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 Rewards has a promotion ending today November 30 for 20% bonus points when you buy Priority Club points. Priority Club Rewards members can buy up to 50,000 points per calendar year. There is a variable price rate when buying points.

• 1,000 to 10,000 points = $13.50 per 1,000 points
• 11,000 to 25,000 points = $12.50 per 1,000 points
• 26,000 to 50,000 points = $11.50 per 1,000 points
• Must buy in 1,000 points increments.
• Priority Club Rewards members may buy up to 50,000 points per calendar year and receive up to 50,000 points per calendar year.

Loyalty Traveler analysis

The variable rate for Priority Club points purchases means it actually costs less money to buy 26,000 points at $11.50 per 1,000 points ($299) than 25,000 points at $12.50 per 1,000 points ($312.50).

20% bonus if you purchase today means you will receive 31,200 points when buying 26,000 points for US$299.

This might be a good deal if you have a definite plan for points, but it is not a great deal. There are ways to get lower cost Priority Club points.

20% bonus on Priority Club points purchases made November 30.

InterContinental Alliance Resorts The Venetian and The Palazzo on the Las Vegas Strip offer 25,000 bonus points for a 4-night or longer stay before December 15, 2011 when booked by October 31. The stay must be booked through an IHG channel and Priority Club members need to register for promotion code 2518 for this 25K bonus points offer. Bonus points are not available for direct bookings through The Venetian or The Palazzo own hotel websites.

At this late date there are limited dates with four consecutive nights where the rates are the same. Friday and Saturday weekend night rates are typically double Sunday through Thursday weekday rates.

My quick check of the Palazzo shows lowest 4-night rates during Thanksgiving week and the first two weeks of December with rates at $149.

I checked rates using Travelocity flexible dates feature. This is the tool I use when trying to find lowest rates over a period of weeks or months. After checking Travelocity rates which are typically the same as Best Flexible Rate (BAR) for a hotel property, then I look for rate discounts through the hotel’s own site. Though in this case that means the IHG site for The Palazzo and not the non-IHG website The Palazzo maintains as an independent hotel.

Travelocity Flexible Dates tool for The Palazzo Las Vegas is systematic way to check for lowest rates.

The $149 rate is the same on the IHG InterContinental Alliance Resort booking page for the Palazzo.

The Palazzo room rates for Sunday-Thursday December 4-8, 2011.

There is also a $159 rate code for 6,000 bonus points on a three night stay. An extra $40 + tax is a decent premium for an additional 6,000 points.

Looks to me like a Priority Club member can earn at least 33,000 points on a 4-night stay at $159/night + tax + resort fee:

• 2,000 base points for InterContinental hotel stay.
• 6,000 bonus points for promotional rate on three-night stay.
• 25,000 bonus points promotion offer on four-night stay.

Related Loyalty Traveler Posts:

April 27, 2011 The Palazzo Las Vegas Bella Suite Part 1

April 28, 2011 The Palazzo Las Vegas Part 2 – Pools

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.

Priority Club announced its main promotion for up to 80,000 bonus points or 16,000 miles for hotel stays from September 15 through December 31, 2011. The points promotion is 500 points per night. Stay in 2, 3 or 4 different InterContinental Hotels Group brands to earn double, triple, or quadruple points.

• Earn 500 Priority Club bonus points per night.
• Stay in two different IHG brands during promotion and earn 1,000 bonus points per night.
• Stay in three different IHG brands during promotion and earn 1,500 bonus points per night.
• Stay in four different IHG brands during promotion and earn 2,000 points points per night.
• A maximum 80,000 bonus points may be earned after 40 nights.
• 500 points per night will be earned at time of stay and the 2x, 3x or 4x bonus points will post after the end of the promotion in January 2012.
• Miles earners can choose 100 bonus miles per night and receive the 2x, 3x, 4x bonus for miles, up to 400 miles per night and a maximum 16,000 bonus miles for the promotion.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis

Stay 4 nights in one Holiday Inn Express at $100 per night as a base Priority Club member during this promotion:

•  4 nights x 500 bonus points per night = 2,000 bonus points
•  4 nights at $100 night x 10 points/$1 = 4,000 base points.
•  $400 in hotel spend earns 6,000 total Priority Club points.

Stay 1 night with average spend of $100/night in four of the seven different IHG brands from Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, InterContinental Hotels, Staybridge Suites or Candlewood Suites.

