Last edit by: FLYGVA
Change in Requalification Requirement for IHG Status
In regard to the situation with the ongoing Coronavirus, IHG Rewards Club changed the requirment for earnng and requalification of Rewards Club Status
Gold: 7000 points / 7 nights (regular 10000 points / 10 nights)
Platinum: 30000 points / 30 nights (regular 40000 points / 40 nights)
Spire: 55000 points / 55 nights (regular 75000 points / 75 nights)
Link: https://www.ihg.com/content/gb/en/customer-care/travel-advisory
(Royal) Ambassador Programm
The impact on Royal Ambassador is not quite clear now. We know about the following extension:
Ambassador Status: extended for 3 months (China seems to be 6 months). This is discussed here
Royal Ambassador: reviewed on an ongoings base (not quite clear what this means in regad to spend). This could be discussed in thread.
Links to discussion regarding cancelatios of bookings
For discussion on cancelations of stays (general bookings) see here.
For discusson on cancelations of stay in regard to events, conference, etc which are canceled, see here.
In regard to the situation with the ongoing Coronavirus, IHG Rewards Club changed the requirment for earnng and requalification of Rewards Club Status
Gold: 7000 points / 7 nights (regular 10000 points / 10 nights)
Platinum: 30000 points / 30 nights (regular 40000 points / 40 nights)
Spire: 55000 points / 55 nights (regular 75000 points / 75 nights)
Link: https://www.ihg.com/content/gb/en/customer-care/travel-advisory
(Royal) Ambassador Programm
The impact on Royal Ambassador is not quite clear now. We know about the following extension:
Ambassador Status: extended for 3 months (China seems to be 6 months). This is discussed here
Royal Ambassador: reviewed on an ongoings base (not quite clear what this means in regad to spend). This could be discussed in thread.
Links to discussion regarding cancelatios of bookings
For discussion on cancelations of stays (general bookings) see here.
For discusson on cancelations of stay in regard to events, conference, etc which are canceled, see here.
Coronavirus: New / Changed rules for Royal Ambassador Status / Requalifcation
#16
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: NYC
Programs: IHG, RC, HH, AA, QF, UA, Aeroplan
Posts: 2,685
I just notified IHG I cancelled all my March Intercontinental stays because they have not rewarded the RA status after completing $5000 spending in Q4 of 2019. If they still do not upgrade the RA status by This month, I will be cancelling all my April Intercontinental stays as well.
The bar for RA qualification is 10-15k in the past. I spent 28k IC spend in 2019 and completed the $5k challenge and they still have not rewarded me yet. This is really the stupidest loyalty program I have seen. I was on hold for an hour with Guest Relations and Rewards Club and they said I have to be more patient even when the latest RA upgrade date was suppose to be Feb 15th. I was told it could take up to 3 weeks and I am actually waiting on the 4th week for an update already.
if the requirement was lowered by 25% for elite status I think RA criteria will be lowered by 25% too. However, I know this has not affected RA’s I know of as there are many that live in the Intercontinental 11 months a year. When not traveling, they are just staying at an IC in a different city during this period.
The bar for RA qualification is 10-15k in the past. I spent 28k IC spend in 2019 and completed the $5k challenge and they still have not rewarded me yet. This is really the stupidest loyalty program I have seen. I was on hold for an hour with Guest Relations and Rewards Club and they said I have to be more patient even when the latest RA upgrade date was suppose to be Feb 15th. I was told it could take up to 3 weeks and I am actually waiting on the 4th week for an update already.
if the requirement was lowered by 25% for elite status I think RA criteria will be lowered by 25% too. However, I know this has not affected RA’s I know of as there are many that live in the Intercontinental 11 months a year. When not traveling, they are just staying at an IC in a different city during this period.
you need to go beyond Guest Relations and Rewards Club, and email management a very straightforward factual chronology, stating the date you were offered, and accepted the 5K challenge, and your spend, satisfying the criterion.
if you haven't the relevant email addresses, ping me, and i'll forward to you.
