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IHG Account Terminated (after registering for several promotion codes)

Old Jun 24, 2014, 2:19 am
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Last edit by: soitgoes
IHG Account Termination Fact Summary

1) IHG has been terminating accounts due to abuse since approximately 2010 (#244).

2) IHG account terminations happen suddenly and without warning. If your account is terminated, you will not be able to login. You will have to call customer service, who will either reinstate your account and warn you, or refer your case to another office, in which case your account is probably permamently closed.

3) No one except for IHG knows exactly what the trigger for account cancellation is. The reason given is usually excessive use of promo codes. In the past, it was thought that most of the people who got their accounts canceled was due to either selling points or excessive point break bookings, but it appears that mere registration of promo codes now can sometimes trigger a cancellation.

Who has gotten their account terminated?

(If you, or someone you know has got their account terminated, please list your username here, and reference the post you made on this thread).

bgmike (#1)
lcpteck (#5)
DavidAL - father - (#85)
Dolphinyong - friend - (#155)
Bakkie (#180)
Tim O'Brien (#187) reinstated
chongcao - good summary, esp. of events from flyertea forum (#244)
soitgoes (#262) deactivated temporarily; reactivated after phone call
travelismylife - brother inlaw - (#329)

Also, LoyaltyLobby has a number of data points in the comment thread.

FlyerTea (a Chinese site) also has a number of data points.

What do we know about terminations

1) The usual reason IHG gives is non-targeted promo code usage. We don't know which promo codes IHG considers invalid, although IHG told Bakke (#180), that he used a code that was supposed to be for platinum members when he was not.

2) Status does not matter. Gold members, Platinum members, even RAs have all had their account terminated.

3) Credit card does not matter. Some people terminated did not have the IHG Chase card, some did, for more than 3 years (#329).

4) Stay history does not matter. Some people had their accounts terminated before any stay, some had their accounts terminated after one stay that accrued many points, and some had a history of lot of paid stays.

5) Termination usually doesn't cause a loss of booked nights. Apparently, even though your points are gone, any nights reserved stay booked in the system.

6) Some account terminations are caused by calling customer service on incorrectly credited nights. A number of people who had their accounts terminated called in on a stay that posted as non-qualifying, only to have their account cancelled shortly thereafter.

IHG Terms and Conditions downloadable PDF, including:

4. Membership Cancellation. SCH reserves the right to cancel any IHGRewards Club membership and revoke any and all unredeemed IHG Rewards Club points collected by any member for reasons that include, but are not limited to: 1) violation of these Terms and Conditions; 2) misrepresentation of any information or any misuse of this Program; 3) violation of any national, state or local law or regulation in connection with the use of membership privileges; 4) failure to pay for hotel charges; 5) a check to a participating hotel brand that is returned for insufficient funds or is invalid for any reason; 6) commission of fraud or abuse involving any portion of this Program; 7) more than one active account per member; or 8) physical, verbal, or written abuse of hotel or IHG personnel; or 9) action, in any other way, to the detriment of the Program or any of its alliances; all as may be determined by SCH in its sole discretion.
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IHG Account Terminated (after registering for several promotion codes)

Old Apr 14, 2015, 4:22 pm
  #916  
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My earlier post had been edited.

I am most certainly not trying to re-litigate whether in the past, IHG was right to close down those accounts with the use of those bonus codes --

Indeed, the way they handled it in the past, I think it was quite wrong as there was no advance notice, etc.

There but for the Grace of God go I, and had I been a principal user of IHG instead of Marriott, I might have gotten tripped up as many were -- as it was, I was not a major user of IHG and therefore, had no occasion to sign up for those bonuses until on an as needed basis -- which saved me as I had no stays during the critical time when they were auditing those accounts.

What I was specifically referring to now was a poster who knows that IHG can and actively does close accounts from this point forwards, and considers it shameful that they do such a thing, without reflecting on his own conscious desire to flagrantly subvert their rules -- I said above that he should look in the mirror and gain greater introspection as to who really should be shameful.

As I originally had pointed out, is it really about shame, or at bottom, is it truly about greed and a lack of one's own self-restraint?

