Do this now: IHG Rewards Set Your Sights promotion
/IHG Rewards has announced and opened registration for their upcoming promotion, called "Set Your Sights." Between January 1 and April 30, 2015, members can earn at least 50,000 IHG Rewards points for completing a series of tasks, which will vary depending on their history with the program. The rule seems to be that the more loyal you are to IHG Rewards, the more difficult your assigned tasks will be. Seems like a screwy approach to rewarding loyalty, but what do I know?
My Offer
I received what appears to be the baseline offer, which also happens to be almost identical to the offer I was targeted with for the current "Into the Nights" promotion. Here's my offer:
If I complete all five of my tasks, I'll earn an additional 25,000 points, for a total haul of 50,500 IHG Rewards points.
I was able to complete my tasks for "Into the Nights" by booking 2 stays and 3 nights, and I should be able to do the same during this promotion, as long as both stays are at Holiday Inn properties. The principle difference between this offer and my Into the Nights offer is that I had to book 2 Saturday nights to complete the "Weekender" task, while under this promotion I need a single weekend stay — though it has to be two or more nights.
Is it worth it?
To fulfill my tasks for Into the Nights, I spent a total of $643, earning 10,500 IHG Rewards points and 2 free night certificates, worth up to 100,000 total additional points (if both are redeemed at Category 9 properties), paying roughly 0.58 cents per point (plus 4 nights of needed accommodation).
For the current Set Your Sights promotion, I could book two weekend nights of an upcoming trip to New Orleans at the "French Quarter-Chateau Lemoyne," which apparently is a Holiday Inn, for $483 and an additional night at another Holiday Inn sometime during the promotional period. Assuming that extra night cost $150, I'd be paying 1.25 cents per point — over twice as much as I paid for Into the Nights!
At that price I'll probably stay on the sidelines for this one, unless additional trips come up that offer cheaper Holiday Inn stays or an unforeseen redemption opportunity makes that higher cost per point worth paying.
