BOR-1978

A few weeks ago I booked a standard room for one night on the book early & save rate (advanced purchase) in the Crowne Plaza hotel in Den Haag. The price was about EUR 85 (city tax inclusive). As the stay did not come up in my Priority Club account, I filed a missing points request. Now I've got a post saying it is a non-qualifying stay.

After contacting IHG, I've got an e-mail with the following explaination:
"We would like to inform you that the rate you purchased for your stay in Den Haag Promenade, The Netherlands was deeply discounted from the hotel’s base rate for the day. As such, your rate was considered deeply discounted and is ineligible to receive points."

I never had something like this before, and I would like my stay to count for the Crack the Case-promotion. Just wondered if this happens more often and if anyone could give me some advice.

Hannibal Lecter

I raised the question whether it was a qualifying rate or not 3 months ago but never got an answer, here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/inter...l#post15685615


Be aware that ADVANCE PURCHASE and BOOK EARLY AND SAVE is NOT the same, the have different rate codes, BE&S gives more or less the same discount as Friends&Family so it is not surprising that it's not qualifying...

alexanderrr

IF BE&S is not-qualifying it should clearly say so in T&C, like it does for FF. It is not as cheap as 2-4-1 and it is available via other booking channels, like orbitz and expedia. And with their regular 10% off and other coupons+higher cashback, what kind of incentive IHG can offer to its clients who is ready to book early? I suggest you reply that it was not mentioned anywhere that this rate is not-qualifying and you have booked it at IHG website, as usual.

benzemalyonnais

i just stayed a few weeks ago in den haag on the 2-1 rate and didn't get anything at first on pc.com. i waited a couple of weeks, emailed pc and they gave me full points/stay credit. maybe you can use me as an example of a cheap rate getting points and complain!

no-backpacker

Naaaah, this is extremely confusing... I do also have a "book early and save" booking, for 13 nights. To be honest, when I booked it I thought "book early and save" was just a new wording for "advance purchase" as there were no "advance purchase" rate.

Well, lets see if I get the points or not... After all, the rate is discounted less than 30%. Fingers crossed.

Xxx.

Hannibal Lecter

What makes it beyond confusing is that at some hotels it's 20% or even less off Best Flex, and at others it can be as much as 30% off.
If the golden rule is that less than 30% discount= qualifying you should get points in the first case but not the 2nd

A300flyer

I got full points with book early and save in HIEX Lisbon end of March. For me it's the same as Advance purchase but only some EUR less due to the more than 21 days rule. But who knows with IHG? New homepage but almost useless as the interesting information is still lacking.

Jonobigblind

I had a similar issue a few weeks ago after booking an advance purchase rate. I hadn't received the stay credit for the rooms so I chased this up through the missing points form.

I received two emails within a minute of each other one with the text from the OP's post and the second confirming the stay credit and notifying that points had been posted to my account.

The Priority Club account on Twitter offered to pick up the credit chasing but as they had eventually posted I stood them down (that and I had a bunch of points from random promos hanging on the stay credit as well).

Persevere I say.

A300flyer

Just did a chat with Priority club via online chat. Book early and save is the same as Advance purchase and qualifies for points. On my question if it is only a new name for an old product the answer was yes it is. It's absolutely the same. So give those guys in Den Haag a kick in the a..

Raffles

CTC is fine - it counts for that regardless

Hannibal Lecter

Sounds comforting, it is however not at all absolutely the same

BE&S gives a higher discount and, from the T&Cs:

ADVANCE PURCHASE
MUST PURCHASE AT LEAST 3 DAYS IN ADVANCE. MUST PURCHASE NO MORE THAN 20 DAYS IN ADVANCE.

BOOK EARLY AND SAVE
Save at least 20% off the Best Flexible rate, when you book more than 21 days in advance.

Chinatrvl

Not really. There are different types of Adv. purchase rates, with 1, 3, 5, 7, 15, 21 and 30 days advance purchase. Adv. purchase is usually 20 % off best flex. (Rate codes, for instance, IDDSR, IDADV, IDCGE, IDAVR (most common 14 day code), IDADR etc. There is no single specific adv. purchase rate code.)

'Book early and save' was probably invented to offer two types of advance purchase discounts, without having to offer two rates that have the same name "advance purchase".

Rule of thumb, F&F rate is 20% off advance purchase (as advertised at some point), meaning, it is 20% off best flex, and another 20% off. This is a 36% discount of best flex. Book early and save sometimes offers 30% off, but it a) is not following the logic o F&F and b) it's over the ominous 30% threshold for points.


For the OP, just call PC instead of emailing them. They are notorious of emailing back wrong information and not giving the points unless you argue with them. Phoning takes a second and is usually successful.

Maigret

I stayed at HI in Madrid last week on a BE&S rate and the points were credited as normal.

TPJ

Same for me for a stay at HIX at AGP airport.

htb

I have good experiences by writing back "booked on their website, advance purchase, should get points, nothing to the contrary was mentioned during the booking process". Repeat as many times as necessary. Their first reply is ALWAYS "too cheap to get points". That seems to scare off 90% of the people, but it also destroys loyalty to PC very easily.

HTB.