boekel

While I agree with your point of view. That's unfortunately not how it's handled. Talking about view, I question the view categories in Berlin. It's not like at Le Grande, where you might have a view to the Opera

Flying Lawyer

Theoretically yes, practically no.

htb

It's hard for the IC Berlin to argue that the view doesn't really matter because then they'd have admitted that they have introduced fake categories.

But I agree: that's probably exactly like they'll handle it I think it's time to let my Ambassador membership lapse. Much more value for me in Marriott as a Gold member.

HTB.

Petrus

My primary IC's have been PL and WAW.
For WAW it makes no difference as a regular RA nearly always given a 2 cat upgrade which is their Jr Suite (two full rooms) and club access.

At PL Club access is worth quite a lot to some, but not for me as my rate has breakfast and there are far more interesting place to spend your evenings in than a hotel lounge around central London.
I spoke to a GRM at PL recently to see if I would still get the same room upgrades as in the past if I declined club. i.e. trade off Club, get Exec King room instead of Deluxe. The answer was that they can no longer do it by default which was the case previously (my bookings showed London Exec months out) and that 2 cat ug applies with Club.
Call the day before and see how busy they are and it might happen.
The reason is that AMB are doing strict audits to see how RA benefits are applied.

Maybe it will be relaxed down the line. I certainly hope so as I love the Execs overlooking Hyde Park.

turner32

It's becoming increasingly difficult since the introduction of the new rules, to achieve a meaningful upgrade. You can certainly see how the hotels benefit.

I'm looking at IC Singapore for December.


Heritage Room
Deluxe Room
Grand Deluxe Room
Premier Room
Heritage Club Room
Club Deluxe Room
Premier Suite
Heritage Suite
Executive Suite

That's the hierarchy of room categories. Need to Book club room in order to get any kind of suite, negating the "complimentary lounge access for RA".

stimpy

In the case of Singapore, I always deal directly with in-house reservations and have never had a problem with a suite upgrade. I haven't been recently, but I think they, and pretty much every other IC respects repeat guests.

PiffPaffPuff

*Newbie Alert*

I'm a reasonably regular visitor to IC Singapore. The increased range of rooms and exclusion of the top suites is a negative for me. Admittedly, i typically book a suite but tended to always be upgraded to the old "Ambassador Suite" or Presidential Suite. Recently, i booked a Heritage Suite without reviewing the Ambassador T&Cs and have been given a one tier upgrade to Exec Suite as Royal Suites are now excluded. To compensate they have given me a one way transfer (big deal).

For some ICs the club lounge i consider access a plus (e.g. Park Lane) on a reward night.

Hopefully they will reduce the excluded suites in a number of hotels. They have already done so at the IC Century City.

stimpy

Yes indeed they have done this at Century City, but only for RA's.

And welcome to Flyertalk! Your contributions are very welcome. It sounds like you are not an IC newbie.

PiffPaffPuff

Thanks Stimpy. I must confess to have been a flyertalk follower for a period of time but felt it only fair to add to the constructive debate of this site. ^

scubaccr

Then there are the "minority of " IC's that only have Club Lounge access as an "add on tick box" whichever room category one books. For those new RA rules are a Win

Agreed pre Sep2017 t+c rewrite IC SIN gave +2cat and Lounge access to RAs anyway, and to get nice Suite one was paying "club rates" for a Suite room.
But then room differentials for +1cat Suite upgrades are greater than at low end, so you could argue worthwhile

OR .. book bae room, get upgrade to Club room as RA then pay upsell to suite. Not sure which is the cheaper rate, booking club upfront or upselling post upgrade from base rooms ?

turner32

IC Park Lane becomes the first hotel to renege on the guaranteed lounge access for RA..

http://loyaltylobby.com/2017/03/29/i...ss-exclusions/

stimpy

Reading that loyaltylobby post, I can see that it isn't quite correct when it talks about suite exclusions. That list I think is for AMB, but not RA. As we just discussed a few posts above, Century City's exclusion list for Premier Suites does not apply for RA's. So maybe there are other errors in that blog.

turner32

The information does seem a bit specific. As John from LL correctly argues, why not put RA's in the bar for 2 hours, instead of withdrawing the benefit altogether.
That said, the T+C page is down, so it looks possible that further changes are being made.

holtju2

https://www.ihg.com/content/gb/en/cu...care/member-tc

11. The room upgrades for both Ambassadors and Royal Ambassadors excludes the following rooms/properties:

stimpy

Not true according to the Reservation managers at the hotels themselves. Which is the ultimate source as they are the ones who put you in the rooms.