What a gem!
Virtually every hotel chain has launched a fall bonus offer, designed to win your business over the other. Bonus points are nice, 20% off is fine, but giving someone a chance to test drive top tier hotel elite guest status is a whole different ballpark. IHG, the group behind Intercontinental, Kimpton and many other preferred hotels is offering a 90 day free trial, allowing you to instantly register for top tier status. Get in while you can, because this offer is hot…
The Offer
It’s super simple. Register for IHG Rewards or link your current account and hit send. Via this offer page, you’ll be able to instant upgrade your account to “Spire Elite” in the IHG Rewards Club scheme for 90 days. The status will expire on the 31st of December, 2018. No previous elite status with any other hotel chain is required. There’s no telling when this offer will expire, so if this could benefit an upcoming hotel stay, or sway some loyalty – dive in now. Offer is here.
Great Move
This is the season where every traveler weighs their loyalty. Was all that effort worth it? Did I really benefit from the benefits I paid so much to receive? This is a brilliant way to pick off potentially disillusioned travelers who’ve experienced a rocky year with their loyalty program. November and December are two of the best times of year to travel thanks to low fares and off peak hotel pricing. Couple this with the top tier elite status and your fall travel may have just received a serious upgrade, not even including the room upgrades!
Fine Print
There’s really not much fine print. It’s important to keep in mind that this is really only worth doing if you plan to actually take advantage of the status benefits. If you have lots of upcoming travel, Marriott’s fast track to Gold or Platinum could also be worth your time. Here’s the t&c’s from IHG themselves. Enjoy your top tier guest status!
HT: VFTW
Thanks for posting this…I can’t believe there isn’t more publicity about this. Also, the status does not end on Dec. 31, it ends 90 days after you sign up. Though one does need to “consume” the nights to preserve the trial status by Jan. 29. One question I have (though I think I know the answer): they don’t actually give you the 25k points that usually go with this status, do they? Anyway, I signed up, and I hope I’ll be able to add enough IHG stays to an upcoming Asia trip to at least keep Plat status for a year.
I was reading in the fine print on the IHG website that one needs to have a corporate affiliation to take advantage of this offer you don’t speak about that in the article. What is the corporate affiliation and corporate codes necessary qualify?
The offer requires no corporate code. When one is needed it generally won’t allow registration. This is always a crapshoot with these offers, but the upside is big if you luck out.
” It’s important to keep in mind that this is really only worth doing if you plan to actually take advantage of the status benefits”
What do you mean by this? I am a last minute traveler because I never know my schedule for at least 2 weeks in advance. So If i were to take advantage of this now, does this mean I cannot take advantage of such an offer in the future?
I signed up, but my account status didn’t change. Maybe it’s because of what Lloyd was saying about needing a certain corp email?
VERY IMPORTANT – You’re omitting that in addition to registering you have to complete ONE QUALIFYING PAID STAY after registering and by Oct 31. In other words, if you register today then you also have to stay at an IHG hotel either tonight, tomorrow night, or Tuesday night.
BIG DEAL.
Sorry, that’s just not accurate.
“Try Spire Elite for 90 days as soon as you join”.
If you want to extend the status, that could in minor theory be part of it, but it’s just not.
straight from the fine print:
“All full-time employees of an Eligible Company, who register in advance, stay at any IHG hotel between August 1, 2018 and October 31, 2018 and book through ihg.com or an eligible company booking tool…………”
It doesn’t say that…try increasing your reading comprehnsion just a little bit
My status sure didn’t change.
I even got the confirmation email.
Here it is, right from the TOS:
All full-time employees of an Eligible Company, who register in advance, stay at any IHG hotel between August 1, 2018 and October 31, 2018 and book through ihg.com or an eligible company booking tool will retain Spire Elite status after ten (10) qualifying nights and Platinum Elite status after five (5) qualifying nights during the Offer period. If the member does not make the designated nights during the 90 day offer period then they will be downgraded to their previous membership level as of January 30, 2019.
Must have a stay between Aug 1 and Halloween, inclusive.
No tickee, no washee!!
I’m IHG Spire and Ambassador and Spire doesn’t get you much at most properties. Maybe some bonus welcome points or minor stuff. It’s nice to have but the main thing it gets you is bonus points per dollar.