In early November, fellow BoardingArea blogger Deals We Like wrote a post which shared some very interesting information- Spend $46 and Earn At Least 47,000 IHG Points!
The post highlighted a way to take part in the IHG Surprises Promotion and a way to enter without completing any hotel stays…
This sounded intriguing and since I love entering contests it was something I had to take part in.
The only problem was that entering is a real pain. Since it could rewarding, I went ahead and entered. The way you enter is by handwriting quite a bit of info on 3×5 cards and mailing them in. You can enter 94 times this way, one entry per envelope.
When the promo started in mid-November, I mailed out 70 entries over the course of around a week. (I’ve since mailed out 10 more.)
News started to trickle in of people getting responses in the form of e-mails from IHG Rewards Club. I started to worry since I had received nothing back. Did I waste my time and money on stamps entering? Who knows….
I decided to wait and see before trying to reach out to the promo’s administrator…
This past Friday (December 11), Deals We Like wrote an IHG Surprises Update. It appeared that people were receiving their prize e-mails on Fridays. I still had received nothing!
More nerves and wondering if I wasted my time…
Then, just as I was about to head out to pickup Lucas from School at 5:07 PM, I saw an e-mail from IHG Rewards Club and the subject You qualify for a Priceless Surprise!
Finally! I had actually received 21 IHG Surprise prize e-mails!
I went out to get Lucas and then excitedly opened my e-mails to claim my prizes.
The first nine e-mails were for the 500 points minimum. Then number 10 was for 1,000 points! From the remaining 11 prizes, I received one more 1,000 points prize with the rest being for 500 points.
So far my tally is 11,500 IHG points from 21 prize e-mails.
I’m looking forward to receiving more prize entries and hoping to win at least one prize larger than 1,000 points. If not, I’ll still be happy to have earned 48,000 IHG points from this contest.
Are you taking part in the IHG Priceless Surprises contest. If so, how have you done so far?
I received this response from Hello World this morning regarding the actual crediting of the points to our IHG accounts.
“Thank you for your email. Our team has confirmed that all accounts will be credited within (6) weeks. We sincerely apologize for this miscommunication, and any confusion it may have caused.
Please be assured that our team is working to update the language on the win screen to reflect the (6) week time frame.
We sincerely appreciate your patience and understanding. Have a very happy holiday!
Best regards,
HelloWorld Customer Care”
I had inquired about the “second” email that was supposed to follow the first(according to the language contained in the first email). After reading this response, it appears there will be no second email.
kj- Hopefully you receive some entries soon!
I actually have been staying with IHG and its way past the 5 days and got nothing past the original 1,000 points
Jake P- LOL Funny! I’d recommend registering immediately and sending in 89. You have some time to see if those other 5 count or not. Worse case, in a few weeks write/ send in the final 5! Good Luck!
askmrlee- Good luck!
Jake P- I’d think you would’ve received something by now. Are you sure that you registered for the promo? You need to do so for the mail-in entries to count.
Mark Ranck- I’ve been wondering about a follow up e-mail to regarding how to redeem the points. It has been a slow response but they probably didn’t expect to get hit with so many mail-in entries! And yes, it is fun! Good luck!
Michael- Hopefully they’ll be coming soon!
smitty- Right, I highly doubt they expected to see many handwritten entries. I could only imagine some poor employee opening envelopes one by one!
mikef- Sounds like you’re doing well so far! I also hand-wrote everything but used the unlined side of index cards.
Carl P- Interesting. I’d expect points to auto-post. Hopefully the points post without issue.
Vicente- Hopefully you get some e-mails soon. Are you sure you registered for the promo before sending in your entries?
@ MichaelW WOW. I’m a dingus, as my wife might say. Thanks for the heads up. I’m assuming that if I just registered right now, those first 5 entries won’t count? Glad I only sent in 5!
Now to get back to work writing 94 more!
My first 14 sent on day the contest said was first postmarked acceptance day, then 20 each day until done. Haven’t received any emails yet.
Spouse just finished sending out the last of their 94 a few days ago.
Crossing fingers our entries weren’t lost or rejected.
Mark – Here’s a thought. I had read some posts that indicated the link on all their emails were the same, and they just used one link multiple times. It’s as if it has a counter to just let you did it the right number of times.
I’d be curious id your link would allow you to play more.
smitty – I’d seen posts from a number people that had been advised there would not be a second email.
I sent a question to Hello World via their system. We’ll see if they respond. I’ll post a follow up if they do.
My wife and I sent out 10 each on day one of contest, last Friday (12-12) we both got 9 emails. She received 9 x 500 points, I was a bit luckier, 7 x 500 and 2 x 1000 points. We just mailed in another batch yesterday!. We both hand wrote the envelopes and used 3×5 lined index cards.
Hello World, the company that is managing the contest, is obviously understaffed to handle the flood of mail-in entries. Per contest rules, they are supposed to respond within 5 days of receiving the entry, but it is taking them weeks.
Yes, people are now receiving the “prize” entry email. But, I have yet to hear of anyone receiving the second email which explains how to actually redeem the points you won.
I have sent my first 10 on Nov 17, so far I have not had any response 🙁
I’ve only mailed in about 30 so far. Got 10 back about 3 weeks later and won one 1000 (all others were 500). It then says you’ll get an email with instructions on how to claim your points but have not received any follow-up email or my remaining 20 entries. Knew the 5 day turn around was likely impossible with all the volume but didn’t expect it to be weeks and weeks. Still fun (and free) 🙂
Man. I sent out 5 on the first day of the promo, and still nothing back…
I’m wondering if I need to do another set of 10 or so and hope I get a response? What do you think?
Sent 30 entries on 11/15, no emails yet. Thanks for the info that these come on Friday’s. Faith may be restored!