Actual Terms of IHG “Into The Nights” Free Nights Explained
A few weeks ago, I wrote about IHG’s “Into The Nights” Promotion. The way the promotion works is that each member is offered a set of personalized tasks to complete and, once completed, the member can choose to receive a certain number of points or two free nights. Although we knew these nights can be used at any IHG hotel, we didn’t know exactly when they would expire or which award availability applied to them. It took me some time of back and forth discussion with my IHG contact, but I’ve finally fleshed out the terms and conditions and can explain how it’s going to work.
In summary, there really doesn’t seem to be any catch. The promotion really is as good as it sounded originally. You get access to the same award availability as the regular IHG award bookings and it’s not restricted. Here’s a breakdown:
How To Find Free Nights Availability At IHG Hotels
You can book your free nights at any IHG hotel worldwide that has Reward Nights availability. This is the exact same availability you get by using regular points and the nights for this particular promotion come from the same exact inventory. To search for availability, simply visit the IHG Website and search for Reward Nights by selecting Reward Nights from the drop-down under Rate Preference.
When I pull up the hotel for the dates, if I can see availability for Reward Nights (a certain number of points shows up), then I know I can book it with the IHG Free Nights certificates.
When The Free Nights Expire
According to the terms and conditions for the free nights, you have until December 2015 to book your nights, but you need to actually choose the free nights option by January 2015 or your rewards will turn into points. Here are some of the relevant parts of the terms:
Free Nights earned from Stays, as defined in the Into the Nights terms, completed during Registration must be redeemed by 31 December 2015. Free Nights earned must be claimed by 31 January 2015 or members will automatically be awarded applicable points. Free Nights can only be used in participating IHG hotels and may not be transferred. A Free Night is valid only for one standard room night rate and applicable taxes (not including breakfast).
Cancellation or changes must be made 48 hours prior to 6 P.M. of arrival date. Any changes or cancellation after that will be deemed to be a no show, and the Free Night credit will be removed from member’s IHG Rewards Club account. Free Nights cannot be exchanged for cash and are not transferable in the system to other members and guests.
I am planning to take advantage of the promotion myself as my offer lets me get this done with just two Saturday night stays at a Holiday Inn Express hotel. Anyone else going for it?
“Free Nights earned must be claimed by 31 January 2015 or members will automatically be awarded applicable points. – See more at: http://milesprof.wpengine.com/2014/09/21/ihg-into-nights-full-terms/#comments”
Does that mean if I earn “2 free nights” and I don’t book/claim it by January 31, 2015 it’ll turn into 100,000 IHG points? Or the number of points it’ll be converted into depends on something??
Also it’s not 2 free nights at ANY of their hotels? It’s only “in participating IHG hotels”??
When they say it will be turned into points, how many points depends on your offer. The individualized offer has a bonus when you complete all tasks and specifies the number of points there. In my case, that bonus is 27,000 points. So in general, it will be much lower than 100,000 points.
It’s a free night at any hotel that has Reward Nights availability. There is no difference between participating in this promotion and participating in Reward Nights in general.
My offer requires a lot more than that and includes two stays outside the US!
Can’t you just apply for a new account and see what offer comes up?
I just called up IHG to speak to someone about the “Free Nights earned must be claimed by 31 January 2015 or members will automatically be awarded applicable points.” part.
So basically most people get offers such as “Earn 2,000 miles or 2 free nights” after completing the tasks. The IHG person said we would have until Jan 31st, 2015 to determine if we would prefer to earn the 2 free nights OR miles. Once you have selected that you would like to have the 2 free nights, you don’t necessarily have to BOOK your nights by Jan 31st. You have until Dec 2015 to book the free nights, so as long as you have selected that you want to earn the 2 free nights instead of the miles, you should be ok. They said they would send out a few notifications prior to Jan 31 for you to make your decision.
Thanks for the clarification TMP! You’ve probably already answered this question somewhere, but can we book these online or do we need to call in to book them?
Btw – I’m currently at Andaz Maui in an ocean view suite and it’s a-m-a-z-i-n-g!!!! Haha ok, time to get off the computer and hit the pool =P
Do you know if reduced rates qualify for the promotions? Things like AAA rates, senior rates, etc? Or are advanced purchase rates and ‘best available rate’ the only rates that qualify?
AAA rates are eligible. That’s how I always book and the stays are already counting towards my ‘progress.’
Sounds promising, thanks!
Terms say no retroactive bonus for stays prior to registering. I’m on a stay now, after registering Sept. 7th. I did reserve it back in May, but I don’t see anything in the terms excluding that. Hopefully IHG will honor my stay….
Does the below mean that if I downloaded the app and booked for three nights at a Holiday Inn on Saturdays, I would complete all five tasks? Thanks,
25,000 points or 1 Free Night(s) Complete 3 offer and earn 25,000 bonus points or 1 free night
25,000 points or 1 Free Night(s) Complete all of your bonus offers and earn another 25,000 points or 1 free night
and here is what I have to complete:
500 points: Download and sign in to the IHG App and book a stay. The IHG App allows you to get mobile-exclusive rates, access your virtual membership card and more.
2000 points: Stay 3 night(s) at any of IHG’s 4,700 hotels worldwide.
2000 points: Book 2 stays directly on the ihg.com web/mobile sites or IHG App
4000 points: Stay 2 Saturdays at any of our IHG hotel brands.
2000 points: Stay at 2 Holiday Inn hotel(s).