• 4 nights x 2,000 bonus points per night if four different IHG brands = 8,000 points.
• 3 nights at $100 night x 10 points/$1 = 3,000 base points (Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Crowne Plaza).
• 1 night at $100 night x 5 points/$1 = 500 base points (Candlewood Suites).
• $400 spend earns 11,500 points.
• Platinum member earns additional 1,750 elite bonus points = 13,250 points.

The Value of Priority Club points

Priority Club points are typically valued at about $6 per 1,000 points. In my example above with stays in four brands for 4x points, the value of Priority Club points is about $70 on $400 in spend. That is not a particularly attractive rebate when using $6/1,000 points valuation.

Standard rewards like 25,000 points for Crowne Plaza or 30,000 points for InterContinental will often be around $6/1,000 points redemption value when the Crowne Plaza is $150 night room rate or the IC $180 night room rate. Often you can get higher redemption value since these hotels can be much higher priced. Unfortunately the reward rate of 25,000 points for many Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels with a $100 per night rate lowers the redemption value of some hotels to less than $6 per 1,000 points.

One of the most attractive features of Priority Club is its discount reward night specials with PointBreaks and Last Minute Rewards where it is often possible to get $20 per 1,000 points redemption value. These types of rewards mean 11,500 points a base member can earn in this promotion with four stays in four IHG brands at a cost of $400 can offer a hotel rebate of $230.

That is a good value rebate through this Priority Club promotion.

There are more than 2,500 hotel properties in Priority Club available at 15,000 points in the Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Candlewood Suites brands.

Last Minute Rewards for the first weekend of each month brings the cost of nearly all participating hotels to 12,500 points or less per reward night.

Last month I altered my hotel reservations to take advantage of two hotels with $100 per night rates on the Priority Club PointBreaks list for 5,000 Priority Club points per reward night.

Good Value Promotion for the Casual Traveler and Decent for the Road Warrior too 

You may be an IHG Road Warrior and have 40 nights during this promotion as a real possibility. A maximum 80,000 bonus points after 40 nights may seem like a small bonus when viewed as two free InterContinental Hotel nights.

For the casual traveler the opportunity to earn 1,500 to 2,000 bonus points per hotel night is a good value bonus for single night stays or extended stays. These are not large bonuses compared to free night offers of the past couple years across major chains, but this is a decent promotion and the first one out of the block among the major hotel loyalty programs for the last quarter 2011.

One final point to keep in mind is the promotion states the 2x to 4x bonus points will post after December 31. That means these bonus points will post in 2012 and count for 2013 Priority Club elite status.

Someone like me who already has qualified for 2012 Platinum elite will start 2012 with bonus points. Priority Club confers Gold elite (10% bonus points) after earning 20,000 points in a calendar year. My simple four nights in four IHG hotel brands example earns 6,000 bonus points posting in 2012. Platinum elite takes 60,000 points. This promotion can be a jumpstart to 2013 Priority Club elite membership.

IHG Promotion Registration link.

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

DiscoverAmerica.com Daily Getaways offer at 12 noon ET today April 27, 2011 is for sets of Priority Club points. A member may purchase up to 5 sets in each of the four offers for up to 20 total sets. It is possible to buy 500,000 points in this sale.

• 10,000 points for $67 ($60.30 if payment is American Express), 650 sets for sale. Maximum purchase is 5 sets per member.
• 25,000 points for $167 ($150.30 if payment is American Express), 120 sets for sale. Maximum purchase is 5 sets per member.
• 25,000 points for $167 ($150.30 if payment is American Express), 420 sets for sale. Maximum purchase is 5 sets per member. (There are two separate sales for sets of 25,000 points).
• 40,000 points = $267 ($240.30 if payment is American Express), 300 sets for sale. Maximum purchase is 5 sets per member.

There are two good reasons for making a Priority Club points purchase today.

1. Purchased points from this sale count for elite status. Priority Club requires 20,000 points earned in a calendar year for Gold elite or 60,000 points for Platinum elite. These points purchases from DiscoverAmerica count for elite qualification, whereas points purchased through Points & Cash rewards do not count for elite qualification. You can buy your way to Platinum elite for $361 with the purchase of 60,000 points today.
2. If you do not have any Priority Club points, then a purchase today puts you in play for taking advantage of Points & Cash reward nights where the price of a reward is discounted by 10,000 points for $60. All hotels are available for Points & Cash rewards. Crowne Plaza hotels cost 25,000 points per night. Points & Cash takes 15,000 points + $60. Purchasing points for $60 per 10,000 points through this DiscoverAmerica sale drops the price of a Crowne Plaza hotel to $150 to pay with points. Any Crowne Plaza hotel night more than $150 will be cheaper to pay with points.

