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IHG Account Terminated (after registering for several promotion codes)

Old Jun 24, 2014, 2:19 am
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Last edit by: soitgoes
IHG Account Termination Fact Summary

1) IHG has been terminating accounts due to abuse since approximately 2010 (#244).

2) IHG account terminations happen suddenly and without warning. If your account is terminated, you will not be able to login. You will have to call customer service, who will either reinstate your account and warn you, or refer your case to another office, in which case your account is probably permamently closed.

3) No one except for IHG knows exactly what the trigger for account cancellation is. The reason given is usually excessive use of promo codes. In the past, it was thought that most of the people who got their accounts canceled was due to either selling points or excessive point break bookings, but it appears that mere registration of promo codes now can sometimes trigger a cancellation.

Who has gotten their account terminated?

(If you, or someone you know has got their account terminated, please list your username here, and reference the post you made on this thread).

bgmike (#1)
lcpteck (#5)
DavidAL - father - (#85)
Dolphinyong - friend - (#155)
Bakkie (#180)
Tim O'Brien (#187) reinstated
chongcao - good summary, esp. of events from flyertea forum (#244)
soitgoes (#262) deactivated temporarily; reactivated after phone call
travelismylife - brother inlaw - (#329)

Also, LoyaltyLobby has a number of data points in the comment thread.

FlyerTea (a Chinese site) also has a number of data points.

What do we know about terminations

1) The usual reason IHG gives is non-targeted promo code usage. We don't know which promo codes IHG considers invalid, although IHG told Bakke (#180), that he used a code that was supposed to be for platinum members when he was not.

2) Status does not matter. Gold members, Platinum members, even RAs have all had their account terminated.

3) Credit card does not matter. Some people terminated did not have the IHG Chase card, some did, for more than 3 years (#329).

4) Stay history does not matter. Some people had their accounts terminated before any stay, some had their accounts terminated after one stay that accrued many points, and some had a history of lot of paid stays.

5) Termination usually doesn't cause a loss of booked nights. Apparently, even though your points are gone, any nights reserved stay booked in the system.

6) Some account terminations are caused by calling customer service on incorrectly credited nights. A number of people who had their accounts terminated called in on a stay that posted as non-qualifying, only to have their account cancelled shortly thereafter.

IHG Terms and Conditions downloadable PDF, including:

4. Membership Cancellation. SCH reserves the right to cancel any IHGRewards Club membership and revoke any and all unredeemed IHG Rewards Club points collected by any member for reasons that include, but are not limited to: 1) violation of these Terms and Conditions; 2) misrepresentation of any information or any misuse of this Program; 3) violation of any national, state or local law or regulation in connection with the use of membership privileges; 4) failure to pay for hotel charges; 5) a check to a participating hotel brand that is returned for insufficient funds or is invalid for any reason; 6) commission of fraud or abuse involving any portion of this Program; 7) more than one active account per member; or 8) physical, verbal, or written abuse of hotel or IHG personnel; or 9) action, in any other way, to the detriment of the Program or any of its alliances; all as may be determined by SCH in its sole discretion.
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IHG Account Terminated (after registering for several promotion codes)

Old Jun 3, 2014, 1:51 am
  #16  
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Originally Posted by 3544quebec
Still disagree. The shop/stealing analogy was your's and needs to be applied consistently to have any validity. The fact that the shopkeeper is virtual in IHG's case does not mean the shopkeeper is not there. The teenager taking the coffee is very different from the teenager being handed the coffee by those in control of the coffee. IHG has possession and control of the points and IHG gives them out - it is the virtual shopkeeper. The correct analogy is not a teenager actively taking a coffee, it is a teenager asking for a free coffee and the shopkeeper handing it to him.
.
It isn't because to get the coffee, it is necesary to have a code . If the code has not been given to the person by someone authorised to give him the code, then there is no reasonable expectation of being entitled to use it

The code was given and then seen that the user of the code was never entitled to use it

If a promotion is targetted at a specific group, even if the system accepts it, it doesn't somehow make the person entitled to use it

Like going to a train ticket machine, I could purchase a child ticket , I could then get through the barrier with it and get on the train; if a ticket inspector examines it, can one reasonably argue that it was the train company's fault for allowing people to buy them from the machine
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Old Jun 3, 2014, 1:53 am
  #17  
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Originally Posted by paulmoscow
They do indeed actively pursue people now who register for multiple non-public promo codes. If you are in good standing with them, you get warned. Otherwise your account is closed.

Probably it's related to overall improvements in their IT.
How can they identify those accounts to begin with?
If they want to stop unintended bonuses it should be easy - ua for example will not post any bonuses one is not targeted for, many others will not take registrations at all... Smth doesn't add up here...
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Old Jun 3, 2014, 3:48 am
  #18  
 
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Originally Posted by Dave Noble
Like going to a train ticket machine, I could purchase a child ticket , I could then get through the barrier with it and get on the train; if a ticket inspector examines it, can one reasonably argue that it was the train company's fault for allowing people to buy them from the machine
Again, the analogy is not reflective of the actual issue being discussed.

