warakorn

I agree with the OP. Keep on pushing!
The hotel can claim the money (for the reservation of the second week into a comparable property) from the party, which reserved the entire hotel.

warakorn

Have you received any new resolution/proposal from Stefan O. Huemer, the General Manager of InterContinental Maldives Maamunagau Resort?
I would try to email him personally or write him via linkedin. In my eyes Stefan Huemer does not want to ruin his career.

https://rocketreach.co/stefan-o-huemer-email_24793504

But honestly, this is a disgrace to just cancel away reservation for purely commercial reason. The current compensation level is laughable.

NotTellYou

this could be a blessing in disguise. 14 days in one island is a long time. There is nothing except water. It is not like being in Bali you can go to different resort every day. It would be more fun to spend one week in IC and another week in another resort. What if you go there and want to leave early but couldn’t get your points back?

JSR2014

Yes I am in discussions with him currently, to be fair and honest the level of customer service received (verbal promises and follow ups etc) since he has become involved has been incredibly good, there is no resolution as yet but I believe its out of his hands somewhat as he is awaiting responses from other hotels. He has promised to check his emails from them every half hour and even said he would not leave work until it was resolved. Clearly its 5pm there so i am not expecting him to stay there, checking his emails from home and actioning them is perfectly reasonable and just an example of what I believe is his exemplary customer service (so far). Its just a real shame that they sent that initial derogatory offer and he was not involved from the outset. I'll update this thread as and when I get any news, but please understand that I am really impressed with Stefan so far but of course things might change!

JSR2014

The points are inconsequential (to an extent) to me, what you describe is exactly what I need and have been looking forward to. Time to detach from reality and relax, I did consider your point prior to booking but the upheaval of moving us as a family to another island far outweighs any benefit to us, I do understand that our particular view on this might be different to others and can 100% see your point. I did re-consider this point when looking for any "silver lining" to the situation, however when times of packing, checking out, sea plane to MLE, awaiting another seaplane (or other transfer) to another hotel, checking in, unpacking and getting settled into a new hotel are factored into the mix we (again, just our perception) figured that we would lose at least 2 days of vacation time and would find it all a bit more stressful than laying on a beach or snorkeling etc etc.

BlueHorizonUK

Every person has a different view to what constitutes a great holiday for them. Some people cant imagine moving hotels during a holiday, others like hotel hopping. Each to their own. If you enjoy staying in one place without upheaval then there is nothing wrong with that and others shouldn't say there is.

scubaccr

The IC knows full well a guest family of 2 Adults + 2 kids, flying in for a 2week stay (or even just those 7 nights) need to other accomodation as booked guests can not change flights. the IC also can be accused of wanting to both sell+eat their cake, as to avoid having your room(s) empty the 2nd week, expects you to move back with all the turmoil packing/unpacking/transfer time and loss of personal leisure time that involves. Be assured the extra profit from incoming group covers any costs the IC incurs keeping you happy.

The hotel will only have taken this exclusive booking and the moving/cancelling of any and all reserved rooms by first undertaking in an extensive profit/cost analysis, including such as
a)extra profit of sold out hotel rooms for all those 7 nights versus some unsold rooms
b)profit on such a group bringing (held contractually to) a minimum f+b spend per day for all rooms
c)cost of moving cancelled guests to a similar room at similar hotel for paid reservations. Thus utilising that paid night to offset and negate extra $$$ costs ... And reselling cancelled rooms at a far higher rate to the incoming group
d)Where reservation has no full roomrate cash element (ie booked using award nights on points, free night certs) and the IC hotel receives maybe 30% of roomrate from IHG corporate , moving guest is a $$$ loss of new alternate room versus IC income for award night. so far far cheaper to try and fob off a guest by canceling booking and not moving them, though surely the initial profit/cost analysis will have included that extra expense. Offer of 300k points is miserly, and speaks tofthe IC trying to retain the builtin analysis expenses within the IC

