antonius66

That is crazy. I do not think that 15 or 20 nights EVER gave RA, but to say that 60 nights is the BARE minimum and you need to be in the top 1%, that is pretty rough, as I am sure the top 1% of PC members likely stay upwards of 100/nt a year for business. Sounds unlikely, and too specific, especially given that in the past PC reps have been less than straightforward or accurate or well informed about the exact RA qualifications. Who knows though.

pauleeepaul

Hmm economy in the toilet- let's cloud the water some more on what this program means and disenfranchise those who might aspire to it.

Shareholder

I concur with the others, the 15 or 20 nights at ICs was never a requirement nor ever appeared anywhere in print. The only such qualification that ever appeared in print, in an add for Ambassador in the magazine of the Tel Aviv IC, was "stay at at least 3 ICs in the course of a year" and be among the top 1% of all PC members. The OP has posted his interpretation in two threads, but I suspect he misunderstood the agent. However, where did he ever get the idea that 15 to 20 IC nights was also a requirement as this is the first time any of us have heard of it?

wonderbret

From what I've understood that has always been the requirement. But honestly, the RA quals are about as clear as Marriotts Platinum Premier (unless they have recently cleared that up).

Let be honest though, the VAST majority of PC members havent stayed at a hotel in over a year. The benifit of having memberships that never expire are that you are forever inflating your number. According to an extreamly trustworth source PC now has over 21 MILLION members. Yeah, no period in between the 2 and 1, its really 21. The memberships never expire or deactivate, and how many people do you think have multiple accounts because they "forgot" they already had one, or the front desk agent wanted a dollar for enrolling them? Most of those get 0 nights per year.

So do you think that 210,000 PC members spend over 100 nights a year in PC hotels? I personally dont, but thats just me.

spkg

Yeah, i'm pretty sure if the only requirment was top 1%, we'd all be RAs, its the 50 or 60 nights requirment that's the hurdel. he real question is, is it 50 or is it 60?

PremExecSNA

IMHO, this will backfire on IHG. With the economy being what it is and business travel all but cancelled, I'm struggling just to make the magic 50 nts/yr, which always rang the bell in the past.

Most of the IC's I"ve been to this year are clearly showing the effects of a depressed economy and are running lower on occupancy than ever before. I can't imagine the business plan which raises the bar 10 plus nts/year to requalify for RA.

dgwright99

Don't panic - there have been all kinds of comments along these lines made by PC agents and reported here over the last few years.

The 50 nights/3 ICs threshold seems to have held true in practice for a long time - even though the "top 1%" requirement is frequently stated by PC agents, along with all kinds of other random/dubious/obviously-made-up statements.

Time to worry is only when/if we start to see confirmed instances of RAs being downgraded with ~55 nights/3 different IC.

Flying Lawyer

If they stick to their 1% rule the threshold will go up as a result of the slow economy. Pretty easy math: My company cuts down business travel (so do others). I spend eg a day a week at a certain IC, which currently has mayby half of the occupancy it had before. I did is last year, I do it this year. However, when talking about the top 1% the number of people in this range is smaller. Let them have had 200 guests last year and 100 guests this year. Top 1% is simply a smaller numer, no longer 2 but 1.

dgwright99

Well, I guess it's now clear why your handle isn't flying mathematician

uproared

Haha, I know.

Speaking of which, afaik the reference to the "1% rule" is the top 1% of ambassadors as opposed to the top 1% of PC members.

Thankfully, with the way IC has been pushing ambassador memberships and the free ambassador promo it "should" make it easier.

IC6A

It is not about "qualifying".

The rule states clearly that RA is by invitation ONLY. Which is to say, it is solely PC's decision whom to be RA and whom to be AM. Sure most of the RAs have to be the top 1% to be qualified for the invitation.

However, if you did not qualify for the 1%, but showed loyalty and IHG was willing to keep you, you may still get the invitation.

If you did qualify 1%, but if IHG forgot you...God knows.

The problem is about the 12 months rule. As every AM joined in different time of the year. IHG can easily adjust the 1% tier standard. And it never made clear when and how the 1% stats was decided...So it is IHG's game not ours.

soitgoes

What!?

TravelGuy1965

I have the perfect test case the the '1% IC' aspect with a friend of mine.

RA Status expires in Aug.
He just received his downgrade letter about 4 weeks back.

He had stays at 2 different ICs (total 4 nights). 2 nights at each using a BOGO each time. He has > 90 nights in the last 365 days.

Based on my feedback he just completed a 1 night stay at a 3rd IC.

So from a nights aspect with PC he is well over the 50, 55, 60, etc.
But he has very limited IC's. This last stay brings him to 3 different ICs. Now, one other factor, he signed up for the free nights promo and is another variable but I have to imagine the stays during the promo would count toward RA status - at least I hope.

I'll report back in the next 1-2 weeks to see if they extend his status when he calls in and asks if they will.

If they don't, I may have him try one more IC night to remove the potential complicating factor of the 3rd being during the free nights promo.

paulmoscow

It's another fight. Why RAs are forced to fight for perks and requalification?

nicolas75

What the point of being RA if you stay ONLY 2 nights a year??
And what the interest for IHG to give the RA status to someone who is not loyal to the InterContinental hotels??