Rewards nights redemption rules
Jan 18, 2018, 6:44 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Programs: BA Exec Gold, IHG Platinum, Hilton Honors Silver
Posts: 391
Rewards nights redemption rules
I have several hundred thousand IHG points which i planned to use for a trip later this year. Much to my surprise when searching for for availability it became clear that I was only being offered queen rooms and there was no availability in either King rooms or suites.
I contacted IHG customer care and was pretty astonished at their response which was that reward nights will only ever be available for use in the lowest category of room that a hotel has due to the fact that these are "non income generating customers".
I have certainly used rewards nights for "better" rooms in the past and the amount of points required to redeem reflected this. Customer care were utterly adamant that this was a non negotiable criteria and has always been the case.
Has anyone come across this? Is there any way the hotels can override this if I contact them directly.? I have no objection to paying additional points, simply that the queen room configuration does not meet my needs
I contacted IHG customer care and was pretty astonished at their response which was that reward nights will only ever be available for use in the lowest category of room that a hotel has due to the fact that these are "non income generating customers".
I have certainly used rewards nights for "better" rooms in the past and the amount of points required to redeem reflected this. Customer care were utterly adamant that this was a non negotiable criteria and has always been the case.
Has anyone come across this? Is there any way the hotels can override this if I contact them directly.? I have no objection to paying additional points, simply that the queen room configuration does not meet my needs
Jan 18, 2018, 8:09 am
#2
Join Date: Jan 2014
Programs: DL PM, Hyatt Globalist, IHG Spire
Posts: 98
Over the last 4 years, I have never seen the ability to use points on better rooms, such as suites. However, typically I see a base-level King and Queen room for the same price in points; I have run across some properties that only offer a Queen room on points from time to time (as you describe), though it is quite rare in my experience.
Jan 18, 2018, 11:48 am
#3
Join Date: Sep 2008
Programs: IHG Platinum
Posts: 442
The first time I stayed at London City they had deluxe rooms in one or two bed options available for points, this is one level up from the bottom, the rest of the times i have stayed they have only had standard rooms, with one bed available
Jan 18, 2018, 2:31 pm
#4
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: BNE
Programs: QF Gold, VA Gold, IHG Spire, Accor Plat, Marriot Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,281
Over the last 4 years, I have never seen the ability to use points on better rooms, such as suites. However, typically I see a base-level King and Queen room for the same price in points; I have run across some properties that only offer a Queen room on points from time to time (as you describe), though it is quite rare in my experience.
Jan 18, 2018, 3:13 pm
#5
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Rochester, MN
Programs: UA Silver, Hilton HHonors Diamond, IHG Plat
Posts: 1,830
Here is what torques me off about IHG's way of doling out Award rooms. Say you have a family of 4 and need a basic 2 queen/double or 1 King plus sofa bed room. Hotel only uses their 1 King room (no sofa bed) as their award inventory. Family of 4 is SOL even though they only want a basic room.
Jan 18, 2018, 3:34 pm
#6
Moderator, Marriott Bonvoy & FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: McKinney, TX, USA
Programs: United Silver; AA Plat/2MM; Marriott LT Titanium; Hilton Gold
Posts: 11,727
I suspect hotels have a lot of leeway in what they can do (if they want to do it.) A couple of years ago I called the Ft. Walton Beach HI Resort property and talked with their management. I was able to get their 2-bedroom presidential suite for the points on 1 standard room plus $100/night. And this was the 3rd week of July, one of their busiest weeks. I was very happy with that arrangement as that suite was huge with 2 different balconies both fully ocean front, a full kitchen and living room, a separate entry area plus the 2 separate bedrooms.
Jan 19, 2018, 6:47 am
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Programs: BA Exec Gold, IHG Platinum, Hilton Honors Silver
Posts: 391
i think I will book and email the hotel directly requesting that the room has a king bed. If they can't accommodate me I can always cancel and have the points refunded.
Jan 23, 2018, 7:51 am
#8
Join Date: Oct 2014
Programs: IHG AMB/Spire, Hilton Diamond, SPG Gold
Posts: 204
Example - I could not get a reservation at Thalasso in Bora Bora, but I have 3 nights at Le Moana but we wanted to stay in an OWB. at the time rooms were 60k a night. So I paid 180k total for 3 nights, but that was a beach room. I did a 2-3 level upgrade, not just a regular OWB but the horizon bungalow and its another $300/night. Yes it stinks that Thalasso could be "free" for an OWB but its hard to get. So for me, paying 180,000 points and $900 is worth 3 nights in an OWB. The OWB themselves can go over $1,000 USD a night. so I still feel I got a fair deal. Maybe not a steal, but certainly fair. I did not want to wait on Thalasso and stress out and be stuck paying cash for everything, so this is like cash + points in my eyes.
I also did the same thing in Tahiti - I wanted to upgrade a free room and they were able to do it for a nominal nightly fee.