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Hi all,
I signed up to Ambassador for the first time in December and have booked the Intercontinental Barcelona next month using the free night certificate. It is a Saturday / Sunday with rates of €220 and €340 respectively (plus taxes/fees). My understanding of the way the free night works is that is the second night that is free, so I should be charged €220 + taxes/fees in total. I picked Sat/Sun deliberately because of this (Saturday was cheaper than Friday or Sunday).
However my online reservation was adjusted to show a higher amount, which I queried with the hotel. I received the response “Please note that the procedure to process these certificates does not apply the way you explain on your previous email. We take an average cost of the two nights and we make a discount of the 50% in the total. This is like this because most of the time is the first night the one is most expensive.”
For anyone with experience of using the free night certificates, is this how it works in practice? Or should I be challenging the hotel to charge me only the first night cost as per my reservation?
Cheers, Alex
Your interpretation of how it works is correct, or at least has been for every time I have used a certificate. Check the T&Cs and challenge them again.
Yes it’s the second night that is free even if it more expensive than the first and hotels shouldn’t average it out.
Email the ambassador team about this and they should put the hotel right.
Great, thanks both for confirming – that’s what I thought / hoped! I’ll get in touch with the Ambassador team as you suggest rather than arguing with the hotel in the first instance. Cheers.
Good to know, I assumed it worked in the same way the IC Barcelona are incorrectly interpreting it. So the second night, regardless of price, is what’s ‘free’ and isn’t charged at checkout.
Tell them to talk to their colleagues at the Kimpton Barca since the IC doesnt understand what they’re doing, Kimpton got it right last month 🙂
IHG for once are really clear on the process. See note 3 https://www.ihg.com/intercontinental/content/gb/en/ambassador/free-weekend-certificate
From point 2:
“The Complimentary Weekend Night is not valid on any other rates or for suite bookings.”
This suggests you cannot book a suite, but from what I’ve read on here you can?
Request them to confirm that teh second nught is free at the published rate within 48h otherwise you will escalate to IHG.
From point 2:
“The Complimentary Weekend Night is not valid on any other rates or for suite bookings.”
This suggests you cannot book a suite, but from what I’ve read on here you can?
It’s on any room that the rate is offered, which is most of them in my experience (inc suites)
From point 2:
“The Complimentary Weekend Night is not valid on any other rates or for suite bookings.”
This suggests you cannot book a suite, but from what I’ve read on here you can?
It’s on any room that the rate is offered, which is most of them in my experience (inc suites)
Thanks. I thought that was the case!
@Peter K, we just used one for a very nice suite at The Willard in Washington DC so our teenager could have a separate sleeping/gaming (🙄) area.
During the pandemic I used up another certificate at the Kimpton Charlotte Square and IIRC they averaged out the cost, though I think that actually worked better for me as the first night was more expensive. But the Ts and Cs are that it’s the 2nd night free.
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