I stayed at the Intercontinental Beijing Beichen for 34 days for work in May-June of this year, and I signed up for Ambassador when I checked in. It was a really long haul being away from home for so long, but I figured I'd at least get a lot of points out of it that I could use with family. A few weeks after I got home, I checked my account and it only had 1,000 points total, but had registered my 34 nights.

I sent an email wondering why I had so few points and got a response, which I confirmed in a call to customer service. If you sign up at an IHG hotel during your stay, that stay gets a FLAT RATE of 1,000 points. My bill came out to around $9,000 dollars, and so at ten points per dollar, I forfeited about 90,000 points!!! I had no idea about any of this, and it's just horrible. I don't recall this ever happening with another program, and I also don't know how this policy does anything except rob people of points, since the entire initial stay earns the equivalent of $100 of spending.

There is apparently nothing I can do at this point, other than vent about it and warn others of this really awful IHG policy, but if anyone has any possible options, I'm all ears.

Relevant language from terms and conditions (wasn't told this at the desk when I enrolled, and wouldn't have imagined such a thing existed):

If you enroll in IHG® Rewards Club at the time of your initial stay in any IHG branded hotel excluding ANA partner hotel worldwide, you will be awarded 1,000 points for that qualified enrolling stay.

InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, Holiday Inn®, Holiday Inn Express® , EVEN® and HUALUXE® hotel brands worldwide, you will receive ten (10) points for each USD dollar or local currency equivalent paid toward Eligible Charges on your individual hotel room bill, when you pay Qualifying Room Rates, or the applicable airline miles.