I was not able to login while I was out of the USA last week. The 'gear' just circled. I booked elsewhere. I tried again today (from the USA), same result. This was no matter the network I was using, differing browsers, etc. Called 1 877 424 2449. The rep 'refreshed' my account very quickly. Other than a forced password reset, everything is OK now.
FYI, under no circumstance have I been able to use a VPN with ihg.com - the site simply won't load.