Reply To: IHG offer not redeemed due to T&Cs

[JDB]

Soso wrote:

Hi,

I had an offer back in August for ihg stay. I paid online due to cheaper price but now am being told i will not get cashback because the offer was on checkout only. I’ve never had an issue before with online payment for hotel offers (including IHG).
Is this a push from Amex and should I now look thoroughly at the offer’s term ? Anyone have similar recent experience ?

This is quite a common issue. The terms of these offers generally specify checkout spend although many people do report success in getting hotels to charge their cards in advance and it still works.

If you paid online, it may suggest the booking was paid centrally rather than directly at an eligible hotel. If an offer doesn’t track/trigger for this or any other reason Amex does tend to fall back on the specific offer terms to deny the cashback.