How do IHG ‘Confirmable Suite Upgrade’ vouchers work?

When IHG, the hotel chain behind InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo etc, rolled out its new IHG One Rewards loyalty scheme in 2022, one of the key benefits was Confirmable Suite Upgrade vouchers.

This benefit turned out to be better than many of us expected.

Basically, as long as a ‘standard’ suite is available for cash, you can have it. The hotel can’t game the system if it hasn’t hit its upgrade cap – you call IHG and if a ‘standard’ suite is bookable for cash, the agent will rebook you into it without the hotel getting involved.

How do you earn a Confirmable Suite Upgrade?

Milestone Rewards are a key feature of the IHG One Rewards programme, launched in 2022.

If you do 20 or more IHG nights in a calendar year (rollover nights are NOT included), you can select your Milestone Rewards at the IHG website. ‘Confirmable Suite Upgrades’ are available as Milestone Rewards.

What I like about IHG’s Milestone Rewards is that it is a way of bringing together their disparate brands.

Do 20 nights in a Holiday Inn Express and you get a suite upgrade for a 5-night stay at any hotel, including top InterContinental properties. You can’t argue with that. If you want to carry on staying at a Holiday Inn Express on holiday, you can choose another reward such as £15 / $20 Food & Beverage Rewards.

How do IHG’s ‘Milestone Rewards’ work?

Before we go on, remember that IHG One Rewards has to cater for disparate groups of people:

• those who exclusively use the ‘select service’ brands (Holiday Inn Express etc)

• those who exclusively use the full service brands (InterContinental etc)

• those who switch between the two, either through choice or because they behave differently on business vs leisure trips or long vs short stays

This is what you get:

You have 90 days from hitting each milestone to make your selection. Let’s explain how these elements work:

• Bonus points – this is relatively clear. We value IHG One Rewards points at 0.4p each so 10,000 points are worth £40. On this basis, the food and drink vouchers are more valuable, unless all your stays are for work and your employer pays.

• Food and beverage rewards – these are worth £15 or equivalent. They are valid for 12 months. You can use multiple vouchers against the same restaurant or bar bill. You cannot use them against ‘market place’ charges where the hotel has a mini mart. They are non-transferable.

• Annual lounge membership – this is very valuable if you stay at full service hotels with lounges. It is valid for the current AND following calendar year, so you could get 20+ months out of it if you did 40 nights early in the calendar year. It is valid for you and a guest. Reward stays are included in this benefit.

• Confirmable Suite Upgrades – you can trigger these at 20 nights, 40 nights and 70 nights (x2) for a maximum of four per calendar year. They are valid for 365 days from the day you select them.

What is the small print for using a Confirmable Suite Upgrade?

Here are the rules:

• you need to have a cash booking made at Best Available Rate or a reward booking made with IHG One Rewards points (some other non-prepaid rates may also qualify but the small print is not clear)

• you can only call to request your suite upgrade from 14 days before arrival

• one upgrade voucher is good for up to five nights in a suite

• you have to be the guest – you can’t gift your stay in any way

• Six Senses hotels which do not take part in IHG One Rewards are excluded

It is also worth noting that upgrades are capacity controlled – it is not impossible, albeit rare, for your request to be refused. You do NOT receive the biggest suite available in the hotel so don’t expect the Presidential Suite, even if the hotel has one and it is vacant.

Whilst the ‘can’t upgrade until 14 days before arrival’ clause is arguably an issue, in reality it doesn’t matter that much. Because your booking is at Best Flexible Rate or is a reward, you have the ability to cancel and rebook – either for different dates or at a different hotel – if no suites are offered.

In reality, because few hotels have sold out of standard suites at 14 days before arrival, people are getting their upgrades OK.

The only quirk is that, if a suite is not available and you are offered an upgrade to a Club room, you will NOT receive access to the club lounge. At many hotels, a Club room is identical to a standard room apart from the lounge access, so there is zero benefit in using your suite upgrade here!

Are IHG’s suite upgrades better than Marriott’s Nightly Upgrade Awards?

Yes, I think so:

• The Marriott upgrade process is opaque – a hotels can refuse to release a suite for upgrade if it thinks it can sell it. IHG says that if a ‘standard’ suite is available for cash, you can have it.

• 50 nights at Marriott gets you 5 x one-night Nightly Upgrade Awards. 40 nights at IHG gets you 2 x ‘up to five night’ suite upgrades – and you only need 20 nights to earn your first one.

• However, Marriott will let you upgrade any cash rate including pre-paid rooms – IHG insists that you book a reward night or a Best Available Rate cash room

A lot will come down to your personal stay patterns. If you often do longer stays (3-5 nights) at the same hotel then being able to upgrade all of it with just one Confirmable Suite Upgrade voucher is attractive.

The IHG website for IHG One Rewards is here.

The terms and conditions for the various member benefits, including Confirmable Suite Upgrades, are here.

Our 2022 launch article on how to earn points and status in IHG One Rewards is here. Part 2, looking at IHG One Rewards and its status benefits, is here.