Jun 24, 2014, 2:19 am
Last edit by: soitgoes
IHG Account Termination Fact Summary
1) IHG has been terminating accounts due to abuse since approximately 2010 (#244).
2) IHG account terminations happen suddenly and without warning. If your account is terminated, you will not be able to login. You will have to call customer service, who will either reinstate your account and warn you, or refer your case to another office, in which case your account is probably permamently closed.
3) No one except for IHG knows exactly what the trigger for account cancellation is. The reason given is usually excessive use of promo codes. In the past, it was thought that most of the people who got their accounts canceled was due to either selling points or excessive point break bookings, but it appears that mere registration of promo codes now can sometimes trigger a cancellation.
Who has gotten their account terminated?
(If you, or someone you know has got their account terminated, please list your username here, and reference the post you made on this thread).
bgmike (#1)
lcpteck (#5)
DavidAL - father - (#85)
Dolphinyong - friend - (#155)
Bakkie (#180)
Tim O'Brien (#187) reinstated
chongcao - good summary, esp. of events from flyertea forum (#244)
soitgoes (#262) deactivated temporarily; reactivated after phone call
travelismylife - brother inlaw - (#329)
Also, LoyaltyLobby has a number of data points in the comment thread.
FlyerTea (a Chinese site) also has a number of data points.
What do we know about terminations
1) The usual reason IHG gives is non-targeted promo code usage. We don't know which promo codes IHG considers invalid, although IHG told Bakke (#180), that he used a code that was supposed to be for platinum members when he was not.
2) Status does not matter. Gold members, Platinum members, even RAs have all had their account terminated.
3) Credit card does not matter. Some people terminated did not have the IHG Chase card, some did, for more than 3 years (#329).
4) Stay history does not matter. Some people had their accounts terminated before any stay, some had their accounts terminated after one stay that accrued many points, and some had a history of lot of paid stays.
5) Termination usually doesn't cause a loss of booked nights. Apparently, even though your points are gone, any nights reserved stay booked in the system.
6) Some account terminations are caused by calling customer service on incorrectly credited nights. A number of people who had their accounts terminated called in on a stay that posted as non-qualifying, only to have their account cancelled shortly thereafter.
IHG Terms and Conditions downloadable PDF, including:
1) IHG has been terminating accounts due to abuse since approximately 2010 (#244).
2) IHG account terminations happen suddenly and without warning. If your account is terminated, you will not be able to login. You will have to call customer service, who will either reinstate your account and warn you, or refer your case to another office, in which case your account is probably permamently closed.
3) No one except for IHG knows exactly what the trigger for account cancellation is. The reason given is usually excessive use of promo codes. In the past, it was thought that most of the people who got their accounts canceled was due to either selling points or excessive point break bookings, but it appears that mere registration of promo codes now can sometimes trigger a cancellation.
Who has gotten their account terminated?
(If you, or someone you know has got their account terminated, please list your username here, and reference the post you made on this thread).
bgmike (#1)
lcpteck (#5)
DavidAL - father - (#85)
Dolphinyong - friend - (#155)
Bakkie (#180)
Tim O'Brien (#187) reinstated
chongcao - good summary, esp. of events from flyertea forum (#244)
soitgoes (#262) deactivated temporarily; reactivated after phone call
travelismylife - brother inlaw - (#329)
Also, LoyaltyLobby has a number of data points in the comment thread.
FlyerTea (a Chinese site) also has a number of data points.
What do we know about terminations
1) The usual reason IHG gives is non-targeted promo code usage. We don't know which promo codes IHG considers invalid, although IHG told Bakke (#180), that he used a code that was supposed to be for platinum members when he was not.
2) Status does not matter. Gold members, Platinum members, even RAs have all had their account terminated.
3) Credit card does not matter. Some people terminated did not have the IHG Chase card, some did, for more than 3 years (#329).
4) Stay history does not matter. Some people had their accounts terminated before any stay, some had their accounts terminated after one stay that accrued many points, and some had a history of lot of paid stays.
5) Termination usually doesn't cause a loss of booked nights. Apparently, even though your points are gone, any nights reserved stay booked in the system.
