InterContinental Rome Ambasciatori Palace

[meta]

If booked on points, you really ought to take this up in courts in Georgia, US. It’s also an online small claims process so easy to do remotely. I consulted with few solicitors last time and all were adamant that UK judges would dismiss this. It would be hard to prove that contract is formed in the UK given IHG Rewards T&C’s.

[JDB]

@Crafty I don’t think you will have any difficulty establishing jurisdiction in the UK. You log into IHG Rewards on a website that shows Country/Region United Kingdom, the company is headquartered in England, you are a UK consumer etc. The judge won’t have much truck with them trying to play jurisdictional games (and I don’t think they will even try) plus term that says you can only sue in the State of Georgia is both unfair and irrelevant. The concept of expecting you to take action in the US and research US law on breach of contract etc. is for the birds. None of that makes this an easy claim though!

[meta]

But how do you prove that you actually logged on from the IHG’s UK website? You can also log into your account by selecting any other country. If you booked via the app there is no such option.

[JDB]

meta wrote:

But how do you prove that you actually logged on from the IHG’s UK website? You can also log into your account by selecting any other country. If you booked via the app there is no such option.

You don’t actually even need to prove that, but anyway if you are in the UK, unless you use some blocking device it defaults to UK by geolocation. The term re the State of Georgia anyway relates to the operation of your rewards account not a hotel booking in any given country, however it is paid. If things worked as you suggest, every UK company would set up a subsidiary somewhere suitably inconvenient and say sue us there. They might conceivably try to challenge jurisdiction to scare off a claimant, but I doubt they would push that. Their better case is that they are just an agent/marketing business, have no control over the hotels so that if they refund you, their responsibility ends and they can’t be expected to provide a replacement. One certainly doesn’t want to get into a debate about ‘equivalent’ hotels.

If I were in this position, rather than seeking points of an uncertain value/future redemption price and limited availability I would be looking for free, unrestricted nights with upgrade at this hotel in the future or similarly unrestricted vouchers for any Intercontinental and sort myself out for this stay in Rome.

[Crafty]

Thanks for the idea on vouchers.

I don’t really want to have to go far down the legal route, as it could be time consuming. What I actually want is for my case to be escalated to someone both senior and sensible at IHG who can provide a pragmatic solution. Let’s see – all quiet on the replies since last email.

[Crafty]

For anyone following my case – having played hardball with customer service, they went quiet for a few days, but then called me today to agree to compensate me for (almost) the number of IHG points I had asked for (they took 5,000 off, which seems a little petty, but never mind). They weren’t keen on any other resolution method and I was satisfied with this outcome, fortunately without having had to involve senior management.

[YC]

Anyone being contacted for May bookings? Noticed the availability calendar has now moved to start of June

[Crafty]

I supposedly still have a reservation on Monday. I’m in Rome now, staying in my alternative accommodation (they cancelled my first 3 nights out of 4). My cancellation deadline is tomorrow 4pm, dare me to leave it right to the wire? I might swing by lunchtime tomorrow and see the site…

[Lady London]

Go on Crafty, I dare you!
See who blinks first regarding your last night…

[meta]

Leave it leave it. You’ll get a far higher compensation as the walk out policy kicks in.

[Crafty]

Leave it even after my cancellation deadline? I’m not sure I fancy that one. But I’m happy to leave it until the afternoon, and I’ve also emailed them to ask them to confirm the situation.

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

I walked past IC Rome last night and it looked open but the doorman told me they’re not opening for another month. Walked past again tonight and the luggage store room had bags in it, the bellhops were present and correct, ditto reception staff, and a lady with luggage was standing there. Perhaps it is some kind of soft launch with invited guests only.

I had my IC stay cancelled a month ago (so 4 weeks prior to arrival) and extracted quite a high price from IHG to stop me going down a legal escalation route.

I am at the Westin instead. Cash price did sting but booked in such a way to activate 3 Amex Marriott cashbacks; and have been upgraded to a corner suite with 4 stone balconies overlooking Via Veneto.

[meta]

Crafty wrote:

Leave it even after my cancellation deadline? I’m not sure I fancy that one. But I’m happy to leave it until the afternoon, and I’ve also emailed them to ask them to confirm the situation.

Yes, because if they can’t accommodate you they have to offer a refund plus a night elsewhere at their expense and transport to new hotel. It’s in T&C when you book.

If you email them in advance and they say they can’t honour the reservation, then it’s not a walk-out under T&C and you have to fight with IHG to get compensation.

[Crafty]

Blair Waldorf Salad wrote:

I walked past IC Rome last night and it looked open but the doorman told me they’re not opening for another month. Walked past again tonight and the luggage store room had bags in it, the bellhops were present and correct, ditto reception staff, and a lady with luggage was standing there. Perhaps it is some kind of soft launch with invited guests only.

I had my IC stay cancelled a month ago (so 4 weeks prior to arrival) and extracted quite a high price from IHG to stop me going down a legal escalation route.

I am at the Westin instead. Cash price did sting but booked in such a way to activate 3 Amex Marriott cashbacks; and have been upgraded to a corner suite with 4 stone balconies overlooking Via Veneto.

Thanks for the feedback. Your hotel sounds great. We are at the Regency – ok but room small, no upgrade for us.

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

Crafty wrote:

Blair Waldorf Salad wrote:

I walked past IC Rome last night and it looked open but the doorman told me they’re not opening for another month. Walked past again tonight and the luggage store room had bags in it, the bellhops were present and correct, ditto reception staff, and a lady with luggage was standing there. Perhaps it is some kind of soft launch with invited guests only.

