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I don’t do a lot of IHG stays despite being Diamond, but I will qualify for my first milestone award this year – I am presuming the suite upgrade option is the best one, for up to a 5 day booking?
How easy is it to get the upgrade confirmed and can you upgrade to a suite from any room?
Any experience welcome, thanks
I would say the suite upgrade is pretty great, assuming you can use it.
I used it to upgrade from an essential room to a 1 bedroom suite (the lowest that was available for my dates) at the Kimpton Fitzroy. Felt like a great usage (though it was only 4 nights, so I didn’t fully maximise the value.
The downside for me is having to call to apply the upgrade, and not being able to do it until relatively close to the stay. Given it’s based on availability there’s some chance you wouldn’t be able to use it if the hotel fills up.
I’ve been going for points, however at 40 nights will go for lounge access. F&B vouchers aren’t here yet, and didn’t seem much better value than the points, and I’m a but unsure re. the suite upgrade because of the fact it had to be manually decided on nearer the stay, although maybe I’ve just had too many bad experiences with Marriott’s SNA’s.
I’ll be taking the suite night once I hit 20 next week.
Remember you need a fully flexible cash booking to use it, so (unless you planned to book a fully flex rate) you are overpaying for the chance to use it.
I’m not too concerned though. I will probably burn mine for a few nights at IC LeG Paris which is suite heavy so shouldn’t be an issue getting availability.
This is from the benefits chart
“Confirmable Suite Upgrade can only be applied to stays that are on an eligible rate, e.g., Best Flexible, Member Discount, Government, and select Corporate and package rates”
So it does not have to be the BFR rate.
Most Member discount rates aren’t fully refundable for example yet they are eligible for the upgrade.
https://www.ihg.com/content/gb/en/customer-care/member-tc/2nd-page
Would the suite upgrade work with a booking made through Virtuoso?
Would the suite upgrade work with a booking made through Virtuoso?
I would expect so as it’s the best flexible rate you use but I haven’t tried it. You often can’t book the cheapest rooms this way though so that might limit the value gain (though it could still be good).
I’ve been going for points, however at 40 nights will go for lounge access. F&B vouchers aren’t here yet, and didn’t seem much better value than the points, and I’m a but unsure re. the suite upgrade because of the fact it had to be manually decided on nearer the stay, although maybe I’ve just had too many bad experiences with Marriott’s SNA’s.
If you stay at places with lounges remotely often and wouldn’t otherwise always have access then the lounge perk is attractive, especially if some of those stays are in properties with the better lounges.
With the voucher I think you need to accept some risk and play the system a little. I’ve used my first one at the Kimpton De Witt and got two nights in a suite which would have cost 450 euro more (I’d have been willing to pay £200-250). I’d booked an essentials room, and a premium room, waited until I could upgrade the essentials booking and then cancelled the premium room. If I couldn’t upgrade then I’d have cancelled the essentials room and stayed on the premium room booking.
I’ll be taking the suite night once I hit 20 next week.
Remember you need a fully flexible cash booking to use it, so (unless you planned to book a fully flex rate) you are overpaying for the chance to use it.
I’m not too concerned though. I will probably burn mine for a few nights at IC LeG Paris which is suite heavy so shouldn’t be an issue getting availability.
I was able to use mine on a corporate rate (the railcard one) which tends to be very close the lowest member non-refundable rate, it’s not uncommon for it to be cheaper. Anything non-refundable won’t be upgradable (although the T&Cs imply their is a chance you could upgrade them I doubt it in practice), but as long as there is free cancellation I think you’d probably be ok; less sure on edge cases like IC ambassador weekend nights. I’m expecting to try my upgrade voucher for 40 nights on an ambassador weekend early next year so I guess I’ll find out then.
Can I ask if there was a specific customer service centre/phone number you talked to? I just tried to use the suite upgrade for a booking on the railcard rate and they said the rate was not eligible (within 14 days of check in and more than 24 hours).
Ditto – I used mine on the Railcard rate too, no problem at all. I did wonder if it would be a problem but it didn’t affect the process at all.
Can I ask what customer service centre or phone number you called? I just tried to use the suite upgrade on a railcard booking I have and they said that the rate was not eligible.
Ditto – I used mine on the Railcard rate too, no problem at all. I did wonder if it would be a problem but it didn’t affect the process at all.
Can I ask what customer service centre or phone number you called? I just tried to use the suite upgrade on a railcard booking I have and they said that the rate was not eligible.
The EMEA one, using 01950 499004. I’m not sure which agent will have got it wrong as the T&Cs say “select Corporate and package rates” are eligble and who knows which ones that means.
When I reached 20 nights I picked the suite upgrade. When I reached 30 I was asked to pick again. But it asked me to pick the 20 night bonus as well as the 30 night one. I now have 2 suite upgrades showing in my account. Has this happened to anyone else? And is it likely to be reversed?
So, you can’t use a suite upgrade on a reward night?
So, you can’t use a suite upgrade on a reward night?
No.
And if specifically says that on the member benefits page.
Just hit 100 nights for the year, 9 rolled over from last year. I have 60/70/80/90 milestone rewards waiting to be claimed with F&B credits still being promised this year. I’m now sitting on some F&B credits that have only 9 months validity left and haven’t been able to use them.
Just hit 100 nights for the year, 9 rolled over from last year. I have 60/70/80/90 milestone rewards waiting to be claimed with F&B credits still being promised this year. I’m now sitting on some F&B credits that have only 9 months validity left and haven’t been able to use them.
Same here. They really ought to reset the expiry date from when they make them available.
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