IHG magic upgrades appearing again!

[NorthernLass]

Sometime during the pandemic (it’s all blurred together for me!) I started a discussion about estandby upgrades on IHG bookings. These tended to appear if you were logged out of your account or could seemingly be generated by logging out and back into the account while remaining on your booking page. They seem to have started again – a few days ago I got an offer to upgrade from my points booked room at the IC BOS to a superior suite for $160 pn – the current cash price of that suite is nearly $1000 pn. Worth checking current bookings as there can be some really good offers. Other bookings also seem to have offers attached now though I haven’t yet checked what they are.

[janed9388]

Just tried logging in and out on my booking and nothing for me 🙁 although stay not till August so perhaps too early. do they appear in a pop-up when you log back in or are they somewhere obvious ?

[Aston100]

janed9388 wrote:

Just tried logging in and out on my booking and nothing for me 🙁 although stay not till August so perhaps too early. do they appear in a pop-up when you log back in or are they somewhere obvious ?

The way I used to get them to appear was to login on desktop; go into the details of a booking; logout (but remain on the details page); refresh the page.
An e-upgrade option would sometimes appear on the left hand side of the page.
Would often be things I didn’t find useful such as early/late check in/out; add breakfast for £xx; add afternoon tea for £xx (I did book that once admittedly). But on occasion there would be a room upgrade offer.
I once got an offer to upgrade a standard reward booking to a junior suite for about £15 per night if I recall correctly.

• This reply was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[ChrisC]

Have had emails offering upgrades on the odd occasion – usually 3-4 days before the stay is due.

I do have a look but have not been moved to partake yet.

[NorthernLass]

These are specifically the “estandby” offers – Hilton and other chains use them as well so I think there’s some sort of algorithm involved and they don’t actually come directly from the hotel you’ve booked. The confirmation emails always have the phrase “powered by nor1” at the top – whatever that means!

Be aware they are not usually confirmed till check in as they are STA but the IC BOS has confirmed mine so it can pay to “reach out” to the hotel directly if you want to lock one of these in.

[NorthernLass]

@janed – click through to your reservation details and they appear as “estandby offer” in big red letters!

[janed9388]

it worked :-). I forgot to log off and my reservation was left open on the PC over the weekend and had logged out and when I refreshed the page the estandby was there – very pleased to see the room I wanted for an extra $10 per night (king plus one set of bunk beds) or $14 (2 sets of bunks). Seems like a pretty good deal for a Holiday Inn room for 15,000 points. Thanks for the tip and fingers crossed.

• This reply was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[ChrisC]

Just has email re my booking for the HI Manchester this weekend and these came up after clicking the “more reservation details” button and then the “show my custom upgrades” one

£10 instead of £ 30 for a “rustic” afternoon tea

£ 20 a night to upgrade to an executive room (instead of £30)

And this absolute bargain that is tempting me – £26 for a bottle of Prosecco. Saving me 95p!

• This reply was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[NorthernLass]

Currently at the IC Boston. 84k points plus one free night certificate (boo sucks to you, Mr X!) plus $160 pn upgrade fee has got us 3 nights in a 1200 square foot superior suite with a huge lounge, lobby, 2 queen bedroom and 1 1/2 bathrooms. Best estandby result ever! Amazing views right onto Boston harbour and the tea party museum ship.

[joshualh]

I seen these the other day but now won’t appear for me since the IHGOne website redesign 🙁 Any tips to make them reappear? I’d quite like to estandby upgrade for a few upcoming bookings. or do they only tend to appear closer to the booking date?

[NorthernLass]

I seem to be getting more since the change! Just as per the tips above, try logging out and back in a couple of times (or refresh) while on the “booking details” page. Or if you check your original confirmation emails, there’s sometimes a link saying something like “more details about this booking”, and if you click on that an upgrade offer sometimes appears.

I got an upgrade to a penthouse suite at the Manchester Indigo for £60 this weekend, well worth it – the standard room rate was rock bottom anyway so the price for the night with breakfast was just over £150.

[slidey]

I have a pts booking in cali at an ic and have been offered a suite for 30 usd.. are they likely to g8ve that? 🙂

[NorthernLass]

Theoretically it’s only confirmed at check in, however on my last 2 stays the hotels confirmed it in advance so you can always contact them and ask if they can confirm it and update your booking.

[joshualh]

Ah, a couple weeks ago I did an e-standby for Indigo Manchester to a suite and they seem to have pre-confirmed it on my reservation (I’m not staying for another fortnight or so).So your positive review of that upgrade is reassuring and I’m looking forward to it!

I’m beginning to think the Voco in Reading just don’t do the e-standby upgrades as they won’t appear no matter what! When i book for another hotel I’ll follow your tips and see if i get more luck – thanks for the tips!