IHG Accelerate Promo - 105,000 Points!

IHG hasn't been on my radar in the past as I've always preferred SPG (now Marriott) when I travel for work. It wasn't until last year when I started planning for our New Zealand trip that I started looking more into IHG and was able to score 6 free hotel nights in New Zealand for 108,000 IHG points.

Travel Is Free posted a few posts about IHG earlier this year and this post got me checking my Q2/Q3 2019 IHG Accelerate promotion and my offer was actually really good...complete 6 offers and earn 105,000! P.S. I'm glad to see Drew back in the blog-sphere again as his posts are always intriguing and interesting. =)

Here's my offer:

Here's a summary of the tasks I need to complete:

• Stay at 2 brands
• Stay at 2 Holiday Inn  (doesn't include Holiday Inn Express) 
• Stay 2 weekends (requires two nights)
• 1 stay using “Points & Cash”
• Book 2 stays with IHG App
• ​Complete all 5 offers above

​It may look like a lot of nights/stays but you can actually complete more than one offer with one stay. The minimum stays/nights I'd need to complete all 5 offers would be 5 paid nights (in 3 stays) and 1 rewards ("Points & Cash") night. Here's how I can do it fairly cheaply on my trip home to Malaysia (and with the help of my brother who's working in Jakarta):

• 2 weekend nights in Holiday Inn: Kuala Lumpur Glenmarie - $86

             (Stay at 2 brands, Stay at 2 Holiday Inn, Stay 2 weekends, Book 2 stays with IHG App)

• 2 weekend nights in Holiday Inn Express: Jakarta Matraman - $60

             (Stay at 2 brands, Stay 2 weekends, Book 2 stays with IHG App)

• 1 night at Holiday Inn: Melaka - $45

             (Stay at 2 Holiday Inn)

• 1 "Points & Cash" night at Candlewood Suites: Eastchase Park Montgomery - $49

             (1 stay with Points & Cash)

​By spending a total of $240 for the 6 nights above, I'd get a total of 105,000 bonus points! I could get a free night at InterContinental Bora Bora for 70,000 points (worth $800), with 35,000 points to spare!
​

Did I end up completing the offers and earn the 105,000 bonus points? YES!

Did I spend $240 to complete the offers? NO! 

So how much did I spend to complete the offer? $0, thanks to work travel. =)

​I would have had enough points to redeem 3 free nights at the Intercontinental Bora-Bora, including using the last unlimited free night certificate from my IHG Select credit card. Unfortunately, that's not the plan for now. Instead, I'm redeeming 120,000 points for 4 nights in Hawaii (not the most optimized option but that's fine), and use the free night certificate at Intercontinental Hong Kong. 

I certainly agree with Drew from Travel Is Free that IHG promos are still great way to earn IHG points!