tangey

The original t&c were actually mis-worded and stated that the IHG site had to be equal or less restrictive than the 3rd party site. However the fact that they have just dropped the "less restrictive" words rather than correct the sentence can hardly been seen as accidental. As now stated it is totally perverse that you can NOT make a claim on a 3rd party flex booking against a pre-paid IHG booking.

The dropping of the 30 day rule (which was previously a 7 day rule) is however a major easing of the t&c

spankytoes

The real problem with dropping “less restrictive” is that most 3rd party sites have different cancellation times than IHG. For example, Kayak’s reservation system typically makes you cancel by 12:00 AM the day of, Booking.com makes you cancel by 10:00 PM the day before and so-forth. There are very few “equals” with respect to the restrictions.

And to piggy-back on what you said, I don’t understand why IHG won’t let you book a flexi-rate and submit a claim from a 3rd party that is less than what IHG offers as a non-refundable rate.

Example:

IHG NR: $200.00, Flexi $250.00
3rd Party Flexi: $190.00

If the rate I found, which is a flex-rate, is lower than what you offer for a more restrictive pre-paid rate, then why do I have to risk booking the NR rate with IHG and get my claim denied? $190.00 is less than both the NR and Flexi rate that you advertise for the room, ergo, my claim is valid despite the terms not being equal.

There’s a 0% chance of me submitting a BRG claim unless the IHG site only has flexi-rates.

nacho

Which is an easier way to score a BRG?

1. 3rd less restrictive term compared to IHG but you can only file 1 claim per month; or
2. every single has to match (impossible if they challenge you on the 6pm cancellation term) but you can score as many BRGs as you can find.

Personally I prefer no.1 because you can hardly find any equal terms (even though I got some claims through but it was because the comparison site forgot to stop the discount but now it's closed).

IHG has cancellable rates, but they won't show up until less than 1 week before your intended check-in date.

denCSA

Well, I guess I can't complain too much. I just scored another free night at the IC Boston

nacho

Have you got the rate adjusted? And the terms are equal between the 3rd party site and IHG.com?

I have been waiting for mine for a week still no news from them.

Thanks in advance!

robertwcook16

I am staying tommorow nite at IC Boston on a BRG in a club level King

nacho

Congrats

I think IC Boston has appeared on this thread quite a few times - and somehow IHG hasn't killed sites that sell their rooms cheaper. I'll definitely look into it if I ever go to Boston

MightyTravels

Just got a BRG approved for HI Dusseldorf.

Question: I'm looking at The ICs in Seoul - booking.com does not have competitive rates so where can I find rates in KRW?

Ambraciot

The real question is what BRG response times will be like going forward.

Ambraciot

Both of my BRGs for September (submitted this afternoon) were approved, the new terms are a huge improvement in my book. One of them used a very low comparison rate with cancellation rules in between the IHG AP rate and the IHG flexible rate.

nacho

So IHG doesn't enforce the 'booking terms must be equal' term? If they don't then it's a great news.

Did you book IHG AP rate?

Thanks in advance!

Ambraciot

At this point I've submitted 3 in the last 24 hours all of which were approved. One was AP to AP, one was ~flexible to IHG AP and the final one was flexible to flexible (both sites had AP's for less than flexible). I think in practice the terms just need to be ~equal or more generous.

nacho

You must be lucky because you are not supposed to get through with 'flex vs flex' when IHG has AP rate available. The T&C stated very clearly that you have to book the lowest rate available. I got a rejection once for that reason.

Ambraciot

I thought that might be an issue based on what I read here, but I thought it was worth trying before booking a $300 AP rate. In this case both sites had AP and flexible rates with nearly identical terms and the competing site was cheaper than IHG across the board.

When you got the rejection were the terms a close match? Was there a matching rate on the competing site cheaper than the IHG AP?

nacho

The thing is I'll never book at $300 AP rate and then file BRG. The terms are the same when I got the rejection, they simply said I have to book the lowest rate and since I haven't they rejected my claim. By then they have already killed the site.

Also IHG's AP rate has a 10% refund, so any BRG agent can use this to go against any 3rd party site with AP rate.