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I have recently booked a five night stay in August at an Intercontinental Hotel, in Europe, across a weekend, (check-in on a Thursday to check-out on Tuesday) I have a voucher for a free weekend night, but I am told by an IHG adviser that I can ONLY use the voucher, if I book two nights for the relevant weekend, book a single night for the Thursday, and also book the remaining two nights (Sunday and Monday) separately. Can this be right? Advice please.
Correct. The Ambassador free second weekend night requires a separate two-night reservation. You need to book your other nights as separate reservations around that. Then ask the hotel in advance to link the reservations so you can remain in the same room throughout the stay.
Note it is second weekend night free; not buy 2 nights get cheapest night free. Therefore there is a gaming element to ensure you are booking to your benefit; e.g. if Friday costs £100, Saturday £200, Sunday £100, you should book the voucher stay as Fri and Sat night to save £200 rather than merely £100.
Not correct everywhere. I’ve stayed at the Intercontinental in Fiji and was able to book 3 nights (Saturday to Tuesday) on the Ambassador voucher rate in one reservation. The rate was the same across all three nights and they just deducted one of the nights for my Ambassador voucher when I was billed at the end of the stay. Might depend on the hotel whether they allow bookings like that but some do.
You may not want to do this, of course, because the AMB rate will be higher than other prepaid rates and possibly even other flexible rates.
Every time I have checked for a US IC the headline AMB rate is only around $10 – $15 more than the BFR. I’ve posted the calculations on previous threads.
But of course you’re saving the cost of one night.
And yes these refundable rates will always be more than a non refundable rate so yes people need to calculate all the variables of whether Fri / Sat is better than Sat / Sun nights. They also need to have a level of comfort to committing to non refundable bookings.
I’ve been there and done that several times so I set up a proforma spreadsheet to make the calculations easier.
In Fiji it was £11 per night more expensive for the Ambassador booking for the three nights. As the free night isn’t charged and the first night had to be on the Ambassador rate (to get the free night!) I just felt it saved us potential hassle to pay a total of £11 more to include that third night on the Ambassador booking. While most hotels are good at joining bookings together I’ve found that not all handle it that well, even if it’s just keys stopping working or housekeeping expecting us to be checking out.
In Fiji it was £11 per night more expensive for the Ambassador booking for the three nights. As the free night isn’t charged and the first night had to be on the Ambassador rate (to get the free night!) I just felt it saved us potential hassle to pay a total of £11 more to include that third night on the Ambassador booking. While most hotels are good at joining bookings together I’ve found that not all handle it that well, even if it’s just keys stopping working or housekeeping expecting us to be checking out.
Could have been worth checking how booking that 3rd night with Emyr would have worked out. There’s a good chance you’d have been similar rate but with benefits giving you back a decent chunk of it.
Depends on the hotel of course as sometimes only for more than 1 night. But as Ambassador rate is a high one generally I would absolutely check if Emyr has anything. Hotels happy to note all one stay if you tell them as they save labour and laundry if you mix adjacent nights booked via different routes.
Emyrs rates are usually the non member Best Flexible Rates
Depends if you can get the value back though. If you can’t spend rhe $100 room credit or already have breakfast covered then you might just be as well off as buying the cheapest room rate going.
Yeah absoutely @BAFIS. My point was in this case it was worth checking if Emyr had a deal as @E said the rate they got was £11 more than the Ambassador rate.
So if, say, Emyr had hotel food & beverage $100 hotel credit included in a similar rate that @E could eat/drink that last day, yes worth it… and given Ambassador is one of the highest rates and @E is saying he’d be paying £11 more, then there’s a really good chance of not paying more or hardly anything more for an Emyr deal if he has one.
Otherwise if that last day is spent out of the hotel, returning 23.45 to bed and up at 5am to leave for a plane, so no chance of using any extra bennie Emyr could get rolled into the rate, then yes as you say then just get the cheapest rate that fits the flexibiity you need.
Someone posted that they’d renewed Ambassador early – anyone know how this is done? I’m now within the 92 day period but when I go to the joining page I just get a message saying my membership is current.
Has anyone tried combining the AMB free night certificate with the milestone confirmable suite upgrade certificate?
Not possible (yet) as it’s only valid on certain rates and soon on reward nights. When it becomes available it might be possible.
