Holiday Inn celebrated 60 years from 1952 to 2012 with two contests last summer, ‘Then & Now’ and ‘Celebrate Firsts’. These contests invited Priority Club members to submit photos. Loyalty Traveler blogged about these contests August 4: Holiday Inn 60 Free Nights Every Day in August Sweepstakes.

Photos from these contests have been used to create a picture mosaic at www.holidayinn60.com.

The mosaic is artistically cool with thousands of photos used to create an image of a hotel room.

Within the mosaic are 9 pieces to a puzzle that reveal additional facts. I played around with the puzzle and there does not appear to be any prize for finding the 9 pieces. Just the facts.

Did You Know..

To celebrate the 60th Anniversary, the Holiday Inn brand hid over $45,000 worth of diamonds in hotels across Europe for guests to find!

I certainly did not know that fact about Holiday Inn hotels in Europe to blog “look for diamonds” to Loyalty Traveler readers.

Priority Club 5,000 points voucher giveaway

Priority Club is giving Loyalty Traveler readers the chance to win a Priority Club 5,000 points voucher.

Entry Rules for 5,000 points voucher giveaway

Since the purpose of this giveaway is to get eyes on the mosaic website I have come up with a method to enter the sweepstakes.

Each picture in the “Holiday Inn 60” mosaic includes the name of the person who submitted the photo when you click on one of the thousands of photos in the mosaic.

Leave the name of someone from a photo submission in the HolidayInn60 mosaic in the comments section of this Loyalty Traveler post (e.g. Kendal Jones).

You may enter once each day Tuesday, Dec 18 – Saturday Dec 22 for five possible entries.

Sweepstakes ends Sat Dec 22 at 12 noon PST, California time. 

Winner will be selected at random via random.org.

The voucher is an electronic code you enter into your Priority Club Rewards account to deposit the 5,000 points. Winner must be a member of Priority Club Rewards or join PCR (free) to deposit 5,000 points voucher.

Blogger Disclosure: This giveaway is sponsored by the Holiday Inn® brand, who provided the 5,000 PCR points voucher. This post is solely my opinion and based on my experience and interests without outside influence.

Ric Garrido, writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler, shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. You can follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter and Facebook and RSS feed.

Sometimes paying a bonus points rate is a good strategy for earning cheap Priority Club points. Bonus points package rates come in various sizes from 1,000 points to 5,000 points at many IHG properties. Limited time 10,000 bonus points rates are offered at a few hotels. At times these rates allow members to buy 10,000 points for under $50.

The advantage of paying a points package rate is bonus points qualify for elite status and 60,000 Priority Club points earned in a year confers Platinum elite for the next calendar year with 50% elite bonus points on all hotel stays as a Platinum elite.

Montelucia Resort & Spa, InterContinental Alliance Resort 10,000 bonus points rate for 2-night stays through January 31, 2013.

This package rate caught my attention.

Briefly.

Any deal that earns 10,000 points for $70 or less on a paid room rate is a cheap way to earn Priority Club points.

Montelucia Resort Rate Analysis on 2-night stay

Friday Jan 25-Sunday Jan 27, 2013

• $714.22 Montelucia 10K PCR rate at $295 King Bedroom Resort View
• $657.76 Advance Purchase, nonrefundable at $270/night.
• $596.80 AAA rate at $243/night.

$117.42 additional cost over the AAA rate to book the 10,000 bonus points rate is a poor value rate.

The rates for this InterContinental Alliance Resort is not a cost effective strategy for Priority Club Rewards points.

Venetian Las Vegas and 4,000 Bonus Points for 2-night stays through Jan 6, 2013

The Venetian and The Palazzo are two InterContinental Alliance Resorts in Las Vegas. The Venetian has a 4,000 bonus points rate for 2-night stays through January 6, 2013.

December 4-6, 2012

• AAA = $179/night.
• Best Available = $179/night.
• 4,000 bonus points = $179 per night. (Rate drops to $149 some dates in December).

For this hotel the 4,000 bonus points rate is no higher than any other available rate. This is a good rate deal for this specific hotel.

Update 8:30am Nov 30: Within an hour of posting this article I noticed an email from The Venetian/The Palazzo Grazie loyalty program showing rates at $129 for much of December 2012 for dates when the IHG website shows $149 per night. Is this a Best Rate Guarantee opportunity for a free night?

Must book this special offer rate by Dec 6.

Ric Garrido, writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler, shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. You can follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter and Facebook and RSS feed.

