Biggie Fries

So I am brand new to IHG, Intercontinental, Ambassador (am, have been a Hyatt elite, but with small European footprint, program changes ...). I did read the blogs, some of these threads, and was (have been) pretty impressed by the upgrade experience.

Started trip in A, at a non-IHG, non-Intercontinental hotel we had liked. Wasn't as great as it had been.

In B, we were booked into an IC and the reservations page had first bumped us up to a better entry room, then to a small suite. This was not unexpected since I had purposely chained FHR booking with Ambassador status, but I also knew that it was not guaranteed. In the event, I was happy when the upgrades were honored at check-in, and we had a great stay.

So great, in fact, that early in the week in B, we decided to book our return weekend in A at the IC, since our initial experience in A at the non-IC hotel hadn't been so great. Did so, and after a day or two checked the reservation at the IC in A and saw that it now showed Club level room, i.e., Club access. That seemed like a nice upgrade. So we cancelled our reservation at the non-IC (non-IHG) hotel in A.

On arrival back in A, at the IC, we were asked if we wanted to add b'fast to our reservation. I said, "No thanks, Club b'fast will be fine." Nice person at the desk said, "What Club b'fast?" His computer was not showing us as having been upgraded.

Well, I had not taken a screenshot, and did not mean to be argumentative, but by now the supervisor was over as well, and I was feeling kind of foolish -- like I had been trying to con them into something, when really I was a newbie who had just been reading their statments of my room on my IHG reservation page. Out of curiosity, I fired up my laptop (great wifi in the hotel, by the way!), went to My Reservations, and, sure enough, it still listed me as being in a Club-level room with Club access.

Now, unlike in some of what has been discussed above, the hotel was not full (it is mostly a business location, and this was last weekend). The supervisor conferred with the colleague and they agreed, "Just this time" to honor the Club-level reservation. I was appreciative, but also (as a FT type) curious, so I pushed on why I (seemed to be) seeing something that they were not. I did not find the response especially reasonable or heartening, that this was a "known bug" in which IHG/IC central does stuff and this particular IC does not get clued in. I'm dubious, but I did get the club-level upgrade, and the two night stay was great, and that's not really the point here:

The point here is that upgrades attendant to elite status are a big part of what is driving hotel choice for many of us. I gave a long explanation above regarding my experience / thinking on the matter as it evolved during the trip, to make the point that when IC/IHG was showing upgrades and honoring them (in B), it motivated me to re-book into IC/IHG for my return trip to A, and to keep that reservation and cancel another one once I saw the upgrade process. I am not saying that events could not intervene on occasion, but if I come to learn that at IC an apparent upgrade shown on my account is not seen as having any meaning, then I am going to downweight the value of elite status at IC/IHG in choosing hotels. Not a threat, just a statement about why I do not think it is presumptive to expect what is being shown on the website.

Dave Noble

With an Ambassador upgrade it is explicitly stated in the Terms and Conditions that club access is not given. You may get a club room, but that does not imply club access , so your premise was wrong

From https://www.ihg.com/content/gb/en/cu...-tc#ambassador

Biggie Fries

Okay, dem's the terms, and I do appreciate your knowledge and attention to detail ... and the rules.

My point still holds: It is not anodyne to have a website that tantalizes but does not deliver. I mean, let's work it through: Suppose the website had not promised me a club room, but when I showed up, the desk assigned me to a club room. Is your thinking that I should turn it down because if one of us (me or the desk) was more familiar with rule 9 of the T&C, we would know that this was prohibited? And/or that I should be charged subsequently?

I'm not just asking rhetorically. Maybe that is what you and others are claiming here. My own experience with hotels (IC and others) is that they end up having a lot of flexibility with respect to (on the good side) what they are willing to give you from time to time and (conversely, on the sketchier side) what they are willing to label as what on the premises, even when what was on the website would seem to have promised you something better.

So I'm back to the original point: A hotel chain / loyalty program shows me that my booking has been modified to something better. I'm expecting something better.

Dave Noble

You may be given a club room, but there is no reason to expect that there will be club access

In the example given, this would seem to marry up with the reservation saying club but no club access being given - whereas your post stated "Club level room, i.e., Club access" ; with an ambassador upgrade club room does not imply club access

this is not the same as turning down something if offered

turner32

Key words here: "upgrades when available".

