speed.skater

IANAL but I am skeptical this would be a breach of contract. The contract from which you enjoy points earning and elite benefits is with Six Continents Hotels, Inc. (which runs IHG Rewards Club). And the Terms and Conditions for IHG Rewards Club state that a hotel must belong to a certain brand for you to receive benefits.

It is not SCH's fault if a property reflags to a non-participating brand. Again, IANAL, but I doubt you have a right to cancel a non-refundable booking.

Land-of-Miles

I would disagree, I would argue it is an implied term in the contract (given that it is likely to be booked via an IHG direct channel and the property was clearly an IHG property at the time of booking and expected to be so or it would not have been bookable via the IHG booking engine) and were this not enough to constitute a contractual breach the fact that the property was booked and sold as an IHG would constitute pre-contractual misrepresentation given the end state when the stay is actually completed which in and of itself would create a contractual breach.

I would expect a decent property not to descend to legal game playing though and accept that those who booked as an IHG who are unhappy that at the time of their stay their booking not to be at an IHG property to be able to cancel without penalty if they wished to do so. That has always been offered to me in similar situations (with what were then Starwood properties).

UKDegsy

I phoned today and spoke to the duty manager who explained people in my situation would have been receiving an email at some point with options including cancellation. I was the first customer he had spoken to about this but put me through to someone who knew what to do and sorted things out without issue. Room cancelled without argument and no hard sell to keep my booking. Just awaiting the refund to arrive back to my card. Impressive CC all round and a shame as it is a great hotel to stay at and was comped lounge access as Spire on an earlier round of pointbreaks

UKD

UKDegsy

Refund arrived as promised. Question answered. Just need to choose a replacement hotel for our stay after going to see the Australian Folk Rock Band "Boy & Bear" at Gorilla. Worth a listen.

UKD

Land-of-Miles

I would recommend the Palace given the close proximity, the Hilton Deansgate is fairly close and the HI City Centre is about 10 minutes walk away.

BrightlyBob

Good to hear they refunded your non-cancellable reservation without demur! I suspect they could be doing quite a bit of that over the upcoming months...

TGLoyalty

Btw the Hyatt in Birmingham is completely meh and I hope The Grand (Part of the principal deal) becomes the top hotel the city of Birmingham is surely missing.

Land-of-Miles

I always found hotel du vin the best option in Brum although the Indigo is decent enough in winter.

BrightlyBob

Well I stayed at the Manchester Oxford Road Crowne Plaza and Canada definitely say it’s one of the best CPs I’ve visited.




Lounge Spirit and wine selection

Very good restaurant

Good sized lounge

Spacious and well equipped room, nice bathroom, great lounge (which given free access as a aspire benefit) and fab bar and restaurant, it could certainly wear the Westin, JW or Conrad brands and will certainly wear the Hyatt badge well. I’m unlikely to stay again with its brand switch...

QasimDar69

Stayed at this hotel for about 20 days combined in different category rooms both in CP and staybridge ,its a fabulous establishment, the only downside i could think of is its about 20 minutes walk from the city centre. Its a shame IHG has given up on this one , although completely understandable with so many hotels they already have in manchester.

BrightlyBob

I don’t think IHG gave up on The Lume building that houses these two hotels, rather The Lume gave up on IHG and has now placed their trust in Hyatt...

R.O.

We don't know.

What we DO know: When forming a contract, you need an agreement from both sides. Both IHG needed to agree to working with the investors, and the investors needed to agree to work with IHG.

Clearly, both sides which entered the contract deserve blame. The hotel's investors should have figured that a property in a B location in a market already pretty saturated with IHG properties may pose some problems. Similarly, IHG is to blame for entering into a management contract in this instance with so many question marks as to the commercial viability of the property under its management.