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club Rewards hotel brand reward nights:

InterContinental Hotels = 40,000 points (high tier) or 30,000 points per night (low tier). There are slightly more hotels at the 30,000 points level.

Crowne Plaza and Hotel Indigo= 25,000 points per night.

Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express = 10,000 points or 15,000 points or 25,000 points. Most hotels are in the 15,000 points tier. About 200 of 3,000 hotels globally are in the 10,000 points tier.

Staybridge Suites = 20,000 points per night.

Candlewood Suites = 15,000 points per night.

Holiday Inn Club Vacations = 27,500 per night.

Another way to buy Priority Club points at a discount

Buying Priority Club points at $60 is a fair market value, but not necessarily a deep discount. Priority Club members can actually buy 10,000 points for $60 through Points & Cash reward nights by making a booking for a hotel, buying 10,000 points and later canceling the booking before the stay.

The way Points & Cash rewards are structured requires the member to buy either 5,000 or 10,000 points prior to booking the reward night. 5,000 points cost $40 or 10,000 points cost $60. The points purchased are added to your Priority Club account instantly. The points purchase is nonrefundable so if you end up canceling the reward night the points remain in your account.

There really seems to be no limit to making points purchases through this method. The primary reason the DiscoverAmerica.com sale is better is points purchased through the sale count for elite qualification. But that is irrelevant if you already have Priority Club Platinum elite status and plan to requalify in 2011 anyway.

DiscoverAmerica.com Daily Getaways has travel sales every weekday through May 13. Here is the calendar for upcoming sales.

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.

Spending $100 for a night at Holiday Inn earns about 1,000 points at 10 points per dollar in hotel spend.  So why do many members get several thousand additional bonus points for each hotel stay?

Promotion offers make all the difference.

A unique feature of Priority Club Rewards is the ability to sign up for multiple bonus promotion offers, even if not specifically targeted to you, and earn bonus points from some of these offers for a single hotel stay. This is the reason why many Priority Club stays earn bonus points as high as 5 times or more the base points earned from hotel spend.

Over the years I have received numerous offers from Priority Club for a “Stay bonus” or “Come Back” bonus. These are features of many hotel loyalty programs who reach out to former guests with a promotional enticement to return to their hotel brands. Often the incentive is a gift of bonus points. Occasionally it is a free night. Most of these are targeted offers only applicable to the member.

Priority Club, more than any other major hotel loyalty program, allows loyalty members to register for multiple promotions not specifically targeted to the member. All you need to know is a link and promotion code to register for bonus points and other offers.

There are a couple of places where you can search for these promotion offers like FlyerTalk.com (Priority Club promotion code thread and Priority Club promotion discussion thread) and MilePoint.com in the Priority Club thread, and PriorityClubInsider.com for listings of the most current promotions. There are a large number of promotion codes posted.

The general advice you will find is sign up for every offer that lets you register and then wait in anticipation after your hotel stay to see which bonus points appear in your account. To repeat, Priority Club is unique among hotel loyalty programs. This kind of thing does not happen much with Starwood, Hilton and Marriott.

Loyalty Traveler maintains a current loyalty promotions page of the major promotions open to most Priority Club members, but I do not post many of the Priority Club targeted offers listed on the sites above. FrequentFlyerBonuses.com is another good place to find a simple list of bonuses compiled in an easier to read format than the FlyerTalk and MilePoint boards.

Here is a list of offers from just the past month listed on FlyerTalk and MilePoint to illustrate the large number of Priority Club promotions currently out there.

Two things to keep in mind with Priority Club quarterly stay bonuses:

1. Not all offers are created equal. Priority Club Offer code 6576 earns 5,000 points after three nights, but offer code 6577 requires four nights to earn 5,000 points. Offer code 6596 earns 10,000 bonus points after 7 nights, but offer code 6594 requires 12 nights to earn 10,000 bonus points.
2. Choose carefully. There are many bonus variations. Priority Club only applies the first offer you register for to your account of the “Stay X nights/times and Earn X Points” bonus promotions.  These targeted stay bonuses are generally offered every calendar quarter.