6) Some account terminations are caused by calling customer service on incorrectly credited nights. A number of people who had their accounts terminated called in on a stay that posted as non-qualifying, only to have their account cancelled shortly thereafter.
IHG Terms and Conditions downloadable PDF, including:
4. Membership Cancellation. SCH reserves the right to cancel any IHG®Rewards Club membership and revoke any and all unredeemed IHG® Rewards Club points collected by any member for reasons that include, but are not limited to: 1) violation of these Terms and Conditions; 2) misrepresentation of any information or any misuse of this Program; 3) violation of any national, state or local law or regulation in connection with the use of membership privileges; 4) failure to pay for hotel charges; 5) a check to a participating hotel brand that is returned for insufficient funds or is invalid for any reason; 6) commission of fraud or abuse involving any portion of this Program; 7) more than one active account per member; or 8) physical, verbal, or written abuse of hotel or IHG personnel; or 9) action, in any other way, to the detriment of the Program or any of its alliances; all as may be determined by SCH in its sole discretion.
IHG Account Terminated (after registering for several promotion codes)
Jun 4, 2014, 2:56 am
#76
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: All around the world
Programs: Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott
Posts: 607
They won't usually close an account because of the promos, they will close it because that account is not profitable. From my frequent dealings with IHG I am fairly certain that a certain threshold of unprofitably is what triggers the audit.
I have stayed for months at a time on pointbreaks rate, have always registered for all promo codes under the sun and frequently use the points+cash trick to get more points but have never been reprimanded for doing so and have even been offered a points loan once to make an award booking. I do stay a LOT of nights every year in IHG hotels so my account is definitely profitable and I suspect that is why they let me get away with so much.
I have stayed for months at a time on pointbreaks rate, have always registered for all promo codes under the sun and frequently use the points+cash trick to get more points but have never been reprimanded for doing so and have even been offered a points loan once to make an award booking. I do stay a LOT of nights every year in IHG hotels so my account is definitely profitable and I suspect that is why they let me get away with so much.
Jun 4, 2014, 3:17 am
#77
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Somewhere in Europe
Posts: 3,362
They won't usually close an account because of the promos, they will close it because that account is not profitable. From my frequent dealings with IHG I am fairly certain that a certain threshold of unprofitably is what triggers the audit.
I have stayed for months at a time on pointbreaks rate, have always registered for all promo codes under the sun and frequently use the points+cash trick to get more points but have never been reprimanded for doing so and have even been offered a points loan once to make an award booking. I do stay a LOT of nights every year in IHG hotels so my account is definitely profitable and I suspect that is why they let me get away with so much.
I have stayed for months at a time on pointbreaks rate, have always registered for all promo codes under the sun and frequently use the points+cash trick to get more points but have never been reprimanded for doing so and have even been offered a points loan once to make an award booking. I do stay a LOT of nights every year in IHG hotels so my account is definitely profitable and I suspect that is why they let me get away with so much.
Jun 4, 2014, 8:56 am
#78
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: United Arab Emirates & Arizona, USA
Programs: UA MM/1P, EK Au, QR, TK, Marriott Life Ti, Hilton Dia, IC Dia, Hyatt Glob, Accor Pt, Shangri-La
Posts: 4,521
I guess this is related to the BRG "abuse" that has apparently gotten some people's accounts closed, which, in my opinion, is less morally defensible than closing an account for violating the a targeted promotion, since (not to re-open that whole debate) it seems like the BRG abuser was complying fully with the T&C of that program.
I would go further and opine that if ICHG wants to fire a simply unprofitable customer, then the only ethical way to do so would be to say, "look, you have taken advantage of us too much and we don't want to do business with you anymore -- enjoy the points you've earned, but you are not welcome to benefit from Priority Club further in the future." Kind of like how when they catch you counting cards in Vegas, they say, congratulations, take your winnings out of here and don't return.
Jun 4, 2014, 9:48 am
#79
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Capetown
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Plat, IHG and Hilton Diamond, LH SEN, BA Gold
Posts: 10,163
Considering that the promo page requests an answer to the question where one read about the promo and allows the answer "on the internet" or "in a blog" or so, this is hard to believe.
