IHG

Tag Archives for IHG.

IHG Now Lets Elite Members Confirm Suites On Award Stays!

by Gary Leff on June 1, 2023

Jun 01 2023

IHG now has, in my view, the second best elite upgrade program behind Hyatt – which allows confirmed upgrades at booking to suites, and allows them more often for their heaviest stay guests – but whose confirmed upgrade benefits only start after 50 nights. Marriott allows confirmed upgrades based on availability (and only into capacity controlled suite inventory) starting 5 days prior to check-in for elites after 50 nights. And Hilton doesn’t require hotels to upgrade elites to suites at all.

IHG Restricts New Breakfast Benefit, Makes It Easier To Gift Rewards

by Gary Leff on May 5, 2023

May 05 2023

Several changes that have been made to the IHG One Rewards elite benefit terms and conditions. These have been published to their website, but they haven’t otherwise told anyone about them which always strikes me as a poor practice.

IHG Food And Beverage Credit Benefit Going Live At Premium U.S. Hotels

by Gary Leff on February 3, 2023

Feb 03 2023

The food and beverage credit is a ‘choice benefit’ and members have been choosing these since the program launched and guests started reaching the required number of nights.

But they haven’t yet been able to spend them. These are $20 credits which can be applied to a stay folio for spending at hotel restaurants, in-room dining, minibar food and beverage items (and can be used to cover tax and tip where applicable). Fortunately they’re now going live in the first wave of a release.

Better Upgrades To Suites, Premium Room Awards Coming For IHG One Rewards Guests

by Gary Leff on February 1, 2023

Feb 01 2023

Last year IHG rebranded its loyalty program IHG One Rewards, meant to unify all of the chains brands and give customers a reason to stay loyal. They introduced whole new suites of benefits including top tier Diamond status with free daily breakfast, and benefit choices like confirmed suite upgrades, club lounge access, and food and beverage spending credit to use on property.

I spoke with IHG’s Senior Vice President Heather Balsley to learn more about how the new program is going, and what benefits are coming next.

249 Hotel Nights Later: How Marriott, Hyatt and IHG Get It Wrong

by Gary Leff on December 16, 2022

Dec 16 2022

An anonymous reader captures something in a guest post that I think is important, based on some pretty extensive experience on the road. Hyatt is great if you can stick to full service properties not owned or managed by bad actors, but there aren’t enough properties and too many limited service ones. So where you going to go? You’re stuck with Marriott, so Marriott can get away with failing to live up to promises and expectations. It’s still better than the alternatives.

IHG Hotels Chose NOW To Launch NFTs..?

by Gary Leff on November 22, 2022

Nov 22 2022

IHG is ‘entering the metaverse’ by offering NFTs for auction bundled with stays and benefits. Oddly, they spent actual money to create the NFTs engaging British contemporary artist Claire Luxton. They’re doing this as though Facebook isn’t right now laying off 11,000 employees, and Justin Bieber’s ‘Bored Ape’ hadn’t fallen in value 92%.

Instant, Free Top Tier Elite Status With IHG One Rewards

by Gary Leff on October 13, 2022

Oct 13 2022

Just click here to register and your status in the IHG One Rewards loyalty program will be upgraded in a matter of moments to their top tier Diamond status. Use it to match to your preferred hotel program if you aren’t going to stay with IHG.

New IHG Choose Your Own Adventure Promotion

by Gary Leff on September 28, 2022

Sep 28 2022

IHG One Rewards calls their fall promotion ‘pick your points payoff’ for the alliteration but I think of it more as ‘choose your own adventure’. You actually choose which of two promotions to register for, and you can only have one or the other.

What Happened In The IHG Hotels Data Hack?

by Gary Leff on September 17, 2022

Sep 17 2022

It began with phishing, with an employee downloading an attachment from an email. Apparently systems were broadly accessible by employees, so they had a wide surface for attack. The password they needed once gaining access through an employee? Qwerty1234.

Just Because You Make A Reservation At Holiday Inn, Doesn’t Mean The Hotel Exists

by Gary Leff on September 10, 2022

Sep 10 2022

In September 2021 a reader made a reservation at the Holiday Inn LaGuardia Airport for the nights of August 28th at 27,000 points and August 29th using a credit card free night. The reader shared, “we were so excited to be at the US Open this year, we booked almost a year out at a hotel I’ve stayed at and liked.”

This hotel apparently closed – yet they went into their account to print a copy of their reservation to have it with them on arrival a day before check-in. The bookings were there.

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