demue

They are still upgrading Singaraja rooms, not nearly done from what I heard.

I asked what a Singaraja Suite is supposed to be and will see what they say. Could be a refurbished former Classic Suite, but those wouldn't be located in the Singaraja Wings.

The upgrade works, to my knowledge, are purely an interior refresh with no major structural works like breaking down walls to combine rooms. Making a Singaraja suite non-bookable is further an odd move and abit suspicious.

Lets see, if that is based on the global changes, it pretty much makes a bit of a joke of the 1-category upgrade for AMB as it means other than outright booking a Club room or Club Suite, no AMB would ever get upgraded from one level below a Club room to a Club room incl. benefits.

In many IC hotels there is no difference in rooms between say Deluxe and Club aside from maybe some different toiletries or minor furnishing differences, e.g. BKK, HCMC, etc.

Not a good move in my book and will likely influence my stay pattern, room categories booked and even renewal of AMB. These days, I often see ICs extending a 1 category upgrade for Spire, so it makes AMB outside of RA not that useful with the exception of 4PM check out guarantee.

djjaguar64

We are going back to Bali and using an AMB free night cert and will be there for 3 nights. Fri Sat & Sun check out Monday. So I read somewhere that its cheaper to book 2 nights together and one night on its own, but I dont see a huge difference in rates. I am booking the Club Lounge Access Room.

demue

Booking a Club room outright will be the way to go for AMB going forward if you you are keen to get a room with Club benefits included.

Based on my extensive discussion with them over the last few days, no AMB member will receive an upgrade to a Club level room incl. Club benefits any longer when originally booking a non-Club room category.

This ties back to the new AMB and RA T&Cs valid from Jan 2017. RAs will get Club as stipulated, so I won't go into this here.

For AMB there will be a one category room upgrade done that can put an AMB into a Club room, but to receive the Club benefits a supplemental charge will be required.

I heard examples of 50US$ plus 21% to move from a Singaraja Duplex to a Club Duplex and get Club benefits granted (room upgrade was free and would have been more than one level), but these prices and room category jumps will likely vary depending on season, room rates, stay history and whom you negotiate with.

For lower category rooms like Classic or Singaraja you can expect higher Club supplement fees possibly in the 100-150$ plus 21% range, but it may also depend on your negotiation skills like it did in the past. Keeping the normal the rate gaps in mind this may or may not make sense for some.

As shown in the earlier table posted, there will be a new Singaraja Suite type room (one-level suite) that is new as part of the Singaraja refurbishment activities and will be above a Singaraja Duplex. They are not loaded yet, but should become bookable later in the year. So not a hidden room category, just not ready yet. Also expect Singaraja Duplex to get refurbished next in 2017.

Now given the current price gap between say a Singaraja Duplex and an outright Club room usually ranges from 60-80$ all in incl. of 21% the supplemental payment of 50$ plus 21% that I was quoted pretty much means there is no value to be gained here and you will be better of going straight for Club room or Club Duplex booking with benefits included from the outright and a potentially more promising upgrade path ahead, especially from a Club Duplex.

On the other end of the spectrum, leaving aside Club benefits, a Classic room with breakfast that will upgrade into a refurbished Singaraja room could be the new value option to go for. YMMV.

Again, for RAs it is a different story and above is for AMBs.

demue

Well for anyone who is RA and AMB and hasn't yet read through the new IHG Program T&Cs, I would recommend having a read through. Also several blogs summed up the changes.

Now what's interesting in that context for RA and AMB aside from the room category upgrade levels (2-level RA / 1-level AMB), Club access rules, etc. is that the list of specialty suites that are excluded from upgrades at the IC Bali has been updated as follows:

InterContinental Bali Resort: Uluwatu, Jimbaran, Bukit Suite, Imperial Villa & Jivana Villa

The villas were always excluded (fair enough), but one could book a Club Duplex for example and as RA would have gotten at least an Uluwatu suite. That may still happen if one is lucky, but as per new rules it will be solely at the discretion of the IC Bali and not a mandated upgrade. Hence the highest suite one can officially get will be a Bali suite.

So plan accordingly when you make your initial room category selection for booking.

Chinatrvl

On the other hand, RA will now get Club for booking the cheapest room category there - no more negotiations.

