Change to IHG Rewards Club 2015
 

IHG Rewards Club will evolve over 2015 and 2016 initially in the following ways:

• Introducing a new top membership level in July 2015. This new membership level can be reached by earning 75,000 qualifying points or staying at IHG hotels for 75 qualifying nights, over the course of a year.

• An industry first: IHG Rewards Club will offer its most loyal members in this new membership level 100% extra bonus points on qualifying stays. Members of this newest level will also be able to choose between receiving 25,000 points or upgrading a friend or family member to Platinum.

• The qualification requirements for all membership levels have been restructured to make it easier for members to be rewarded for their loyalty. Club members will need to earn just 10,000 qualifying points or stay for 10 qualifying nights to be eligible for Gold membership. Gold members will need to earn 40,000 qualifying points or stay for 40 qualifying nights to reach Platinum membership.

• IHG is enhancing its ability to learn about members and then utilise this information through a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. This system will enable hotels to respond to members’ preferences at every stage of the guest journey and offer services and experiences that are personally relevant to them. From recognising stay preferences such as room location or pillow type and tailoring their booking options, to relevant post stay offers.

• To enable IHG to reward our guests who stay with us most often, starting from May 2016, IHG will expire all points for IHG Rewards Club Members if they have not earned or redeemed any points at all in the previous 12 months. IHG Rewards Club members will continue to maintain their point balances simply by completing a qualifying stay at one of IHG’s 4,800 hotels or redeeming some of their existing points during a membership year.

Yes -- you beat me to the punch. :)

Today we're announcing some changes for IHG Rewards Club, and I wanted to share them with you here.

For general information about the changes, please visit this page.

For additional questions that may arise, we've developed an FAQ page.

However, please don't hesitate to ask me specifically if you still need clarification about some of the details. If I don't have the information on hand, I will track it down for you. (As always, though, if you have an issue that needs to be resolved quickly, such as with your account or a reservation, the quickest option is to contact IHG Customer Care or the IHG Rewards Club Service Center.)

Thanks for the heads up!

I also copied a paragraph from IHG fag pertaining this new rule below:

Am I to assume any charge on the IHG card that earns IHG point will extend the expiration date for another 12 months?

I assume the 2014 rollover nights count towards this new status during 2015 as well?

The last FAQ, unrelated to the changes discussed so far:

Yessssssssssss!!!!! Finally a top tier that isn't attainable by simply having a credit card!

REAL rewards for REAL loyal guests. Finally. The 100% bonus is nice, and hopefully some details of other perks will be released in the coming months. Loyalty to non-IC IHG brands night actually start having real benefits!

And if this is a late April Fools joke, it's cruel and I hate you.

Simple answer is yes. It will "restart the clock" whether you earn or redeem.

Now the next question (unanswered on the FAQ page) is whether the Chase MasterCard will continue to automatically grant Platinum status, or if it will grant "New Membership Level" status.

ps It's quite sad they're announcing this program while calling it "New Membership Level". Sigh. Is the name held up in legal?

Need some tangible benefits for award stays. Otherwise it's useless

I'm praying no. If the CC grants the new tier, that would completely defeat the purpose. I want the new status to be "difficult" to earn. The harder it is, the more beneficial it will be to those who have it. Sort of like IC's version of Royal Ambassador.

The whole secret name thing? That's part of the hype, and dare I say, mystique (yes, I have no life). Any guesses? My guess would be something along the lines of Diamond.

dislike the new pts expiration policy(what will be the easiest pts accural other then credit card or dining rewards network?)

dislike that 300 hotels will be increasing by 10k(or k5) and only 150 will be decreasing by 5k

neutral with the "top tier status" and its benefits

Why do i have a feeling that points breaks is gonna disappear with these "enhancements"?

Given that they'll start giving 100% bonus for stays, I'm OK with the increases. I hardly ever use points at places other than ICs and they said they're not raising the ceiling from 50k. That's extremely important IMO. Imagine if they increased IC Bora Bora and the like to 75k points or something? That was my biggest fear all along.

Will there be changes to the Ambassador / Royal Ambassador programs, too?

Hi, Michael. Keep in mind that redeeming or earning restarts the 12-month cycle, so even the purchase of a song through Digital Rewards qualifies.

No additional changes at this time.