Loyalty Lobby reported that IHG is converting expiring credit card free nights to 25,000 points if you call and ask. If you do not call, you get nothing for certificates set to sunset after December 31, 2021.
These free nights are valid on stays that cost up to 40,000 points. On average they’re used for some amount less than that. 25,000 points is less value than you could get using the certificates, but gives you greater flexibility and is IHG limiting its cost (and perhaps this reflects an approximate revenue equivalency received from Chase for the benefit).
You should request the conversion by phone, since email could take too long, and it’s not yet clear whether they’ll do the conversion after expiration of the certificates or only before they expire.
Since IHG customer service is worse even than calling Marriott, expect inconsistency. Some agents will tell you there’s nothing they can do for you. Hang up, call back. That’s annoying due to hold times. But persistence seems to pay off. Note that the points are posted but it seems certificates – which will disappear from your account in a couple of days anyway – don’t get removed.
After requesting and arguing with them for 2 months I received 20,000 points for the expiring free nights last year and that was a big concession they said. As a British company they have no consumer protections policies. I’m surprised they do not charge you for calling their CS desk as others do in the UK.
Earn the bonus and burn them before they become lira/peso points. Best deals are in Europe when booking a year in advance and rebooking as the point requirements drop.
Thanks Gary for this post. Wife and I had two each expiring anniversary nights 12/21/2021. Just called and agent deposited 25,000 points for each one. They wouldn’t cover the second one on each account but I’m quite happy with the total 50,000.
I just called and got the 25k. However, they mentioned they were not able to convert the award to points, but they could offer 25k courtesy points. So that’s why the award doesn’t disappear.
I got the same answer as Todd. 25k courtesy points. Don’t try to do it with Chat–didn’t work. And the automated system transferred me to reservations–they can’t help either. All in all, took about 30 minutes. The reservation is still there, and when I made a reservation for January 1, it used the free night that expires in February.
This is ain’t true. IHG is not giving points for the expiring Free Nights.
Called IHG. Said okay to use the text option to “speak” with an agent. After 40 minutes with no response, I called Cust Svc. Told the voice response system “anniversary night” as my reason for calling. While my account screen shows an expiration of 1/16/2022, the rep sez the date is 1/26/2022. Weird. She said she saw nothing she could do but is now “talking to Customer Service” ?? to see what could be done. She transferred me to actual Customer no service. The rep there says that my Anniv Night certificate cannot be converted to point or extended. Threw her a curve ball by asking how/if I could transfer it to a charity. So back on hold I go….Terms & Conditions clearly states that they can’t be transferred or converted to points, but they may not have updated the text on the website. So, she came back on the line and confirmed that the nights could not be transferred either. Which is odd, because both reps I spoke with asked if there was a relative travelling who could “use” the certificate. Urgh…I’ll wait and call again…
Don’t bother with the Text/chat function. They refused to do anything at all, and claim they don’t have ability to ask a supervisor.
Got mine scheduled but may cancel due to other travel plans. Then see if I can get at least 25k points.
I had called a few days ago before starting to see blogs on this and was given 10,000 points. I called again today and told them I had seen postings where most people were given 25,000. I didn’t mention the 10,000 figuring they had notes or whatever on it. They ended up giving me an additional 25,000 points (for total of 35,000)..
They did stress it was a one time thing, so I hope to be able to use one expiring 2/22 rather than trying for points again.
Jumped around in three different hold queues before I got to the right team and asked for an extension of my 12/31 cert. Unable to extend, but offered 20k points. Accepted, I am not going to nickle and dime them for 5k points. Posted instantly.
I think they should be extending them for the full 40k value since some of us are still not traveling, but handling it this way is better than nothing I suppose.
I just used the text option and got my 25,000 courtesy points in about 10 minutes. Thanks for the tip!
On hold right now while she is processing my 25K points. Thanks for the alert. DONE! She asked if I’d like to check my balance, and there they were!
Took 20 minutes tonight, they would only credit two of the three certificates that were expiring and I’m not sure why. But they give me 50,000 points
Just called customer service, took about 40 minutes, had to get a supervisor on the line but was able to get 40K points for chase reward free night expiring in Dec.