craigthemif

I seem to have dropped to Gold, but I recall being sent a Platinum card late last year, which I assumed meant I had been comped Platinum for 2014 since it said expiry 2014. I guess not - I wonder if it's just a glitch though.

BrightlyBob

Only 3 nights short. Ouch, I feel your pain... Then again, maybe not, after all IHG Plat is seriously short on uses, except for the bonus points (which don't even count for status!) I guess you can use the card for cutting drugs, or breaking and entering, neither of which are my thing...

Plat status compares woefully against Marriott and Hilton. I kinda assumed they'd strengthen the benefits bearing in mind the stronger qualification criteria. Alas not!

OTOH, I have had a few decent upgrades, and sometimes it's had real value, step forward HI Oakville, Canada and CP Birmingham UK, but for the most part the status has provided a pretty good match to my loyalty, namely, not a lot!

Somehow however I did end the year with 25 nights which represented my greatest ever, 2012 was about 20, 2011, 15 and 2010, when I first achieved plat was 10. That does mean IHG has since granting me Plat seen a 250% increase in my stays, so maybe it meant something after all. Doubt I'll be making another 25 this year though.

Finally, if you're thinking about the UK IHG Black card that gives free plat status [EDIT... LATEST POSTS ON ANOTHER THREAD SUGGEST THE BLACK CARD MAY NOT AWARD PLAT STATUS ANY LONGER] apparently it can still be obtained with 40,000 free points, either search for it here or go to Raffles excellent site, headforpoints.com, and click on the credit cards link...

hunter186

Thanks, that's kind of what I'm thinking as well. The bonus points are nice, as I do use them for reward stays pretty frequently.

The property I'm staying at right now is pretty good with upgrades, although the "upgraded" rooms aren't that much different, IMO. I've had pretty poor luck getting room upgrades in other IHG properties, though.

scubaccr

Hunter, suggest you drop a short polite email to IHG Customer Services.

.....
Write you had a status match in September 2013 to IHG Platinum, but as only given Platinum to 31st Dec 2013, for four months, were a few days short of hitting required nights/points and ask if they would consider extending your platinum expiry to DEC2014, as it would have been if you had status matched in October 2013 instead of SEP2013.

Say you are now aware, that if you had Status-Matched 1st October 2013 just a couple weeks (few days even) later, due to the October2013 IHG status match program change, you would have been given Platinum until 31st December 2014

I know of a few September matchees, who "complained" early October2013 who posted they were then told IHG would extend them to DEC2014 too.

....

If you are indeed 3stays short with only 4/12 months of stays in 2013, IHG won't want to lose your custom.

BrightlyBob

Agree with scubaccr above ^^ well worth a go...

maatschappij

I wasn't aware that the one time status match would cease to exist on 12/31/13. To my horror I saw club on my account when looking to book a room this morning. Especially when my card and welcome letter stated a match through 2014....

I was irritated that the phone rep mentioned that Club level had benefits. Such as what?? As another poster stated, Marriott Silver has more benefits than IHG Club.

I always found the properties in the IHG group more expensive and didn't give out much. Much prefer Marriott and HHonors Gold benefits. I've been upgraded to suites with both programs. IHG...once and it wasn't much of an upgrade.

hunter186

I sent a nice email yesterday, but got a fairly generic response that I didn't meet the requirements for 2014 Platinum.

I just sent another follow-up, being a bit more explicit in my request -- but still very polite . We'll see what comes back.

Generally speaking, I've been really pleased with the service at IHG properties. I'm in hotels 3-4 nights/week, pretty much every week, and I've had hit-or-miss experiences with some of the other chains. I'm not the kind of traveler who threatens to "take my business elsewhere" (nobody likes that guy ), but the rewards points are really what drives my lodging decision. If I need to spend 3 or 4 months re-earning Platinum, I may look elsewhere this year.

Moriens

Same here! I got comped Platinum (for 2014) at a random point last summer. (The letter seemed pretty clear about the complimentary status.) Then I ignored my IHG status level for the rest of 2013. Now I show up as Gold when I sign in.

(I don't think I even earned Gold, though, under the new criteria. Maybe the 3 brands / 10 nights option?)

lingua101

Yes, I think it was a mistake. I sent them an email and this is a reply. It is really unprofessional. IHG will me my less prefer choice now.

LotusSooty

Well I'm still showing Platinum, so hopefully they've forgotten to downgrade me. Or maybe they just see my potential

Moriens

Mine came with a letter that said something like “we have extended your Platinum status through 2014”. I don't recall the exact wording, but it was very clearly comped and not earned status, and it was clearly valid through 2014. (I decided to forgo requalifying on nights in 2013 based on that mailing.)

Here is the relevant thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/inter...num-elite.html

If IHG is now claiming that this was a mistake, that's really shady. (They wouldn't accept the same excuse from a guest who no-showed a non-refundable rate, would they.)

sdsearch

Your profile says: "Location: Frisco, TX"

Do you have the IHG credit card from Chase? The people posting in this thread are mostly from outside the US (where that card is not avialable), or a couple people within the US who don't seem to have gotten the credit card to date.

This thread is about people losing last year's status earlier than they thought they would, not about IHG taking away status that you expected to have through 2014.

perthite

Same here

lingua101

Now you said it, I also remember the mailer also like that.... "we have extended your Platinum status through 2014". I need to dig out my mail to see if I still have the mailer.

I think they have gone through my account since I was complaining about missing bonus and realize I did not qualify as Plat.

This is really show unprofessional IHG. What make me even sad, the way they replied my email even I have shown my card expire in 2014.

lingua101

you better do not call or claim any missing miles...