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Thanks Supergers49. I have not asked for an extension before.
I emailed the ambassador support and received a reply. They claim it cannot be extended, instead they can replace the voucher with a credit of 30k points. I can renew now at the old rate (as per my calc above) and the new voucher can be used for my stay in Jan.
Its not a great outcome, but I think its a reasonable one. Not great to exchange the voucher for £120 worth of points, but then its my mistake for not using it within the time period given.
You could always push back and cite your ongoing loyalty, etc. 30k points will barely get you a night in a Holiday Inn these days.
@BBbetter – It’s a better outcome than I was offered. I was never offered a credit for the voucher. We had one specific trip planned to use the Voucher which was cancelled earlier in the year due to our dog’s ill health (all well now). I never thought I would fail to use it but I just couldn’t make cheap flight availability from EDI correlate with moderately priced IC availability on the weekends we were available! We typically do the $200 renewal, so for 23/23 it probably cost us £100 nett of the points, but that is made up for by years of good usage… so shouldn’t complain. We already have 11 IC nights booked for 2025 so will be renewing.
Excellent result yesterday! Ambassador membership due to expire on November 1st and weekend voucher still unused so contacted Ambassador services via chat. Outcome was that my membership was extended via the ‘once in a lifetime’ 6 month period along with my voucher. I now have a voucher that expires 30th April 2025. Result!!!
To update on my extension request – i went back with a request for a better points credit offer, but was told that its either 30k or replacing the voucher after using the current one. I have no plans for an IC stay apart from the planned one, so opted for 30k points and renewed before price went up. I’ll use the new voucher for the planned stay.
LL reporting today that extensions have been formally removed. The workaround proposed by the customer service team is that you have to renew, use the new voucher first and then request for another voucher which will be deposited after the first stay is completed. No idea how long this workaround can be available.
In any case, the whole program needs a revamp. Forcing weekend stays in a post-covid world seems unnecessary as business travel has reduced considerably. Also they desperately need to extend to Regents at a minimum.
Hmm, I would want that in writing!
Having said that though, last week I managed to achieve the Holy Grail of getting 2 nights booked with expired Creation free night certificates moved to a future date, so never say never …
You can do it yourself – you don’t need the voucher to search
https://www.ihg.com/intercontinental/content/us/en/ambassador/free-weekend-certificate
…and you don’t need it to book. Just has to be in your acct at date of stay.
If anyone has a stay at an IC coming up and thinking about renewal or getting the ambassador, good time to buy at the hotel and use the Amex IHG offer.
Yes any paid membership you can renew at a hotel ideally when you arrive for a stay (perhaps arriving in day hours to increase chance of experienced staff being around if needed and perhaps letting them know beforehand), you should renew or buy at your hotel if possible.
Good will from the hotel may also sometimes be volunteered.
Defo possible for Accor as well.
Never know they may even accidentally give to you for free 😉
Has anyone let Ambassador lapse and had an offer to rejoin? Mine lapses at the end of the year and won’t be needed until Oct 2025 under current plans. I think I can forgo the 15k points for nearly 10 months of extra validity if I sign up again just before I need it.
I had a similar hiatus and there were no more offers to rejoin after about 1 month of the renewal date.
Personally best way is to just buy it at the hotel you’re going to stay at in October and convince them to give you some perks. I pre negotiated mine a few weeks before my stay over email and they activated it straight away so could use all the perks on the stay including the voucher if I wanted.
Don’t forget you can book the rate without having the certificate yet.
@TGLoyalty Thanks, yes I’ve booked the free weekend night, saves about £250 so will be definitely worth it.
I might just be unlucky, but the couple of times I asked about buying Ambassador at the hotel they offered me nothing extra. Do people directly ask about perks for renewing at the hotel if they aren’t volunteered?
Not all hotels will offer perks – logically they would only do so if they get a commission for selling Amb, I’m not sure if they actually do
Thanks. Also don’t know if hotels get commission, targets or something
Will signing up to Ambassador at a the Intercontinental O2 Arena hotel on check-in count as spend towards the current “Spend £300 get £75 back” Amex offer?
If you can get them to add it to your bill at checkout, then it probably would.
Will signing up to Ambassador at a the Intercontinental O2 Arena hotel on check-in count as spend towards the current “Spend £300 get £75 back” Amex offer?
It did last year.
I just used amy ambassador weekend free night at IC Dublin and the points have posted but the voucher still shows in my rewards wallet. Can I use it again?
I just used amy ambassador weekend free night at IC Dublin and the points have posted but the voucher still shows in my rewards wallet. Can I use it again?
Yes, if you want to risk your IHG account as well as risk of having to pay full price for both nights of the stay you will book.
I might just be unlucky, but the couple of times I asked about buying Ambassador at the hotel they offered me nothing extra. Do people directly ask about perks for renewing at the hotel if they aren’t volunteered?
I asked at IC ATH and IC DOH in November if they could offer anything extra for buying Ambassador (mine lapsed in July) and I drew a blank both times (ATH just told me to go on the website and pay $225).
I’ll have one more stay in IC WAW late December before my Lounge Pass and Diamond expire. Maybe I’ll ask again just out of curiosity but it looks like I’ll be concentrating on Marriott next year and it probably won’t be worth it without the lounge pass.
Looking to renew lapsed ambassador membership. Is there any difference between renewing it today or waiting till after the new year in terms of validity?
Looking to renew lapsed ambassador membership. Is there any difference between renewing it today or waiting till after the new year in terms of validity?
It’s valid for 12 months so it makes more sense to sign up just before your next IC stay (or try it at the hotel itself to see if you get offered anything special).
Looking to renew lapsed ambassador membership. Is there any difference between renewing it today or waiting till after the new year in terms of validity?
If your status has lapsed then it isn’t a renewal so it’ll count as a new membership.
As Pangolin says renew it close to your next stay at an IC. But note if you intend to use the Weekend Voucher on that stay you must have the AMB already in place before arrival.
Depending on your IHG status if you have lots of non IC stays before then you might be better off buying earlier in order to get the extra bonus points plat gives you over silver or gold.
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