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There is a new IHG Rewards Fast Track to Gold or Platinum status. Registration will be open until August 31st, 2021.

Once you have registered, you have 90 days to complete:

• 2 paid nights for Gold status
• 5 paid nights for Platinum status (i.e. 3 more)

Your new level of status will be valid until December 2022.

The only potential stumbling block is that those paid nights must cost more than $30 per night. Award nights definitely do NOT count (including Points + Cash nights where you are actually buying points as part of the reservation).

Click here to register.

2021 Fast Track to IHG Rewards Platinum Elite Terms and Conditions

You must be an IHG® Rewards member and must register your member number in advance of staying, to participate in the “The Fast Track to IHG® Rewards Platinum Elite” promotion (“Promotion”). The promotion registration begins on March 8, 2021 and ends on August 31, 2021 (“Promotion Period”). Upon registration members will be presented with the opportunity to experience Gold Elite and Platinum Elite membership benefits for IHG® Rewards faster when paying a Qualifying Rate (as such rates are defined in the IHG Rewards terms and conditions). You must register for the Promotion by August 31, 2021.

By clicking “click to register” you are registering for the Promotion. Qualifying stays at participating IHG® brand hotels within 90 days of registering for the “Offer” will earn Gold Elite status after two (2) qualifying nights and Platinum Elite status after five (5) qualifying nights during the Stay Period. Stay period begins on March 8, 2021 and ends November 29, 2021 (“Stay Period”). Members will only be awarded status for nights occurring within the Promotion Period. Bookings made through on-line travel agencies or other reservations sites such as booking.com or expedia.com will not be eligible for this Promotion. Status upgrades are awarded pursuant to the IHG Rewards membership terms and conditions found at ihgrewardsclub.com.

The “Stay Period” is the period in which reservations are consumed; each registrant’s “Stay Period” is unique, as it is the period within 90 days after registration. Reservations consumed prior to registration or outside the Promotion Period will not be eligible for the Promotion. A stay can begin before the Promotion Period or end after the Promotion Period but will only receive the Promotion nights for dates within the Promotion Period. Nights that occurred before or after the Promotional Period are excluded. By way of example, a member who registers on August 31, 2021 has 90 days or until November 29, 2021 (“Stay Period’) after registration to complete their offer hurdle to reach Elite status. Offer status upgrade will be awarded into each member’s IHG® Rewards account instantly upon completion of the hurdle. Once a member receives a status upgrade during this Offer, the member may keep such status through the 2022 calendar year, after which the status must be earned for the 2023 calendar year and beyond, in accordance with the IHG® Rewards Membership Terms and Conditions.

Qualifying Stays (a minimum 1-night stay booked under a Qualifying Rate, with total spend exceeding US $30 for each night). For additional details on Qualifying Rates, please see the full IHG® Rewards Members Terms and Conditions. Only one room per member per Qualifying Stay will be eligible for the applicable bonus points, or other benefits (if any) available under the applicable Promotion. If more than one member checks into the same room, only one member is eligible to earn nights under the promotion. If a member books more than one room on the same night, they will only receive Promotion nights on one room. No retroactive promotion nights will be awarded for nights prior to registration in the Promotion.

An Even Faster Way To IHG Platinum Status

If you have five paid nights planned at an IHG hotel before November, then you certainly might want to consider the fast track. But if you think that you might visit an InterContinental hotel in 2021 or 2022, then you will actually want to sign up to Ambassador.

To become an Ambassador member, you simply pay $200 or 40,000 IHG points at any time and your Ambassador status will be valid for a year. Ambassador is only useful at InterContinental branded hotels, but it comes with instant Platinum status in IHG Rewards valid for the rest of the calendar year and all of the next.

The Ambassador program also comes with a certificate valid for one free weekend night when booking a 2+ night stay – this can be quite valuable if used strategically!

And because you probably aren’t travelling very much at the moment, you probably are in no rush to sign up for Ambassador. You would be well advised to wait and see what happens. Last year, Ambassador offered new members a free night at most IHG hotels (up to 40,000 points) simply by completing one paid stay.

Bottom line

IHG Platinum isn’t the most exciting elite status in the hotel world, but it can certainly come in handy. The new IHG Rewards elite status fast track is worth considering, but note that registration is open until August, so there is no need to sign up right now.