StevensFirstPrints

I reserved a room for my brother under my IHG membership and my CC using a CC authorization form. The following happened to my little brother and im curious to see if any of you think I should expect additional compensation of any kind.


I reserved a room for my brother for a Saturday night. I sent a credit card authorization form to the hotel. I called the following day to confirm the hotel had received the form. The hotel confirmed they had not, I resent the form. When my brother checked in, he was told there was no authorization form. So he provided a
physical copy (that I am so glad I gave him). When I called later, the agent I spoke with confirmed they had received the one I had sent but missed it at check in. The agent was rude to my brother, almost charged his credit card for the night and this property lost the authorization form. I called the hotel after my brother checked in and the agent informed me he would receive free breakfast vouchers and would not be charged a resort fee. My brother was never informed of the free breakfast until I told him, he was also never apologized to. He called the front desk about it and was told he was not entitled to a free breakfast voucher. I called the morning of his check out, spoke with an Manager on Duty and he confirmed the resort fee had been taken off and the breakfast vouchers would be sent to my brother.


When my brother finally went home after this trip, he informed me they did not give him the 2 queen bed balcony room he had reserved but a 1 king with a pull out sofa, he needed both beds. He also told me he was not informed of the change in room type at check-in.


I sent all of this to IHG corporate last night. The hotel took about $20 off the bill and gave him a free breakfast voucher which was basically just a Fairfield inn & suites style breakfast. Finding out he didn't even get the room he booked as put me over the edge and that's why I emailed IHG corporate to bring all of this to their attention. Thoughts?


The onsite Applebees was also apparently terrible with customer service though I understand I cant really blame the hotel for that?

TravelTheWorld66

Unfortunately your brother is due no benefits while staying under your membership. The benefits are only applicable for the actual member if they are present at the hotel. Any benefits the hotel does provide are discretionary and are usually just a gesture of goodwill. But the hotel is not obligated.

It's a shame things weren't handled properly with the CC authorization form. But the only thing you may be due compensation for is the room mishap, which should have been dealt with at the hotel immediately upon walking into the room. If there was a price difference between what you booked and what you were given, you are due that refund. If not, you could request some points as compensation for the inconvenience.

Regarding the Applebee's, I have no comment. Well I do but I'm keeping it to myself.

StevensFirstPrints

Thank you TravelTheWorld66 for your response. I certainly do not believe he was entitled to any Platinum member benefits and am appreciative I was able to earn points despite the fact that I was not there. There was a mishap with the CC authorization form, the hotel agent told me they would give him breakfast vouchers and when he called for them, he was told he couldn't have them and now I'm finding out my brother had to sleep on a pull out sofa bed instead of the queen he should have had. So I agree with you, that some additional points is reasonable to request.


I don't hold the hotel responsible for the Applebees restaurant attached to it.

TravelTheWorld66

Which hotel was it? They may have simply thought the 1 King Sofa room was an upgrade over the 2 bed room given that it's usually a bigger room. It depends on how the rooms are categorized at that specific hotel.

StevensFirstPrints

It was a Holiday Inn Resort. The room booked was a room with 2 queen beds with balcony. The room they gave him was 1 king bed with sofa bed and balcony. I feel very confident it was not an upgrade. More importantly, they should have said something about it at check-in.

MXM135

Does your personal IHG profile for bed type specify King Bed? If so, the hotel tried to accommodate your profile.

If 2 beds was a necessity, you should have put comments in the special request area or contacted the hotel to let them know that you required 2 beds for this reservation.

mxm135

StevensFirstPrints

MXM Ah! That could be it! Ill have to look into it. I still again, think they should have confirmed at check-in or something but hey, that's pretty reasonable if that was the case!

miadukes

I totally get this, the options in your profile but if you specifically book 2 beds, thats what they should give you barring nay notes from you saying you prefer one.

My profile is set to one king because when I travel by myself or with b/f I want to spread out but lots of times i travel with my mom and i would be pretty pissed if I booked 2 beds and was given one.

craigthemif

Be careful with IHG Corporate. You are admitting to trying to earn points for a hotel stay where you were never present. AFAIK this is not at all a stated benefit of IHG Rewards Club or Platinum status. They could easily take the view that you are infringing the rules of IHG Rewards Club and shut down your account.

And why exactly didn't your brother go back to reception and say "hey, I need two beds please can I have a different room"? In general, most people assume that somebody checking in alone would prefer the bigger bed and extra space, although good practice would have the agent ask first. Was another non-registered guest arriving later?

PayItForward

+1. Be careful how far you want to push this as if you are indeed getting night and point credits for a (this) stay while you were not there as one of the guests, you may want to consider moving on.

Flying Lawyer

I would be really concerned if it had worked without any problem. Charging a third person's credit card without the person being present and without the card being present is certainly against all rules. I normally see such forms when I pay for another persons room while being at the hotel.

Furthermore, what compensation do you want to ask for? You already got points for the room you should not have got. To my believe, simply move on.

StevensFirstPrints

Thank you everyone. I will let it go.

htb

I may have overlooked something, but why do several persons accuse the OP of trying to obtain points he's not entitled to?

If I were to book a room for a third person, I would certainly use my account to make the reservation, so it will show up under 'My Reservations'. I'm not entitled to earning points when I'm not staying and the hotel is not supposed to credit any points when I'm not staying.

HTB

Flying Lawyer

ROFL. If you use your account, your name will be the first guest and obviously you ain't. Legally this is simply fraud unless your guest clarifies it on check in

StevensFirstPrints

I'm no lawyer, but the credit card authorization form I filled out, I clearly marked the guest name as my brothers name, not mine. I also when i made the reservation, marked him as a guest. As a former IHG employee, we let people make reservations for other people all of the time. It really shouldn't be a big deal.