boekel

I think the title says it all. The hotel upgraded me by one category and said the higher category was sold out during the whole duration of my stay. When I argumented that according to the T&C they are obliged to provide a dual level upgrade they said they provided the best available category. When I said that I would expect a rate reduction so that a dual upgrade can be applied, they responded that they are not obliged to and won't do it.
The ambassador hotline was unfortunately useless as usual. Does somebody has an idea, which recourse I could take. That this hotel - (the IC in Chennai) is from now on on my no-go list is for sure, even excluding the various service problems I faced during that time.
But when even the promises of the T&C are not hold in a deteriorating program it might be time to move on. Thanks

336

Mail Ambassador services. Ask for refund in rate difference + a compensation of some sort.

Thank for warning us about the hotel.

boekel

the question for me is, is there somewhere anything written that I could have shown to the property, proving them wrong?

FLYGVA

I remember a couple of question similar to the one of you:

A quick search revealed this thread:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/inte...downgrade.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/inte...al-refund.html

They might help you on how to proceed

turner32

Take a screenshot of the RA T+C's and just keep it on your phone.

boekel

also this thread didn't show any relevant notes, where it is stipulated that the hotel was wright or not. It cannot be that the terms and conditions contain loopholes and the hotels will escape out of their obligations.

turner32

"For Royal Ambassador member stays at InterContinental® Hotels and Resorts in US, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe and Greater China (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan) a room upgrade to a category two tiers higher than the original booking shall be available to all Royal Ambassador members. Club InterContinental access must also be given. (Applicable where the hotel has a dedicated Club InterContinental Lounge)."

boekel

read this. They claimed, that the category two level above the booked category was already sold out and they had upgraded me to the best available category and that's all what they will do. Writing anything which will then end up again in Makati is just a waste of time. I will just review later on this week my stay in the RA section to create awareness for A's / RA's who intends to visit the Chennai property.

turner32

Well, they should have bumped the people in the higher categories. The upgrade is not dependent on availability, it's guaranteed.
maybe speak to guest relations and see if they can recompense you in some way, or ask for a guaranteed 3 or 4 level upgrade the next time you stay. Make it clear that last time they went against the terms of their contract with IHG, or something like that.

Cielito_

"[...] IHG® Rewards Club membership and InterContinental® Ambassador and Royal Ambassador benefits are provided where available, at the sole discretion of IHG [...]"
The T&Cs contradict themselves?

I have understanding in cases, where e.g. IC Berlin can not provide upgrade from 60 club rooms to one of the 7 suites, that are not excluded from upgrades.
Do you remember, if the upgrade you are claiming, was available in the app when booking you room?
In exact 2 stays of my ca. 80 nights in ICs in 2017 the guaranteed upgrade could not be provided when 1) guaranteed upgrade category was obviously sold out and 2) I booked spontanousley.
Then I was "offered", to change my reservation to a price category that can provide available upgrade.
Everything else would have been unpractically and unrealistic under that circumstances.
But at least a corresponding rate reduction should be self-evident.

whimike

This statement doesn't list India. Does anybody have any similar written data for India?

scubaccr

@boekel, you omitted which room type you booked and type +cat given was, and the unavailable +2cat room type? If you booked a suite (or 1cat below a suite) then I can understand hotels +1cat upgrade, but not the lack of rate adjustment.
(Can be IC hotel prefers old rule t+c Exec/Club/Suite and pre Sep2016 booking Suite was only 1cat upgrade and has a policy of only upgrading RA +1cat when suites are involved)

Sadly all you can do is reach out to Amb Services during USA hours asking them to contact hotel.
To be honest I'd be asking Saltlake for points from IHG for the hotels refusal to upgrade/reduce-rate, which IHG Corporate will then back-charge to IC Chennai, and also charge an intervention fee. If too many interventions are needed in a year then some extra ine is levied. Although you don't get the money knowing the hotel doesn't keep the extra profit from your lesser 1cat upgrade may be of some comfort.