#19
Having requalified with Haytt 60 nights and done my marriott 30 so far this year, I am thinking of moving to an IC for a month or two now. The question is what will it take to get the RA this year/asap? My usual destinations are BKK, SIN, HAN but right now no travel outside the country so just wanna stay in nice hotel and rest.
#20
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: HKG • Ex SFO, NYC
Programs: UA 1K, AA EXP; Marriott Amb; Hyatt Globalist; Shangri-la Diamond; IHG SpireAmb; Hilton D; Accor G
Posts: 3,319
Having requalified with Haytt 60 nights and done my marriott 30 so far this year, I am thinking of moving to an IC for a month or two now. The question is what will it take to get the RA this year/asap? My usual destinations are BKK, SIN, HAN but right now no travel outside the country so just wanna stay in nice hotel and rest.
I got kicked out of my IC here after the gov't took it over as a quarantine hotel so I'm back to Marriott. No RA for me I guess.
#21
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: NYC
Programs: IHG, RC, HH, AA, QF, UA, Aeroplan
Posts: 2,685
n
will be interesting, i think in fairness, they should just renew all 2020 RA's. The year has been effectively written off.
in terms of qualifying, i think half the usual hurdle may be reasonable, say USD5K.
for most people, travel plans this year are being impacted by this external shock, totally out of our control.
and will continue, even after lockdown, for many.
let's hope IHG shows some Heart, like so many other corporate citizens.
Having requalified with Haytt 60 nights and done my marriott 30 so far this year, I am thinking of moving to an IC for a month or two now. The question is what will it take to get the RA this year/asap? My usual destinations are BKK, SIN, HAN but right now no travel outside the country so just wanna stay in nice hotel and rest.
in terms of qualifying, i think half the usual hurdle may be reasonable, say USD5K.
for most people, travel plans this year are being impacted by this external shock, totally out of our control.
and will continue, even after lockdown, for many.
let's hope IHG shows some Heart, like so many other corporate citizens.
#22
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 1999
Location: Seat 1A, Juice pretty much everywhere, Mucci des Coins Exotiques
Posts: 34,339
n
will be interesting, i think in fairness, they should just renew all 2020 RA's. The year has been effectively written off.
in terms of qualifying, i think half the usual hurdle may be reasonable, say USD5K.
for most people, travel plans this year are being impacted by this external shock, totally out of our control.
and will continue, even after lockdown, for many.
let's hope IHG shows some Heart, like so many other corporate citizens.
will be interesting, i think in fairness, they should just renew all 2020 RA's. The year has been effectively written off.
in terms of qualifying, i think half the usual hurdle may be reasonable, say USD5K.
for most people, travel plans this year are being impacted by this external shock, totally out of our control.
and will continue, even after lockdown, for many.
let's hope IHG shows some Heart, like so many other corporate citizens.
#23
I don't think it should be a blanket requal. They should just do the top 1% as the program suggests. If the top 1% means $5K, then it is $5K. Or if the calculations come to $7K then it is $7K. Giving away RA to people who don't earn it cheapens the program. But rewarding people who are loyal even in difficult times really means something.
Airlines are normally the strictest when it comes to requalification (American refused to renew my EXP when I was 40 miles away from 100K, and I had to find a bs flight to nowhere just to make it), but even all airlines have caved in and written off 2020.
#24
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 1999
Location: Seat 1A, Juice pretty much everywhere, Mucci des Coins Exotiques
Posts: 34,339
I actually think this is exactly what they would do, but entirely for the wrong reasons. If I am loyal to the brand, but I am grounded because my country has shut its borders, despite wanting to spend money at IC, I am simply unable to - it's not a question of "not wanting to". Someone else may be travelling domestically and may have the ability to spend 1/10th what I would normally spend, but that's just because there's a forced rebalancing that is entirely outside of my control. What is under my control is where I spend my money after this madness ends - and if they simply fire me because not making an arbitrary target made for "normal" times, then in the end, it will be their loss.
