Loyalty Lobby reports that IHG has informed hotels that starting June 19, they will be enforcing a global standard minimum check-in age of 18. There will be no more 19 or 21 year old requirements for check-in
Global minimum check-in age of 18
From June 19, 2026, IHG Hotels & Resorts will standardize the minimum check-in age to be 18 years old globally to support greater consistency, clarity and safeguards across all IHG-branded hotels. This means that at least one guest in each party must be at least 18 years old upon arrival at the hotel.
This is mandatory and will be implemented centrally across IHG booking channels.
IHG Will Have The Friendliest Young Traveler Policy Of Any Chain
IHG would be moving from the industry’s usual property-by-property variance to the clearest major chain standard requiring just one adult age 18 or above to check into hotels. I have to imagine though that there will be a ‘local law’ carveout, and I expect some properties will not abide by this.
Hilton’s minimum age policy is check with the hotel. That’s basically the same with Marriott and with Hyatt who warns it’s ‘generally’ 21 but that some hotels allow 18 year olds to check in.
Choice says ‘usually’ 19 but could be 21 if someone in the party is under 18. Some hotels have military exceptions and casino chains are generally 21.
Hotels Often Do Not Like Younger Guests
Properties will set minimum check-in ages over 18 for a variety of reasons:
- Party, noise, and damage risk. College towns, beach markets, and spring break destinations are looking to deal with nuisance risk in addition to room damage.
- Local resident parties. Relatedly, some hotels use age as a proxy for locals throwing a party especially on weekends, and around graduation, prom, homecoming, major concerts and sportin gevents.
- Alcohol and regulated amenities. Minibars, club lounges, casino floors, all-inclusive alcohol packages, and nightclubs create compliance and supervision challenges if under-21s are on property without older supervision.
- Ability to pay for incidentals. Younger guests may be more likely to use prepaid cards or a parent’s card and have greater challenges managing judment around consuming incidentals and paying the bill.
Loyalty Lobby suggests one way to handle party damage risk: “Perhaps some hotels in college towns might be against this, but they can always set a higher preauthorization amount in case of potential damage.”
That addresses room damage and cleaning. It doesn’t help with noise complaints, police and security, or underage drinking. It may also not be legal in every case (like New York), and an inconvenience to guests who are 21+.
Local Laws And Owner Compliance Will Likely Be An Issue
Given that IHG hotels are disproportionatly franchised, this is going to run into issues with individual hotel compliance. The owner of a college town Holiday Inn Express may just not going along. And IHG properties are global, so there always needs to be local law carveouts.
In general 18 years old is old enough to contract even in places where it isn’t considered age of majority like Alabama and Nebraska (19) and Mississippi (21). Parts of Canada consider 19 age of majority. Thailand considers someone to no longer be a minor at 20, but they can still check into a hotel at a younger age than that. The rule will run into problems at casino properties.
There Are Still Frictions For Young Travelers
Rental cars are another area where minimum age rules get tricky. Some agencies won’t rent to under-25s, while others impose surcharges for this (often waived as part of corporate contracts).
That’s because drivers under 21 crash more on a per-mile basis.
However, corporate accounts bring enough volume for rental companies to assume greater risk, business trips tend to have less exposure (fewer late night drives back from parties, more routine drive trips and airport-to-office types fof drives) plus working through an employer gives the rental company better recourse for damage recovery.
BREAKING NEWS: “Adults” allowed to contract… more at 11! /s
WOKE!
Parts of Canada have a drinking age of 19. This does not change the age of majority, which is 18 nationwide. 18 year olds can vote, sign contracts, and join the military.
The IHG rule would be contrary to California law. California law provides that a hotel cannot refuse to rent to a minor if a responsible adult assumes liability in writing for the bill.
For those that want to see for themselves – the rule is in Civil Code section 1865(d(1).
@rdindf But, “if a responsible adult assumes liability in writing” isn’t the adult the one actually checking in? Note the story is about check-in age. Fun little interesting point. Not a lawyer
@This comes to mind — That would be something, wouldn’t it… a California-licensed lawyer based in Ohio… oof.
More young women at the bar for the lonely business travelers 😉
Never trust anyone over 30 as the saying goes
Hotel liability goes up
@ Gary — Apparently Royal Ambassadors named Ben were previously exempt?
The issue those under 21 have is they do not have a credit card with a limit that will usually support the charge and the security deposit. That after renting a car that puts a hold of $500 plus. You usually need $5000 credit limit to be on holiday.
@tomri. You may hit on their reasoning. The 18yo who is likely trouble probably does have a credit card (or with enough limit).
The biggest issue is all the properties banning “local” customers.
The Holiday Inn Quincy, Illinois doesn’t allow ANYONE within 100 miles to stay at their hotel.
I vowed never to stay at a La Quinta (not that I’d want to anymore) long ago, when I was 20 years old. I was in a really bad situation and needed a room for the night but they turned me away, saying I had to be 21 to check in. I thought it was a BS policy then and still do today. Either you’re an adult at 18 or you’re not.
I won’t talk in detail about how I got around the car rental age restriction back then in this forum, but I’m rather proud to say I found a loophole with a major provider and took full advantage of it. It worked from 18 all the way until I turned 25, which was the minimum for most major car rental companies back then (and remains so today).
I traveled solo to several colleges at 17 and stayed in hotels some of the time during the trips. I visited Washington, D.C. during one trip to see the center of government. Fortunately hotels were more accommodating then.