If I complete the requirements before the end of October, will I be able to “claim” my nights soon thereafter, or will I need to wait for some “promo-end reckoning” where I can’t claim the rewards until January?
Here’s how I’m hoping IHG will work with us. I’ve booked three consecutive one-night reservations, using my stash of IHG points. Once the certificates post (along with my annual IHG Chase certificate) in January, I’m intending to call IHG and ask the CSR to cancel each reservation, one at a time, and immediately book the same reservation with my certs. This way, I’m hoping to stay 3 nights with certificates, and see 105,000 points re-deposited into my account.
If I want the points bonus instead of the free nights, let’s say I complete all the tasks by October 1. What date approximately would the points post to my account and be usable by me?
Any idea if a requirement to stay at, for instance, two Holiday Inn properties would be satisfied by Holiday Inn Express stays? Or is the Express category entirely different for purposes of the promotion?
Very good question. Those two are actually considered different hotel chains. So if your offer says “Holiday Inn”, Holiday Inn Express won’t work and vice versa.
As far as I know, it has to be PAID stays. I booked with points too when they had “Win Big” and was floored when my stays with points did not count towards the challenge.
Is “book” by Dec 2015 the same as use by that date? Could I book stays for 2016 as well as long as reservation is made in 2015?
Here’s mine:
500 Download and sign in to the IHG App and book a stay. The IHG App allows you to get mobile-exclusive rates, access your virtual membership card and more.
1000 Stay 3 night(s) at any of IHG’s 4,700 hotels worldwide.
1000 Book 2 stays directly on the ihg.com web/mobile sites or IHG App.
1000 Stay 2 Saturdays at any of our IHG hotel brands.
1000 Stay at 2 Holiday Inn hotel(s).
Can these offers be combined ?
Booking for a qualified hotel for a Saturday stay through their mobile app cover:
1000 Book 2 stays directly on the ihg.com web/mobile sites or IHG App.
1000 Stay 2 Saturdays at any of our IHG hotel brands.
1000 Stay at 2 Holiday Inn hotel(s).
Or are all offers independent of the other ?
These can be combined. That is, a single Saturday night stay at a Holiday Inn will count toward all three.
“must be redeemed by 31 December 2015” is the bit that’s interesting to me. Presumably once you book a room with the free nights the nights are considered redeemed even though you haven’t yet completed the stay…..so it should be possible to book rooms well into 2016 with these “fee nights”.
“fee” = “free”
Looks like my presumption was wrong – I just tweeted IHG and they’re saying that the nights have to be “consumed” by the end of 2015 as well. Here’s a link to the tweet https://twitter.com/ihgrewardsclub/status/514525592440410113
So just so you are all aware, not sure if this has been discussed before. My wife had an offer for 10,600 points if she booked on the app, now all of a sudden as soon as she booked it they changed the deal to 17 nights required for the same deal. Upon calling them they say that the offer was not incorrect that the amount of nights was incorrect. Basically IHG is a scam and this into the nights promotion is one big joke. Now that I look on flyertalk forums there are a lot of people with the same issue, classic bait and switch. Be aware out there!
Hopefully just a technical issue …
I’ve had four stays in the last four weeks and none are showing up on my promotion page yet. I should easily have my four offers complete soon, but can’t track my status. Is anyone having similar issues? I’ve emailed with no real answers.
@Alex,
One of my tasks was to complete a survey, a week had passed since I had taken the survey and it still didn’t show as completed yet, I called IHG to inquire about it and they said it could take 2 weeks or more to post. Low and behold after 2 weeks it had posted as Task Completed. I would hang tight for maybe a week and if it still doesn’t post, give IHG a call and ask them.
At this point my 9/24 stay seems to have posted, but to only 1 of 2 offers it’s eligible for. My 10/8, 10/14 and 10/21 stays have not. I’m in a field location one night a week and have the opportunity to rack up quite a few points and the free nights, but if I’m not ever going to see an update or get a response to my emails (other than we’ve forwarded on to the coordinator) I’ve got other places (and points programs) where I could stay. (Though I’m getting used to free upgrades).
Were you trying to do like a 2 birds 1 stone thing with one of your stays? I have 3 offers which are:
1) Stay 2 Saturdays at any IHG
2) Pay for a stay using the IHG credit card
3) Stay at an EVEN Hotel in Norwalk, CT or Rockville, MD
I’m staying at the EVEN Hotel tomorrow in CT, hoping that 1 stay will count towards the 3 scenarios above, I’ll have to stay 1 more Saturday somewhere as well in order to be fully complete.
Yes, killing three birds with one stone. Dashboard updated overnight. Achieved: download and book on app and book two stays on any ihg site/app. Also have 3 out of 5 nights complete, and one of two nights at HI express.
Nice! Hope you get the rest of the tasks completed :)
Does anyone know how long it takes to get your certificates to the 2 free nights once you complete your challenge? I selected the free nights but it didn’t say anything about when I will receive them. Thanks!
Did you look in the my account screen > Free Night Status on the left? If not, then not sure since IHG takes forever sometimes. But if you completed it last year (December) it should be there already. I got mine after 2 weeks max.
You should’ve gotten them already, you had to complete the challenge by Dec 31, 2014. I got my free nights on Dec 11th after selecting the “2 free nights” option.
Kim, check your “free night” section on the IHG Rewards site, under “Account Info”. Maybe they snuck it in there without fanfare.