InterContinental Hong Kong hotel closes, to re-open as a Regent hotel in 2022

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• Louis says:

  5 Apr5 April 10:30

  I feel sorry for the 500 employees from IC HK that is being laid off in such a turbulent time for the hospitality industry, but it’s understandable why the management would want to start the refurbishment now given the terrible occupancy rate.

  • Rob says:

    5 Apr5 April 10:43

    They are being offered positions at other IHG properties apparently, although I admit 500 is a lot.

• Blindman says:

  5 Apr5 April 11:29

  Hi
  Qantas Oz special ticket.

  Friends have just received a refund in the form of a Voucher credit for their two tickets. They were due to fly in May.

  They did not ask for this, and would prefer the cash as they are unlikely to use this voucher.

  What would be their course of action to get such a refund in cash in light of the Eu stating that all airlines should give cash refunds?

  Thanks

  • Harry T says:

    5 Apr5 April 11:53

    They should ring or email Qantas CS and ask politely for a rerouting or cash refund under EC261. A rerouting/rebooking could be an interesting possibility because I believe that technically they shouldn’t have to pay a fare difference.

    @LadyLondon or @Shoestring should be able to clarify.

  • Lady London says:

    5 Apr5 April 11:59

    Nope
    Very important @Blindman
    A voucher cannot be given without the customers explicit agreement.
    Customer has full right under eu261 to get his cash fully refunded.
    Any airline taken to court must give cash back. Despite airlines currently stating “policies” that offer only a voucher these are illegal and the airline will lose in court. Some governments even appear to be supporting their own airlines in this. They can’t because EU law giving the refund supersedes any local country’s law.

    As well as the right to a refund, under ec261 customer can also choose a reasonably close in time reroute. They also have a right to choose to reroute IE be rebooked, to a later date for the same travel, that suits them.

    In the case of any cheap ticket to Australia you will not get the opportunity again, any voucher is highly unlikely not to cover the cost of a replacement ticket,so h*** yes I would I n s I s t on my right to reroute on a much later date of my choosing. You would also retain all these rights on the new date ticket if things were changed again for any reason on their side.

    It’s a no brainer to insist on reroute. Not voucher for sure, which you do not have to accept. And refund, in this particular case of highly desirable never-find-this-price-again travel, is defo better than voucher but not by much.

    Insist on your right to choose a later date a d have them reticket you.
    If you choose reroute and your airline says they don’t have any flights, any seats or any award seats on your chosen future date (be a little bit flexible if your play is to demand your right to same travel future date)then EU261 requires that they ticket you on somebody else and doesn’t have to be one of their preferred “partners”. Qatar is still flying if your airline is trying to weasel out of giving you your rights

    I am really surprised people are falling for these tricks by the airlines. Our few rights were hard won and even in peacetime the airlines regularly have devious strategies to try not to give what is due. They also try at every point to have the law amended to remove consumer protection

    So for sure refund not voucher, but your right to choose to travel on a later date without being subject to any increased cost, surely is more protective and useful here.

    • Blindman says:

      5 Apr5 April 12:22

      Hi
      Excellent.
      I was sort of thinking the same, but was unsure about the re-route option.
      As they only paid £400 for the two of them, the voucher is almost worthless.

      So basically they go in with guns blazing quoting EU261 right to be re routed at a later date (they can be flexible) when Qantas as flying again.

      Can they delay ringing Qantas due to the long wait times or is it prudent to call now?

      • Lady London says:

        5 Apr5 April 12:35

        Call now.
        If they want reroute they need to get in there while QatAr or whoever still has flight dates ahead. January is particularly nice in Australia.

        Technically it’s a reroute of same ticket so the furthest ahead date they will be able to reroute the same travel to will be between 11 and 11 and a half months of the date their ticket was issued ,(NOT their outbound date).

        Remember if they take another date they have same rights if flight cancelled or significantly moved on that date. Note though the passenger would lose out if they couldn’t travel or couldn’t fulfil any new visa or other requirements on that date -but same protection still applies if airline can’t do new date.

        But h*** I would still roll the dice and reroute to a later date. £200 is pretty much just an “option price” to have that.

        I did reply to you on your previous post asking this same question, @Bljndman, quite fully. Think it was about 5 days ago.

