Jun 24, 2014, 2:19 am
Last edit by: soitgoes
IHG Account Termination Fact Summary
1) IHG has been terminating accounts due to abuse since approximately 2010 (#244).
2) IHG account terminations happen suddenly and without warning. If your account is terminated, you will not be able to login. You will have to call customer service, who will either reinstate your account and warn you, or refer your case to another office, in which case your account is probably permamently closed.
3) No one except for IHG knows exactly what the trigger for account cancellation is. The reason given is usually excessive use of promo codes. In the past, it was thought that most of the people who got their accounts canceled was due to either selling points or excessive point break bookings, but it appears that mere registration of promo codes now can sometimes trigger a cancellation.
Who has gotten their account terminated?
(If you, or someone you know has got their account terminated, please list your username here, and reference the post you made on this thread).
bgmike (#1)
lcpteck (#5)
DavidAL - father - (#85)
Dolphinyong - friend - (#155)
Bakkie (#180)
Tim O'Brien (#187) reinstated
chongcao - good summary, esp. of events from flyertea forum (#244)
soitgoes (#262) deactivated temporarily; reactivated after phone call
travelismylife - brother inlaw - (#329)
Also, LoyaltyLobby has a number of data points in the comment thread.
FlyerTea (a Chinese site) also has a number of data points.
What do we know about terminations
1) The usual reason IHG gives is non-targeted promo code usage. We don't know which promo codes IHG considers invalid, although IHG told Bakke (#180), that he used a code that was supposed to be for platinum members when he was not.
2) Status does not matter. Gold members, Platinum members, even RAs have all had their account terminated.
3) Credit card does not matter. Some people terminated did not have the IHG Chase card, some did, for more than 3 years (#329).
4) Stay history does not matter. Some people had their accounts terminated before any stay, some had their accounts terminated after one stay that accrued many points, and some had a history of lot of paid stays.
5) Termination usually doesn't cause a loss of booked nights. Apparently, even though your points are gone, any nights reserved stay booked in the system.
6) Some account terminations are caused by calling customer service on incorrectly credited nights. A number of people who had their accounts terminated called in on a stay that posted as non-qualifying, only to have their account cancelled shortly thereafter.
IHG Terms and Conditions downloadable PDF, including:
1) IHG has been terminating accounts due to abuse since approximately 2010 (#244).
2) IHG account terminations happen suddenly and without warning. If your account is terminated, you will not be able to login. You will have to call customer service, who will either reinstate your account and warn you, or refer your case to another office, in which case your account is probably permamently closed.
3) No one except for IHG knows exactly what the trigger for account cancellation is. The reason given is usually excessive use of promo codes. In the past, it was thought that most of the people who got their accounts canceled was due to either selling points or excessive point break bookings, but it appears that mere registration of promo codes now can sometimes trigger a cancellation.
Who has gotten their account terminated?
(If you, or someone you know has got their account terminated, please list your username here, and reference the post you made on this thread).
bgmike (#1)
lcpteck (#5)
DavidAL - father - (#85)
Dolphinyong - friend - (#155)
Bakkie (#180)
Tim O'Brien (#187) reinstated
chongcao - good summary, esp. of events from flyertea forum (#244)
soitgoes (#262) deactivated temporarily; reactivated after phone call
travelismylife - brother inlaw - (#329)
Also, LoyaltyLobby has a number of data points in the comment thread.
FlyerTea (a Chinese site) also has a number of data points.
What do we know about terminations
1) The usual reason IHG gives is non-targeted promo code usage. We don't know which promo codes IHG considers invalid, although IHG told Bakke (#180), that he used a code that was supposed to be for platinum members when he was not.
2) Status does not matter. Gold members, Platinum members, even RAs have all had their account terminated.
3) Credit card does not matter. Some people terminated did not have the IHG Chase card, some did, for more than 3 years (#329).
4) Stay history does not matter. Some people had their accounts terminated before any stay, some had their accounts terminated after one stay that accrued many points, and some had a history of lot of paid stays.
5) Termination usually doesn't cause a loss of booked nights. Apparently, even though your points are gone, any nights reserved stay booked in the system.
6) Some account terminations are caused by calling customer service on incorrectly credited nights. A number of people who had their accounts terminated called in on a stay that posted as non-qualifying, only to have their account cancelled shortly thereafter.
