Instant Spire Elite for 90 days (seems to be expired)
Dec 2, 2019, 8:51 pm
#31
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: California
Programs: Bonvoy - Ambassador; AS - MVP Gold
Posts: 84
I called in October as I have to stay in an Intercontinental Hotel on a work trip this December. I asked the agent if my company was one of the ones participating and she told me she didn't have access to the list of companies but she would go ahead and register me for the promotion anyways.
My account reflected the Spire upgrade within 3 days of calling.
Flash forward 6 weeks.
My Spire status has disappeared from my account. I called once again and this time the agent told me there was a mistake and they had to withdraw the promotion from "thousands" of accounts due to their inability to verify members were employed by eligible companies. Once again I asked if my company was one on the list and the agent told me he didn't have a list. I asked what the next steps were to check if my company was eligible, and he told me he would make a note for IT of my company and submit a case to see if I'm eligible to have Spire status reactivated as part of this promotion....
Wow... so little communication internally and so much time wasted. Thankful for my Marriott status and that 99% of the time I'm able to stay at Marriott properties.
My account reflected the Spire upgrade within 3 days of calling.
Flash forward 6 weeks.
My Spire status has disappeared from my account. I called once again and this time the agent told me there was a mistake and they had to withdraw the promotion from "thousands" of accounts due to their inability to verify members were employed by eligible companies. Once again I asked if my company was one on the list and the agent told me he didn't have a list. I asked what the next steps were to check if my company was eligible, and he told me he would make a note for IT of my company and submit a case to see if I'm eligible to have Spire status reactivated as part of this promotion....
Wow... so little communication internally and so much time wasted. Thankful for my Marriott status and that 99% of the time I'm able to stay at Marriott properties.
Dec 3, 2019, 3:34 am
#32
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: CPH
Programs: UAMP S, TK M&S E (*G), Marriott LTP, IHG P, SK EBG
Posts: 11,095
I called in October as I have to stay in an Intercontinental Hotel on a work trip this December. I asked the agent if my company was one of the ones participating and she told me she didn't have access to the list of companies but she would go ahead and register me for the promotion anyways.
My account reflected the Spire upgrade within 3 days of calling.
Flash forward 6 weeks.
My Spire status has disappeared from my account. I called once again and this time the agent told me there was a mistake and they had to withdraw the promotion from "thousands" of accounts due to their inability to verify members were employed by eligible companies. Once again I asked if my company was one on the list and the agent told me he didn't have a list. I asked what the next steps were to check if my company was eligible, and he told me he would make a note for IT of my company and submit a case to see if I'm eligible to have Spire status reactivated as part of this promotion....
Wow... so little communication internally and so much time wasted. Thankful for my Marriott status and that 99% of the time I'm able to stay at Marriott properties.
My account reflected the Spire upgrade within 3 days of calling.
Flash forward 6 weeks.
My Spire status has disappeared from my account. I called once again and this time the agent told me there was a mistake and they had to withdraw the promotion from "thousands" of accounts due to their inability to verify members were employed by eligible companies. Once again I asked if my company was one on the list and the agent told me he didn't have a list. I asked what the next steps were to check if my company was eligible, and he told me he would make a note for IT of my company and submit a case to see if I'm eligible to have Spire status reactivated as part of this promotion....
Wow... so little communication internally and so much time wasted. Thankful for my Marriott status and that 99% of the time I'm able to stay at Marriott properties.
Dec 4, 2019, 2:44 pm
#33
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,391
So, I'm enrolled in a variation of this promo, which gives me A 1k bonus on first stay, 4 k on second, 10k on third. I have also enrolled in the Accelerate promo (2x after second stay), and the up to 4x promo (1k on first stay, 2x on next, then 3x, 4x).
I've made 2 stays. Of course I haven't gotten the initial 1k or 4k from this promo, or the double points from Accelerate, just the 1k + 2x points from the up to 4x promo.
(sigh)
I've made 2 stays. Of course I haven't gotten the initial 1k or 4k from this promo, or the double points from Accelerate, just the 1k + 2x points from the up to 4x promo.
(sigh)
Dec 10, 2019, 12:24 pm
#34
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,391
So I got mail back saying they're not honoring the bonus points.
My response:
I'm in for a non-refundable hotel award, but for sending me an unsolicited offer to improve my loyalty they have managed to do the exact opposite; make me think they don’t want my business at all to the point I feel outright like actively avoiding their chain, by having me waste time getting contradictory responses from customer service (I've been emailing for over a month about this promotion and this is the first time they've said "yeah, those points we said we're giving you for stays? PSYKE! NOT GETTING THEM!").
Bang up job on the promotion, guys.
ETA: they finally awarded 5k points, after a LOT of back and forth. My God.
I think my current plan is to stay with the HIX on Soi 11 in Bangkok (nonrefundable award stay), and use the Ambassador certificate for a stay at the Strings in Japan in May (though TBH I am on the fence, but I figure I might as well get the value for what I got, and if I go "naaah, I can't give these clown money", plenty of time to change my mind), and then burn the subsequent points I've earned for what I can get, and run away from IHG.
I'm sorry to inform you that bonus points is not included with Instant Platinum offer.
Please be advised that the bonus points is for Instant Spire as an additional offer that past Instant Spire promotions for the year have not had, it is that members will earn bonus points for the first three stays. For the first stay, a member will earn 1,000 bonus points, for the second stay the member will earn 4,000 bonus points, and the third stay the member will earn 10,000 bonus points.
Please accept my apologies, as I am aware that this is not the response you would be hoping for. I do hope this will not deter you from considering IHG in the future.
Please be advised that the bonus points is for Instant Spire as an additional offer that past Instant Spire promotions for the year have not had, it is that members will earn bonus points for the first three stays. For the first stay, a member will earn 1,000 bonus points, for the second stay the member will earn 4,000 bonus points, and the third stay the member will earn 10,000 bonus points.
Please accept my apologies, as I am aware that this is not the response you would be hoping for. I do hope this will not deter you from considering IHG in the future.
You ask me if this will deter me from doing business with you in the future. My response is I normally don’t do business with companies who do bait and switch, with companies who provide multiple conflicting answers when emailing promotions to me that I accept, who waste my time when all I ask for is what you said you would give me. It’s right there in the original email I responded to, and I wish I hadn’t.
Bang up job on the promotion, guys.
ETA: they finally awarded 5k points, after a LOT of back and forth. My God.
I think my current plan is to stay with the HIX on Soi 11 in Bangkok (nonrefundable award stay), and use the Ambassador certificate for a stay at the Strings in Japan in May (though TBH I am on the fence, but I figure I might as well get the value for what I got, and if I go "naaah, I can't give these clown money", plenty of time to change my mind), and then burn the subsequent points I've earned for what I can get, and run away from IHG.
Last edited by eponymous_coward; Dec 12, 2019 at 4:26 pm