Earn 5,000 Priority Club points for your first 2-night stay at either of the two IHG extended-stay hotel brands Candlewood Suites or Staybridge Suites from September 12 to December 30, 2012.

Candlewood Suites or Staybridge Suites 5,000 Bonus Points registration required prior to stays.

There are about 460 Candlewood and Staybridge Suites properties across the USA participating in this offer. Link to participating Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites hotels.

Promotion bonus may be earned only one time per member during promotion. Read More…

This is a targeted offer, but since when was that an impediment to Priority Club bonus points?  You can try your luck.

Stay six nights at InterContinental Hotels in the Americas from May 1 to July 31, 2012 and pay with any American Express card to receive 15,000 Priority Club bonus points, 10% off Best Flexible Rate and Priority Club Gold status.

Priority Club promotion registration required before credit nights will be earned.

The nights do not need to be consecutive nights. You can spread this bonus out over six hotel stays if you want.

What: Register and stay any six nights to earn 15,000 bonus points and get 10% off Best Flexible Rate.

Where: InterContinental Hotels & Resorts in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean. This offer is not valid at InterContinental Alliance Resorts which knocks out The Venetian and The Palazzo in Las Vegas and Montelucia Resort in Scottsdale, AZ for bonus points.

When: Register and stay anytime between May 1 and July 31, 2012. Read More…

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

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

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

Priority Club has a limited time offer for 7,500 bonus points when booking Spring Break hotel stays for a minimum 2 nights at more than 100 hotels in Florida, California, Texas and other locations.

Priority Club Rewards Spring Break promotion web link. Rate Code = ISGSB

The Spring Break promotion page lists these destinations:

• San Diego, California (22 hotels)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
• Miami, Florida (27 hotels)
• Orlando, Florida (28 hotels)
• Panama City, Florida
• Honolulu, Hawaii
• South Padre Island, Texas
• San Jose, Costa Rica
• Cancun, Mexico
• Los Cabos, Mexico

Terms and Conditions

• Requires stay of two or more consecutive nights.
• Cancellation policies are liberal, generally day before arrival with no penalty.
• Rates are higher than advance purchase and Best Flexible; generally $10 to $30 per night more.
• 7,500 points per stay.
• Available for stays through May 15, 2011

Loyalty Traveler Analysis:

Panama City, Florida Holiday Inn Select

Wed Mar 16 – Fri Mar 18, 2011 (2 double beds)

Spring Break Rate $119/night = $253.48 (after tax)

• Cancel up to 6pm Mar 16 with no penalty. 

Best Flexible Rate $109/night = $232.18 (after tax)

• Cancel up to 6pm Mar 16 with no penalty. 

Discount Rate $95.99/night = $204.46 after tax

• Cancellation will be charged first night rate.  

Advance Purchase $92.99/night = $198.06 after tax.

• Cancellation forfeits entire prepaid room deposit.  

AAA rate $92.99/night = $198.06

• Cancel up to 6pm Mar 16 with no penalty. 

This Spring Break offer for 7,500 bonus points will cost $55 more than the AAA rate for a two-night stay at the Panama City Holiday Inn Select with the same cancellation policies.

You can save $55 now and simply buy 10,000 points for $60 when you book your next reward stay.  

7,500 bonus points is only a good deal if you would otherwise book the Best Flexible Rate and you do not qualify for AAA rate and you need bonus points now.

I do not recommend this Spring Break promotional offer for most guests since the rates are higher.

Keep in mind that when you redeem points for a free hotel stay, there is usually the option of Points & Cash whereby you can pay $60 and reduce the reward cost by 10,000 points for your hotel stay.

The ability to buy 10,000 points for $60 makes paying more than $45 extra to earn 7,500 Priority Club points not such a good deal.

The primary advantage to paying a higher rate to earn Priority Club bonus points is the fact that these bonus points count for elite qualification. Priority Club Gold elite is reached by earning 20,000 points in a calendar year and Platinum elite takes 60,000 points. If you need points for elite status then paying $45 for 7,500 points is a fair exchange.

But, if you already have Priority Club elite status and you do not need points to earn elite status, then save your money. This deal is really only a good deal if you do not have many Priority Club points and you need more points for a planned redemption.  

For example if you only have 10,000 Priority Club points, then you can’t afford a free Crowne Plaza reward night for 25,000 points, even with the option to buy 10,000 points.

Account Balance = 8,788 points. Book the Spring Break package for $253.48 and you earn $119 x 2 nights x 10 points/$1 = 2,380 points + 7,500 Spring Break bonus. Earning 9,880 points now opens up the possibility of booking a Crowne Plaza 25,000 points hotel reward night with 18,668 points.