IHG Terms and Conditions downloadable PDF, including:
4. Membership Cancellation. SCH reserves the right to cancel any IHG®Rewards Club membership and revoke any and all unredeemed IHG® Rewards Club points collected by any member for reasons that include, but are not limited to: 1) violation of these Terms and Conditions; 2) misrepresentation of any information or any misuse of this Program; 3) violation of any national, state or local law or regulation in connection with the use of membership privileges; 4) failure to pay for hotel charges; 5) a check to a participating hotel brand that is returned for insufficient funds or is invalid for any reason; 6) commission of fraud or abuse involving any portion of this Program; 7) more than one active account per member; or 8) physical, verbal, or written abuse of hotel or IHG personnel; or 9) action, in any other way, to the detriment of the Program or any of its alliances; all as may be determined by SCH in its sole discretion.
IHG Account Terminated (after registering for several promotion codes)
Jun 9, 2014, 1:21 pm
#151
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: AA EXP (owe), BA Silver (ows), AB Silver (owr), WN A+/CP, IHG Spire AMB, Avis First
Posts: 1,414
However, in the process of explaining their position they would also need to show that they had applied this rule of closing accounts and taking points balances "fairly" and a viable question would be "did you close every account"? If the answer is as I expect "no" then a UK court might conclude that this is merely an excuse to "steal" points from customers they don't mind upsetting and nothing to do with "fraud". If their issue is one of fraud or breach of Ts&Cs then this would hold for all customers. It is a principle that must be customer value blind. If it is a fraud by one customer it is a fraud by all that did it. It would then be the way that they selected customers that would show this not to be a fraud issue at all..
Well, it'd be interesting if anyone took this to discovery anyway...
Jun 9, 2014, 2:26 pm
#152
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: UK
Posts: 11,969
It would vary from person to person and no one case creates any precedent for another. The only property I would use points for is London. In fact I don't use my points and have only redeemed once in a few years. So if I were faced with the need to make a claim I would take the lowest flexible rate for the cheapest IC Park Lane room and pro rata that per point.
As I understand it US courts have no equivalent of our unfair terms in consumer contracts legislation and so also (as I understand it) the US adheres more rigidly to the small print signed for in the contract. The UK has a fairness concept but is slightly more lenient for business to business contracts as it presumes that businesses have greater clout and savvy when entering into contracts compared with consumers.
Jun 9, 2014, 8:36 pm
#153
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Auckland NZ
Programs: SQ TPPS, EK Gold, IHG RA, Marriott Gold Hyatt Diamond, HHonors Gold, UA Premier Gold, TG Silver
Posts: 1,092
Jun 10, 2014, 10:50 am
#154
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: NYC
Programs: AA EXP, IHG PL, SPG G, MR G, HH G, CC G, AMEX PL
Posts: 1,465
I have about 700K points with IHG. I have three trips planned for the rest of the year. After reading about these account closures for a while I think I'll just use up all or most of my points on those trips and switch to Marriott and SPG for the next year. I'll still keep IHG CC though since one free night a year is certainly worth $59. But I don't think they will see a single dollar from me from now on.
Last edited by foxberg; Jun 10, 2014 at 11:20 am
Jun 11, 2014, 1:25 am
#155
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 940
Warning : Don't contact IHG customer care at all if you registered for the promo code
Last week, a friend of mine got his account closed after his first stay with IHG. He registered for the promo codes from blogs. After his stay, IHG posted his stay as 'non-qualifying' stay which is incorrect, so he contacted customer care. IHG customer care responded that they will make the correction and nothing else is mentioned. At the moment he received his email, he couldn't log into account anymore.
A further correspondence with IHG customer care has revealed that his account is terminated after auditing without giving him any reason.
His colleague who stayed at the same hotel, registered for the same promo codes at the same time got his stay posted correctly with the promo points without any problem and his account is still alive.
The funny is exactly the same thing happened to another friend of mine yesterday with exactly the same scenario.
So, I think we could draw a conclusion : Don't contact IHG Customer care for whatever reason if you registered for those promo codes and pray that the stay will post correctly=)
A further correspondence with IHG customer care has revealed that his account is terminated after auditing without giving him any reason.
His colleague who stayed at the same hotel, registered for the same promo codes at the same time got his stay posted correctly with the promo points without any problem and his account is still alive.
The funny is exactly the same thing happened to another friend of mine yesterday with exactly the same scenario.
