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Does anyone still have the T&Cs for the creation free night voucher? It used to be “book by”… and mine expires on June 5. Now IHG are telling me it is “book and stay by”.
Hi Boi – it’s definitely book by – it should say when you click on it to redeem it. IIRC, the only “book by” ones were ones which were reissued during the pandemic.
You need to use desktop rather than app to book beyond the “book by date”, confusingly!
Once you book though, if you cancel beyond that date, you lose the voucher.
It is book by. I have a voucher expiring in May and I have just used it to book a stay in August. I did this n the desktop site.
Hi,
I had a free night voucher issued for the Creation Platinum card last year. I used it in November to book a room in September this year. I now want to move the date of my booking forward by a month or so.
IHG are saying no as the redeem by date has passed, but as the voucher has been used, I am unable to check what this was.
Does anyone know what the redeem date would have been or the T&Cs? I don’t think they said anything about moving the date of the booking v cancelling and not getting the voucher back.
Any other tips or advice?
It’s always been the case that once the “redeem by” date has passed, you lose the voucher if you cancel the booking. It feels unfair but it’s the way IHG’s IT works and there’s usually nothing much they can do about this kind of issue.
People have tried to move (rather than cancel) bookings in the past, but tend to get passed between the hotel and IHG, who both claim they can’t do it. It may be worth another try though! Have you spoken to the hotel?
As for when your voucher was issued, it was normally just after the card anniversary date, IIRC. Do you still have your Creation card? If so there might be something on one of your statements to indicate when it was triggered.
Thanks. I had an email in April 23 confirming the free night voucher would be credited. I assume the expiry would have been 1 year from issue date?
Not spoken to hotel yet. IHG spoke to them but they said they couldn’t do it. I wondered about suggesting a ‘swap’ rather than a move. The night I originally booked is a peak period and rooms are now very high. The night I now want is about 50% less. Is that likely to affect their flexibility?
Thanks
As I mentioned above, I think it’s an IT issue rather than one of being flexible, they simply can’t bring the voucher back, as it were, once it’s expired, and there’s no mechanism to give you another night for free in place of the one you originally booked.
I’m not sure what you mean by a swap rather than a move – do you mean exchange the free night plus something else you have booked for one another? Again, I think the issue will be that they don’t have a way to do this. I don’t think the hotel will be able to help, tbh, but it’s always worth exhausting every option rather than lose a free night!
I think this is one of these unfortunate things. I have 18 days to book a room and no real need for a hotel I can currently think of so I’m in two minds what to do. I might book the George in Edinburgh so Mrs Froggee and I can have a “free” breakfast there.
One thing you should not do is just forget about the reservation if you cannot use it as there could be a sting in the tail as per this article.
https://www.headforpoints.com/2016/07/05/ihg-rewards-club-no-show-fine-penalty/
@Froggee, I’m in a similar position, need to book my last free Creation night by the start of July and no obvious booking to make with it, for various reasons.
One thing we’ve never done, however, is to spend New Year somewhere a bit more glamorous than home or a local pub, so I’ve used it for the Kimpton Fitzroy on NYE and booked the night either side, which are still quite reasonable, on a mix of cash and points. Just pondering whether to book a couple of avios flights to LHR or take the hugely risky gamble on the trains running with any degree of reliability 😂
I did consider the George but they may have pulled availability by now and I think Hogmanay can get a little hectic up that way!
@ben10 – is it a booking that someone else could use, and maybe buy you a little thank you gift in return?Thanks all.
I wasn’t looking to get the voucher back, only to move the free night to another date at the same hotel – as the IHG platform allows date changes without cancellation.
I was wondering if the hotel might ‘swap’ by giving me a free booking on another night and then I cancel the current booking, but as Froggee notes, maybe that isn’t such a bright idea!
I note that the voucher terms (that I can see on the booking, the full T&Cs have disappeared) just say the “Free Nights are not transferable, cannot be extended beyond the expiration date, redeemed for cash, or re-credited for points”. I’m not trying to extend or redeem for cash or points. It clearly doesn’t say “No changes can be made after the expiration date”. I accept that I wouldn’t get the voucher back if I cancelled after the expiry date. But maybe I’m splitting hairs?
Is anyone able to confirm that these vouchers were issued with a 1 year booking period? Having used the voucher, I cannot see. IHG seem to have no record of the booking period or the T&Cs for the Creation free night.
Good suggestion, but not sure I can think of anyone who will be in the area for the original booking.
