Raynyan

I noticed that there has been an unexpected F&B Rewards (x25) deposit today.
How about yours?

hclee01

Yes, I got these too. Also, my recent stay with check out on 1 Jan 2024 have been added to this year qualifying nights and points tracking.

minz56

According to Loyalty Lobby the minibar privilege for RAs has been removed and replaced by 25 x US$20 F&B vouchers.

https://loyaltylobby.com/2024/01/02/...nibar-benefit/

ProjectSunburst

Here we go....

https://www.ihg.com/intercontinental...yal_ambassador

Mini-bar credit for RA does seemingly stick at IC Aliiance Resorts (Venetian/Palazzo), more than likely due to system/billing integration and the lack of unicen amongst the F&B outlets in Vegas.
($50/day up to $100/stay....)

Elsewhere, my gripe is that F&B credits are NEGATIVE elite qualifying. Not all beverage and/or food outlets are EQ. Therefore the negative EQ from the F&B voucher goes against your EQ points yielded from your room rate.

HadesNL

Adding to informative points above:
https://www.ihg.com/intercontinental...yal_ambassador
&
https://www.ihg.com/intercontinental...rms-conditions

2023 to 2024 :
I feel the sword of Damocles hanging above me ,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damocles

Doctor: you need a healthy lifestyle, that stomach pump & liposuction wasn't done for nothing .....

IHG: no lazy raiding the minibar for you, go put out your peignoir,
dress up and mix & mingle in our hotels' restaurant

Minibar credit changed to F&B vouchers,
Wow,

As i nornally opt for milestone rewards: annual lounge pass + points
(never CSU or F&B vouchers)

This comes as a "forced" initiative ....
Than again i'm of the priority club era where points and generating points for free rooms where imprinted on my mindset

I have no problems cashing in those vouchers
If i can get a free dinner + drinks at a good restaurant that's pretty nice:
IC AMS & IC PL & IC PLG & Kimpton AMS & Kimpton London etc, come into mind
(at least places where applying the F&B works)

Or it could work if applying those F&B vouchers for breakfast charges for the extra award&revenue rooms i've booked that don't come with breakfast..

Or this could be the start of RA: hotelbar partys: each of the RA treating others with the F&B vouchers to a bottle of champagne

.....

But as ProjectSunburst so carefully noticed:
But it will negatively impact the amount of EQP i generate at IC hotels that count strongly for RA qualification.

.......
And arghh...... removing my complimentary daily replenished waters ! !, !
(no problem in EU & USA but a horrible move if travelling outside those zones where tapwater is not potable / drinkable)
EDIT:
Apologies: complimentary waters are still daily refreshed put as part of AMB benefits ....
Sorry got carried away by LL in looking for things to demand compensation for ....

See below the AMB T&C
https://www.ihg.com/intercontinental...rms-conditions



Side thought....

Now that RA gets F&B vouchers valid at all IHG hotels ....
Could be the start of RA being folded into a new to be invented "per invitation" (plutonium) status into IHG-1rewards
.....
Interesting days ahead !

nicolas75

The LoyaltyLobby team, which is no longer a Royal Ambassasor since the Royal Ambassasor referral no longer exists and which does not have the number of annual spendings in the Six Senses, Regent, InterContinental and Kimpton hotels to qualify, regularly likes to criticise the Royal Ambassador programme (which they would obviously be delighted to have).

The truth is that the programme remains exceptional for upgrades which almost systematically exceed two categories, and that early check-in is a very appreciable benefit (as was the case for my recent stay in Vietnam).

They forget to mention the free access to the club and the free breakfast which have been introduced (which are obviously a very valuable benefit, especially as the lounges have at the same time significantly improved the offer, which is definitely not that of an airport lounge or a Hilton hotel).

As far as the minibar is concerned, the truth is that I rarely use it (except for a Coke Zero when I arrive late at night and the club lounge is closed), especially as there is a club lounge.

The truth is that the possibility of using a 500 dollar credit as you want it in the minibars or restaurants is interesting.

HadesNL

nicolas75 can i rent you as my voice of reason ?
I was becoming hysterical : please slap my face or kick me hard in the balls !

Indeed i do not know what overcame me .. must be the LL emotions to its highest zenith ....,

True:
RA upgrades are indeed at tenured hotels above the cat+2
Early check in 10 AM is indeed a lifesaver but at tenured hotels per advanced notice no problem,
And indeed F&B voucher can be offset to minibar charges so nothing actually changes except the extra step via the app needed ....

Excuse me for my hysterical fit.... gonna grab my right pills .... tendency to swallow the suppositories which make me hysterical!

Raynyan

For Japanese members this is an extremely egregious change.

T&Cs said:

• The Food & Beverage Reward will be issued to the member in 6 local currencies (20USD, 15GBP, 15EUR, 125CNY, 2000JPY and 70SAR) based on member country of origin; all others will receive the Reward as $20USD. The Reward amount and credit value will be converted to the hotel’s local currency at time of redemption

So Japanese members can only use 2000JPY worldwide. Now JPY2000 is equivalent to USD14. 30% lower real value. This is not fair.

Smythmeister

Same for me. I noticed it yesterday evening and thought it was a glitch!

Although not as valuable in monetary terms, I find myself just taking stuff from the minibar because I have credit, not because I want to. Club lounge is usually available for drinks anyway. £4 for a can of coke or £10 for a small bottle beer is bad value anyway!