I had my IC stay cancelled a month ago (so 4 weeks prior to arrival) and extracted quite a high price from IHG to stop me going down a legal escalation route.

I am at the Westin instead. Cash price did sting but booked in such a way to activate 3 Amex Marriott cashbacks; and have been upgraded to a corner suite with 4 stone balconies overlooking Via Veneto.

Thanks for the feedback. Your hotel sounds great. We are at the Regency – ok but room small, no upgrade for us.

If you want a bottle of red for drinking in your room, let me know. The Westin left me a welcome gift of cabernet sauvignon (2021), San Pellegrino sparkling and a bento box type thing of Italian cheese and crackers. I ate the cheese but don’t drink either alcohol or sparkling water. Nor indeed coffee so I do wonder if this is the city for me.

[Andrew M]

I had five nights booked at the InterContinental Rome Ambasciatori Palace for a stay in April. It was booked during a “flash sale” at 40,000 points per night. I made three seperate reservations of one night, three nights and a further one night which would me to change my dates slightly and keep the “flash sale” rate. I received the call and was offered a rebooking at the same hotel on any date in the future. I enquired how long that would be open for and was told it was indefinate – a note would be put on my account to that effect.

As an alternative, the agent suggested the booking could be cancelled and 40,000 points offered as compensation. I mentioned that was far short of the difference between the normal rate and the “flash sale” rate so I would be out of pocket if I rebooked. After some back and forth the agent offered 40,000 points as compensation for cancelling for each of the seperate bookings that comprised the trip – so 120,000 points for the five day stay. I accepted this offer and was told it would take around two weeks for the points to arrive in my account.

The points did not arrive so after two weeks I contacted IHG and enquired when I would receive them. I was told the 120,000 points exceeded the allowed compensation and should not have been offered. They agreed however that since I had been primised them, the points would be given. They arrived a few days later.

I should add that even 120,000 points is less than the difference between the “flash sale” rate and the normal rate for a five night stay, however I much prefer the flexability of points which I can use on any IHG hotel at any date in the future.

[Crafty]

Interesting turn of events today:

1) I didn’t receive a response to my fairly terse email to the hotel asking whether they were actually open and this reservation would be honoured.

2) I decided I would blink first, and cancel tomorrow’s reservation, so that I could get back my points.

3) Cancelling didn’t work on app nor website, returning unspecified errors. The telephone number it said to call didn’t work.

4) Live chat operative also couldn’t cancel my booking, the system would not let him. He said that because the hotel doesn’t open untol May 2nd, the system cannot cancel a booking on May 1st.

5) He went on to say it would automatically be cancelled tomorrow and points returned.

I’m comfortable I’ve covered my bases for a retrospective return of my points. However I am intrigued by the final point, as this sounds to me like a walk!

Any advice or ideas?

Best outcome for me would be a zero fuss walk to the Six Senses for the final night of our trip tomorrow… however I would require this to be zero/minimal effort as we are already here and I’m not spending my wife’s birthday trip chasing IHG!

[Crafty]

Blair Waldorf Salad wrote:

Crafty wrote:

Blair Waldorf Salad wrote:

I walked past IC Rome last night and it looked open but the doorman told me they’re not opening for another month. Walked past again tonight and the luggage store room had bags in it, the bellhops were present and correct, ditto reception staff, and a lady with luggage was standing there. Perhaps it is some kind of soft launch with invited guests only.

I had my IC stay cancelled a month ago (so 4 weeks prior to arrival) and extracted quite a high price from IHG to stop me going down a legal escalation route.

I am at the Westin instead. Cash price did sting but booked in such a way to activate 3 Amex Marriott cashbacks; and have been upgraded to a corner suite with 4 stone balconies overlooking Via Veneto.

Thanks for the feedback. Your hotel sounds great. We are at the Regency – ok but room small, no upgrade for us.

If you want a bottle of red for drinking in your room, let me know. The Westin left me a welcome gift of cabernet sauvignon (2021), San Pellegrino sparkling and a bento box type thing of Italian cheese and crackers. I ate the cheese but don’t drink either alcohol or sparkling water. Nor indeed coffee so I do wonder if this is the city for me.

Thank you for the kind offer, but I’m here with pregnant wife, so on minimal drinking!

[meta]

@Crafty no recurse other than your points back, you blinked first so it’s not a walk as you were made aware of it before the actual day of the reservation. Had you waited until tomorrow, then it would have been a walk. That’s how walk-out works in every major chain.

[Crafty]

Thanks. Let’s see what happens tomorrow… there is still a reservation showing in my app, and as far as I know, the hotel still thinks I am due to come!

[meta]

The other option is to take IHG down the legal route, but you’d need to book yourself elsewhere, Six Senses for example and then claim back from IHG.

[Lady London]

Crafty I think they will welcome you.
Please report back.

The Ambasciatori was always one of ‘the’ places to stay and it will be wonderful if she reopens in the kind of style as before but newly refurbished.

[Michael C]

Crafty wrote:

Thank you for the kind offer, but I’m here with pregnant wife, so on minimal drinking!

Just relax and enjoy now!
Congrats on the baby – guess you could always call them Ambasciatori as a reminder of the trip!!

[Crafty]

meta wrote:

The other option is to take IHG down the legal route, but you’d need to book yourself elsewhere, Six Senses for example and then claim back from IHG.

Nah. Pretty sure they are open for business. Upgraded room now showing in app. Not worth the hassle of moving to sit in a nicer hotel for one afternoon/evening.

We’ll leave the whole thing and have to claim back the points as refund once back home – I have screenshots of all the above.

[meta]

According to Flyertalk, the hotel announced that they will now open on 1 June.