There are published regulations that define who is able to purchase and use a child's ticket on most rail systems. Here in Sydney at the point of purchase of the ticket there are usually signs defining those who are entitled to purchase concession tickets and clearly setting out the punishment for breaking those regulations.
An equivalent analogy would be if the ticket machine offered a standard ticket and tickets at 20% off without defining either at the point of purchase or in clear and readily available regulations who was entitled to use such a ticket.
In that case then yes it would be the train company's fault for allowing people to buy them from the machine.

In the case of IHG and offers, I am still waiting for someone to point to where in the Ts+Cs there is a regulation that is being broken by registering for a promo.

It isn't because to get the coffee, it is necesary to have a code . If the code has not been given to the person by someone authorised to give him the code, then there is no reasonable expectation of being entitled to use it

The code was given and then seen that the user of the code was never entitled to use it

If a promotion is targetted at a specific group, even if the system accepts it, it doesn't somehow make the person entitled to use it
No, to get the free coffee it is necessary to ask the shopkeeper. If the shopkeeper then gives you a free coffee that is reasonable evidence that you are entitled to it (or at the very least that one will not be thrown in jail for theft) .
To get the offer points it is necessary to ask IHG if one is entitled to them in the absence of any clear definition from IHG of who is and who isn't - and how one asks IHG in the system that they have put in place is by inputting your membership number along with the offer code into their webpage which has the capacity to differentiate between those who are and those who are not entitled to benefit from the code.
I don't see any great crime in asking if one is entitled to a bonus offer. If by asking one is committing such a heinous crime that one's membership is cancelled then it is a pretty stuffed program.
If after the crediting of bonus points IHG want to come back and say , that you were not entitled to the benefits of that promo - fine. Still a stuffed program given that they have the capacity to prevent such a problem from occurring. But, nevertheless I can accept that situation. Cutting people out of the program because of IHG's own inaction/incompetence I find a little more difficult to accept.

Last edited by 3544quebec; Jun 3, 2014 at 4:08 am
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Old Jun 3, 2014, 5:17 am
  #19  
 
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Originally Posted by chrism20
The thing that always baffles me with this one is they know there is a problem and they keep banning people who try/do it. Why don't they just fix the system and close the loophole?
+1. Exactly. Fix the rubbish IT. How hard is it? Try to sign up for a targeted promo with LH and it won't work. That's how you prevent it. If you can't do that then maybe don't award bonus points for people who signed up and were not targeted.

On the other hand is IHG complaining about potentially additional stays they may have gotten from folks that signed up for promos (not targeted) and shifted stays to trigger them? I don't think so.

Well, in the end I guess moderation / balance may be the key. If you got an account and do 1 or 2 one-night stays to trigger a whole boat load of points bonuses to be then redeemed via Pointsbreaks, than I can agree that as a business I would also like to "churn" those customer, as I would "lose my shirt" with folks like that. If on the other hand, someone puts in a good number of stays / nights (whatever the figure may be) and I as a business still come out on top, I would be more inclined to let it go. YMMV

Last edited by demue; Jun 3, 2014 at 5:39 am
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Old Jun 3, 2014, 5:56 am
  #20  
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In order to register for a promotion it is necessary to provide a promotion code. Those that receive the code from a 3rd party or an internet site have no good reason to believe that they are entitled to use it.
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Old Jun 3, 2014, 6:44 am
  #21  
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Originally Posted by 3544quebec
Surely it is more akin to going into a shop that has a sign in the window saying Free Coffee for all Seniors and being a teenager asking for a free coffee. If the shopkeeper then gives you a free coffee can they turn around later and say you stole it because you were not targeted for this offer even though they are the ones who control the handing out of the free coffee.
Actually, yes. In English law, at any rate, representing that you are entitled to something when you aren't would be obtaining goods by deception, which is regarded as a form of theft.
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Old Jun 3, 2014, 8:03 am
  #22  
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Thanks for all the replies - didn't mean to strike off a heated discussion!

For those who have asked for proof, I'm not sure exactly what I can provide. It sounds like my only option is to walk away and hope that the experience provides a warning for others. IHG has never been a big brand for me in the past but that doesn't mean that it would not have been in the future. I've never submitted a BRG with any hotel chain, had a duplicate account, sold reward rooms etc. Heck, this is probably the first time that I've signed up for one of their promotions in a long time outside of the Big Win (during the latest, I completed 0 challenges).

Thanks for everyone's help. I might try calling IHG again next week when I'm a little less upset but based on my last conversation, I'm not hopeful!
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Old Jun 3, 2014, 8:03 am
  #23  
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It is correct to say "obtaining goods". Not "asking". Back to the OP .... nothing has been done wrong by enquiring which is what in my view is clearly happening here.

Basically the OP is saying that "I'd like to make a booking with an offer I have come across and that I may or may not be entitled to use - I do not know - can I use it or not?" Those offers he found are then stored (or not) and then used or not as IC decides. In other words, he is asking "accept the request or reject it". When it is used on a computer site and he cannot ask a human. IC either has a choice of rejecting or accepting the code. Loads of other companies do exactly this.

