InterContinental Offers Bonus for Winter Stays

Here’s another hotel bonus offer for stays during the first part of 2010.

Between February 1 and April 30, members of InterContinental’s Priority Club Rewards program can earn 1,000 bonus points or 200 airline miles for every qualifying night at InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, or Candlewood Suites hotels.

Up to 20,000 bonus points or 4,000 miles may be earned during the promotion.

Deal or No Deal

Priority Club members normally earn 2,000 points per stay at top-tier InterContinental hotels, 10 points per dollar spent at mid-priced brands, and five points per dollar at Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites properties. So the bonus represents a decent if unspectacular multiplier.

Perhaps the strongest aspect of this offer is its low barrier to participation: The bonus applies for the very first night. Other competing promotions require two or more stays (Choice, Marriott). And Hilton’s winter promotion offers no rewards at all until travelers rack up four stays or 10 nights. So the Priority Club offer, while not particularly generous, at least reaches out to travelers who fall short of road warrior status.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’ll remind readers yet again that the current crop of promotions extends the continuous string of hotel offers into the third straight year. Such marketing largesse is unprecedented and won’t continue indefinitely. As the economy rebounds, the offers will be scaled back.

Bonus points aren’t forever—get ’em while you can.