21H21J

To me the bigger picture seems to be that the OP had (up to 25) free nights. Even with the lost points, chalk to up to experience and move on.

If IHG want to change the rules, it's their game so they can. And frequently do.

uk1

Yes, people are often very philosophical about other people losing there points without any explanation but tend to view things very differently when it is their own.

Often1

It could also be that OP's BRG conduct caused an audit of his account and that revealed something else entirely. Thus, the account was closed.

Nobody here, including OP knows.

Bottom line is that he was fired as a customer.

redreeper

Excellent observation.

3544quebec

I take exception to the thoroughly inaccurate thread title - any number of Flyertalkers will tell you why even when they have no real clue

pantanal

..seriously,,,,you have no clue

3544quebec

At last , something we can all agree on

view-with-a-room

don't be greedy! rule #1

FLYGVA

I have taken the liberty and edited the thread title to reflect that the account was closed after 25 Best Rate Claims. We have had closed accounts in the past and to differ the reasons, an editing of the thread title does help to show the different aspects of the closings.

FLYGVA
co-moderator IHG Forum

FLYGVA

I have had to deleted a few posts, since it is also not within the t&c to discuss another member.

Please stay on the topic started by the OP.

Thank you

FLYGVA
co-moderator IHG Forum

dmw144

It certainly would appear that the ops actions were against the intent of the BRG - it was designed to provide assurance for people who are booking stays as a customer to 'know' that they were not being ripped off. Diligently searching out 25 instances where they were not the cheapest to trigger a BRG (as opposed to be genuinely wanting to stay somewhere in an IHG hotel) doesnt seem in the spirit of the arrangement.

I think IHG have a moral right to say they won't allow the customer to be a customer any more - and if he is unhappy with that he can try his luck in court.

htb

I wouldn't be to sure. It wouldn't surprise me if someone just looked at your more than once per 7 day period BRG and the only explanation he could find how you got those approved was by cheating.

HTB.

htb

I think IHG has no moral standing whatsoever. I'm sure they have used each and every one of his claims to shut down competing sites. Also, they have limited the number of possible claims to a laughable once every 7 days as in "we guarantee the lowest rate once a week" to avoid abuse. And then they come back and say 25 times in about 40 weeks is still too much?

HTB.

azepine00

Would you rather have this or the kind of BRG other programs have?
I am sure they can bring it to Hilton level if you insist...

sdsearch

Actually, I would rather have something similar to what Marriott has (which they call LNF). Instead of giving you a totally free night, they match the third-party site, and reduce it 25% further:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...rsion-brg.html

But since you're still paying something, you earn points, you earn bonuses, and they don't seem to mind (if the individual hotel doesn't mind) a HUNDRED nights a year being done via LNF. I routinely stay at the same FS Marriott that normally prices $150+ for $65 to $80, or at a Fairfield that normally prices $100ish for under $50. And I can do this over and over and over and over and over again, and Marriott doesn't mind because they're not "totally" giving it away free. But since there's no restrictions on how many nights a months I can do this, I feel I actually save more money (given that I need 3 nights a week many weeks of the year, often in the same general area) in the long run than with BRG programs that give totally free nights but then put caps on how often or how many times you can do that.

SPG also does either a discount or bonus points, instead of a totally free night. (Though SPG's discount is way less than Marriott's, and most SPG members tend to pick the bonus points instead.) So there's more than one model of BRG program out there.