$500 to spend anywhere during the year seems like a reasonable alternative. And to get round the EQP issue, perhaps dinners/drinks at any of the HI, CPs, other brands is a good use; where the spend on a stay isn't counted for RA qualification anyway.

Pseudo Nim

Ouch. I didn’t even read that part. That sucks bad, indeed. I was lucky that my Japanese RA got renewed during Covid without much spend, but this is the kind of stuff that just sucks. Also, remember - they will exchange it at IHG rates, not spot, so assume it’ll be significantly worse - figure you’ll get $250 USD max in the end.

MrsW

This change actually made me feel better about not earning my RA status back. The chasm between RA and Ambassador is shrinking. Especially for those of us who have free diamond breakfast and free two year lounge pass.

We only arrived pre 10am once in 2023, that was our holibobs at IC Buenos Aires. We were shown to the suite right away. Also I have looked back on our upgrades received last year and some of them were five or six levels. IC London PL only gave a two level upgrade. This was the least generous in terms of levels.

I think the best RA benefit is no daily amenity fee for those who travel stateside.

Richelieu

After pondering a little, I am in the "pro-change" team. My minibar consumption has historically been negligible to non-existant. Gaining free minibar (or within certain limits) is certainly convenient for me (if the lounge is close, having a minibar at hand is an option, usually the price would make me drink water instead but if it's free, why not). So I view that as nice, but a huge benefit. Also, I could be tempted to munch something from it occasionally, but it's not worth a lot to me as I only drink alcohol socially. I am pretty sure that in my case, based on my spending pattern, the minibar benefit would have been 10-15 € per year of value (real value, not the outrageous listed price of the minibar items).

Now that I get 500 USD worth of coupons, I will be tempted to use them all. Not on breakfast (it's included with Diamond mostly where I'd want to have non-lounge breakfast and the RA minimum qualification spend guarantees that every RA is Diamond) but on the occasional room service (if I want to decadently eat in pajamas) or in the restaurant. It's not _that_ often but there are some nice IC restaurants and I can see spending this amount easily in a few occasions over a year. And since I'd be eating somewhere anyway, the value for me would be much closer to the numerical amount, probably around 250 € (hotel restaurants can be overcharging, but less outrageously than minibar, as they have to compete as restaurants as well). It also makes non-lounge hotels (Kimptons?) more attractive as I wouldn't be tempted to live off the evening lounge cocktail (no net value, but the opportunity to test some new fancy hotels occasionally). Also, when staying at IC where lounge breakfast is quite sufficent and for short stays, electing to get the Diamond free drink benefit, using the f&b ambassador voucher AND one of these on top might be enough for a light meal. I can see me using that sometime. So I am pretty sure those voucher won't be wasted.

So I view this as a net positive gain for my spending pattern. I have empathy for those for whom it will be a huge downgrade, but I don't subscribe to LL's scalding review of the change in the program.

The Mileage Millionaire

Wait, so regular AMB gets $20 F&B per stay and RA gets $20 x 25 times and eliminitaion of minibar. Huh? It seems that the AMB benefit may be more valuable than the RA benefit. That is nonsense.

Prediction -- AMB/RA program will end 12/31/2025 (or soomer).

preiffer

Can't help but think the introduction of Milestone Rewards is going to completely screw up incentivising spend in terms of hotel revenue (especially if they've culled RA's)...

So, the theory with RA is that in return for gaining a "high value/spending" customer, the hotel provides amenities (the pain of early/late room access, upgraded rooms, club lounge expenses, minibar write-off, lost breakfast revenue, etc etc) - but that's "worth it", because that customer is incentivised to spend more with the hotel in that one stay in order to keep that "status".

Fast forward to post-milestone world, and I look at the difference between what I get as a RA, vs what I'd receive *anyway* through my account - which is, by nights and points (across all of IHG, so irrelevant the IC spend):

• Free breakfast (diamond)
• 8 (I think at last count) Confirmed Suite upgrades for up to 5 days each (milestones)
• Club Lounge access (across the portfolio, not just at IC for 2 years) - (milestone at 40 and 70 nights)
• Late checkout (through standard Ambassador)
• In *theory* an upgraded room, if available (AMB)
• F&B credits (milestone rewards + $20 per stay in 2024)
• etc etc.

So if I get all that WITHOUT needing to consider spending that little bit more to "keep status" - I'm going to directly hit the hotel's bottom line and provide no benefit to them for my stay. I could do my stays on points (and still get all that, and indeed upgrade my room) - earning a pittence for the property while (unlike with RA guests) delivering no added value to them as a targetted guest.

To my mind, as a programme, RA needs to *massively* up its game in terms of benefits - or there's almost no point in aiming for it in future with the new Milestone Rewards and Diamond breakfast benefit in place. Indeed, anyone "dropping down" from RA to AMB+Diamond with a lounge milestone is likely better off in terms of getting the most benefits from IHG with less financial impact (for this year, anyway).

RA-wannabe

And now that they have removed the minibar credit, you have suffered absolutely no loss. The upgrades aren't fantastic to begin with. Even as a lowly ambassador before I got upgraded to a Royal Ambassador, I've always got an early check-in when they have rooms available. And when you book with IHG luxury and lifestyle agents, they can typically get you a 4PM checkout(unless they really really suck). And the best thing is, they will get you a 50-100USD credit.

For this Royal Ambassador change, it will drive me to book with travel agents who can negotiate for better stay conditions, rather than just booking with IHG. It seems like corporate is killing the Ambassador programme slowly. It's much too complicated to run multiple programs for IHG. Rather just fold everything into One Rewards. It seems like the direction it's taking.