You can book a Crowne Plaza using Points & Cash with 15,000 points + $60 to purchase the remaining 10,000 points.

The majority of IHG hotels cost 15,000 points for a free night at a Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express (popular locations require 25,000 points, but the vast majority of hotels in the chain are 15,000 points per reward night).

A person with no Priority Club points can book the Spring Break 7,500 bonus points offer and have enough points after the stay to book a Points & Cash night at any of nearly 2,000 Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels for 5,000 points + $60.

Holiday Inn Orlando Convention Center (Wed March 2- Friday March 4, 2011)

Spring Break Rate = $79/night = $182.76 after tax

Advance Purchase = $56/night = $131.00 after tax

AAA rate = $63/night = $146.76 after tax

7,500 bonus points for $36 over the AAA rate is a good deal and the cost is only $15 over the prepaid, nonrefundable rate. Of course, the prepaid rate is a better deal if the nonrefundable conditions are acceptable for your risk tolerance.

InterContinental Hotels in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam will earn 12,000 points per stay from November 1, 2010 through December 31, 2011 when booking rate IKPCN. You earn 10,000 bonus points with IKPCN rate plus normal 2,000 points per IC hotel stay. This offer is valid even for one-night stays.  

Rates are about 10% more per night than Best Available, so keep that in mind when booking this offer for more than one night stays. 10,000 Priority Club bonus points is only worth $60 since you can get 10,000 points by booking a Points & Cash award and then cancelling the award.

Five participating hotels include two in Thailand: InterContinental Hua Hin Resort and InterContinental Bangkok, InterContinental Phnom Penh in Cambodia, InterContinental Hanoi Westlake and InterContinental Asiana Saigon in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Sample rates eligible for 10,000 bonus points per stay:

• InterContinental Hua Hin, Wed Dec 15 = 6,000 Thai Baht (US$200)
• InterContinental Bangkok, Fri Jan 7 = 6,500THB (US$217)
• InterContinental Phnom Penh, Tue Dec 14 – Thu Dec 16 = USD$130/night
• InterContinental Hanoi Westlake, Fri Jan 14 = USD$160
• InterContinental Asiana Saigon, Fri Mar 4- Sun Mar 6 = USD$209

Las Vegas Holiday Inn has two special offer rates for 10,000 bonus points per stay including breakfast for two at the Forte Grill hotel restaurant or 15,000 bonus points per stay. The 15,000 bonus points rate is available for stays into November 2011 at rates about $50 more than the otherwise lowest available rate.

The 10,000 bonus points is actually the better deal with the breakfast benefit, but appears to be available only for the holiday season through December 2010.

There are no special rate codes to enter. These offers appear in general searches.

Thanksgiving weekend rates are $119 per night compared to an advance purchase rate of $97. An extra $22 for 10,000 Priority Club bonus points and a restaurant breakfast for two is an amazing deal.

The 15,000 points package rate for the same date is $25 more for the extra 5,000 points at $144 per night, however, no breakfast included.

The 10,000 bonus points package if staying in 2010 is the better value.

Rate Rules Fine Print

These rates have lenient cancellation policies at 24 hours advance notice for dates I checked.

Rate rules for these 10K and 15K packages state no other points promotions can apply on top of this package such as a PC Postcard Mailer. I really do not know what this means exactly, but I do not think it applies to the current Sweet Dilemma offer for a free night after two stays.

Please correct me readers if you find I am wrong about the Sweet Dilemma offer and this Las Vegas bonus points offer.

Holiday Inn Las Vegas Thanksgiving weekend 10K rate Nov 26-27

Location

The hotel is located at Paradise Road and Flamingo, two long blocks east of the Strip, near the UNLV campus.

One of the best features of this hotel over most hotels on the Las Vegas Strip is a complimentary shuttle service between LAS airport and the hotel. Hotel shuttle service is rare in Las Vegas and a taxi will run $15 to $25 depending on how much traffic you hit (or your driver can find).

10K Rates

Priority Club offers these 10,000 bonus points packages at a variety of hotels around the country. Locating them is kind of hit or miss. Priority Club has a webpage showing hotels offering bonus points rates, but these 10,000 points hotels are not shown. And 15,000 bonus points per stay is the highest rate I have seen.

To compare: Through Points & Cash it will cost $90 to buy 15,000 points. Through Priority Club “Buy Points” link it will cost $187.50 to buy 15,000 points.

Holiday Inn Las Vegas 15,000 Bonus Points Rate Nov 22, 2010