In any case, not sure you’d want to do that, I have never not been upgraded to at least a junior suite as an Ambassador even at popular properties and on sold out nights.
Thanks for the info on this, I’ll just hope for the AMB upgrade then, although I’ve never been upgraded to a suite at Le Grand.
Thanks for the info on this, I’ll just hope for the AMB upgrade then, although I’ve never been upgraded to a suite at Le Grand.
The Junior Suites are sweet spots – a lot of suites are top floor and have sloping roofs with limited head height in places.
Duplicating my post from the chat thread here as more relevant…
Looking to use my ambassador bogof voucher at dubai IC marina – used on a room with club lounge access. If I buy 2 nights (so 4 nights in total) with points, will the club lounge benefits etc be extended for my full stay?
ThanksDuplicating my post from the chat thread here as more relevant…
Looking to use my ambassador bogof voucher at dubai IC marina – used on a room with club lounge access. If I buy 2 nights (so 4 nights in total) with points, will the club lounge benefits etc be extended for my full stay?
ThanksAssuming you do not hold the IHG lounge pass – Only way of guaranteeing club lounge access is booking a club room. The AMB 2nd night free voucher will allow you to choose a club room and pay cash.
Points bookings with IHG however only price into the lowest room class, i.e. not a club room. Any hope of having club lounge access extended would be entirely at the discretion of the hotel front desk. My experience is that IHG have no problem extending a room upgrade to a club room for elites – but they remove the club lounge access that comes with the room so all you’re really left with is say a higher floor.
It’s all moot for me anyway now I have the lounge pass. I think I’ve used it once a month since I got it. Dubai occupancy levels in summer may work in your favour and you might get lucky. I was at the IC Dubai Marina for dinner on Saturday. As a Diamond or Ambassador one gets 30% off and earns dining points. At most 7 other tables were occupied.
I can post my experience with the IC in Madrid a couple of months ago. I had a 3 night stay, and booked Saturday Sunday with the ambassador Certificate, and then I booked the Monday completely separate. I booked a fairly decent room knowing I should be getting a suite for the Saturday/Sunday booking. For the the Monday night stay however, with the prices varying considerably, I just booked the lowest room category. I didn’t bother emailing, but when I got there, I explained I had 2 bookings and if they could could they let me know in advance if we had to move rooms on the Monday morning. The receptionist explained that I could stay in the suite for the duration of the stay, however I would have to pay extra to get the club lounge for the Monday. After spending 2 nights in it, I politely declined.
I just renewed today. Status updated to 31st Dec 2024.
When I logged into my account, at the home page where it lists your status I had a link saying ‘renew now’.
Someone posted that they’d renewed Ambassador early – anyone know how this is done? I’m now within the 92 day period but when I go to the joining page I just get a message saying my membership is current.
Thanks – what was your renewal date?
I’ll have a look, though I’m finding the IHG website even more flaky than usual today. It either says I’m not logged in or tells me there’s no availability anywhere with the free night certificate! Also showing some prices 3 x what they are in the app. The app is slightly better but won’t let you book beyond the actual “book by” date 🙄
It said renew by August 2nd, so I’m guessing that although I didn’t see any other ‘renewal’ date listed anywhere.
Looking at signing up to the IHG AMB and just doing some research into it.
I know that Mr & Mrs Smith hotels are no longer available, but are Six Sense hotels also not participating in this programme?
I ask because every time I try and select the option (in a variety of countries), it says ‘unavailable, select another date’ – and then once I select another date, a message appears saying “This hotel does not offer Ambassador Complimentary Weekend Night. Please select another hotel.”
The voucher is only valid at ICs.
The voucher is only valid at ICs.
That would explain it – thanks!
It’s Intercontinental Ambassador, not IHG Ambassador!
The free night certs could be used at Kimptons during the pandemic, which made them a lot more useful. Now this has gone I’m not even going to bother to renew as Diamond benefits are actually better and extend to all properties.
I was expecting to pay a little more to redeem the Ambassador “free” night but on checking at ICPL I am seeing a regular non-refundable rate at £399 per night and Ambassador rate for the same nights at £534 per night. Obviously I realise I’d only actually pay for one night rather than two but is there usually really that much difference in price? The fully flex non-member rate is also showing as £534 so a 33% premium to the non-refundable rate. I would have thought more like a 10% premium would be the norm. Am I living in a dream world?
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