IHG guaranteed room benefit

[WJACK]

I had signed up for the IHG Diamond Elite offer highlighted by HFP then as chance would have it needed to book a Holiday Inn Express in Belgium for three nights. When trying to book online there was no availability so after calling customer service I was put through to the hotel who then after checking my IHG status made a booking. After the call I was concerned maybe someone has just had their booking cancelled to fit me in. I assume they keep a percentage of rroms free for this sort of thing?

[davefl]

No, they’ll either pay overtime/extra for housekeeping to make up a room where someone checked out that day, or they’ll walk a non-status guest to another nearby hotel (or just reject them at checkin) saying there was an overbook etc.

It’s one of the few benefits of platinum status.

I did it a couple of years ago in Upper Michigan where the only decent hotel was a sold out IHG one and the alternative would have been a 100 mile drive and a very early start next day.

[Supergers49]

I had to do this at the Pullman Munich a few years ago. We were on holiday, my wife unexpectedly had to go into hosiptal for an operation while there. I asked to extend the room booking by a week, they refused. It turned out that as I was Accor Platinum I had a guaranteed room with 48/72 hours notice, so they acquiesced… however they did say another customer would be getting moved.

[dst87]

Interesting… I didn’t know this was a benefit. I wonder if it would work for hotels in Liverpool over Eurovision weekend… I assume you need to contact the hotel directly, as even when signed in I cannot book online.

Though, I suppose they can offer to sell me a room for £2,500 / night and stop me using that benefit in that way. Seems tenuous, really.

[davefl]

dst87 wrote:

Interesting… I didn’t know this was a benefit. I wonder if it would work for hotels in Liverpool over Eurovision weekend… I assume you need to contact the hotel directly, as even when signed in I cannot book online.

Though, I suppose they can offer to sell me a room for £2,500 / night and stop me using that benefit in that way. Seems tenuous, really.

No, you need to go via the IHG call centre, not the hotel. I paid standard rate, no idea what would happen in a case where the city is selling at stupid rates.

[WJACK]

davefl wrote:

dst87 wrote:

Interesting… I didn’t know this was a benefit. I wonder if it would work for hotels in Liverpool over Eurovision weekend… I assume you need to contact the hotel directly, as even when signed in I cannot book online.

Though, I suppose they can offer to sell me a room for £2,500 / night and stop me using that benefit in that way. Seems tenuous, really.

No, you need to go via the IHG call centre, not the hotel. I paid standard rate, no idea what would happen in a case where the city is selling at stupid rates.

I got the room for a standard rate