Priority Club Insider

What: Save 50% with Last Minute Reward Nights: Be spontaneous! Book your weekend getaway now for stays on February 3, 4, and/or 5th.

Brands: All brands feature including the following InterContinentals all at 15,000 points

• Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts Cairo Semiramis
• Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts Chicago O’hare
• Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts Dallas
• Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts Houston Near The Galleria
• Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts Malta
• Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts Qingdao
• Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts Santiago
• Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts Taba Heights (20,000 points)
• Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts San Francisco (20,000 points)

Where: 120 locations worldwide

When: For any nights February 3, 4, and/or 5th.

How: Book here

What: Weekends are precious, so you need to make the most of them. Treat yourself and the family to a value-packed weekend, fun included, and create special moments that you’ll remember for years to come. Choose your break from any of our participating hotels and resorts across India, Middle East and Africa, and we’ll take care of the rest.
Your fun-packed weekend break starts right now.

When:

- Booking until 29th March 2012

- Stays until 31st March 2012.

Brands: InterContinetal, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express

How: See participating hotels

Folks, get in there quick – the new points break list has been updated. Now valid for stays until March t31st 2012!

A fairly average/poor list – but depends on where you need to go….

Book now…

(What are Points Breaks anyway?)

What: Earn double Priority Club Rewards points until 30th April.

“From January 23 through April 30, 2012, earn Double Points or Double Miles on every qualifying stay, starting on your 2nd stay. Stay at Staybridge Suites® or Candlewood Suites® and you’ll start earning double on your 1st qualifying stay. Now, go discover all the world has to offer and earn while you’re there..“

Notes

* You only earn double points on your second stay at most hotels except Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites hotels where you start earning on the first stay.

Where: Worldwide

Brands: All brands – InterContinental,Crowne Plaza, Indigo, Holiday Inn and Express by Holiday Inn hotels, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites

When: 23rd January – 30th April 2012

How: Register now… or try this

(For all points offers see All Current Points Offers )

What: Effective 2012 February 15, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean plus all Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, and Holiday Inn Express hotel brands worldwide, you will receive ten (10) points for each USD dollar or local currency equivalent paid toward Eligible Charges on your individual hotel room bill, when you pay Qualifying Room Rates, or the applicable airline miles.

Prior to this change:

- InterContinental hotels rewarded: 2,000 per stay+ 1,000 per stay if your were an Ambassador + 1,000 per stay if you were Royal Ambassador

- All other brands mentioned above already awarded 10 points for Eligible Charges on your individual hotel room bill (no change)

- Currently I assume that the Ambassador / Royal Ambassador bonuses will be dropped and the Gold (10%) and Platinum (50%) bonuses will kick in (this is unconfirmed)

The official press release – which in itself is very confusing – as y0u have no idea which scheme you will be on between now and the 15h Feb.

Although we will continue our focus on providing Priority Club members with new ways to redeem their points, this new earning structure at InterContinental Hotels will allow them to earn them faster than ever before, too,”  said Don Berg, vice president, Loyalty Programs and Partnerships, IHG.  “Priority Club members who stay at InterContinental properties between now and February 15 will begin to experience this richer earning policy as we operationally ramp up the program over the next 30 days,” said Berg.  Starting Feb. 15, all members can expect to earn at the new rate

The bottom line – if you stayed in cheaper InterContinental hotels for one night stays then you likely to be worse off under the new scheme – on the other-hand those with longer stays or those who stay in higher end hotels should be happy that Priority Club have removed this oddity in the earnings structure. The only questions remains is why this hasn’t been rolled out to the rest of the world?

Even with Priority club saying that some hotels will need less points for a night’s stay – the overriding feeling is that we are in for a increase for the hotels we actually want to say in when we redeem our points – which are those typically in locations where we holiday/vacation.

So what’s the “official” response to feedback from Priority Club (thank you Cris):

Thank you for your reply. We appreciate your feedback and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Your comments have been documented and shared with the management staff of the Priority Club® Rewards Service Center. The information is also available to our corporate executives that make decisions pertaining to future enhancements of our program.

Our Priority Club Rewards members are our most valued customers and we appreciate your loyalty to our hotels. Your honest feedback allows us to make future enhancements to our program and ensure our members are satisfied with our program.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to contact us as we value your patronage. Should you require further assistance, please feel free to contact the Priority Club Service Center again.

The only bit of good news – you can book rooms at the old rates until March 18th 2012 via telephone (see small print)

The Reward Night chart above is effective January 18, 2012.  If the hotel that you originally planned to book now requires more points, simply call the Priority Club Service Center to reserve your Reward Night and ask for the original point price.  This offer is valid through March 18, 2012.

What: With the arrival of the latest rebrand of the IHG website – the links on this site for the 2 for 1 and other discounted rates no longer worked. I’ve now updated all links so they all work again. In addition I tried to book some rooms in late January and I can confirm that the 2-for-1 rate is still working fine.

Where: Worldwide (some rates are restricted to certain geographical areas)

When: On going. (Although many rates have end dates – the promotions seem to continuously renew)

How: See All Current Rate Offers

What: From the 18th January the number of points required to book some hotels will be going up – in some cases by as much as 40% for some Crowne Plaza/Indigo branded Hotels.

Only back in 2010 did IHG say the following – shame they couldn’t stand by their own words:

“If you want your loyal customers to stick with you during tough times, it’s vital to show you appreciate them and give them more value, not less. So it’s no wonder there was such a negative reaction to Hilton devaluing their points programme,” said Tom Seddon, chief marketing officer, IHG

The new redemption levels are as follows…

Holiday Inn Express / Express by Holiday Inn:

• Was: 10,000 – 15,000 – 25,000
• Now: 10,000 – 15,000 – 20,000 – 25,000

Holiday Inn:

• Was: 10,000 – 15,000 – 25,000
• Now: 10,000 – 15,000 - 20,000 – 25,000

Candlewood Suites

• Was: 15,000
• Now: 15,000 – 20,000

Staybridge Suites

• Was: 20,000
• Now: 20,000 - 25,000

Crowne Plaza:

• Was: 25,000
• Now: 25,000 – 35,000

Hotel Indigo:

• Was: 25,000
• Now: 25,000 – 35,000

Intercontinental:

• Was: 30,000 – 40,000
• Now: 30,000 – 40,000 – 50,000

When: Effective from the 18th January – act now!

More Information: See Priority Club Website

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