Originally Posted by iahphx

This whole thing seems extremely nutty. If I'm not eligible for a promo, fine-- don't let me sign up for it. But to risk having my account closed because I try to maximize my points? It's really shameful on IHG's part.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/24664166-post911.html
nivsy likes this.

Last edited by NJUPINTHEAIR; Apr 14, 2015 at 4:31 pm
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Old Apr 14, 2015, 11:19 pm
  #917  
 
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Originally Posted by NJUPINTHEAIR
No, it's shameful that you would consider doing it and then cry about it when and if you were caught and your points confiscated.

You know the risks, it is up to you whether you wish to knowingly violate their rules.

(...)
Some of the "where did you hear about this" reasons in the drop down list that needed to be selected when entering a promo was "from a friend", "Internet", and "other". IHG was completely wrong in what they did! There was nothing shameful about registering for a promo that was neither mailed or emailed to you. The people that registered for multiple promos and then got their points confiscated were playing by IHG's rules! Period! End of story!
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Old Apr 15, 2015, 1:21 am
  #918  
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Originally Posted by yohanson
Some of the "where did you hear about this" reasons in the drop down list that needed to be selected when entering a promo was "from a friend", "Internet", and "other". IHG was completely wrong in what they did! There was nothing shameful about registering for a promo that was neither mailed or emailed to you. The people that registered for multiple promos and then got their points confiscated were playing by IHG's rules! Period! End of story!
Yes. I fully understand your frustration. However if we all know that IHG play unfairly about this (they should make promo code unusable if someone who is not targeted trying to use it), then you should be aware of this. IHG has the ultimate right to cancel anyone's account - even without advance notice. You can call it unfair, unethical etc. but this is IHG. Play by their rules or move your business somewhere else.
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Old Apr 15, 2015, 1:46 am
  #919  
 
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Originally Posted by nacho
(they should make promo code unusable if someone who is not targeted trying to use it),
They have.
For many/most?/all? it's not possible to register for the new codes , i.e. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/24574689-post29.html
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Old Apr 15, 2015, 3:24 am
  #920  
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Originally Posted by Hannibal Lecter
They have.
For many/most?/all? it's not possible to register for the new codes , i.e. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/24574689-post29.html
I don't do the codes so I have no idea if they are no longer possible to apply. However I saw in Loyalty Lobby a couple of months back that they put out some new codes, and the guy claims he used it to test it out.
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Old Apr 15, 2015, 4:54 am
  #921  
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Originally Posted by yohanson
Some of the "where did you hear about this" reasons in the drop down list that needed to be selected when entering a promo was "from a friend", "Internet", and "other". IHG was completely wrong in what they did! There was nothing shameful about registering for a promo that was neither mailed or emailed to you. The people that registered for multiple promos and then got their points confiscated were playing by IHG's rules! Period! End of story!
Uh, yes. That was in the past. I am referring to a poster who in the PRESENT knows that IHG is closing accounts for just this sort of thing NOW, but he calls their actions shameful if they were to close his account after he would knowingly enter those very codes, NOW??

I don't know if you agree with that, but if you do -- violating a rule but not willing to accept the consequences of your own actions, despite knowing that there might be a penalty to be paid -- is ludicrous.
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Old Apr 15, 2015, 7:21 am
  #922  
 
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Originally Posted by nacho
I don't do the codes so I have no idea if they are no longer possible to apply. However I saw in Loyalty Lobby a couple of months back that they put out some new codes, and the guy claims he used it to test it out.
Yes a couple of months ago, now you get the message

Were sorry, this offer is not available to you.
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Old Apr 15, 2015, 8:04 am
  #923  
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It seems, that IHG now is able to verify if one is targetted for a promotion or not. In so far it seems signing up for promotion, one is not eligible for, seems to be over and this means we do not need a thread about the termination.

In so far I am (as some may say finally ) going to close this thread.

FLYGVA
co-moderator IHG Forum

Last edited by FLYGVA; May 3, 2016 at 12:35 pm Reason: now, not not
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