patmcpsu

This is odd; my reservation for April 29-30th still shows as "confirmed" on the IHG website and nobody from the hotel contacted me. However, the hotel's website and IHG's website both show that no bookings are possible until May 2nd.

I just made a refundable booking at Intercontinental Times Square as a fallback. I'll post an update on how it plays out.

Troopers

This happened to me before where my HI reservation was canceled due to delayed opening. HI/IHG compensated me 35k pts (number of pts required to stay a night at the HI) per night that was canceled. I think they notified me a week out.

demue

Okay so for starters, I now also see room categories changed to show Superior > Deluxe > Premier > Executive > Barclay.

On the opening date, well darn, I have an email from the GM (Mr. Houdre) dated Apr 6 sharing that Apr 19, 2016 will be the opening date. Wonder what went wrong.

Now we are arriving on May 1 for 4 nights and similar to patmcpsu no one from the hotel has reached out to me yet. Actually quite interestingly, I have reached out to them via the general reservations email to inform them that I have 4 single night reservations (all reward nights, hence flexibility is king ) and would like to get the same room assigned for the entire stay period.

Of course, on the general reservations email I still got an auto-reply that said that the hotel is closed for renovations, so I got in touch with some of the sales & Marketing guys listed in the auto-response who were kind enough to talk to their reservations colleagues and convey my request.

Well, as others have said, it promises to be interesting. Hey, if they comp me the nights I'd be okay to be the "guinea pig" as long as there is electricity and running (hot/cold) water. .

demue

I had a look at the IC Barclay website and there is a small message saying reopening is on Apr 29. I dropped another note to them to see what is going on. I can understand preopening troubles, but at least communicate. Their Facebook page for example is a joke not mentioning anything.

demue

Well, I pinged the GM and he has been as responsive as ever - respect. Opening is now set for 29 April for already booked guests while new bookings are taken from May 2 onwards. Initial plan of April 19 got delayed by some permit issuance troubles that didn't come through as planned. However, the permits seem to have been received now so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all will be fine.

patmcpsu

Thanks for the research, Demue. I'm now left with a dilemma where I have a reservation at both Intercontinentals.

I got a very good cash rate (under $200) for Intercontinental Times Square, and I see it as "low risk low reward" in terms of what to expect.

On the other hand, I have an Executive Room booking using 60k points at The Barclay. It will be their opening night, but it sounds like a "soft open". I could see this either being a disorganized mess or a generous grand-opening kind of environment (including awesome upgrades because hardly any other guests will be there).

What do you think?

demue

Under $200 is definitely tempting and to be honest, if it was a one night stay, personally I would not spend 60k points for a comparable level hotel. YMMV.

My situation is a bit different as I'm staying multiple nights with room rates in the $350++ range and I booked for 50k points and will get 5k back for every night due to the Ambassador 10% reward bonus options I chose upon membership renewal.

beachfan

No reward nights or Chase Anniversary nights being shown on the web from now through April 2017.

Is it a web glitch, something else temporary or more serious than that?

demue

My guess would be it is temporary until they are fully reopened. Reward nights have been available at times and then faded away again so I think it may be preopening jitters. Keep checking regularly is what I would do.

demue

Okay, so potentially there are not so good news for RA & AMB planning to use reward nights at the IC Barclay. I have been told in writing the following by a Directors level person at the hotel:

"The upgrades will apply for paid stays, but are not eligible on IHG Reward points reservations.

Superior-upgrade to Deluxe
Deluxe-upgrade to Premier
Premier-upgrade to Executive
Executive-upgrade to Barclay King
Barclay King-upgrade to one-bedroom suite

Royal Ambassador's are entitled to an automatic upgrade to an Executive room."

Now what exactly will be offered and what not, especially for RA (as above seems to be the 1-level Ambassador policy) only stay experiences will tell, but given the already smaller rooms at IC Barclay and the fact that the IC TS still honors RA and AMB benefits on reward stays favor may shift to the IC TS at least on awards. A sad development vs. the previous policy.

patmcpsu

This is bad news, but the ability to select an Executive Room when booking an awards stay is a de facto upgrade in my book.

demue

Agreed, if it stays that way, which in the long run I don't expect to be the case, but I'm happy to be proven wrong. When I booked last year in July, I was able to select the base room (250sqf) or Deluxe (275sqf), while a while ago one could actually select an Executive room.

Let's see what'll be available post reopening when things "stabilize". In the end this silly "no benefits on reward nights" is a general IHG Rewards program level issue. It is just that so far, to my knowledge, all ICs in the US still chose to extend full RA / AMB benefits regardless of paid or reward stay. YMMV.

mia

NYT: A Manhattan Hotel Is Made Over, and a Reporter Wanders Back in Time


http://nyti.ms/1qTcStn

The article does include an image of renovated guest room which the writer had stayed in during his first visit in 1962.

nicolas75

Interesting. Thank you for sharing

turner32

Anyone stayed yet since the re-opening?