So, I think we could draw a conclusion : Don't contact IHG Customer care for whatever reason if you registered for those promo codes and pray that the stay will post correctly=)
Jun 11, 2014, 3:18 am
#156
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: London
Programs: Priority CLub Platinum
Posts: 104
Or don't register for all of the codes if it's your first stay ... a few threads of accounts being closed do mention that it was their first stay - I'm guessing part of the audit revealed lots of accounts are set up for just the one stay to gain as many points from the system as possible, and then another account is set up for the next stay.
Jun 11, 2014, 3:36 am
#157
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Somewhere in Europe
Posts: 3,362
I'd imagine that there will be some routine screening takes place on new accounts as a matter of course to ensure that guests don't have more than once account (ie they can check this by the card used, address etc etc).
It would surprise me even less if routine screening didn't take place again after the first few stays to ensure that this isn't happening. Bearing in mind people have boasted of accruing 25k points from one stay which is enough for a night in a more than decent provincial Crowne Plaza. Throw in a couple of points & cash and you have the 40k required for a more than excellent Intercontinental such as the Amstel.
It would surprise me even less if routine screening didn't take place again after the first few stays to ensure that this isn't happening. Bearing in mind people have boasted of accruing 25k points from one stay which is enough for a night in a more than decent provincial Crowne Plaza. Throw in a couple of points & cash and you have the 40k required for a more than excellent Intercontinental such as the Amstel.
Jun 11, 2014, 9:36 am
#158
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: I hate my location and hope to flee from it soon.
Programs: Hyatt PL, PC Spire/RA, HH GOLD, SPG Green, Marriott Silver, Skywards B, CSA Gold, Lufthansa Paper,UA
Posts: 1,211
So, I think we could draw a conclusion : Don't contact IHG Customer care for whatever reason if you registered for those promo codes and pray that the stay will post correctly=)
......
Rules of the fight club already posted in the sticky messages on top.
......
Rules of the fight club already posted in the sticky messages on top.
Jun 11, 2014, 10:00 am
#159
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: YYZ / FRA
Programs: IHG RA; Avis First
Posts: 1,444
The way I did it was register 3-7 at once and thats it till next stay...
Jun 11, 2014, 8:38 pm
#160
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Sydney
Programs: QFF, Krisflyer, US Air DM, VelocityRewards, Hertz Gold, Hilton Gold, Accor Plat
Posts: 446
Would be an interesting argument for any company to run, "yes we know our representatives dont actually know what they are talking about but despite knowing that have made no attempt to better train them".
Jun 11, 2014, 10:35 pm
#161
Join Date: Oct 2010
Programs: HHonors Diamond, DL PM
Posts: 123
Amazes me IHG would act like this. Not that I see them in the wrong, per se, but it would be SO easy to fix their system. Then people wouldn't be able to sign up for non-targeted promos and they move on to stay normally. Instead, they close accounts and take away points so they lose customers for life. Brilliant
Jun 11, 2014, 10:46 pm
#163
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Seat 1L these days :)
Programs: AF Platinum/AY LUMO/SK EBG/baEC S/HYATT Globalist/MR LTP/A3 *G/HH Dia/IHG plat
Posts: 7,962
Amazes me IHG would act like this. Not that I see them in the wrong, per se, but it would be SO easy to fix their system. Then people wouldn't be able to sign up for non-targeted promos and they move on to stay normally. Instead, they close accounts and take away points so they lose customers for life. Brilliant
They just got me to switch over alot of stays for 2014 with their big win promo but with horrible customer service, non working snd partly dishonest BRG practices and now this I have started to seriously reconsider my decision!
I do not get a very professional picture from them!
There are better ways for them to operate
Jun 12, 2014, 1:16 am
#164
Moderator: InterContinental Hotels and Germany
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 6,552
I have merged another thread about the same topic with this thread and also slightly edited the thread title to reflect that the registering for Promotion codes seems to be the reason for it.
FLYGVA
co-moderator IHG Forum
FLYGVA
co-moderator IHG Forum
Jun 12, 2014, 1:37 am
#165
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
Indeed johhenrik, whether these codes are targeted or not, they are clearly in the public domain, flyertalk even have a sticky thread with these listed.
There are official IHG lurkers on this forum and will surely know they are here, have they ever requested to an administrator that these should be removed?
There are official IHG lurkers on this forum and will surely know they are here, have they ever requested to an administrator that these should be removed?
If so, then that is pretty much a sign that "friends" sharing promo codes was formally accepted by IHG and formally acceptable under the program rules.