The two category upgrade for RAs will be a tough nut at this and some other properties. Whenever there are numerous RAs staying, the property will run out of appropriate upgrades/suites; also blocking them from potential paying guests.

Yet the hotel could be driving down ADRs, as no RA will book a base room where the 2 level upgrade is excluded; although the purpose of the new RA criteria is supposed to be increased revenue. (With the new changes, I won't consider booking anything else but a classic room at this property.)

Bali has 4 Bali, 4 Uluwatu and 4 Bukit suites as well as 3 Jimbaran suites - so not a lot.

But let's hope that there will still be "nice surprises" at check-in, despite the changes.

demue

For RA (and even AMB) it destroys ADR in my book too. Maybe there will be space available Suite upsell in the future close to or upon arrival.

As to suites, from my knowledge, there are only 2 Bali Suites and not 4 so either way not much to go around and they are towards the main building and a bit of a trek to the Club pool / beach area. Also there are actually 4 Jimbaran Suites (the square building at the end of Singaraja block towards the beach holds them all - 4xxxx wing), but in the past at least one of them was blocked for a management team member so yes 3 were bookable.

BKKA380

Dont know if anyone reported about this, but Mr. Nana Mega (DOR) is gone since a few weeks. Maybe the changes from upgrade policy is done by the new one in the management.

demue

The changes are triggered by the global AMB and RA T&C changes. How those new T&Cs are then implemented at the property level is a local management team decision (well the GM for IC Bali is also in charge of entire IHG portfolio in Bali). The day to day person in charge at IC Bali has the title Resort Manager. Anyways, still a nice property and mostly good staff.

355F1

can you point me to a link with the new changes for AMB members? I have seen some of the RA changes posted but what about good old regular AMBs?

CanuckFlyHigh

Are the regular rooms really that bad?

Chinatrvl

The official T&Cs.
https://www.ihg.com/hotels/gb/en/glo...care/member-tc

Most important:
"The Club InterContinental Experience including Club Lounge access will not be given to Ambassadors as this is not a benefit that is included in Ambassador membership."

djjaguar64

No, the regular rooms are not that bad at all. It all depends on what you are looking for from a budget perspective. I would be happy with a regular room but with lounge access.

355F1

It was never given before and I never expected it.

demue

Not quite sure what the "rolling eyes" are for? If something shared doesn't apply to your situation you can just ignore it. Not like one would know in the first place what your expectations were / are. If you don't know the facts about the property particulars and the program we discussed then you just need to read a few posts ahead. Anyways .... to explain.

In the past, access to Club was never explicitly "excluded" in the IHG AMB T&Cs. At the IC Bali, until the new changes now , Club access was given to AMB based on the guaranteed 1-category room upgrade benefit. Hence, booking a room one level below a Club room (which was back then a Singaraja Duplex) resulted reliably im getting upgraded to a Club room including Club benefits.

Under the new AMB T&Cs with the specific exclusion of Club access for AMB even if you book one room category below a Club room now, you will still get a one category upgrade to a Club room (different Wing, furnishings, toiletries), but no Club benefits included meaning no Club lounge, Club pool access, airport transfer, etc.

Instead the property will now ask extra $$$ (heard 50US$ plus 21%) to include the Club benefits. That is usually (approximately) the difference in rate between lower booked category and upgraded room category so for anyone who did that in the past, now you can just outright book a Club room with benefits for the same cost and rather get an upgrade as AMB to Club Duplex.

Btw, nothing wrong with the lower category rooms as also mentioned before. Classic rooms are a bit tired looking these days though usually well maintained but as AMB booking one of those classic rooms with breakfast would get you upgraded into a newly refurbished Singaraja room (1-category above or better if lucky) which to me is a good and attractive option and what I would do for a paid stay. For reward bookings you can always negotiate the Club supplement payment in addition to receive room upgrade and benefits. Prices will vary depending on season, repeat guest, or plain whom do you negotiate with. YMMV.

Chinatrvl

I don't know what warrants the tone in your reply. Additional to what demue has already said, it means in general that Ambassadors booking one level below club will now not get club access as one level upgrade. This was common practice at not just IC Bali but at many other properties.