IHG is fixing the free night problem on the IHG Rewards Premium credit card

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• Andy says:

  21 Sep21 September 04:30

  I still haven’t received mine from two years. After countless emails and calls I told them to stick it and vowed to never use IHG again. Poor service

  • Ls says:

    21 Sep21 September 07:27

    Make a complaint to the credit card company. Say your free night is valued at … whatever you can make it reasonably seem. I imagine £200+. Ask for this to be paid if the voucher is not put in your account. Take to the ombudsman if they fail or refuse. You will win, and have the cash equivalent, rather than the voucher. It is the better position.

    • Andy says:

      21 Sep21 September 07:33

      I phoned Creation and they told me to speak to IHG. I then called IHG and they told me I had to call creation. I no longer have the credit card as a result. Probably worth me chasing this up again.

      • Mark says:

        21 Sep21 September 08:30

        Exactly what happened to me. After six months of IHG telling me there’s a problem they are working on with no expected resolution date, and then finally admitting that they weren’t getting engagement from Creation I’ve now raised a formal complaint with the latter as it was Creation with whom a I entered into a contract to provide it. IHG also told me the problem is affecting a number of people.

        If Creation don’t fix it, it will be going to the Ombudsman. Only reason I let it run this long is that I wouldn’t have much opportunity to use it so far.

        • Yorkie Aid says:

          21 Sep21 September 10:29

          Same here. Still waiting for mine from March 2021. Received and used the 2020 one OK. Creation told me it was a known IT problem and they were working on it.

        • Mark says:

          21 Sep21 September 12:09

          Working on it since at least the start of year doesn’t really cut it though… How hard can it be to deliver what was promised and presumably was working?

        • Yorkie Aid says:

          21 Sep21 September 12:50

          I agree 100%

        • QFFlyer says:

          23 Sep23 September 01:16

          My OH had an issue with this year’s certificate, I fired off an email to both Creation and IHG and it was resolved in a couple of weeks. Never heard a word from Creation, but IHG were pretty good at responding within a few hours each time.

    • the_real_a says:

      21 Sep21 September 13:02

      Just remember to claim a monetary amount from the ombudsman. They have no power to, and will not award a points/gift settlement if you move for a judgement (after the initial voluntary resolution stage)

      • Mark says:

        21 Sep21 September 13:21

        Would be interested to know others thoughts on what an appropriate amount would be and experience for anyone who has reached that point. Can the Ombudsman substitute a lower amount if they consider it too high?

  • Michael says:

    21 Sep21 September 13:15

    Kind of pleased to hear I’m not the only one this has happened to!
    A year after the voucher should have been posted neither IHG or Creation could help. Creation cited an “internal ongoing issue”. They ‘guaranteed’ I would get the voucher but could not say when. I asked if it would be days, weeks, months or years and they wrote to me saying they had no idea. So I raised a formal complaint and they gave me a £150 as a gesture of goodwill.
    I told them their ‘guarantee’ I would get the voucher was worthless if they could not provide any estimate of when that would be. The £150 didn’t cut it either, as a free night at certain properties could easily be £700+ on certain dates.
    The complaint is now with the Ombudsman.
    Pretty shocking that Creation weren’t able to offer the key benefit of the card for so many customers.

    • Yorkie Aid says:

      21 Sep21 September 15:49

      Well done for raising with the ombudsman Michael. Please keep us informed of the result.

• Nick says:

  21 Sep21 September 06:04

  I’d missed this subtlety altogether – helps a lot.
  So my free night with a “booking date” expiry of Jan ‘22 just needs to be booked by then, rather than me having to actually use it in the next 3/4 months?

  Presumably if I go beyond that date, I lose flexibility though? I.e. if I had to cancel the night I’d booked, I won’t get the voucher back if I do so after January?

  • Nick says:

    21 Sep21 September 06:23

    Correct, you will lose the certificate if you try to change it after the book by date, in my past experience. Anytime prior to that a change is OK, as it’s ‘redeposited’ (provided it’s prior to the book by date).

  • YC says:

    21 Sep21 September 07:43

    I’m not sure if there are differences with ‘the extension’ voucher vs the voucher that u earn every 12months. Rob can you clarify if it’s book by for both?

    • Rob says:

      21 Sep21 September 09:07

      There are not meant to be any differences. It’s just when IHG extended the vouchers, they messed up and coded them wrongly. All UK card vouchers should be ‘book by’ and not ‘stay by’.

      • Phillip says:

        21 Sep21 September 09:14

        Thanks Rob. I was always under the impression that they were “book and stay by” and that we were quietly getting away with being able to “book by” for stays up to a year in advance. I just assumed the recent change was them actually enforcing the rules!

• Olly says:

  21 Sep21 September 06:07

  Does the free night voucher work at the Six Senses resorts?

  • Memesweeper says:

    21 Sep21 September 08:05

    Most aren’t even available for points never mind the free cert.

    The one that I know *is* available on points is Ibiza. So you might be able to find a free night there?

    • Olly says:

      21 Sep21 September 08:48

      There’s quite a few available on points now (HfP ran an article earlier in the year about it) but still not obvious about the free nights. Looks unlikely though

• Benilyn says:

  21 Sep21 September 06:22

  Good work 👍

• QFFlyer says:

  21 Sep21 September 07:08

  Thanks, I hadn’t even noticed this was an issue but sure enough.

• Matt says:

  21 Sep21 September 07:12

  Thank you, Rob. Added to yesterday’s US news it looks like I might finally be able to put these vouchers to good use.
  I wonder if it will be obvious in our accounts when the issue is resolved.

• Rob says:

  21 Sep21 September 07:16

  Always thought it was required to STAY by the expiry date, so this is a neat clarification.

  Any likleyhood IHG will extend the expiry dates on these vouchers again?

• Anna says:

  21 Sep21 September 07:24

  Great, thanks!

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