IHG Rewards Into the Nights

IHG “Into The Nights” Promotion is GREAT And How to Take Advantage

ByThe Miles Professor

IHG Rewards has just launched its new “Into the Nights” promotion and it’s actually one of the better bonuses we’ve seen in a while. Typically, I consider bonuses to be a “nice to have”, but they don’t usually end up changing my plans much. I’ll stay at the hotel with the best value. But this bonus is different in that, for many of us, it may very well make sense to book a few cheap stays simply just to earn the bonus. Booking those few cheap stays will turn into a bonus of two free nights that can, in turn, be used at expensive hotels.

You can check out your personalized offer and register by entering your account number on the Promotion Website.

IHG Rewards Into the Nights
IHG Rewards Into the Nights

How The “Into The Nights” Bonus Works

The way the bonus works is everyone gets a number of tasks to complete between September 4 and December 31 and completing a certain number of the tasks then earns either 50,000 IHG Rewards points or two free nights. The real value here comes from the two free nights. When I first saw the bonus, it wasn’t clear exactly what those two free nights meant so I reached out to my contact at IHG to clarify. I did hear back that the two free nights can be used at any IHG Rewards property with award availability and they expire after 12 months.

This makes the bonus extremely lucrative. As an example, one of my family members the other day mentioned wanting to take a trip to Paris and, coincidentally, this would be the perfect promotion for that. The InterContinental Paris – Le Grande can cost upwards of $400 a night so let’s keep that in mind as we think about the promotion.

As I said, everyone gets different tasks. For an analysis, let’s take a look at the offer that new accounts get. Most offers will be better than this (I know mine is), but this is an option we should at least all have. New accounts are given 5 tasks:

  • Download and book on the IHG App (easy)
  • Stay 3 nights at IHG properties
  • Book 2 stays on the IHG website or IHG App (easy)
  • Stay 2 Saturdays at any IHG hotel brands
  • Stay at 2 Holiday Inn hotels
IHG Rewards New Account Tasks
IHG Rewards New Account Tasks

Once these five tasks are completed, the member will earn 50,000 points or two free nights plus 4,500 points and, in addition, any points I earn for the stay itself. To complete all five tasks, it would be enough to stay 3 nights total as long as two of those nights are Saturdays and two of them are at Holiday Inn hotels (note: Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express are different brands and Holiday Inn Express would not count here). For me, booking three such nights would cost about $80 each including taxes. After checking in and earning the two free nights, that means I’d be paying $120 each for two nights certificates to be used at the more expensive hotels. I know some people have found Holiday Inn hotels for $65 a night so the cost will vary depending on your location, of course.

While $120 can be a great deal to stay somewhere like the center of Paris or in an overwater bungalow in French Polynesia, it’s not the kind of money that I’d just throw around. The certificates do expire after 12 months so it only really makes sense to go for it if you have a particular trip and hotel in mind. For some hotels, award nights are not always available so, if you do have your heart set on a certain hotel, check for general availability instead of time.

Earning Multiple Nights

Most of us don’t travel alone. To earn four nights instead, two people could sign up for the promotion and earn two nights each and then combine all four nights for a single stay. This would mean four nights in Paris at the Intercontinental – Le Grand for a total of $600, in my case.

Many couples also have Bora Bora or Moorea on their list for a honeymoon. Each of these islands has an Intercontinental property and the one in Bora Bora even offers overwater bungalows. At $120 each, this may just be the cheapest way to get to an overwater bungalow for the honeymoon.

Uses of the Two Free Nights

In addition to Paris and French Polynesia, IHG Rewards does have a number of expensive Intercontinental all over the world.

My international vacation plans are pretty set for next year in terms of hotels so I’m likely looking at the following places right here in the US:

Venetian in Las Vegas award night availability
Venetian in Las Vegas award night availability

Internationally, I did mention the one in Paris, there are a few more that would really be a great deal for the promotion.

Anyone else going for the promotion?