        Good luck!

        • Blindman says:

          5 Apr5 April 12:41

          Hi
          Sorry I missed that

          I never get updates to my posts replies and searching the chat is almost impossible.

        • Lady London says:

          5 Apr5 April 12:43

          *Remain polite but firm throughout.

    • Lady London says:

      5 Apr5 April 12:40

      And NO the airline is NOT entitled to charge any fare difference for a reroute. Even if you choose the option you are entitled to of being rerouted to do same travel on a later date that works for you. Give them room on that date in this situation – check which dates any airline is flying before you ask for the date!. I personally would give QF “any date in January” having had a quick squizz at airline websites first (not just Qantas).

    • Lady London says:

      5 Apr5 April 12:42

      Note that you could get your credit card to provide the rerouted later date ticket also at no cost to you. They’d try not to but you could just Google ec261/2004 text and job done

      • Blindman says:

        5 Apr5 April 13:10

        Have Gooled that.
        How would the CC company pay for the ticket?

        Cheers.

        • Charlieface says:

          5 Apr5 April 13:36

          In the usual fashion: from their bank account. They could net it off your credit card or give you a cheque or bank transfer

        • Lady London says:

          5 Apr5 April 17:43

          You would bill new ticket to card having agreed this with the cardco beforehand and the cardco carries the cost so you wouldn’t have to pay for the new ticket. Obvs agree with them keep a record then do.

          @Dawn agreed this with her cardco for replacement tix costing £5000 as they got abandoned by their original airline when their flight home from Australia was cancelled. Obvs their original tickets for the cancelled flight had cost a lot less than that. Technically you could buy and claim off cardco or insurance if covered, but make it easy on yourself by getting the xardco agreement first this is also reasonable behaviour.

          Law basis for being able to arrange it this way with cardco is
          1) under s75 cardco is jointly liable to ensure you get what you agreed to buy and the airline agreed to sell. So if the airline does not fulfill this contract under contract or statute, the credit card is responsible to.

          2) under statute (law) EC261/2004 a sale of an air ticket gives you the various rights I mentioned above that let you – not the airline – choose what you receive if any part of your ticket is cancelled or significantly changed. The credit card co is a party to the contract alongside the airline and must also provide you your statutory rights if the airline doesn’t

          If you bought a vacuum cleaner on a card and it broke quickly, even if the shop refused to refund or had gone bust, you could get a refund or a repair paid by your credit card. s75 again. There the statute is the Sale of Goods Act (I forgot the new name of its latest revision.) MSE is the best source on this. Same thing here.

          Tell them to choose a replacement flight quickly because you don’t know if more stop. If it can cancels again you have same rights. Personally I think you might have to get a certificate or a visa but guessing good chance January is fine and it’s a great time to go.

  • Lady London says:

    5 Apr5 April 12:19

    Practically
    1. Do what @Harry T says. Ask nicely. Keep a record of the call. Date, time, who you spoke to. Recording it might help. The airlines record all calls too, but it is amazing how many recordings are “lost” if required for court evidence.

    2. If they still say no either record your reasonable efforts or to make sure ask is this your final answer. I would absolutely have quoted my ec261/2004 rights to them by this time. A No answer would be their admission that they are breaking the law.

    3. If you paid on credit card once the above is done then if a uk credit card you have Section 75 rights (s.75). These mean credit card is jointly responsible for providing what you purchased, and also jointly responsible for a y legal rights you have connected with that purchase.

    So if you want a refund and airline wont give it to you or travel agent is not paying it over then you can call credit card co and request them to
    refund you under s.75

    Credit card co is also responsible for consequential losses under s.75.

    If you want your right under EC 261 to travel on a later date that suits you then the credit card is also jointly responsible for providing you that ticket without any increased cost (regardless of what that ticket might cost).

    4. If you paid on charge card (not credit card) then most cards also participate in chargeback. A chargeback gives you your money back because you did not get.whatyou purchased. It’s a favour done you by the card companies and not legally required as s.75 is. So if you paid by credit card you could claim chargeback but s75 is much more powerful. If you paid by charge card you only have chargeback.

    If ticket was paid by any Amex card then normally you would have no problem as Amex takes care of it, and has the reputation of sorting these things out since forever as part of their service, so unlikely you’d have to get technical like above.

