like Hilton (4 stays) and Hyatt (2 stays) through June 30, Starwood (3 stays through July 31), and Best Western (2 stays by Aug 15), Carlson Hotels (2 stays by Aug 31), and Marriott (3 stays by August 31). Check out this week’s the Loyalty Traveler hotel promotion summary for other offers.

But still, I might find myself needing a couple of nights with an IHG brand and $50 is a decent incentive.

Priority Club Rewards “Hit it Big” Promotion analysis:

Earn a $50 Gift Card beginning with second weekend stay.

The $50 gift card offer is on top of the normal points or miles earned for a hotel stay. The list of merchants eligible for gift cards includes Amazon.com, Target, CVS Pharmacy, Walgreen’s and many restaurant chains. The gift card should be as good as a cash rebate for many travelers. Here is the full list of merchants.

Sample Hotel Stay Analysis

Assume you stay a Friday night at one IHG brand and a Saturday night at another IHG brand hotel. Your rate is $75 per night. You earn 1,500 base points for the stays and if you sign up for several other Priority Club promotions, then you will likely earn another 5,000 or so points.

The $50 gift card is an additional 33% rebate. Additional weekend stays will provide a $50 rebate. There are plenty of IHG brand hotels that will be under $75 per night, meaning one weekend night can provide nearly a 100% rebate after points and gift card are earned.

San Jose Example:

May 21, 2010 Holiday Inn San Jose International Airport, AAA rate = $54; $61.48 after tax.

May 22, 2010 Crowne Plaza San Jose-Silicon Valley, AAA rate $67.15; $73.91 after tax.

The first IHG weekend stay at the Holiday Inn does not earn the $50 gift card. The second night at the Crowne Plaza earns a $50 gift card and every subsequent weekend stay during the promotion period earns the gift card.

Total cost for two IHG brand hotels stays in San Jose this weekend = $135.39.

Two stays earn 1,211 Priority Club points + $50 gift card.

Repeat this same pattern next week and you earn a total 2,422 Priority Club points + $150 in gift cards for a total outlay of $271.

While this promotion is probably not worth booking hotel nights unless you really need them, the opportunity to have four hotel nights for a net cost of $121 after the gift card rebates — an average room night cost of $30.25 — is a bit better than you will find with Priceline or Hotwire.

Check out the Priority Club current promotion offers on this FlyerTalk thread or PriorityClubInsider.com for other promotion codes to register to your account and increase your chances of earning over 5,000 Priority Club points per hotel stay while earning gift cards. Savvy Priority Club members pull in as many as 5,000 to 10,000 points for each IHG stay. Priority Club is great for allowing combinable bonus offers on the same hotel stay.

The other Priority Club Hit it Big Earning Options

Double Points/Miles – This offer begins with your first stay if Candlewood Suites or Staybridge Suites, otherwise double points or miles will be earned beginning with your second qualifying stay at any IHG brand between May 14 and August 31.

This offer is probably better if you have multiple night stays or if you rarely stay on Friday or Saturday night. And of course you will only have this offer if you are not a U.S. resident since the gift card component is restricted to residents of the US.

Earning Priority Club points (IHG link)

Double points is an additional 10 points per $1 for most IHG brands and is not affected by other promotions or elite status.

Assume $200 spent on Wednesday-Thursday night stay. You will normally earn 10 base points per $1 + promotion bonuses + elite bonuses. Double points means $200 earns 4,000 Priority Club base points + additional bonuses for other promotions and elite status. InterContinental Hotel stays earn a fixed 2,000 points per stay so double points is 4,000 points per stay, regardless of the amount of money you spend.

Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites regularly earn 5 points per $1, so double points is 10 points per $1 at these two IHG extended stay brands.

Earning Airline miles from IHG stays

Most US and Mexican airline partners with Priority Club normally earn 2 miles per $1. Double miles offers 4 miles per $1.  InterContinental Hotel stays normally earn 500 miles per stay – 1,000 miles with the double miles offer. Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites offer 1 mile per $1 regularly so 2 miles per $1 with double miles.

Most international airlines normally offer 500 miles per stay regardless of brand. The double miles offer is a good time to earn miles with an international airline partner of Priority Club for 1,000 miles per stay.

There are plenty of airline miles earning variations so check the Priority Club airline partner list for all the fine print details.

You must select miles as your earning preference to collect double miles.

Conclusion: The gift card offer is a good deal if you need a hotel stay and the rates for an IHG brand are significantly lower than the other brands offering free nights. Be sure to register for Hyatt, Carlson goldpoints plus, and Best Western to take advantage of their two stays earn a free night offers.

This is an incredible time for hotel travel these next few months. Pack your bags, load the car or jump on a plane, and register for all the lucrative hotel offers.

Priority Club’s Gift Card offer is a 4-key promotion, however, keep in mind there are plenty of five-key free night offers from other hotel loyalty programs this summer that allow you to earn a free night at an upscale hotel for less than the normal rate of one paid night.

There does not seem to be much promotion innovation going on at Priority Club. I guess the ability to combine promotions keeps the program from needing a great offer like last year’s free night after two stays nights which ran during the summer of 2009.

Double points or double miles starts with your second qualifying stay, except for the IHG extended stay hotel brands of Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites where the offer begins with your first stay. This is an IHG worldwide offer available at all 4,400+ hotels in the InterContinental Hotels Group chain

Registration is now open for this offer.

InterContinental Hotels Group brands are Crowne Plaza, InterContinental Hotels, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Hotel Indigo, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites.