(i)How close in to stay did u book room (ii)Was +2cat for sale when a)you booked b)in the week before checkin iii)Did you book lowest cat room when upgrade is easier or high cat room for a +2cat 'full' suite, or worse for hotel +2cat to Ambassador/Royal type suites? Further some hotels only have handful of suites above 'so called 1-room Junior-Suites' and that adds to issue.

If RA/Amb books so foc +1/2cat upgrade is to a full suite, hotels may in truth be unable to upgrade Amb +1cat or RA only 1cat not 2cat, but I have never heard of IC not adjusting rates either proactively or on request at checkin, though rate adjustment offer may be derisory+small based on day-of-checkin flex rate not say time of booking ADR/BAR. It is even possible day of checkin flex rate of lower cat is already higher than your booked rates!
Alas lengthier RA t+c (versus Ambassdor landing page benefit saying Guaranteed Upgrade) only say 2cat upgrade 'SHALL BE GIVEN' the 'MUST' is a separate point refering to Club Access for the RA
(I also noted checking today, as RA, we only get the standard Amb Benefits block page, no longer get the extra RA Benefits Page, despite being signed in ) @boekel, you neglected to provide us with what room you booked, which +1cat room you received and what room type +2cat is. If as RA you booked suite or 1cat below a suite, then I can understand the lesser upgrade, but not rate reduction.

Regards RA/Amb upgrade +1/2 cat.... Alas t+c's say upgrade allocated on arrival, so hotels are not forced to upgrade at reservation time, and will happily keep trying to sell suite rooms. Yes I have had +1cat upgrades only, usually with proactive rate refund (eg IC Sydney), others with flex bookings I negotiated from strong (can walk) flex week mininimum bookings with (IC Miami downtown, IC Melbourne).

If you book close in other than base room, or when the +2cat suite is soldout, or worse only basic/non-suite rooms available, then hotel is in impossible position regards +2cat upgrade, but most proactively upgrade +1cat and adjust room rate. Although adjustment can be from booked rate to rate on day, and I then negotiate to rate on -1cat of day I reserved.

Historically I also book flex when corp rate was only for base rooms in an hotel, which gave similar cancel on day of arrival. Now with cancel being day before arrival, new best option is to book first night of multi-night stat as separate 1night booking , as you can then cancel remaining nights and use a more accomodating hotel. Of course if on BAR/ADR (non canceable) ones negotiating position is much less if hotel wants to not conform to RA t+c's.

Lewis42

I stayed at the IC Porto during the summer for 5 days. The hotel w as full and they only had a +1 cat upgrade available. They did not mention this in anyway shape or form or make note of it, I only found out when I questioned it after arriving in the room.

I complained, it took a significant amount of fighting to get anything at all. This is what plagued me, they were sneaky about it.

In the end they reduced my rate by approx 20% and then gave me a +3 cat upgrade the following day but I sure as hell had to fight for it.

ILS2

I was offered free breakfast for three nights x four people at IC Chicago when they failed to upgrade me as an Ambassador. Considering the price and quality of their breakfast, I was fairly happy with that.

boekel

I booked a king club, above this are the "east bay suites" I would rate it as junior suite and the top suite (forgot the name), which is not excluded according from the T&C. I understood that the top suite was sold a few days of my 10 night stay. And as they said we won't adjust the rate, I responded that I wouldn't pay in that case. At CI they charged me only partially for the costs of my stay. Finally I agreed on a reduction of 1000 INR, not exactly the difference to the lower category but better than nothing, as I couldn't reach another agreement. I've asked three times for the GM, but they always pretended that he wouldn't be there. Obviously he never came back to me.

As said I can accept that I wasn't upgraded to the top suite, however I cannot accept the refusal of the rate reduction

This leaves a very sour taste, when they claim RA's are the most well-looked after guest. Especially when also the ambassador hotline couldn't do anything for you.