As a fellow RA I'd be insisting on
a)those nights to be moved to a comparable hotel and room to that booked including any Amb/RA upgrade/perks.
b)I'd be researching which hotel/room I want and inform the IC GM . Always tell GM what you want but aim high, as you'll find it impossible to aim higher later and GM's offer will be a lowball offer to set your counter demands expectations much lower
c)Alas as award not paid night, even where an IC gives all benefits on award nights, they won't be amenable to providing non contract RA bennies at hotel you get moved to
However, as RA, I'd still ask for all of
i)Lounge Access
ii)usd50/day minibar credit (ignore $200 liit per stay rule)
iii)restaurant breakfast included
iv)+cat upgrade on booked IC room type
d,1)Compensation for being moved, ask for points refunded back for each night you are moved. Not a big loss-cost to your IC, as under IHG t+c's IHG corp will only pay the IC for your first award night of multinight award stay, and that at say 30% pittance of roomrates
d.2)Free transfers to/from alternate hotel, (and back to airport after the 14n stay if you then can't use prev booked transfer)
.... Plus
e)I'd even hit the IC with demand that I be moved to new hotel for all 14nights, as with young family we can't move back halfway through holiday, and would not want to lose in effect 2days leisure, ie two half-days before/after switch back to IC repacking/unpacking/transferring. As you are on award, not a paid guest, I can see your IC not be willing to offer such 14night switch, but it is a cost demand to your IC you can relent on during your negotiations if you request this in the first place

JSR2014

Thanks Scuba - I think that we might have a resolution which actually covers most of your points above, I will post it once agreed as I have asked for some clarification on a few small points. The offered room is not "perfect" but its very nice and I am happy to compromise a little (its a reef room rather than sunset, no big deal right?). This is the only room the proposed hotel has available (I checked).

nas6034

I do wonder if there are other individuals on this forum in the same position as OP.

Davvidd

Do you want to escalate this with the Maldivan Tourism Ministry?

Flying Lawyer

And probably to the UN and the Trump Administation, too. This will not work. Escalate it to IHG corporate and tell the GM you are happy to discuss this on all webpages in the social media. This will do the trick. We are just talking about - at the end - money. Only question is, how much.

Marco159

Stefan Huemer is a fantastic GM ... I'm sure he will solve the problem ...

JSR2014

Yes, I am confident that he has resolved this, just awaiting confirmation on a few details and for one more thing from him which he can hopefully help me with - he really has worked hard and is a credit to the hotel and as I said, I just wish he was involved from the outset, it could have saved a lot of angst!

demue

He may be a good GM, but from industry exposure and talking to other GMs I'm very confident that a full property buyout with displacement of booked guests is 100% happening with the full knowledge and involvement of the GM.

The protocols of informing impacted guests and the "offers" to extend also are signed off by said GM. There is no way a Reservations Manager or Director of Rooms / Sales cooks this up on their own. Heck, I know of cases where even regional level leadership gets roped in to approve as it is exactly the risk of corporate escalations that is looming from guest who don't take the BS first low-ball offer.

So he has been fully aware that this may be coming, but still chosen to try offering this garbage of 300k points first to impacted guests like you.

So whatever he is sorting out now is the fallout of his own decisions as GM. Of course with this approach, instead of having to offer fancy alternative accommodation packages to every guest, they may get away with 10-20% only and the rest of guests get less or accept the standard offer.

demue

See my other post if you don't mind. A fantastic GM from IHG / Resort Owner angle probably.

A GM caring about guests and their experience not so much in this case. Such a GM would never have let it come to a situation like this and made such a terrible offer with no concern for guests further accomodations etc.

He knew / knows fully well what he and his team were doing and likely even anticipated such individual escalation cases that he is now handling. As GM his #1 KPI is profit maximization and Guest Satisfaction doesn't even come a close second so I understand the drive to maximize profit. I just think at a minimum alternative accomodations and transportation should have been part of an honest, customer minded offer in such an inaccessible place where you cannot easily reaccommodate yourself with barely four weeks notice and exposure to very high costs that are not of your own making.

​​​​​A contract (reservation) is a contract and a buyout does not constitute extraordinary circumstances like a natural disaster or such. Of course, making alternative arrangements for individual guests is hard ,time consuming and eats into said profits, but they knew this fully well when they accepted the buyout. So we don't need to put him on a "pedestal" for a situation that has been his charge to control and manage in the first place. YMMV.