Priority Club Quarterly Stay Bonuses

3,000 points for next stay April 1 – June 30, 2011 (Milepoint.com)

Stay 3 nights, earn 5,000 points April 1 – June 30, 2011 (Offer Code 6576) (FlyerTalk.com)

Stay 4 nights, earn 5,000 points April 1 – June 30, 2011 (Offer Code 6577) (FlyerTalk.com)

Stay 7 nights, earn 10,000 points April 1 – June 30, 2011 (Offer code 6596) (FlyerTalk.com)

Stay 8 nights, earn 10,000 points April 1 – June 30, 2011 (Offer code 3577) (FlyerTalk.com)

Stay 10 nights, earn 10,000 points April 1 – June 30, 2011 (Offer code 3592) (FlyerTalk.com)

Stay 12 nights, earn 10,000 points April 1 – June 30, 2011 (Offer code 6594) (FlyerTalk.com)

Stay 18 nights, earn 15,000 points April 1 – June 30, 2011 (Offer code 6594) (FlyerTalk.com)

Other current Priority Club offers

Weekend Stay 5,000 Bonus Points for a 2-night stay Friday-Sunday or Saturday to Monday within 90 days of registering. (Offer code 3782) (FlyerTalk.com)

1,000 bonus points for every stay in next 60 days. (Offer code 6778) (FlyerTalk.com)

5,000 points after 50 nights by November 30, 2011 (milepoint.com)

Apart from the stay X get Y, I get the impression that the following 5 still work for everyone:

New member bonus 1500 pts. (8853)
Elite member next stay bonus 3000 pts. (2697)
Next stay bonus 1500 pts. (1848)
Welcome back bonus 1500 pts. (7830)
Anniversary bonus offer 1000 pts. per stay for 90 days (2775)

FlyerTalk March 9, 2011 Hannibal Lecter

PriorityClubInsider does a good job of picking out the best offers and providing working links for registration. Here is one PriorityClubInsider.com page with many of the best offers that will require reading pages of FlyerTalk to locate.

I have been getting my Priority Club promotion registrations in order this week. I have several more hotel nights to stay before the end of May to earn my 91,000 Priority Club bonus points for last year’s Crack the Case promotion offer.

PriorityClubInsider.com is good site for promotions and tutorial

The newly branded InterContinental Alliance Resorts in Las Vegas – The Venetian and The Palazzo – have an introductory “6,000 Bonus Point Package” rate offer for hotel stays of three nights or more. Bonus Priority Club points are in addition to the 2,000 points normally earned for InterContinental Hotel stays for 8,000 points total per stay (about a $50 value). InterContinental Ambassador members receive benefits at these properties.

Book your stay by June 30 and receive these additional rate benefits:

• 20% off Breakfast or Brunch provided by Morels
• $30 off a bill of $60 or more provided by Zine
• $35 off 50-min Massage or Facial provided by Canyon Ranch SpaClub
• Complimentary line pass and admission provided by LAVO Nightclub
• 2-for-1 well drinks provided by Salute Lounge

This offer requires first night deposit at time of booking and is fully refundable for cancellations at least 72 hours in advance.

Rates I checked for the 6,000 Bonus Point Package were $10 per night over the Best Flexible Rate.

Tip for finding the lowest hotel rates:  

Travelocity.com has a nice feature for seeing hotel rate information for the next 90 days by using the Flexible Dates feature. Simply look up any date for Las Vegas and click on the rate for the Venetian or the Palazzo. Travelocity has a Flexible Dates tab at the top of the page that shows the hotel rates for 90 days. This is much quicker than random date checks on IHG websites for finding low rate dates over a 3-day period and avoiding high rate dates when planning your trip.

Travelocity.com Flexible Dates calendar for The Palazzo

Another tip for Las Vegas – Travel packages for airline + hotel often drop the hotel rate down to about $100 or less for the first night or two at many of the fine hotels in Las Vegas like Wynn, Encore, Bellagio, Mandarin Oriental, Venetian and Palazzo.

The hotel rate savings might be worth more than the points.

**Be sure to go back to the IHG website to make your hotel booking since Travelocity bookings do not earn Priority Club points.