InterContinental Hotels: Priority Club & Inter-Continental Ambassador - No points if the company pays? Doesn't sound right.

Hello all...

For many years, I've stayed in various H Inns and C-plazas around the UK. Almost all have been paid by the company I work for while I stay away for business.

Recently, I noticed (for one particular stay) I had received points for the food but nothing (0 points) for the room. When I queried this as a missing stay, I received the following response:

"After further review, we have confirmed that the stay in question was directly billed to your company and does not qualify to earn credit. Since your company paid for the room in full, we are unable to apply credit to your account per section 12 of the Priority Club Rewards Terms and Conditions. We hope this clarifies your inquiry and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you."

Whenever I've queried this previously (again, for company stays) I've always been given full points.

Do I query this further, or is this really how things should be? I don't want to kick up too much of a fuss in case they start reviewing other stays. But surely many (if not almost all) Platinum Card holders are corporate residents...

I believe that this is correct under the working in that you do need to both stay in the room and have paid for the room

From the referenced terms
You must have stayed in the room and paid for it in full to receive Priority Club points

Did you pay for the stay using your credit card or was it directly billed to your company? If you paid then fight it, if the company paid directly then strictly speaking they are within their rights, whether or not this is normally applied.

Section 12

Limits on Points for Stays. Points are not issued for stays at the following reduced room rates (Non-Qualifying Room Rates; Non-Qualifying Stay): net wholesale individual and group rate, certain package rates, employee discount rate, friends and family rate, crew rate, special discounted contract rates, seasonal worker/crew rate, 50% travel club discount rate, travel industry discount rate, distressed passenger rate, Priority Club Reward Nights/Airline Hotel Reward rate, most rates booked through most third party web sites, complimentary hotel stays and any other rates not defined as a Qualifying Room Rate. Except as expressly set out otherwise in these Terms and Conditions, Priority Club points are not awarded for fractions of a U.S. dollar spent, or for dollars spent on tax, VAT, GST, service charges, gratuities or hotel incidentals. Charges not billed to your room, gift shop purchases, and meeting charges, other than Priority Club Meeting Rewards, will not be eligible for points. You must have stayed in the room and paid for it in full to receive Priority Club points. Only one room will be credited per member per night; however, at U.S. and Canadian hotels (except InterContinental), you can collect points or miles on all Eligible Charges for multiple hotel rooms (less than 10), provided those rooms are used in conjunction with your stay at the same hotel, and your Priority Club Rewards member number is recorded on each reservation, or the charges from those multiple room reservations are referred to on the hotel room bill associated with your reservation. Only the member whose name is on the reservation record will be awarded points and will be awarded Qualifying Night credit toward achieving Elite-level status or other promotional goals. Only one Qualifying Night credit, per member, per night will be awarded regardless of the number of reservations booked and paid for by the member. Points and/or Qualifying Night credit are not awarded for no shows even if the room is paid for in full. Priority Club points or miles will not be issued if your room is paid for by a trade group, association or company as part of a convention or group business meeting (10 rooms or more). If you stay at an IHG hotel under the terms of a contract or group commitment, you will not be eligible to receive points.

Note the section in bold...

When your company is billed directly. Do you still get the status room upgrade?

When your company is billed directly. Do you still get the status room upgrade?

Yes, if the hotel has something to offer at check-in.

mxm135 :)

Yes, if the hotel has something to offer at check-in.

mxm135 :)

What about qualifying night credit?

All hotel programs have this in place. always pay with your credit card or you could find the same situ again in the future.
I was one stay short of Hyatt diamond one year and my boss settled the bill even though I was checked in etc in the mid november.
well I never ever got that stay and had to make and expensive stay late dec to re qualify

Sometimes it is the company policy. Nothing we can do about it.

Pretty much every hotel brand has this policy. I spend nearly 300 nights a year in hotels, but because the majority of them are on a master account, I have to beg/borrow/steal my way to status with Priority Club, Marriott Rewards, and Omni Select Guest.

Using a master account is easier for accounting but the company will miss out on many deals.

I am sure many companies could have save at least 20% in their travel budget if they weren't bind by the corporate travel policy

All my business related travels are paid by my company directly and as a group particularly 1-3 IHG hotel in the same area. I have made close to a million PC points from these stays the last 5 years and never had a non-qualifying stay.

I also get upgraded everytime and my name is listed in the reception always as Platinum - meaning you get the seaview and the top floor that's all : )

This HI though has got to be one of the most expensive in the world since I have looked at the rate in June and it is close to $350-$400/nyt on a weekday and there is no way, no way it is better than a $100/nyt HI/CP in some South East Asian countries).

Although in some other different hotels that I stayed on business (non IHG) this is the reason that is given ( company pays, you wont get the receipt upon checkout, no miles/points). I tell my company never to book me again in that hotel.

The way it was explained to me is that the "entity" that paid for the stay gets the point.

This is similar situation to the opaque booking sites like orbitz/priceline. The payer to the hotel is the company and they get points (or not). Not you.

However, as explained by several others: If you pay with a company credit card with your name on it, you should get credit.

Interesting. Whenever I've had my company directly billed, I still got the points applied to my PC account. Sounds like it isn't consistent.