45 Comments

  1. Would the qualifying stays work on an award stay or does it have to be on a paid stay? I’m looking for the Terms & Conditions but I don’t see any. I just logged in and I only have to complete 4 out of the 5 tasks required, one of which is just take a survey, and I get 2,000 miles or 2 free nights out of it instead of the 50,000 points or 2 free nights.

    1. This would only work with paid stays, unfortunately. And everyone’s offer is different – the one I posted is the one for new accounts, but if you’re a loyal members, you’ll likely end up with something better.

  2. one of my offers is download and book IHG app. Do they really keep track of downloads? What if I already have the app?

  3. As reported by others this morning (at Travel Is Free), my “offers” are:
    2 blocks that both say “complete 1 offer and get 25,000 points or 1 free night” then below that it has a bonus that is not revealed, but there is nothing else. Doesn’t tell me what I have to complete or what an offer is. No terms, no links.

    I have been with IHG for years, so I don’t know what a new member is being offered.

  5. FYI you’re incorrect in saying “Once these five tasks are completed, the member will earn 54,500 points or two free nights plus 4,500 points”, you’ll actually earn (in this example) 4,500 points plus 45,500 bonus points or two free nights. For this offer the difference is small but for more tenured IHG accounts this could be the difference between going on a mattress run or not.

  6. Yes, same for me. Two blocks that say complete 1 offer get 25,000 points. But it tells me nothing about what I need to do to complete the offer – or what the offer is!

    1. It sounds like there are still some glitches they are still working out and some offers are not coming through. Hopefully it will get fixed soon… but I agree it’s quite annoying.

  7. I suggest not using the IHG stays in Las Vegas. You can often find Venetian/Palazzo for around $100 on Hotwire/Priceline weeknights. Weekends can be double that but still not the best value to redeem.

    1. Sadly, I only travel during high periods and it’s always at least $200 to $250, even on third party channels. I agree there are far more expensive IHG hotels, but I am limited to where I’m traveling in the next year… with my particular promotion, I can get those Venetian nights for $80 so I’m happy to pay that for a hotel where I’ve always wanted to stay!

      1. I agree with Jack. Palazzo could be bought on Priceline for $150 in high season.Venetian and Palazzo are not the best hotels in Vegas. Try Skylofts, Mandarin Oriental or Bellagio. Those are better.

  8. Hi TMP

    I think my promo is great but not 100% sure!

    16,400 points or 2 Free Night(s)

    Image is here.

    http://tinypic.com/r/307q8ph/8

    From what I can tell, I just need to book 2 HIX’s on a Saturday with my IHG MC using the breakfast option. Am I reading this wrong? Seems too easy…

    1. Found the snag, I knew it was too good to be true. Since HIX already serves breakfast we can’t book a breakfast option… So this will end up being way too expensive for us, we would need to book 4 nights.

      Oh well :-(

  10. At least it seems every blogger deal is great (and a lot of others). Personally for 50K I need 20 nights, 18 stays with bonus point/breakfast package, 3 Saturdays, etc. I’m not even bothering to register.

    I didn’t complete the last Big Win because it had crazy requirements (but actually better than this new promo). I haven’t been on a paid IHG stay since and there is certainly no enticement for me to do otherwise in the new promo.

      1. I think I’ve only seen one offer set that’s worse than mine. I used to do a lot with IHG, but stopped when they just rewarded my loyalty with lousy offers.

  11. Gaston: Mine shows the same (and an bonus offer to unlock”

    “As reported by others this morning (at Travel Is Free), my “offers” are:
    2 blocks that both say “complete 1 offer and get 25,000 points or 1 free night” then below that it has a bonus that is not revealed, but there is nothing else. Doesn’t tell me what I have to complete or what an offer is. No terms, no links.”

        1. Sorry, should have clarified. That’s true for this particular offer for new accounts, but mine is actually for Holiday Inn Express. Everyone’s offer is different so make sure to check which specifically yours says :)

  13. I don’t see how to register. Have I registered just by logging in and looking up my offer? Thanks.

  14. I logged in and I saw NO offers at all! I have an IHG card and have never used my IHG account to book hotels. But, no offers for me.

