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I had a reward night booked in July in St Louis, Missouri. Two rooms, one night both on points. I’ll be arriving late and leaving early so just wanted something in town so I can take a quick trip to see the gateway arch and national park.
IHG have contacted me to say the hotel have left IHG and my reservation cancelled.Has anyone else been in similar circumstances and if so, what is the most you have got IHG to do for you. Is it just a case of booking something else and paying the current rate despite having booked a while ago when rates were cheaper. I am an IHG Diamond ambassador if that makes any difference.
I have never had this experience with IHG.
I have with other booking channels at least three times, a call to customer services resulted in a better hotel and no additional cost to me.
Call the diamond line and maybe they will give you a few points
It’s normally the case that if a hotel leaves a chain they won’t honour points bookings. I’m not sure where you stand in terms of breach of contract (@meta is good on this), as opposed to if they’d cancelled because they had oversold, however I would contact IHG and at the very least expect them to move you to another hotel for the same price. They are very responsive at the Ambassador email address, although sometimes you have to gently press your case to get the desired outcome!
There isn’t any decent options left with IHG, only HIE outside of the town centre or a really bad Indigo that gets the worse reviews. Someone said it was only one step up from sleeping on the streets.
Im now looking at Hilton/Marriott. I’m guessing IHG would never contemplate moving me to one of those.
There isn’t any decent options left with IHG, only HIE outside of the town centre or a really bad Indigo that gets the worse reviews. Someone said it was only one step up from sleeping on the streets.
Im now looking at Hilton/Marriott. I’m guessing IHG would never contemplate moving me to one of those.
It’s a bit of a tricky one and I think you are relying on the goodwill/embarrassment factor with IHG rather than any contractual obligation. In this situation, I think it’s better to tell them what you want the solution to be or at least offer alternatives, highlighting the ones you mention that you don’t want as not being suitable/comparable. While I don’t think you will get much, if any compensation for the hassle, they ought to put you back in the position you would have been. IHG needs to accept that an IHG status member shouldn’t be a victim of group contractual issues with individual hotels, particularly the abrupt departure of a hotel from the system leaving you to find an alternative at short notice in high season. Obviously, you will get your points returned so you are really looking for IHG to cover the additional cost you may incur in booking a suitable alternative, albeit they may give that to you in the form of points rather than cash. You can include asking for any ORC type credit!
If you chose the original hotel because it fully suited your purposes rather than just because it was IHG or a points bargain, that hotel might cut you a deal. If you explicitly chose the hotel because it was IHG and relied on that at the time of booking, it’s worth spelling that out in seeking compensation.
IHG and the hotel will have allocated a por of money to address these issues on severance of the contract. You just need to sound like you mean business to access some of that.
The IC O2 did this during Covid when it was more profitable for them to take huge sums of taxpayer money than provide rooms to those who had booked. IHG offered nothing but did point out that there was a holiday Inn Express nearby!
The Intercontinental hotel Sydney cancelled my new year 4 night stay in 2022 and lied and lied and lied about why. In the end the GM responded and made it clear that my rate was too low and that I should have known this given it was New Year. 4 nights was over £1800!!! IHG offered nothing and provided no help.
Loyalty Lobby has a great many examples of this and I am sad to say you are on your own. The Diamond desk may offer some points but it won’t be more than this.
I have long felt that Hotels ( and cruise lines) should be brought into to scope of EU261 to stop this. If you buy a business or sell a business then you buy/sell the liability and should honour bookings, at the very least you give the consumer a choice. There needs to be consequences for hotels who dump customers in this way just as there are for airlines.
Cruise lines are even worse as you could have spent years waiting for your trip only for it to be cancelled the day before travel with very little in the way of compensation or other options.
The IC O2 did this during Covid when it was more profitable for them to take huge sums of taxpayer money than provide rooms to those who had booked. IHG offered nothing but did point out that there was a holiday Inn Express nearby!
I had this with them as well. As a Spire Elite Ambassador member at the time I managed to get them to move the booking to the IC Park Lane for the same price, it took a lot of persuasion as all they offered me was the HIE in Royal Docks. If you have a prepaid rate, or have used points that have already been debited from your account they should reaccommodate you as there is a contract in place and payment has been received. You could also argue that IHG have a duty of care to reaccommodate you even if no payment has been made – I would love to the actual IHG guidelines on this.
Here is an update on the outcome for anyone who is interested. IHG have given me 20,000 points compensation for the booking cancellation. This is equal to the additional points I need to book an alternate IHG hotel in the area. What I have actually done is book with Marriott, who have given me a great rate via their best price guarantee, at a local hotel that better suits my needs.
I think it’s a reasonable outcome. It represents nearly 50% additional points than my original booking (42,000 points).
Here is an update on the outcome for anyone who is interested. IHG have given me 20,000 points compensation for the booking cancellation. This is equal to the additional points I need to book an alternate IHG hotel in the area. What I have actually done is book with Marriott, who have given me a great rate via their best price guarantee, at a local hotel that better suits my needs.
I think it’s a reasonable outcome. It represents nearly 50% additional points than my original booking (42,000 points).
You managed to get marriott to do a price match without claiming that the checkout time is 30 seconds different or such nonsense? 🙂
Yes, It was quite easy once I learned how to do it. I got a tip on the marriott forum with a link to the form. Made the booking, completed the form and they got back to me in less than 24 hours. Matched a rate I had seen on Hotels.com
Not only did they match the price but they also gave me an additional 25% off.
Only time i have ever tried. I’m guessing, from your comment, that they try to wriggle out of it quite often.Yes, It was quite easy once I learned how to do it. I got a tip on the marriott forum with a link to the form. Made the booking, completed the form and they got back to me in less than 24 hours. Matched a rate I had seen on Hotels.com
Not only did they match the price but they also gave me an additional 25% off.
Only time i have ever tried. I’m guessing, from your comment, that they try to wriggle out of it quite often.I wish IHG and Hilton did this.
IHG do. I used it successfully to book rooms for a group of us visiting Amsterdam.
Have a look here:
https://www.ihg.com/hotels/us/en/customer-care/forms/claim-lowest-internet-rateNo idea about Hilton. Don’t use them enough.
IHG do. I used it successfully to book rooms for a group of us visiting Amsterdam.
Have a look here:
https://www.ihg.com/hotels/us/en/customer-care/forms/claim-lowest-internet-rateNo idea about Hilton. Don’t use them enough.
Sorry, I was trying to be sarcastic.
IHG are notoriously bad at honouring their BPG. The excuses can be ridiculous.
I also had a bizarre excuse from Hilton last month.Someone made a similar comment on the Marriott thread, about them trying to dodge their price match.
I haven’t found eligible competitor sites for BPG for ages
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