Nice personal gesture of IHG Airport hotel: Thanks IHG!
 

I just wanted to give a positive thread to IHG, and to one of their hotels/managers, for an extra benefit to an IHG member.

I contacted the manager of an IHG property located near the airport I frequently fly out of, about a 2 hour drive from my home. I asked about parking in their lot, and getting a shuttle to the airport, and back, while I was traveling. The manager could have said "No, but thank you for asking", and instead, she said "Certainly! We'd love to!"

So, twice now, I have been able to park at the hotel, and grab their shuttle, for easy access to the airport, drop off at the curb, and my vehicle is left in what I feel is a safer spot than the off-airport parking lot, and for free.

Not only did the manager offer me the shuttle and parking, but this past week, when I arrived, I found out that their shuttle was broken down. But, they had already arranged a cab to get me at the hotel, and take me to the airport, gratis!

I, of course, stay at IHG properties at the other end of my journey, but since they are all independently owned, that really doesn't help this local property manager. She just open the hospitality and provides it for nothing more than a sincere thank you from me.

So, you’re not staying at the property, but just parking and getting free shuttle service?

That is what I read as well.

Definitely nothing to do with Platinum benefits but a manager doing something not in the books. I can only think this airport is not LAX, DCA, MIA or JFK, or the manager will be in big trouble.

As this is not a Platinum benefit, I edited the thread title to reflect it.

FLYGVA
moderator IHG Forum

my personal experience: working with a vendor for this big event that is happening in one of the IC. As we had to exit the previous location I brought everything to the IC and st it up, but needed to store the perishables, so I asked receptionist if we can fit it in the fridge. Presumably the event organizers paid for IC for space rental, and we were paying for our booth space to be there.

To my surprise, they said no for wanting to store a couple jugs of stuff, I had to ask again and mention that I am a platinum member, someone finally agreed to help. The next day they didn't want me to use the wifi even though I was with the vendor and we paid to be there, because "the organizers should have paid extra for wifi" even though I explained I had to run out last minute to get a couple items and need to yelp.

Was very upset because the managers were clearly not being helpful. Glad your property was better.

Always possibility if boking hotel room on a conf rate, that organiser trades off any+all bennies (including stay counting for qual night + pts) for a cheaper rate

I can see why to some extent, as maybe 50% of conf hotel guests have no status with conf hotel chain, so unfair that only 50% of conf guests receive upgrade/lounge/points etc.

First off, yes, not staying at that hotel, the manager allows me to park and shuttle. And yeah, not a platinum benefit, but I suspect that it helped in the decision.

Sorry to hear about your experience, justaagirl. I've typically had much better luck with favors and IHG properties, it seems.

Well, I for one, thought it a superb gesture on the part of the manager. It's a shame that such gestures are subjected to a cost-benefits analysis and not appreciated by older, and far more enduring standards such as courtesy, service, kindness etc. The number-counters, if unchecked, will soon quantify all human acts in transactional terms and we shall be impoverished as a result.

Not sure why IHG should be thanked for a decision made by the manager of an individual hotel. It's a nice gesture but I suppose their parking lot is not full and the shuttle is running anyway.

Hopefully you can give them some money if you ever have a very early or late flight and want some sleep before needing to spend 2 hours paying attention to the road.

I think you are very wrong here. If hotel starts to give this special treatment to everyone asks for it and without consider the consequences, the hotel car park would be so full that the legitimate guests would not have a space to park, or the legitimate guests would miss the shuttle as it is full of free loaders.

It is better to have a set of rules on who can do what, otherwise human nature will determine that people will take advantage of such situation. Sometimes it is better not to start the flood gate.

It is nice for hotel to have done something special. But the guest should have own consciences and not to take advantage or extend the good will to the extreme (i.e. share it with public so every other people knows what to expect).

You haven't explained:

Does the hotel normally charge for parking or not? Does the hotel normally charge for the shuttle or not?

If neither, then the manager was simply OKing you to do what some people might "sneakily" do, but he was happy that you asked.

Yes, at some "in the middle of it all" (or just huge) airports the hotel parking (especially close-in) might be gated and with a steep cost. But at many airports it's not uncommon to find free parking at hotels near (enough) to the airport (to have a free airport shuttle). If so, the main trick is whether you need parking passes on your dash to not get towed, and if so how to get those parking passes without staying there.

Plus it's hard to know how much the manager is "giving away" without knowing how crowded the hotel's parking lot gets. Some hotels have parking lots which rarely even get half full, because they built them with extra capacity, while others assumed tour buses too much and have problems fitting everyone if everyone comes in a vehicle which they park.

Couldn't agree more. 'Policy', 'Standardisation' and 'Benchmarking' are all well & good but being a 'decent human being', 'discretion' and 'judgment' are undervalued by the spreadsheet obsessed culture today. Good will goes a long way.

Sure, a nice gesture by the hotel. Perhaps not so nice of the OP to display his/her good fortune here.

Sometimes favours are best kept private.

Or, worse, the conference organizers trade off hotel benefits for benefits for themselves and perhaps officers of the organization, such as guaranteed suite upgrades.

well, as for the OP "outing" the manager/hotel...

If you can guess which hotel this is, you have deductive abilities that rival Sherlock Holmes.

Not saying it couldn't be done, but... wow.