They won't usually close an account because of the promos, they will close it because that account is not profitable. From my frequent dealings with IHG I am fairly certain that a certain threshold of unprofitably is what triggers the audit.

I have stayed for months at a time on pointbreaks rate, have always registered for all promo codes under the sun and frequently use the points+cash trick to get more points but have never been reprimanded for doing so and have even been offered a points loan once to make an award booking. I do stay a LOT of nights every year in IHG hotels so my account is definitely profitable and I suspect that is why they let me get away with so much.

Yeah I pretty much agree with what you've written. These threads pop up every month or so and one of the most common themes is high points and low stays and I'd be very surprised if the high points have been accrued by one or two high spending stays which will no doubt cause alarm bells to ring.

Do you have any direct evidence of this? If true, this makes their "audit" approach far worse than simply using a minor "fraud" (such as the OPs) as grounds to close the account and seize points.

I guess this is related to the BRG "abuse" that has apparently gotten some people's accounts closed, which, in my opinion, is less morally defensible than closing an account for violating the a targeted promotion, since (not to re-open that whole debate) it seems like the BRG abuser was complying fully with the T&C of that program.

I would go further and opine that if ICHG wants to fire a simply unprofitable customer, then the only ethical way to do so would be to say, "look, you have taken advantage of us too much and we don't want to do business with you anymore -- enjoy the points you've earned, but you are not welcome to benefit from Priority Club further in the future." Kind of like how when they catch you counting cards in Vegas, they say, congratulations, take your winnings out of here and don't return.

Considering that the promo page requests an answer to the question where one read about the promo and allows the answer "on the internet" or "in a blog" or so, this is hard to believe.

I would be curious to know if any of the accounts that have been terminated are holders of the IHG Chase credit card. What would happen if IHG terminated the account of a card holder? Would IHG then inform Chase and somehow have the credit card terminated as well? It would seem to me that would be difficult for IHG to pull off especially considering their relationship with Chase is presumable profitable.

Which brings us to this point:

Every time I see a thread started here about "my account was terminated", it seems to be from a poster who has no history on FlyerTalk (ie, they're using an account opened to start that thread!), let alone any history of posts in the IHG forum on FlyerTalk.

So what exactly is "unprofitablity" in IHG's eyes? For example, I never had a paid IHG stay between Crack the Case and the Big Win (of fall 2013). I had a big points balance from Crack the Case (and other stuff previous to that), and so I occasionally used poitns for stays (some, but far from all, PointsBreaks). During Crack the Case and the Big Win, I had exactly the number of stays needed to fulfill all tasks, nothing more. Also, I hold the Chase IHG card, and so of course was also using my annual free night certificate (but at "normally-priced" properties, not at super-expensive ones). Am I "unprofitable" enough, or does it take much more than this to be deemed "unprofitable" by IHG?

Since IHG puts out a credit card (in the USA) which earns a free night certificate every renewal year (for just $49), I suspect there are people who simply stay at IHG once a year, using that certificate, and might not stay at IHG at all some years. Is that "unprofitable" enough, or is it simply "low usage" (which is different than "unprofitable")? Or does it depend on where they use that certificate?

It seems that people with credit cards had their accounts terminated:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/22973508-post45.html

Also, as a counter example to your argument, two of the people who posted about their accounts being terminated in this thread have had >1,000 posts on FT. But yes, you are right - they only had maybe one or two stays.

It's a bit worrying, at the least.

sdsearch ++++

I do not believe for a moment in "unprofitable" theory. PC spends lots of marketing $ to get people to stay and then call them unprofitable after one stay like OP? This is complete and utter nonsense.

I remain convinced that there is more to those account closure stories than posters disclose or perhaps some posts are there to deliberately mislead everyone (as we encountered in many blog-fueled manufacturing spend, credit card bonus etc discussions).
Perhaps there are some closed in error - who knows.

My father, who did not have an IHG account, recently signed up for an account (last couple weeks). He added the public promos to his account, and was planning on booking stays over the summer. It appears that his account is already closed and he can't log in. How do they know that a person will be unprofitable, before the fact? He stays in hotels an average of 3-4 weeks during the summer months (mostly Hyatt/SPG), but won't be staying in any IHG properties after this.

These IHG people are beyond retarded. To not have a conversation about this "terrible misdeed" and to just unilaterally terminate accounts is a completely asinine approach to customer service. They are well within the rights they layer out in their t&c but it's beyond retarded to enforce them so strictly for such minor first time infractions and no warnings. (...) They are awful and should be shamed publicly for their mistreatment of people. I click on anything that may cost them money for advertising and I am now at over 200 free brg nights for my extended family. I look forward to the day that they are wiped off the face of the earth.

What public promos? Does IHG publish a list of these or is he culling them from a blog somewhere?

When I say "public promos", I mean codes that are listed on varies sites on the net, not directly from IHG.

This is 2014. Consumers share info on the internet, and have for well over a decade. You cannot rely on stealth to keep a promo targeted. Almost every other company has figured this out by now. Most companies keep targeted promos tied to specific accounts; others cannot register, or even if they can, the bonus doesn't get awarded. Coupon codes not intended for mass consumption are sent as single-use codes. This isn't rocket science. It's marketing 101 in the 21st century web world.

IHG has not only failed to make the IT investment to keep their promos targeted, but hasn't even bothered to put a few words of warning text on the registration page to let customers know that registering for a promo may be considered a violation. And when they do the data mining to find the violators, rather than just rescind the points, or issue a warning, they close the account and forfeit the entire points balance? I'm sorry, but that's inexcusable.

And as for those upthread that considered this "fraud", if you've ever used the site retailmenot, it's the same thing. I may have not received the email with the "coupon code", but it's listed publicly there, and can be used.