Deemed to be a no-show at HIX using points
Stay 1 :
- Booked a redemption a few weeks in advance
- Shortly after midnight I checked in
- 11am I checked out and inexperienced receptionist couldn't find my booking but asked if I had anything to pay, to which I said no and left
- A day or so later I noticed the points for the stay had been recredited to my IHG account
- Then a no-show charge for one night appeared on credit card statement
- Called hotel to protest and they refunded this charge and nothing was said about the points ie I kept them
Stay 2 in different hotel (this week):
- Booked a redemption a few days in advance
- 6pm on day of arrival, called reception to say I would arrive after midnight
- 8pm received email to say amenity points had been awarded
- 11pm I called again to say I would arrive around 2am
- 2am I checked in without issue
- 11am I checked out and receptionist seemed a bit confused about whether I had to pay but I told her I used points
- Have just noticed that the points for the stay have been recredited to my IHG account!
I guess they will now try to charge my credit card as a no-show. The hotel was completely full so they would probably have got a lot from IHG for my stay.
What is the mechanism for no-show redemptions, does the system automatically return points at midnight or something? And where a hotel has returned points in error, can they easily take them back from the customer?
And what is the logic in giving a customer their points back but taking an amount of money where the customer has no way of knowing how much that will be before they decide not to show?