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Will be staying at The George soon and my reservation has already been updated to a Junior Suite by way of Ambassador status.
The George website says ‘All suite guests welcome. Every suite at InterContinental Edinburgh The George comes with access to the Club InterContinental Lounge.’ There is no * etc referring to small print or exceptions.
https://edinburgh.intercontinental.com/club-intercontinental/
So I was surprised when I was offered the opportunity to buy lounge access for £45 pppd and when I pointed out what it says on their website I was referred to the IHG Ambassador T&Cs which contain the following:
‘The InterContinental Ambassador guaranteed one room category upgrade excludes Club InterContinental experience/lounge access. Should a member’s original room purchase be one category lower than an advertised Club room/suite category, the member will be assigned the one category upgrade without the Club InterContinental or Regent Club experience/ lounge access.’
Does the small print contained in the Ambassador T&Cs get them out of their promotion that states ‘ALL’ Suite guests and ‘EVERY’ suite…?
That’s fairly common with IHG upgrades, although I agree the Ts and Cs and are a bit contradictory. I’ve got 3 nights at the IC Madrid in a club room next week, plus a 4th night tagged on with points and they’ve sent me an email offering lounge access for 75 euros for the 4th night. (I declined, given we’ve an early-ish flight on check out day).
I find the George pretty tight so you’ve done well getting a suite (unless you booked a very premium room to start with). Last time we stayed they tried to charge us for an upgrade we hadn’t agreed to and wouldn’t back down until I produced an email proving this! But it’s a very nice hotel and really well situated for exploring Edinburgh, which of course is gorgeous. Are you there for The Fringe festival?
@smitrax – you are more likely to win this argument by being nice rather than waving T&Cs that aren’t on your side at the staff. Your guaranteed upgrade is stapled to the no Club access condition. It’s not at all uncommon for any upgrades or moves to a ‘club’ floor not to have all the benefits associated with that room and vv. The general statement about suites doesn’t really help you at all.
The hotel is simply applying the Ambassador rules you have previously accepted and while on the one hand it may seem a little mean spirited of the hotel, lounges are very expensive to provide and you are asking an awful lot to expect it for free, so you need to negotiate a path between those positions if you wish to access the Club.
That’s fairly common with IHG upgrades, although I agree the Ts and Cs and are a bit contradictory. I’ve got 3 nights at the IC Madrid in a club room next week, plus a 4th night tagged on with points and they’ve sent me an email offering lounge access for 75 euros for the 4th night. (I declined, given we’ve an early-ish flight on check out day).
I find the George pretty tight so you’ve done well getting a suite (unless you booked a very premium room to start with). Last time we stayed they tried to charge us for an upgrade we hadn’t agreed to and wouldn’t back down until I produced an email proving this! But it’s a very nice hotel and really well situated for exploring Edinburgh, which of course is gorgeous. Are you there for The Fringe festival?
Yes, just for a couple of nights in early August.
@smitrax – you are more likely to win this argument by being nice rather than waving T&Cs that aren’t on your side at the staff. Your guaranteed upgrade is stapled to the no Club access condition. It’s not at all uncommon for any upgrades or moves to a ‘club’ floor not to have all the benefits associated with that room and vv. The general statement about suites doesn’t really help you at all.
The hotel is simply applying the Ambassador rules you have previously accepted and while on the one hand it may seem a little mean spirited of the hotel, lounges are very expensive to provide and you are asking an awful lot to expect it for free, so you need to negotiate a path between those positions if you wish to access the Club.
I’m always nice. I’m not going to make a fuss or wave around T&Cs. I just find it odd they can promote that all guests and every suite benefit from lounge access when this is clearly false and misleading.
You’ve received the standard opening offer which I’ve received on every occasion when I’ve stayed. Email them, or better still call, and you’ll find they are very willing to accommodate reasonable counter offers. The obvious caveat is that this will be a very busy period for the hotel and there may be a lot of guests who just take them up on that initial offer without batting an eye lid.
@smitrax – any personal terms and conditions applicable to your booking will always override general ones let alone something that doesn’t represent terms at all such as the part of the hotel’s website you quote.
You technically aren’t a suite guest anyway, but a guest in the room you booked with an upgrade to a higher category (even when part of the Ambassador programme) and this is a totally standard upgrade policy from hotels so erroneously to start with the “clearly false and misleading” narrative/mindset is, in my view, only going to compromise your position. And of course doesn’t sound close to “nice”.
Club access is expressly carved out under the Ambassador programme (and you agreed to that when joining but are now wanting to resile?!) and it’s totally unsurprising that the element you quote from the website doesn’t have any reference or asterisk and nor does it need to.
@JDB – fair enough.
Still consider the terms ‘All’ and ‘Every’ cannot possibly allow for any exclusions but I’ll defer to your greater understanding of contractual obligation and move on to finding out if I get a free mini bar or not.
I was upgraded to a Junior Suite for a trip back in November again without the Club Lounge access – they did offer it for £45 pn but given breakfast was included it didnt really add very much and we declined. The hotel staff were fantastic and made the stay – no issues with a (very) early check-in after coming off the Caledonian Sleeper or when we left the dog in the room while we were out for a couple of hours.
@smitrax, I don’t know if the mini bar is included with a suite, but we’ve always had nice goodies in the room for Ambassador members, e.g. miniature whiskies and those white chocolate and lemon biscuits I can’t get enough of! The cleaning staff will usually replenish snacks and toiletries as well on request.
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