soitgoes

total in all IHG properties

joe847

10 in 4 different ICs. The rest in a mix of other brands, mostly HIX.

joe847

I was an Ambassador for less than one day. The day I signed up for Ambassador I was upgraded to RA. The downside was I only got one kit.

gregorygrady

Not sure if this really tells us much other than 56 paid nights is good enough to qualify. You may have qualified with 54 or 55 nights, who knows? It certainly doesn't mean that my guess of 55-57 nights is the new minimum bar is correct. I guess we need some more reports from people with 54 or 55 nights.

Or the easiest way: berlinflyer can check his acct and report back to us and we can subtract 3 from that number. @:-)

vsevolod4

Congrats on the renewal!

There continues to be confusion in this thread about the "membership year" ... the qualification period is your "Ambassador Membership" period i.e. 3 months before the date of expiration that is listed on the site/card.

This grace period is similar to the 2-month "grace period" that most airline programs have; i.e. the qualification period is the calendar year, but the card expires at the end of February (or in some programs March) of the following year to allow for transactions to be posted, etc.

The first opportunity for "automatic" renewal usually happens 6-10 days into the first month of the grace period.

I.e. if your card says you are a Royal Ambassador until November 30, 2009, your membership qualification period is September 1 2008 through August 31 2009. Around September 8 you should (hopefully) see the "Royal Ambassador Renewal" message unless you're unlucky.

This qualification cycle is pretty well documented, though often misunderstood, and a number of people think that it occurs in the "10th month of their membership" which is not correct. Which unfortunately makes some of the posts in this thread and others suspect in terms of the date range within which they count their stays.

Note that the qualification program of the Priority Club program IS a calendar year, so this confuses matters further.

The part that is still shrouded with mystery, with many competing and contradictory interpretations is:
a) How many nights at ICH branded properties are required? And at how many different properties?
b) Do CP, HX and other ICHG stays count at all? If so, do they count at the same rate?
c) Do revenues factor into the equation?
d) Do booked stays after the qualification period factor into the equation?
e) Does longevity (number of years in the program) factor into the equation?

And it's clear that the definition varies from year to year. I agree that it's unlikely that the "top 1%" definition requires MORE nights this year than previously, but it certainly sounds like some tightening of requirements has occurred.

dimmedlights

hello everyone ,

a) if i join Ambassador for $150.00 usd, is the ambassador card different than the priority club card?

b) the RA program looks very attractive but yet, costly...
from what i gather from this post, it's easier to achieve top tier elite status on airline , for me that is...
my mother has the american platinum express. when we make reservation via amex , we select to upgradable room ,price includes, tea time, buffet, cocktail,
i'm not sure if includes access to the club lounge....

c) how are the rooms at CP & HI ?
are they equilavent to hyatt or sheraton?


thank you.

vsevolod4

It is different and applies ONLY in ICH branded hotels. Not at Crowne Plazas, etc. (although if you buy the AMB membership you are probably going to be upgraded to a higher status in the Priority Club program). It is a separate card.
But as long as you plan to stay in ICH hotels it is WELL WORTH IT. Just the "buy one weekend night, stay one weekend night free" is usually worth far more than $150. Plus the perks, the upgrades and if you care about Priority Club points, you'll get more points each stay.

The Amex Platinum program provides some perks at some but not all ICH hotels. Generally these require booking a full flexible rate, and generally these are less generous than the RA program benefits, and may be about what you would get with the AMB benefits. But you get AMB benefits if you book a prepaid rate and usually (in practice, though not guaranteed) when you're staying for free.

And yes, the RA program level is very attractive if you achieve it. Those of us who have it love it -- and given the upgrades and especially the free minibar, it makes us the envy of our peers. If you stay over 55 nights a year in these sorts of hotels, go for it. If you stay 10 or 20 nights, look for a friend who is an RA, who is allowed to refer one friend to the program. Or look on eBay where you'll see some people selling these referral certificates (note this is a violation of policy and may not be legal).

CP was HI's "premium" brand and would generally be the equivalent of a run of the mill Sheraton or Hyatt or Hilton. The best few CPs got re-branded
Not as good as a Park Hyatt or Sheraton Luxury Collection; for those you would have to look at ICH hotels (and in some cases even they may be a notch below).

HI is definitely a step below CP by design, although the best few HIs are better than the worst of the CPs (many of which no longer have "Club" floors, or do without a lounge, etc.).

HIX is a step below that, although some people prefer HIXes.

travelben

PC = Calendar year Jan-Dec
Amb = Membership year, e.g. Nov 08 - Nov 09

Right?

Boghopper

I don't know that they even care about HIX stays for RA. I think they just look at IC stays.

soitgoes

No. They require a certain number of IC stays, but they look at total IHG nights.

uproared

I emailed Ambassador Services to ask about the # of qualifying nights YTD (couldn't be bothered adding up the history ).

Anyway, they returned with '50', which is the number of qualifying nights in my CALENDAR year. Two emails later and she's still convinced that qualification period is calendar year. I downloaded my nights and I should be 55 for my ambassador year.

I will be 56 nights by 31 August, hopefully it's enough to trigger the automatic renewal!

uproared

Hmmm...interesting.

Basically I signed up for Ambassador last year in Oct 08, and registered an RA referral certificate in April 09.

Looks like my requal wont automatically trigger, and if I have to go through the helpdesk I'll likely not requalify on 56 nights.

Comet21

I currently sit at 47 qualified nights since June of which 41 was at IC and at 3 different properties. No automatic RA invites yet for those that got invited, how long after their last stay did you get upgraded?

MXM135

Many of you are forgetting that unlike all other Hotel Loyalty programs, the Royal Ambassador status (IHG's top elite status) is "By Invitation Only".

It is at IHG's sole discretion who is granted this status and they are not obligated to publish the criteria. In addition, there is no entitlement to automatically get the status if you stay "x nights".

mxm135

powerplantop

Its also a two ways street, 99% of the time where I stay is up to my sole discretion. I will stay were I recieve the best treatment for my $$$.