    5. Insurance may cover you – check your terms on the date you purchased or renewed

    6. Last resort sue them for refund or cost of replacement ticket. You probably don’t have to go this far down the list.

    • Blindman says:

      5 Apr5 April 12:26

      Thanks

      I’ll pass this on 🙂

  • Charlieface says:

    5 Apr5 April 13:37

    Personally I would claim a refund in cash, and not mention the voucher received, hoping they wouldn’t cancel it. I would say it served them right

    • Blindman says:

      5 Apr5 April 14:36

      Even if they did “double dip” they would only get £400 each, so not a return ticket to Oz which is what they paid for (albeit very cheaply!)

    • Lady London says:

      5 Apr5 April 17:55

      Records are good enough that this would not work.

      Understand your sentiment though.

      For the benefit of readers I am not going to type this lot out again. Readers should note that these same rules apply to any ticket on any airline that departs from Europe, or any ticket on a Europe based airline regardless of where it departs from.

      Noting these rules also apply to, for example, British Airways, easyJet, Ryanair, or any other European airline. The European Transport Commissioner made a special statement on 18th March stating Ec261/2004 provisions are still in force and a voucher can only be given with a customer’s consent. So don’t consent.

      You also still have these rights if the date of your cancelled flight has passed. Just don’t do anything that could indicate you accept the voucher like trying to use it and send an email to confirm your rejection if you can.

• happeemonkee says:

  5 Apr5 April 12:20

  I used a now expired free night voucher for a stay at IC HK in September. The reservation is still showing on my account. Will IHG let me move the reservation to the Grand Stafford even though the free night has expired (that’s if the trip can go ahead)

  • JJ says:

    5 Apr5 April 18:49

    If you phone the IHG rewards desk and ask them to cancel the reservation, they can reissue a certificate valid from 6 months of they date you call.

    Had the same thing was meant to be at the IC Dang this weekend! 2 vouchers expired last year but were reissued now valid until October.

    • Lady London says:

      5 Apr5 April 19:39

      Sorry you’re not at the IC Da Nang this weekend @JJ! That’s one hotel I would love to see a review of on HfP. Also anything in Cambodia.

    • happeemonkee says:

      5 Apr5 April 19:52

      Thanks JJ. Will call tomorrow

• Justin says:

  5 Apr5 April 12:46

  Am I the only one that thinks that the Grand Stamford was superior to the IC HK? Yes the IC had great views and a bigger and more spacious hotel but I honestly could not find a single thing to fault at the Grand Stamford. That being said very interested to see how this is reborn into the Regent brand once again.

  • Mark M says:

    5 Apr5 April 13:47

    Totally agree – I stayed in the GS last January and could not fault it. Its views are the same too, and as an IC Spire Amb, we were upgraded to a stunning harbour view room. Maybe the basic rooms are less up-market perhaps?
    The GS costs 25% less normaly, and they are only a few 100 metres apart anyway.

• steph says:

  5 Apr5 April 17:08

  I signed up via this link and it did NOT offer the 3 months you advertised. I am yet to receive an email confirming 3 months free and payments are shown as, as if I had subscribed with the normal internet page! It will charge me the normal fee, via the link you gave, as of today. Very disappointed, as I now have to engage in emails with Amazon to show why I signed up in the first place with the free link(even though you gave no discount code) and hoe they will not charge me. Not the easy route to a freebie i these stressed times

  • Rob says:

    5 Apr5 April 18:08

    The offer is VERY clear on the landing page UNLESS you have had a trial in the last 18 months, in which case you don’t qualify and you wouldn’t have been shown the offer.

• Ian says:

  5 Apr5 April 18:21

  Is HfP now engaged in censorship? This article originally had reference to Charles Tyrwhitt no longer being an Avios partner. When I posted a comment saying this was wrong, the article was edited and my comment deleted. Outrageous behaviour…why couldn’t you simply acknowledge you got it wrong?

  • Rob says:

    5 Apr5 April 19:37

    You seem to assume that we spend 24/7 behind laptops, instead of indulging in normal family and personal lives. Quick fixes, usually done via a mobile, often have to do, especially at weekends.

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