IHG Points Earning Structure:

Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, and Hotel Indigo earn 10 points per $1 hotel spend. Promotion bonus is additional 10 points per $1 for 20 points per $1. Elite bonuses are additional.

Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites earn 5 points/$1 regularly, so double points promotion earning rate is 10 points/$1.

InterContinental Hotels regularly earn 2,000 points per stay. The promotion rate is 4,000 points per stay.

Double Miles is applicable to many airline programs

Double miles earning rate is dependent on the airline partner and hotel brand. Check the airline miles earning page for details of regular miles rate and double that for the promotion rate. Priority Club has a large number of airline partners with around 45, second only to Hilton HHonors I believe.

USA Residents Only have a Special Gift Card Alternative Offer shown in the promotion terms fine print at PriorityClub.com/hititbig, however, the link is currently broken and does not reveal the details of this offer.

Loyalty Traveler promotion rank = 3-keys (and waiting to see the gift card offer details)

There is heated activity on the hotel loyalty front in these holiday weeks. Hilton, Marriott, Starwood, and IHG have announced 2010 promotions. Hyatt still has the best promotion of 2009 and you can take advantage of this offer through the month of January.

Hyatt Gold Passport “The Next Big Thing” promotion is incredible with combined promotion benefits for both points and miles. Oct. 1 2009 – Jan 31, 2010.

Hyatt Gold Passport promotion registration link.

1.       Earn a free night after every two stays. Loyalty Traveler Sep. 17

2.       Earn double elite stay credit. (Diamond membership in 13 stays or Platinum in 3 stays.)

3.       Earn 2,500 airline miles after every two nights until Dec 31, 2009. Loyalty Traveler Oct. 5

4.       Earn Hyatt Gold Passport G bonus with most hotel stays. Loyalty Traveler Nov 9

Starwood Preferred Guest up to 4x points

January 5 – April 15, 2010.

Registration required between January 5 and March 31, 2010.

SPG Promotion Link

Double base points (1 or 2 night stay) = 4 points/$1

Triple base points (3 night stay) = 6 points/$1

Quadruple base points (4 nights or more) = 8 points per $1

This promotion is combinable with other promotions. Elite bonuses are additional.

Loyalty Traveler Dec 18

Hilton HHonors free night after 4 stays or 10 nights

January 7 – March 31, 2010

Posted on FlyerTalk by HamptonInsider this promising HHonors promotion for a free night valid across the Hilton system after 4 stays or 10 nights. The promotion details are not released yet, so at this point the rumor is just a seemingly reputable insider pre-release on FlyerTalk. There will likely be some restrictions on hotel reward nights redemption and perhaps some hotel exclusions, but overall this may be a sign of a new style of promotion activity from Hilton HHonors.

The points increases in 2010 categories is not so bad a change if the HHonors program makes it easier to earn free nights with promotions like the current 25,000 points after 4 stays and what looks to be a free night offer coming in January.

The leisure traveler may find HHonors a lifestyle deal with their two-pronged approach to rewarding loyalty membership. HHonors may see a return of the HHonors points traveler who can earn some lucrative bonuses on hotel stays. Combine the points budget traveler with the big fish spender putting $40,000 on the HHonors co-branded credit card for complimentary HHonors Diamond elite annual membership.  The Diamond lifestyler from both ends of the economic spectrum can find good value with HHonors. Value gives a traveler reason to put more effort into a Hilton hotel choice.

Marriott Rewards

MegaBonus 25,000 to 60,000 points depending on offer and nights stayed.

Feb 1- April 30, 2010.

Members are receiving new Marriott Rewards 2010 Megabonus offers. Marriott targets members with different offers.

Marriott Rewards PointSavers Plus 10% discount or 15% discount for Gold and Platinum elite members.

There are still three weeks to book a discounted discount hotel nights reward with the special PointSavers offer through January 15, 2010.

Update January 5, 2010: My personal MegaBonus offer is a free night (category 1-4 hotel) after two stays. Limit of one free night may be earned and free night to be redeemed by August 31, 2010. This offer is essentially a 20,000 points value if used for a Category 4 night. I have no elite status with Marriott Rewards.

IHG Priority Club Rewards

1,000 bonus points per night or 200 bonus miles up to maximum 20,000 points or 4,000 miles (20 nights).

Priority Club Rewards Registration Link

20,000 points is a rather weak offer from IHG considering this is only 50% of the points needed for one free night at a top tier InterContinental Hotel costing 40,000 points. The points-hungry tactic with IHG is to play the promotion registration game with Priority Club Rewards. A member can average 5,000 to 8,000 points per night for stays in IHG brand hotels.

Skeptical?

Read this FlyerTalk thread.

Double Points or Miles continues in 2009 beginning September 15, 2009. Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites hotel stays start earning the double points or miles with the first hotel stay. Other IHG brands: InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, HI Express begin earning double points or miles with the second hotel stay.

Priority Club Registration link

InterContinental Hotel stays regularly earn 2,000 points per stay. Double points earns 4,000 points per stay.

Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites regularly earn 5 points per US$1 and will earn 10 points per US$1.

Other IHG brands regularly earn 10 points per US$1 and will earn 20 points per US$1 for eligible stays during the promotion period.

Priority Club has nearly 50 airline partners for earning frequent flyer miles. There are different earning levels for different airlines. Hotel brand also impacts the miles earned.

Here is the link to the miles earning terms for USA Priority Club members.