Thanks all
I am in a similar position with the Creation Free Night. Have stayed at The George in Edinburgh, live in North West so Kimpton Clocktower not on the radar, have used free nights in Paris and London at ICs. Cardiff has a Voco but price oscillates can be as low as £119pn but over £300 on other occasions – it is labelled as 5 star. Does it compete with Celtic Manor as a 5 star venue? Ideas and views would be welcomed.
Hello – yes the vouchers were issued with a one year booking period. So I’m afraid your book by date would have been in April this year. It does seem impossible to find a workaround for this (quite a few people have tried). I’m guessing it is hard coded into IHG’s systems whereby the hotel does not get paid by IHG if the guest does not check in and I imagine contractually the hotel cannot do a fake check in for you to get paid but then let you stay another night. It is obviously possible for IHG to extend these vouchers as they did so during Covid but it appears it is something that the Customer Services team have no ability to do and the Covid decision must have been taken higher up and then coded into the system.
I feel your pain. Ts and Cs from the website below.
Terms & Conditions
Anniversary Night e-voucher reservations are valid for one standard room night rate and may be subject to taxes and fees. You will not earn IHG Rewards Club points when you redeem Anniversary Night. Rooms are limited, subject to prior sale and availability of allocated resources and may be unavailable during high demand periods. The Anniversary Night cannot be combined with any other offer, is not transferable, cannot be extended beyond the expiration date, redeemed for cash, or re-credited for points. Individual hotel’s cancellation policy applies to the use of the e-voucher. Cancellation fees apply if cancellation is made outside of the hotel’s cancellation time period. The number of nights and rooms you book cannot exceed the number of Anniversary Nights you have earned. After booking your Anniversary Night, you can add additional nights by booking a paid reservation. Anniversary Night e-voucher rules and regulations are subject to change. Creation Financial Services Ltd is not responsible for offer fulfilment.
Thanks again Froggee. Very helpful.
Makes sense re the hotel doing a ‘fake’ booking.
I’n still not seeing anything in those T&Cs which excludes making changes after the expiry date. And if it’s not in the T$Cs how can it be applied?
But I can see that I am very unlikely to get anywhere with IHG customer service on this point.
Anyone managed to get a complaint escalated to a higher power at IHG?
It seems the only realistic chance with IHG comes from dealing with their Ambassador desk who seem much more responsive and empowered. I think they have been unable to help on this also though.
On the terms and conditions, they certainly do not say you cannot make changes after the expiry date but equally they do not say you can.
I do not wish to sound like @JDB but common sense would say that you could not move it is otherwise you could repeatedly move the date and have a standing reservation at a hotel that could then effectively be carried forward indefinitely.
@JPJOULE
Both the Edinburgh and Glasgow Kimptons are very nice – the Glasgow one has amazing spa facilities.ICPL and Kimpton Fitzroy in London are also good.
Other than that, as they say, just use where you most need it! I can’t see any Voco being 5* though, are you sure that’s not just the reviews?
@ben10, I would interpret “cannot be extended” as meaning it can’t be used (as in redeemed) any later than the expiry date.Voco Cardiff is very good, but as you said their rate tends to be cheap so I wouldn’t waster my voucher there.
If you don’t mind travelling to Europe, IC Amsterdam and Regent Cannes are worth a look.
@froggee if you can make it to the Kimpton Glasgow you could get a ‘free’ dip in the very nice spa as well (times are restricted, though could go before breakfast)… Breakfast at the George was nice, but there are so many nice places for breakfast in Edinburgh
Glasgow before breakfast is somewhat out given paterfamilias and materfamilias duties. Plus I’m a member at OneSpa in Edinburgh and rarely go to make bubbles anyway.
It’s one of these dumb things. I stayed at Hilton Bankside when I was last in London as the rate with Amex cash back was so cheap. And I decided not to use the voucher for the Crowne Plaza at Changi as it was “only” £160.
I’m now regretting the above. I’m considering a somewhat speculative booking for London in October as Mrs Froggee would take a free breakfast at the George but it isn’t really that exciting as you say.
Fair enough! Is booking a night as a present for someone else an option (though that might breach the T&C’s)? I’m going to be giving away two hotels.com vouchers for similar reason – never saw a good value redemption where I was travelling, and now they’re expiring soon.
That’s fine, they just won’t be entitled to any status benefits like free breakfast (technically, I understand people sometimes get lucky).
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