All the responses given are correct, the free nights as well as points are only valid at IHG hotels, so once a hotel leaves, future reservations will be canceled because IHG won’t reimburse the hotel for the nights anymore.

However, imho OP’s complaint is absolutely valid. This is not a case of someone just complaining for no reason or trying to squeeze some sort of compensation out of the hotel. Points and free nights are often used at aspirational properties for special
trips which often include long planning and non refundable costs like flights etc.
While I’m sure that every frequent traveler can understand that hotels join and leave chains, the way IHG handles these cases imho is borderline unethical, because not only do they simply unilaterally cancel a valid reservation with no recourse, they also don’t offer any help or Plan B to OP. They simply say sorry and leave you to figure it out on your own.

i haven’t seen anything in the T&C that spells this situation out. What IHG does have on their website though is a “reservation guarantee” where they encourage you to book directly on IHG.com promising that direct bookings are guaranteed and if they can’t accomodate you, they will find you and alternative accommodation and pay the first night (essentially like when you’re being walked).

i understand that IHG says “sorry the hotel left”, and the hotel says “sorry we can’t accept the certificates anymore”, but none of this is the customers fault, yet IHG just cancels your reservations and leaves you stand in the rain.

The least I would except from a company cares a title about their customers is for them to help the traveler to find viable alternatives for them to still make their trips (May that be via discounts, alternative reservations etc).

Hotels don’t decide today that they leave the chain tomorrow, yet rooms and free nights are somtimes sold until the last day of the hotel being on IHG, which i feel is highly problematic and unfair to the customers (I’ve literally booked HIs that then left the chain a few days after the booking).

This doesn’t just apply to free nights. The same happens when the hotel closes or when a new hotel doesn’t open in time but had already sold revenue rooms for future dates. These are all completely normal situations in the hotel industry, but the way IHG handles this is completely screwed up.

Last year I had a reservation at a HIX and when I got there the hotel wasn’t open yet. My reservation still showed as valid in my account, I had gotten no email whatsoever. I called IHG and asked them to rebook me at any of the other IHG hotels in the city, and they said they are not allowed to rebook me, it’s the hotels responsibility. I was advised to call the front desk. *facepalm*
Even when the agent tried to contact Hotel management via phone and failed, he refused to rebook me and instead emailed the management and told me to wait for a response. All this while I was standing in front of the hotel.
I’m sure it actually is the hotel management responsibility to rebook guest in case of delays. But if you sell a room on IHG.com and have a customer stand in from the of the closed hotel, yet refuse to rebook them somewhere else, that says a lot about the companies attitude.

Sorry for the long rant, at the end OP likely will have to accept that his reservation was simply canceled. It is the common practice. That still doesn’t mean it’s a decent way to handle it.