IC can choose to accept any code whether it was targetted or not by simply having a system that makes offers to customers - targetted or not - and then if they are targetted or not ensures that their system only accepts and ensure that only those that they made an offer to can use it or if they choose - which seems to be the case - to have a defective system that accepts anything. If they accept everything that is their choice.

If you think of a human replacing the computer, a human would say at checkout "you cannot use this voucher" but here the computer system accepts anything. That is not the customers fault. If IC has a system that accepts the code and process an order, then they are agreeing that the customer - or at least allowing the customer to believe that they have accepted - that he is entitled to use the code. It isn't for a customer to second-guess the robustness of IC's systems.

The idea posted elsewhere that this is somehow like stealing from a shop is complete nonsense. If you take a discount voucher that you have found on the pavement to a checkout in a shop, the shop either processes the transaction (accepting the voucher) without a comment or says "you can't use this" in which case the transaction isn't completed. No one has at that point done anything wrong. This is a computerised version of that transaction but where the computer accepts the voucher, and then holds the customer responsible for it's own error.

The OP has been treated badly but sadly that is life.

Last edited by uk1; Jun 3, 2014 at 8:22 am
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Old Jun 3, 2014, 8:22 am
  #24  
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The analogies are meaningless. What isn't are the rules of the program. OP broke them.

The fact that OP happened to read these codes in some blog on some website doesn't change anything. If he actually wanted to know whether he was entitled to use the codes and didn't know, he could have called. But, apparently he didn't call.
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Old Jun 3, 2014, 8:33 am
  #25  
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Originally Posted by Often1
The analogies are meaningless. What isn't are the rules of the program. OP broke them.

The fact that OP happened to read these codes in some blog on some website doesn't change anything. If he actually wanted to know whether he was entitled to use the codes and didn't know, he could have called. But, apparently he didn't call.
He did ask. He used the web site. There is no legal difference between using a telephone and speaking to a human, and using a website and asking a computer.

The humans will consult the computer, and he is simply talking directly to it.


Last edited by uk1; Jun 3, 2014 at 9:00 am
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Old Jun 3, 2014, 9:03 am
  #26  
 
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Originally Posted by Dave Noble
In order to register for a promotion it is necessary to provide a promotion code. Those that receive the code from a 3rd party or an internet site have no good reason to believe that they are entitled to use it.
I suppose the real test is whether someone getting those codes have a good reason to believe they are not entitled to them.

For sure, discount most people on this board, we generally know that these are supposed to be targeted codes.

But less savvy folks finding a website listing codes, that doesn't talk tackle the eligibility issue, and many of which are accepted and many of which are not ? A reasonable assumption might be made that the ones that are not accepted (and that don't clearly flag as being expired), are the ones to which they are not entitled.
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Old Jun 3, 2014, 9:34 am
  #27  
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Originally Posted by uk1
He did ask. He used the web site. There is no legal difference between using a telephone and speaking to a human, and using a website and asking a computer.

The humans will consult the computer, and he is simply talking directly to it.

No. That is not what OP says he did. He says that he entered the codes he found on the blog on the web and was rejected.

IHG then fired him.

Had he called and asked whether he could non-fraudulently use the codes he found on the blog on the Internet, we can presume that IHG would have said "no" or would have said "yes" and he would have been fine. Either way, it's not likely that IHG would have fired him.
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Old Jun 3, 2014, 9:49 am
  #28  
 
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Since I was a late starter into the IHG program (and had a bunch of travel at various IHG's around Europe), I entered every code I saw on the promotion and codes thread from the start of 2014. Some worked, most did not. That's the way it should be, if a promotion code isn't targeted for my specific membership, I should be blocked from being able to use that code on the system (like United does), not that the Company should cancel anyone's membership who might enter that code out of curiosity.

Oddly enough the targeted promotion offer codes I did receive legitimately (stay 7 nights get 10,000 points) has yet to even show up on my offers screen weeks later. Although each time I enter it, the system says I'm already registered for that code.

Last edited by Jigen666; Jun 3, 2014 at 10:24 am
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Old Jun 3, 2014, 9:59 am
  #29  
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Originally Posted by Often1
No. That is not what OP says he did. He says that he entered the codes he found on the blog on the web and was rejected.

IHG then fired him.

Had he called and asked whether he could non-fraudulently use the codes he found on the blog on the Internet, we can presume that IHG would have said "no" or would have said "yes" and he would have been fine. Either way, it's not likely that IHG would have fired him.
Exactly.

When they rejected him the issue was over. Or should have been. He asked, they said no. That is fine. That is where it ends. It isn't fraud. It isn't attempted fraud. Asking via a telephone is no different than via a computer. The claim through the thread is that he did something illegal or somehow morally wrong. He hasn't.

Firing him for asking is within the gift of IC, but it is silly and childish and simply reflects poorly on IC.

Last edited by uk1; Jun 3, 2014 at 10:04 am
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Old Jun 3, 2014, 10:24 am
  #30  
 
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Just my 2 cents here:

Sometimes it's not 100% clear if the promotion codes are targeted.
Either way, if IHG wants to make sure people don't register for those promotions, they should make sure only targeted people can enter on their website.
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