Biggie Fries

I read the thing until my eyes bugged out. I read it in French. I read it English. I read it in Spanish. I know the difference between club level and club access. It said access.

By the way, what it did not say was "with an ambassador upgrade." It did not say why my reservation had been modified. It just said that it had been.

I did not expect club access because I had Ambassador status. I expected club access because someone somewhere had seen fit to modify my reservation to tell me that my room would be one with club access.

If their IT system is not working in a way that conforms with their published rules and/or what you explain here on FT, I don't see why that is the hotel guest's issue. They should fix it or honor it. In this case, they honored it.

You make it sound as if we should be playing by the rules of golf, and calling penalties on ourselves.

Dave Noble

If you read what I posted, I quoted your assertion
"Club level room, i.e., Club access"
and pointed out that the assertion is flawed

The airline can upgrade to a club level room without providing club access since club access is explicitly stated as not being an ambassador benefit

Biggie Fries

Not only the airline can do it, but so can IC, the hotel.

In this case, though, this -- upgrading to a club level room without providing club access -- is not what they did.

I do admit to writing too casually earlier -- neither the English nor French versions used i.e. What they did do on their website was show us as having a certain room type and "club access."

Your point that this is not a standard benefit does make the supervisor's mild exasperation more believable than I credited in my OP. She had seen this mix-up before. Like you, she understood the rules and knew that this should not have happened.

Like me, she read what was posted in my reservation in my account on the IHG website and saw that it did indicate club access.

scubaccr

It is simple, as Ambassador (non RA) you only get club lounge privileges if you initially book a room type that includes club lounge access. Even if you are upgraded to a big suite, including Presidential Suite you won't get foc Lounge Access

You neglected to say which room type you booked for second visit, but if an ambassador tries to game the system by booking room type 1cat below club, this is going to be the result.

I'd guestimate that in 50% of ICs a clubroom is not just the Deluxe/Superior with Lounge privileges, but also room has extra less nticeable extras eg bigger TV, better coffee maker, higher threadcount sheets, nicer bathroom so even w/o lounge access is still an upgrade of sorts

Room ugrades > 1cat are not guaranteed, and may not to stick. Many reasons, guest stays on extra nights another Ambassador needs as their +1cat upgrade, etc.

Having had great upgrade previous visit, it is churlish to whinge about less next time You get noticed/remembered and could suffer next time.

Biggie Fries

Might not have been clear. When I said "A" I was referring to a place, not a hotel. Similarly for "B".

When I was in place B I stayed at an IC there for the first time. That is where I first experienced seeing my on-line reservation modified and improved. It was improved to a suite, not to club access. I don't even know whether that hotel had a club. It was not on my radar.

The on-line, pre-arrival upgrade process is what caught my attention. I did not know suites from clubs within the IC system. You and Dave Noble have greatly increased my understanding.

Anyhow, when I write about my second stay, what I mean is my second stay on this trip in an IC hotel. Although it was my second time in place A on the trip, it was my first time in the IC in place A. Place A (not at IC) -> Place B (at an IC, first time for me) -> Place A again (this time in an IC, second time in an IC for me, first time in this IC)

I hope I have clarified: Having seen a reservation upgraded on-line in my first stay at an IC, I was pleasantly surprised to see a reservation upgraded on-line for my second stay at an IC... a different IC. It did not occur to me to check to see whether this unbidden upgrade that the system was showing for me was irregular from the standpoint of IC rules, any more than it occurred to me to check whether the first upgrade (at a different IC) had been irregular: It showed, it was honored. The second one showed, seemed to perplex and mildly annoy the supervisor there, just as it seems to perplex and annoy some folks on this thread. Since I had not done anything other than make a reservation and look at my booking -- my only real action as a result had been to cancel a non-IC booking back in A in preference to what struck me as a generous in-prospect IC upgrade. Under the circumstances, at check-in, I simply showed the clerk and supervisor what was showing on the IHG system in my booking. I never actually asked them to honor it, I just told them that I, too, was perplexed in that moment. The supervisor volunteered that it would be honored in this instance.

I hope I have explained this better now.

