Originally Posted by
GundamWing01
post pay wouldnt count for the credit. thats paying the hotel. unless you are paying a deposit to amex first, prepay is the way to go for 5x MR.
also, i dont understand your IHG number issue. just call amex. call the hotel. or do it at checkin. as for IHG loyalty pts and recognition, its YMMV. be prepared to get nothing and be told stupid info. you should get some points, elite night credit and other benefits, but prepay booking via amex is like any other OTA ie non-qualifying rate
Right. My concern is that it is very much not clear that post-pay bookings (which are readily available on amextravel) are not eligible for the credit. Past promos like this have been much clearer that it is only prepaid reservations that qualify. This is confusing enough that widely-read blogs (
TPG link) have actively indicated that postpay works and have not corrected themselves.
IHG number issue is just a matter of convenience. The rate on amextravel is actually higher than if I booked with the hotel/IHG directly (and matches another publicly available flexible rate), yet I have an additional barrier to cross to get points/stay credit/benefits. Many other OTA prepay bookings allow entry/passthrough of loyalty number even just for the convenience of having the reservation show up in your app or whatever. I'm not really in the IHG ecosystem so I don't care in this case. Like I said, it's just a gripe.