  16. My offer is similar to new account. I may have an upcoming trip to Seattle this year for 4 days. So I can spend 3 nights with one Saturday included. I initially thought of staying at an SPG property. Need to figure out where to book a 2nd Sat stay. I plan to use free nights at Disneyworld next year. Good use of this promo for that?

  18. My offer is lousy. Since new accounts seem to get much better offers than older accounts, it looks like the way to play this is to open one or more new accounts, perhaps with a different email address and name variation to get one or more of the worthwhile offers.

  19. Many people, including myself, have found the website broken. I see two 25,000 or 1 night bonuses listed but no offers with which to gain them. It’s says “0 of 1 offers” and nothing else. It’s annoying.

  22. Thanks TMP! I am going to do this promo too. I need to do 3 stays (2 at HI and 1 somewhere else). Do you know when the free nights will be deposited into our accounts? Right after we complete our offers or do we have to wait until the challenge ends? Also, when you say they expire in 1 year, do you mean we have to complete the free night stay in 1 year or do we have to book something in 1 year? Thanks!

    1. All good questions and the terms on this aren’t actually given. I am going to try to find out. Usually with most programs, the stay has to be completed in one year and not just booked, but I will try to check.

  23. I have two boxes – it seems I can stay twice and get a free night, then stay twice again and get a 2nd free night. (boxes copied below) – It sounds like some others got this deal too. I plan to book a cheap stay using my Entertainment Card rate – I hope that is eligible. This seems like small risk / big reward – We will likely check in, raid the tissue boxes and soaps, then go home. :) Once accumulating two free nights we will use them overseas or Intercontinental to maximize value. Thoughts? Ideas/Risks/things to avoid? I am avoiding all portal sites to minimize risk. Has anyone completed their offers and seen the results?

    25,000 points or 1 Free Night(s) Stay twice and get a free night or 25,000 points or 10,000 miles (1,250 AIR MILES or 160 Airpoints). Book your stay on our ihg.com web/mobile sites or IHG App.

    25,000 points or 1 Free Night(s) Stay twice again and get a 2nd free night or 25000 bonus points or 10,000 miles. Book your stay on our ihg.com web/mobile sites or IHG App. Terms

  24. To the person who said the if you are a member you’ll get better members, you are sadly mistaken. I am a Platinum member and I am showing a download of the application and 12 stays! This is in addition to the 9 nights I have to do, so in effect, I have to use the application 12 different times and rack up 12 different stays…Unfortunately I have already done the 9 nights….I contacted them to say that this just can’t be correct.

  25. FYI – I am doing the promotion and checked the overwater bungalow resorts in Bora Bora. Both properties are almost completely blocked out for reward night stays. They seem to have 1 day each week where a room is available, but no months have consecutive days open. So essentially, this promotion would be worthless at either Intercontinental in Bora Bora. It seems like they get people to stay there by picking the one free reward night day open per week and then the person would have to pay for 2 or 3 nights around that one day because who would fly all the way to Bora Bora to stay for one night. Priority Club/IHG has always been incredibly sketchy with their black out dates for reward nights. New York City during the holidays, all hotels right in the city will block out their weekend rooms so you can’t use reward points. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to stay at a property on the beach in Florida in the winter months, and every single night was available for paid stays but blacked out for reward use. The thing I love about SPG is that if there is standard room availablity at the hotel, you can get it with reward points. It could be the Super Bowl, Mardi Gras, Rolling Stones in town, New Year’s Eve … if there is a standard room for sale at an SPG property, it’s fair game for point use. I think with the ease of earning points at IHG they have the most blacked out nights to use them in cool places. I would imagine it is the same for the Intercontinental in Paris or Rome. They may have 1 or 2 non-consecutive days per week available for rewards points but the rest are blacked out for paid stays. This way the hotel makes money on the 1 or 2 nights+ you will have to add on to make it worth it to travel there and stay.

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