#25
But if the requal is set at $5K or $7K, why would it be hard for you to re-qual? You had the first 10 weeks of the year before you were locked down, unless you were in Wuhan, right? And you will likely have several more months in 2020 to wrap it up. I did over $5K by early March and I fully expect to double that before the end of the year. I'm not traveling now and won't need to spend anything between mid-March and September. Or October even.
So it's not as simple as saying "there's still lots of time in the year left" - aside from folks who spend $10K of their own money, I will venture a guess that many RAs are corporate travellers, and those will be heavily affected for the entirety of the year, imho. Whether they are worth retaining as customers or not is a question that IHG would need to answer, and I would be quite surprised if one were to argue that they aren't, just because their travel budgets for the year have disappeared.
#26
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Amsterdam, Asia, UK
Programs: IHG RA (Spire), HH Diamond, MR Platinum, SQ Gold, KLM Gold, BAEC Gold
Posts: 5,072
Or those curent non-RA's with multiple IC's traveling in-country, eg USA, China will be able to rack up IC nights / IC $$ Spend, and qualify on a possible pittance, whereas an existin UK RA eg a Londoner who can not travel travel to USA, Asia , Europe can not spend anything at IC's doesn't requalify
I am sure IHG Salt Lake will be quite aware that if an existing high spending multi-year RA loses RA through covid, they may well (probably) not book IC's without the status, and once gone won't be back. IHG will need to recognise us multiyear RAs and keep us somehow or risk losing us forever.
I am sure IHG Salt Lake will be quite aware that if an existing high spending multi-year RA loses RA through covid, they may well (probably) not book IC's without the status, and once gone won't be back. IHG will need to recognise us multiyear RAs and keep us somehow or risk losing us forever.
#27
Or those curent non-RA's with multiple IC's traveling in-country, eg USA, China will be able to rack up IC nights / IC $$ Spend, and qualify on a possible pittance, whereas an existin UK RA eg a Londoner who can not travel travel to USA, Asia , Europe can not spend anything at IC's doesn't requalify
I am sure IHG Salt Lake will be quite aware that if an existing high spending multi-year RA loses RA through covid, they may well (probably) not book IC's without the status, and once gone won't be back. IHG will need to recognise us multiyear RAs and keep us somehow or risk losing us forever.
I am sure IHG Salt Lake will be quite aware that if an existing high spending multi-year RA loses RA through covid, they may well (probably) not book IC's without the status, and once gone won't be back. IHG will need to recognise us multiyear RAs and keep us somehow or risk losing us forever.
#28
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: ZRH
Programs: LH SEN, BA Gold, Bonvoy Plat, IHG Spire RA
Posts: 580
I'm RA since 2008 and I concur with Pseudo Nim. I believe that travel won't rebounce this year anymore to py levels In case they won't renew me I believe I won't chase any IHG status any more but would stick to Marriott which is IMO a crappy program, but even they extended the status to next year. Eventually move my IC stays to Hyatt. Loyalty isn't a one way street.
#29
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 1,443
I am sure IHG Salt Lake will be quite aware that if an existing high spending multi-year RA loses RA through covid, they may well (probably) not book IC's without the status, and once gone won't be back. IHG will need to recognise us multiyear RAs and keep us somehow or risk losing us forever.
They do not consider it a risk "to loose us". In their world they can easily replace us with other customers, preferably from China.
#30
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: AUH
Posts: 8,265
They would be crazy to let any existing RAs go in the current environment, IMO.
2020 is a write-off for travel, and some companies are taking longer to accept this than others. I would be shocked if any hotel chain insists on people qualifying by the end of the year.
2020 is a write-off for travel, and some companies are taking longer to accept this than others. I would be shocked if any hotel chain insists on people qualifying by the end of the year.