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There’s only a few days left of 2016, but most hotel programs seem to start their end-of-year clearout a little early. As such, now’s pretty much your last chance to log into all your hotel loyalty program accounts, and review your progress before it vanishes in preparation for 2017!
Why do you want to interrupt your post-Christmas resting to do this, you might ask?
If you’re a bit geeky like me, the answer is simply “to update my yearly spreadsheet”! (I managed about 10% more hotel nights in 2016 than 2015, so it tells me).
Much more importantly though, is to check that the right number of stays and points are showing.
While most programs let you “keep” your 2016 status through to early 2017 (the end of February is a popular time for status to expire), it’s the 31st of December that’s the cut-off for qualifying stays and activity. If you’re a few points or a night short of (re)qualifying for hotel elite status, checking today might let you sneak one last stay or points transfer in before the end of the year. With very little business travel right now, you can often get some very cheap deals at business-focused properties. (This is often termed a [i]mattress run[/i], if you want to search for suggestions online)
Another thing that might affect you is a stay that didn’t post properly. If you thought you’d done (say) the 5 stays for Hyatt Platinum status, but your account is only showing 4, now’s the time to double-check your details. While the progress bars and 2016 statuses are still shown, it’s easy to see if you’re missing something, and easier for customer services too. If there’s something missing, get in touch with the loyalty program customer services team ASAP to try to get it resolved before all their systems click over to 2017.
Otherwise, if your travel patterns have changed in 2016, this is your last chance to see the magic words Platinum / Diamond / Gold on your online accounts, before that sad drop down…
So, login and check while you still can!
Blowing clear through 75k points for Spire with only 10-11 nights looks pretty impressive.
I’m relatively new to the IHG program – do points earned during Accelerate promos count as qualifying points for status or simply bonus points for award stays? If it’s the former then I’ll definitely try to take advantage of the Q1 2017 promo.
Sadly only base points from stays, and credit card spend officially count for status points. (Unofficially, Virgin Atlantic points transfers seem to often count too…). So, your accelerate points will get you a free night or two, but sadly no closer to Gold / Platinum / Uninspired
Personally, I’m planning to put a fair amount of overseas spend on my IHG premium credit card, to get the free night voucher that gives at 10k. With any luck that’ll also get me enough qualifying points to make spire once again, despite not doing that many stays!
“Uninspired”. Love it Nick!