LukeSky

leonwan

The Instant Spire Elite offer (“Offer”) allows full time employees of an Eligible Company to experience most of the Spire Elite membership benefits for 90 days upon joining IHG Rewards Club or registering for the offer as an existing IHG Rewards Club member.

What is the meaning of Eligible Company?

Marriott15

It's a shame that Hilton and IHG are doing this now! I guess the only thing you don't get is the 25k Spire annual benefit!

BaconSF

Land-of-Miles

Not sure about IHG (and the IT would make me doubtful) but Hilton definitely know real diamonds from comped ones and the better properties distinguish in terms of upgrades etc.

craigthemif

You also get the 25K benefit if you do the 10 nights.

336

LOL. Another slap in the face of high volume IHG guests.

This can only backfire both ways, as anybody will realise that Spire is an empty shell.

Even more points will be distributed. Point inflation will be even more rampant. The cases were a points night is economical (stripped of your benefits of course), will be even more scarce. And this was precisely the strenght of the program.

thunderlounge

Just a guess, but I believe it would be certain companies that do a lot of business which is exclusive IHG. Think business contracts.

Either way, it is not an open, public invitation.

craigthemif

IHG doesn't need to offer fast track status challenges for people to realise that 75 nights at IHG gets you FAR less than a similar number of nights at almost any other hotel chain.

Points inflation was already rampant before IHG dreamt up Spire and didn't provide any guaranteed benefits other than more points.

The sad part is I'm struggling to convince myself that even 10 nights is worth it for a year of Spire.

BaconSF

jtc246

HYATT also does it, not sure who started it. First I have heard about IHG doing it.

Globalist Status - Now only 20 nights (targeted)!

Super Mario

So much negativity here. Is the point being made that Spire gives you nothing, or that the program is going to be devalued because so many points are being given out? Seems like two different ends of the spectrum are being thrown out left and right. Meanwhile, a few people in the shadows here will take advantage of this program, but remain silent, in fear of being attacked for not "earning it". They will also not cause sweeping changes to be made to IHG Rewards. This program is actually more of a closed loop status match/fast track than others out there.

Most programs are "devaluing" their points and will continue to do so. Not only is the economy stronger, but it's also ridiculous to expect increases won't happen with inflation, demand, etc.

mario

I applied for this but my status wasn't upgraded automatically. Anyone else experienced the same? BTW, I work for an "eligible company" as this offer is on our intranet.

DuMaInSin

Same here. Platinum member and I work for an eligible company; the promotion is published on our company's intranet portal. I registered one week ago

My status did not change so a few days later I sent an email to customer service. They replied that the status would only change AFTER 10 nights.

I then called Customer Service and the agent told me the same. I insisted on escalation to a supervisor and then one level further up after which I was told that my interpretation was correct and that I would be upgraded to Spire "instantly" but that it would take 3 to 5 days to verify my account. I had an upcoming stay last weekend and the supervisor told me that they would advise the hotel about my Spire level. Of course that did not happen (I was welcomed as a Platinum member and got Platinum benefits) and I did get 50% bonus points instead of 100%.

Called again yesterday and during a 50 minute call the agent and supervisor kept repeating that I would only be upgraded after staying 10 nights. I spelled out the T&C's to them several times but they ignored me and kept telling about the "mechanics" of the promotion, which are obviously not in line with the T&C's. Eventually the supervisor gave up and asked me to send an email with screenshots of the promotion and the T&C's. She said she would call me back the same day. I sent the email but of course no call back.

Today I received an email telling me that I should send a request to another department, which I did. I have several upcoming stays later this week so obviously I am not very happy about how IHG is dealing with this promotion.

The fact that this promotion, which started as early as August, suddenly pops up in many forums and blogs will certainly not help eligible members. I can imagine that IHG is now receiving thousands of registrations of people who are not eligible which they will all need to verify. I have no clue how they will do that. I have our company's corporate id in my profile, but my private address and email. To be on the safe side I am using my company's email in all correspondence about this promotion, but until now my status hasn't changed.

barracuda93

While registration seemingly works, status is not upgraded to Spire.