stimpy

OK, now what, if you don't mind saying, was the average spend per night? US$100? $200? $300?

For me it is probably around $250 on average given the exchange rates.

Chinatrvl

I would say an average IC night in Europe is >230 € to 400 €, and 130 € to 200 € in Asia for us. We hardly do "cheapest" rooms booking. It's hard to say, would have to average the stays in IC Berlin/ Frankfurt and IC Paris/ Amsterdam...

Overall average room rate (incl. HI/CP etc) ... I really don't know.

Newbie downunder

My RA re-qual is at the end of this month and with the current bookings I have before then I will have done 58 nights at 4 different IC's and a few HI's and CP's. I will let you know if I get the golden ticket again or not. I think its going to be a close call. Any thoughts on if you think I will get it again based on current re-qual nights required?

Jaimito Cartero

I do book the cheapest rates, and probably have an average of under $100 a night. US stays are usually the least expensive. Asian hotels usually in the $100-$150 per night. I don't do too much European, but the last I did was a about $200 a night.

mister__big

With 58 nights you should be in the clear. It's those with 50-55 nights that might be in a bit of "danger" territory. If you want to be very sure you can always stay another 2 nights to bump it up to 60 to "guarantee" the requalification.

Newbie downunder

Thanks very much for that. I was hoping someone would say something like that. I'll keep my fingers crossed. I dont think I will get anymore time to bump it up any extra nights as I already have 13 nights before the end of the month as it is

dk_commuter

I am situated in Europe as well. My 51 nights were spread out over InterContinentals in Japan, USA and Europe. But ok, I spend most nights in the cheaper IC's of Europe. The 51 nights at IC's did not get me a RA invitation.

I tried asking for the requirements or a challenge, but corresponding with the ambassador email service is akin to a talking to a chatbot. They continously tell you how much they value your business, but they never answer a real question

To qualify for RA it seems you must fulfill one or more of the following:
Nights - Stay 57 nights in some-cheap-IHG-property + 3 different Intercontinentals
Revenue - Spend a LOT of money and become RA after only 45+ nights
Be lucky - Once in a while IHG promote some random people to RA that wouldn't normally qualify

alc

To all,

Need some advice form the group her to help me get re-qualify for RA this year.

I had become a RA last year with the following info showing on my account:

17 Aug 2009 Royal Ambassador Status
9 Jul 2009 Ambassador Status

The expiration date of my status is Aug 2010.

The IC that trigger me become RA was a stay at IC ORD that check-in on Aug 11. My very next stay is also an IC, IC MKE. Question is do anyone know if they will start looking at my stay for re-qualifying starting at (a) Aug 12, 2009, (b) Aug 18, 2009, or (c) Sept 1, 2009.

Here are my nights so far for each of the choices above:

(a) 40 pay nights // 14 reward nights with 6 nights at 4 different IC
(b) 38 pay nights // 14 reward nights with 5 nights at 3 different IC
(c) 34 pay nights // 14 reward nights with 3 nights at 2 different IC

**Please note, one of the pay nights is the 2nd night from BOGO that was counted as a Qualifying Nights on my accounted.

I did rec'd the card in Nov last year indicated I am top 1% and the # of nights shown in 2009 include rewards nights.

I am expecting at another 30 more nights before June. Hence getting the magic 55 or 60+ nights (counting pay nights only) should not be a problem. But my issue will be with the number of different IC. IC is not near where I travel to work and when they are, they are way more expensive than other hotels. If IHG look at option (c) above, then I might have a problem and need to find an excuse to get myself in an IC hotel in the next few months.

Any advice comment from your experience will greatly appreciated.

Regards,

alc

Jaimito Cartero

As reported on this thread, they usually look 2-3 months before your expiration month. So if you expire on August 31, 2010, they'll look June 1, 2009 until May 31, 2010, or July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010.

If you have the number of nights needed by that date, you can always appeal if you have more nights in the last 2-3 months of your membership.

edlin303

Just an update on my status, with 42 nights (1 IC night), plus another 2 non-qualifying nights, I will most likely be coming up quite short. I have very little travel planned this month, so I just don't think I can pull it off. Add to that the lack of any real benefits at HI/HIX, and the unsure qualification requirements every year, I will probably finally make the shift to SPG. If I plan a big trip and want to stay in a lot of ICs, I will just find someone to refer me back for another year. It's too bad because I do like the promos ICHG has, and HIX are usually good to stay at, but it's not worth doing a bunch of mattress runs not knowing where they have set the bar this week. I don't know if 10 nights would get me there, or if I need 20.

Of course I will call to try to get one of the NQSs at an IC fixed to show qualifying, but even with that I don't see much chance they will grant me the renewal. If only I had figured out sooner that I wouldn't make it, I could be well on my way to SPG Plat with lots of bonus points from the 4x promo.

gregorygrady

I'm currently at 48 paid nights in my previous rolling 365-days. And I have just decided on the exact same thing as you since I hate the uncertaintly. My RA review should take place on 3/30/10 or 4/1/10. And I had 5 stays last March (2009) that will also be rolling off. Basically if I had any clue how many nights I needed to acheive (without a big fight and back and forth e-mails pleading for RA), I would probably go for it. But the fact that I don't know if I need 50 nights, or 53 nights, or 55 nights, or 58 nights, or 61 nights just has me completely turned off to IC. I will do the exact same thing as you, shift all stays away from IHG and then if I MUST HAVE a bunch of IC stays, then I too will find somebody to refer me back. The unknown is just not worth it IMHO. I played their "unknown qualification requirements" game last year, but finally decided it is not worth playing any longer. Especially since the requirements seem to be going up (from 50 nights to ~55-58 (possibly) nights) even though the economy is down in the dumps. No thanks IHG. At least until the next "too good to refuse" promo comes along.

ag51

Looks like the sweep ran last night for RA acounts expiring at end of May. I requalified with 61 qualifying nights in the last 12 months, including 8 paid nights at 6 different ICs.

Newbie downunder

Same here, mine expires at the end of April, requalified today with only 47 nights, but I do have another 11 nights booked for the next 3 weeks

docklander

Seems that way - i got renewed too. On a renewal to renewal date basis (6th march 09 to 5th march 10) i had 54 qualifying nights and a shedload of reward /freebies (from that greatest offer promo).I stayed at 8 different ICs for a total of (24 paid nights paid ,7 reward/free)

iamthehpt

I was renewed today as well, with 54 paid nights from March 1 09 to present(plus a slew of award nights) with 31 paid nights at 6 different ICs.