I'm using my Barclays Free Night voucher to stay at the HK IC in early May on a Saturday night.
With it being a redemption and me being a Spire Elite with IHG (but not an Amabassador). I know that there's no upgrade on the cards for free. So I e-mailed them and asked what the cost would be to upgrade to a harbour view room (it's the main reason I want to stay there) and also the price of the Lounge for one person (which appears to be a slight discount for requesting it ahead of check-in).
I got a response saying HK$800 + 10% service charge for the harbour view, and HK$826 + 10% service charge for the lounge. I've taken a look at the cash price for the rooms that night and a standard superior room is HK$2469.2 and a harbour view is HK$3175.6. That's a difference of H$705.60.
I don't really want to quibble with them over HK$95, but is it unusual for the upgrade offer to be more than the difference in the cash booking price?