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IHG Rewards Club is best known – at least amongst miles and points enthusiasts – for two things: PointBreaks and Accelerate. Yet we are nearing the end of January with no sign of either. What’s going on?
PointBreaks
The latest PointBreaks list was released in October 2019, with bookings available up until 31 January, 2020. Click here for details.
In general, IHG Rewards Club would release a new list on the final Monday of the month. Occasionally a preview would be released a bit earlier. With the latest version ending on 31 January, a new list OUGHT to have been released yesterday.
However if you check out the special website for IHG Rewards Club PointBreaks, you will simply find the leftovers of the current list (once sold out of their PB inventory, hotels will simply drop off on the list…).
Always proactive (if not always in a good mood), Loyalty Lobby chased IHG for an explanation, and was told that PointBreaks was taking a break.
Admittedly, it has been a long time since the PointBreaks list was aspirational. Even allowing for a price increase to a maximum of 15,000 points per night, the list of hotels remained poor. Yes an Intercontinental hotel or two would show up, but you could be certain that it would be off-season at the time. Intercontinental Park Lane? Yeah… keep dreaming.
Nonetheless, it would be a shame if PointBreaks disappeared forever. I usually managed to find some useful bargains, perhaps as a one-nighter near an airport.
Trying to think more optimistically, perhaps PointBreaks is on pause so that IHG can brainstorm ways to make it aspirational and exciting once again…
Accelerate
IHG’s standard promotion is called Accelerate. Click here for a generic explanation of how it works.
Accelerate usually runs year-round, but the version offered in autumn 2019 was poorly received.
As a result, IHG Rewards Club rushed out another promotion that stacked on top, offering up to quadruple points for stays until the end of January, 2020.
Moreover, 2019 was a bit of a mess, with certain members not targeted for the standard Accelerate promotion, so a separate promotion was overlapped during the late summer / early autumn.
But again… we have nearly reached the end of January, with no sign of another promotion from IHG Rewards Club. Of course there might be a short gap between promotions, but IHG has historically provided advance warning of their chain-wide promotions such as Accelerate.
What’s Going On?
I suppose it’s understandable that IHG is pausing to review its promotion strategy. The economy is booming, hotels are ever fuller. Giving away points unnecessarily is an expense that IHG might want to avoid. Yet IHG might not be fully aware that many IHG Rewards Club members choose IHG precisely because of its lucrative promotions.
Take those away… and there’s little reason for choose IHG over the likes of Marriott or Hilton, even if certain hotels have started to treat world famous blogger Joe Deeney better than the rest of us. 😉
Cheeky…
The current strategy (or lack of it) is interesting though as you say. Even with my new found love for Crowne Plazas and Spire status, I doubt I’ll be staying all that much with IHG this year if they’ve ditched the lucrative promotions.
I used to love PointBreaks, but apart from a stay last year at the Indigo in Manchester, I’m struggling to remember the last time there was anything on a list that I could use.
It would be annoying for the PointsBreaks to disappear, they were occasionally useful even if it was pretty rare I could take advantage of them. It’s interesting that the HIX at the NEC stuck around on the list from last time, you’d have thought that people working shows there would have snapped up nights pretty quickly.
As a UK member, the fact that their rewards catalogue has not been functional for over 1 month (it seems only the UK page once you commit to buy), has reduced the incentive to book ihg. The customer service has been awful, with no action taken or explanations provided. What is the purpose in having more points when ihg are restricting their value?
Out of curiosity, what is it in the rewards catalogue that interests you?
Apart from the prepaid debit card, I can’t think of anything…