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 5, 2014, 12:28 am
#91
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Jun 5, 2014, 1:51 am
#92
Join Date: Mar 2011
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I don't know about others but I'll be more cautious and selective using these promo codes from now on although I'm not sure if I will discontinue them altogether. In the end, they don't seem worth if it means risking my account getting closed and losing all my points.
Jun 5, 2014, 2:33 am
#93
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Jun 5, 2014, 3:31 am
#94
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Jun 5, 2014, 4:44 am
#95
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: AA EXP (owe), BA Silver (ows), AB Silver (owr), WN A+/CP, IHG Spire AMB, Avis First
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anyway, it's become pretty clear to me at least, that IHG is running revenue protection on accounts and as others have pointed out, the triggers are usually:
(1) 1-2 paid stays
(2) large point accumulation (either due to promos, cc)
There has been at least one case of IHG changing their mind and reinstating an account after it is terminated (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/22973508-post45.html) so all hope is not lost. Maybe try HUCA with the agent, or send a letter pleading your case (maybe not worth it if you don't have many points).
My frustration is just that some people on here seem to have blindly sided with IHG and called this behavior fraud, which essentially amounts to an attack on OP and his moral character (I guess it is a Internet forum and people are entitled to their opinions), instead of having a productive discussion to understand why accounts are being terminated (I admit, I may have derailed a little as well - but in my defense, I was trying to defend the op). After all, I don't think the op posted this thread to be lambasted, but for advice on what to do. Overall, I've recently been disappointed with FT in this respect. It's not even that he is a new member, he has been registered since 2011 (though he has only 5 posts).
Last edited by no2chem; Jun 5, 2014 at 4:54 am
Jun 5, 2014, 4:57 am
#96
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Moscow
Programs: DL GM and so on
Posts: 1,200
Jun 5, 2014, 5:05 am
#97
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.
This is an unusual point of view in this day and age. Every time I shop online I search for discount codes on the web and promptly use them 10% off here 20% there etc. That's how internet marketing gets me to buy a product from a particular store.
In a similar fashion I see nothing wrong with finding promotional codes for hotel stays that can get me to book there. If a provider wanted to stop unauthorized use they would have issued one time use codes or tie them to targeted accounts however ich does not pursue that.
This is an unusual point of view in this day and age. Every time I shop online I search for discount codes on the web and promptly use them 10% off here 20% there etc. That's how internet marketing gets me to buy a product from a particular store.
In a similar fashion I see nothing wrong with finding promotional codes for hotel stays that can get me to book there. If a provider wanted to stop unauthorized use they would have issued one time use codes or tie them to targeted accounts however ich does not pursue that.
IHG knows how to and has used one-time use codes that results in points credited to IHG PC accounts. I got some for watching some IHG ad video but the IT was set up so that no account could get the credit more than once for that video even with the unique one-time use codes the hotel gave out. IHG, however, puts out all sorts of other codes out there -- I come across random ones at hotels frequently even when not staying at the hotels where I see them advertised. So am or am I not authorized to use such shared promo codes to register for promos? That the website allows registration is my indication of the promo being available to me since I have neither the intent to deceive IHG nor done anything that deceives IHG.
Last edited by GUWonder; Jun 5, 2014 at 5:12 am
Jun 5, 2014, 5:52 am
#98
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: United Arab Emirates & Arizona, USA
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As another example, a private company is not required by law, in general, to implement due process in disciplinary proceedings against employees, but most do, and I assume that most people would agree that it's a good idea to protect employees' interests in this way -- and ultimately to protect the interest of the company.
Jun 5, 2014, 5:55 am
#99
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Jun 5, 2014, 6:03 am
#100
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"Due process of law"? Yet sometimes those two words aren't even implied or relevant as we have due process reviews for administrative matters that don't constitute a due process of law but do constitute a due process nonetheless.
Jun 5, 2014, 3:12 pm
#101
Join Date: Jan 2011
Programs: PC, HHonours
Posts: 49
The promo page in its current form requires nothing besides a code and your IHG number: http://www.ihg.com/rewardsclub/us/en/offers/promoreg/
For me, IHG IT is a joke, for good and for bad. The bad is never sending me one bonus promo code in 4 years despite being a platinum for most of it, the good is accepting codes I enter anyway.
Promo codes freely useable are part of the priority club culture, now the goalposts are moving, so might I. No problem with a change of culture but I'm not going to risk the points if I enter further codes I'm not emailed, but without the codes the program isn't competitive since they don't send me any.
They could end this BS by a simple tweak to their promo reg web service, like all the other hotel chains, lock it down....
Then again, would they close down plat accounts.............and lose the revenue?
Jun 5, 2014, 4:51 pm
#102
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Location: UK
Posts: 11,969
It is when you get a spasmodically poorly managed company with clear "blind spots" using a poor IT system that things can go really wrong.
If it is true that a really good loyalty programme attracts new customers by the goodness ( and reliability
) of it's reputation then it must equally be true that developing a new reputation of unpredictably and inconsistently booting customers out in an ad-hoc way and not discussing it or saying why and then taking all of their points off of them - will inevitably over time have the reverse effect.
This behaviour is a potential cost - not a benefit to them.
If it is true that a really good loyalty programme attracts new customers by the goodness ( and reliability
) of it's reputation then it must equally be true that developing a new reputation of unpredictably and inconsistently booting customers out in an ad-hoc way and not discussing it or saying why and then taking all of their points off of them - will inevitably over time have the reverse effect. This behaviour is a potential cost - not a benefit to them.
Jun 5, 2014, 6:31 pm
#103
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I think it's odd that people here think IHG is arbitrarily cancelling accounts, whether because of "poor IT systems" or whatever reason seems appropriate to the complainer. It seems likely to me that they will have an established set of rules in their "poor IT systems" which will flag suspect accounts and/or activity for a decision by an authorised person. The fact that people feel unjustly victimised doesn't automatically mean IHG's in the wrong. And to think that the (very few) complainers on here are representative of the whole IHG Rewards membership's behaviour, and to extrapolate and state that their behaviour will lead to reputational damage to the program as a whole is simply puerile.
Jun 5, 2014, 6:47 pm
#104
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I think it's odd that people here think IHG is arbitrarily cancelling accounts, whether because of "poor IT systems" or whatever reason seems appropriate to the complainer. It seems likely to me that they will have an established set of rules in their "poor IT systems" which will flag suspect accounts and/or activity for a decision by an authorised person. The fact that people feel unjustly victimised doesn't automatically mean IHG's in the wrong. And to think that the (very few) complainers on here are representative of the whole IHG Rewards membership's behaviour, and to extrapolate and state that their behaviour will lead to reputational damage to the program as a whole is simply puerile.
If anything, IHG is simply firing unprofitable customers. That's what for-profit businesses do.
It's naive to even think that this is an IT glitch.
Jun 5, 2014, 7:37 pm
#105
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And they don't admit to firing them, they blame it on the person having used the IT glitch! (Well, they don't use those words, but being able to register for promos you shouldn't be able to is an IT glitch, and they blame it on people reigstering for promos they weren't supposed to register for.)
Why is someone who earned 20k points they "weren't supposed to" from stacked promos on one stay suddenly unprofitable while someone who only earned many more points from singing up for the credit card is not deemed unprofitable, when both have had only one paid stays? (Or maybe the latter had zero paid stays?)
So maybe being unprofitable is a qualifier for being fired, but it still seems like the IT glitch is the trigger for being fired.