Originally Posted by
LondonElite
You've been told that it is normal for this to happen. If you want to take it up with IHG then you should do so, because there is nothing the hotel will/can do. I am fairly certain that if you read the T&Cs of the free night award, there will be some language around the requirement for the hotel to be part of the group at the time of your stay.
That's exactly what I did, I never contacted the hotel, but I contacted IHG several times to address this issue, and received nothing, but apologies. There is nothing in the T&Cs about this beside very vague: "Anniversary Free Night is valid at hotels in the IHG® Rewards Club Family of Brands"
I am really puzzled about this, because most of the hotels we book using points and free nights have very limited availability and have to be booked many months in advance. It is really hard to know which hotel may leave the chain during the year