InterContinental mulling positive changes to the Ambassador scheme

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• Steve says:

  9 Aug9 August 20:55

  OT: Iberia Plus – hit 90 days since account opened, 3 days ago, combine my Avios says account is less than 3 months old, fair enough I thought lets wait full 3 months even though Avios terms clearly says 90 days not 3 months, today hit the 3 month milestone, but combine my Avios still not working, spoke to the wonderful Iberia customer service center, told that accounts take 72 hours to activate in the first place so should try again on Sunday, apparently its 3 months since account activated once again contrary to terrms…day 97 or 3 months and 3 days!

  thankfully the 90k Avios cost me £400, if I had paid at groupon rates at 1p/avios I would not be happy that they are holding back my transfer.

  • Genghis says:

    10 Aug10 August 05:31

    Expensive. I paid half that.

    • Steve says:

      10 Aug10 August 08:08

      Sorry £400 for 2 people, mine are being transfered, other half’s account was new so I accept that we will be booking with her points directly from iberia

      Combine my avios now working, 95th day i think, 3 months and 1 day.

    • Lady London says:

      10 Aug10 August 09:42

      I usually miss everything but this one I took a punt on.

      I paid £275 on flights which overall I have a 50% likelihood of taking. That calculated out to
      the same price as I would have paid on another airline for flights I actually need. I know I could have done it for less. But even reading HfP I’ve not got the guts to really exploit something.

      Not sure if I have done the right thing but my work pattern is I can go somewhere either virtually immediately, or possibly (but not always) in the break between Christmas and New Year. I used all of them on a flight that was retailing for £700-£800 return over that period and has escalated in price hugely since (being Christmas period). I couldn’t pay just the £700-£800 and earn the miles and points because I need the flexibility to cancel and rebook. This is why I sent Iberia a legal notice saying I needed to keep the right I had at promotion booking time, to change a booking i had made. For that time of year, if I find myself free, cost of miles/real value of miles + ‘taxes’, plus the loss of earnings there would have been on a cash ticket, was close enough to OK for the flexibility to cancel and yet guarantee me a seat at a hard time of year to get any reasonable price if I do turn out to be able to travel.

      Not sure if I’ve made the right decision. The numbers don’t quite stack up to this being a good use of money/points but the value of the option to do something I generally can’t afford to do at Christmas if I do find myself free, was what I paid for.

• Travel Strong says:

  9 Aug9 August 21:48

  Do we think venetian/palazzo will be on board with honouring any of the first 5 bullet points? If they are – I’m in. But I just can’t see it.

  • r* says:

    26 Aug26 August 21:03

    Venetian doesnt have a buffet
    The room upgrade would likely be to one of the rooms on the third set of elevators
    They gave me 2pm checkout last time I was there.

• Premier01 says:

  10 Aug10 August 01:21

  Obviously only a proposal, but is the annual lounge pass a one-time pass for 1 guest and 1 night per year only?

  • Genghis says:

    10 Aug10 August 05:31

    What’s written is what is proposed. In my survey response I basically ripped the ambiguity of this to shreds.

  • Rob says:

    10 Aug10 August 09:24

    Who knows? The suite upgrade wouldn’t be one night of a multi-night stay would it?!

• George says:

  10 Aug10 August 11:04

  I got that email too. The good thing about participating in the survey was 5000 IHG points in the bank…

  • Alex Sm says:

    15 Aug15 August 10:29

    Cool! You would have to stay for a week at a HIX to get an equivalent

• Marc says:

  10 Aug10 August 18:16

  Good for 5k bonus points, every little helps but all a bit underwhelming…
  As with so many ‘improvements’ you have to mindful of what they don’t say.
  A current benefit not mentioned is the 10% points used ‘refund’, this has been very useful indeed to me and is a great perk that I would hate to see go, no mention of it here.
  I presume Club access would be for one guest as with the breakfast but it would be a very nice extra,.I’m not sure what the ‘Milestone’ will be, the anniversary maybe?
  I did read that the upgrade was for paid stays only but every time I’ve stayed with points I’ve had an upgrade, sometimes to a stunning room as in the IC Porto, a beautiful hotel.
  Keeping the 4pm check out is great although I did hear that there is also the ability to check in early, i.e. from 8am if available.
  Also it’s $50 extra making not such a good deal. Still we did all get a nice luggage tag free!
  Lets’ see what happens…

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