My larger point, in keeping with the spirit of the thread, is that, from a statutory or legal or -- as I get the sense from others here -- moral perspective, there are lots of reasons why a hotel might not honor an upgrade that previously showed in their system: Unexpected room unavailability (which was not my case, but seems to have happened to others), something weird within the IHG system, IT or manual, which promised something that contravenes written policy (what some combination of you and the supervisor suggest seemed to have happend in my case) .... I'm not arguing this point. Like many others here on FT, I read about hotels, chains, and loyalty programs to get a sense of how they work, which is a combination of stated rules and actual events. Then I book (and take my chances accordingly). Forewarned is forearmed, and all that.

olympian

Is part of the problem here that the room description for a Club room normally includes reference to being able to access the Club Lounge so, if you're allocated an upgrade to a Club room before arrival, it will still show the full description for that room type against your reservation on at least the IHG App and therefore state that Club Lounge access is included?

stargold

That would exactly seem to be the problem. But equally, it's the same point as being "upgraded then downgraded" - the hotel is not bound by any upgraded category displayed on the App (plus benefits associated with that type of room), unless you booked and paid for that category.

Currently staying at an IC as Plat Amb. In the 24 hours leading up to the check-in, my booking went from base room, to a 1-bedroom suite, to a 1-bedroom residence, to a premium room (1 cat above base). It didn't ever occur to me to "take screenshots" and try to argue my way into the 1-bedroom suite, because personally I'm familiar with the reality that a room assignment may change several times before checkin, even if shown on the App.

The room category indication prior to checkin is not some sort of "contract" obliging the hotel to upgrade the room to that category, or to provide the benefit attached to that category such as club access. As long as they provide a room that is in accordance with (or above) the T&C at the point of check-in, the hotel has done its bit and I would not feel I am entitled to complain just because I saw something different at some point in time prior to checkin.

Biggie Fries

Now we are getting somewhere here. You just gave me some information which surprises me, but there it is: In the IC rewards system, you folks are used to seeing rooms go up, but then back down again. Just as a counterpoint, never seen that in several years as a Hyatt Diamond/Glob. Upgrades and downgrades just don't work that way. If you use a suite upgrade, you expect an upgrade (sometimes it shows in the system, sometimes it doesn't). Otherwise what you get when you show up is just gravy.

To repeat (3rd time?, 4th time?), I never complained, I never said I was (or felt I was) entitled, and I certainly didn't whinge (I am not from a Commonwealth country). Nor did I take any screen shots. I did condition my behavior twice based on what I was seeing on my reservation in the computer:

1. First, trying out the IC hotel in place A instead of the non-IC hotel I had previously booked through FHR
2. Second, using my laptop at the desk to show them what I was seeing, since everyone -- not least me -- seemed confused. (They did not know why I was surprised [surprised, not mad, not sad ... surprised] that I was not getting a room with club access. I was surprised that they were surprised and thought it relevant that I had been staring at something in their system that had led me to believe what I believed at that moment.)

Anyhow, can we get past the second thing here? There seems to be some effort -- again, I'm surprised -- to suggest that my behavior means I have a sense of overentitlement and attempt to con hotels. Also, that I whinge. I think I have dispelled the whinging thing, since I am not from a country or culture in which people whinge. (In my country and culture, we whine.) As for having a sense of entitlement and attempting to con hotels, as it happens, yes, I do feel over-entitled and hotels are not the only thing I attempt to con. However, the incident described at length above is not evidence for this. You may have reached a partially correct conclusion based on a misreading of the evidence.

As for the first thing, well, like I say, I am learning something here. When choosing among hotels in the future, I will down-weight IC in my comparisons somewhat to reflect the uncertainty that apparently attaches to website-modified possible upgrades.

3544quebec

The evidence is clear. Hoisted by your own petard.

Me thinks thou dost protest* too much

* insert preferred simile eg whinge, whine here

Why would you think you should contact Customer Service if you did not think yourself wronged? Clearly you had a mistaken sense of entitlement. The incident described above is ample evidence for this. You did not behave badly as a consequence but you certainly had a mistaken sense of entitlement.

Perhaps the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has more in common with Commonwealth countries than you think

Biggie Fries

Dang! You got me there, too.

[Not quite sure where the bit about contacting Customer Service comes from ... maybe somewhere else in the thread?]