Jun 4, 2014, 10:14 am
#80
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 98
I would be curious to know if any of the accounts that have been terminated are holders of the IHG Chase credit card. What would happen if IHG terminated the account of a card holder? Would IHG then inform Chase and somehow have the credit card terminated as well? It would seem to me that would be difficult for IHG to pull off especially considering their relationship with Chase is presumable profitable.
Jun 4, 2014, 2:26 pm
#81
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,932
Every time I see a thread started here about "my account was terminated", it seems to be from a poster who has no history on FlyerTalk (ie, they're using an account opened to start that thread!), let alone any history of posts in the IHG forum on FlyerTalk.
So what exactly is "unprofitablity" in IHG's eyes? For example, I never had a paid IHG stay between Crack the Case and the Big Win (of fall 2013). I had a big points balance from Crack the Case (and other stuff previous to that), and so I occasionally used poitns for stays (some, but far from all, PointsBreaks). During Crack the Case and the Big Win, I had exactly the number of stays needed to fulfill all tasks, nothing more. Also, I hold the Chase IHG card, and so of course was also using my annual free night certificate (but at "normally-priced" properties, not at super-expensive ones). Am I "unprofitable" enough, or does it take much more than this to be deemed "unprofitable" by IHG?
Since IHG puts out a credit card (in the USA) which earns a free night certificate every renewal year (for just $49), I suspect there are people who simply stay at IHG once a year, using that certificate, and might not stay at IHG at all some years. Is that "unprofitable" enough, or is it simply "low usage" (which is different than "unprofitable")? Or does it depend on where they use that certificate?
Jun 4, 2014, 4:29 pm
#82
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: AA EXP (owe), BA Silver (ows), AB Silver (owr), WN A+/CP, IHG Spire AMB, Avis First
Posts: 1,414
Which brings us to this point:
Every time I see a thread started here about "my account was terminated", it seems to be from a poster who has no history on FlyerTalk (ie, they're using an account opened to start that thread!), let alone any history of posts in the IHG forum on FlyerTalk.
So what exactly is "unprofitablity" in IHG's eyes? For example, I never had a paid IHG stay between Crack the Case and the Big Win (of fall 2013). I had a big points balance from Crack the Case (and other stuff previous to that), and so I occasionally used poitns for stays (some, but far from all, PointsBreaks). During Crack the Case and the Big Win, I had exactly the number of stays needed to fulfill all tasks, nothing more. Also, I hold the Chase IHG card, and so of course was also using my annual free night certificate (but at "normally-priced" properties, not at super-expensive ones). Am I "unprofitable" enough, or does it take much more than this to be deemed "unprofitable" by IHG?
Since IHG puts out a credit card (in the USA) which earns a free night certificate every renewal year (for just $49), I suspect there are people who simply stay at IHG once a year, using that certificate, and might not stay at IHG at all some years. Is that "unprofitable" enough, or is it simply "low usage" (which is different than "unprofitable")? Or does it depend on where they use that certificate?
Every time I see a thread started here about "my account was terminated", it seems to be from a poster who has no history on FlyerTalk (ie, they're using an account opened to start that thread!), let alone any history of posts in the IHG forum on FlyerTalk.
So what exactly is "unprofitablity" in IHG's eyes? For example, I never had a paid IHG stay between Crack the Case and the Big Win (of fall 2013). I had a big points balance from Crack the Case (and other stuff previous to that), and so I occasionally used poitns for stays (some, but far from all, PointsBreaks). During Crack the Case and the Big Win, I had exactly the number of stays needed to fulfill all tasks, nothing more. Also, I hold the Chase IHG card, and so of course was also using my annual free night certificate (but at "normally-priced" properties, not at super-expensive ones). Am I "unprofitable" enough, or does it take much more than this to be deemed "unprofitable" by IHG?
Since IHG puts out a credit card (in the USA) which earns a free night certificate every renewal year (for just $49), I suspect there are people who simply stay at IHG once a year, using that certificate, and might not stay at IHG at all some years. Is that "unprofitable" enough, or is it simply "low usage" (which is different than "unprofitable")? Or does it depend on where they use that certificate?
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/22973508-post45.html
Also, as a counter example to your argument, two of the people who posted about their accounts being terminated in this thread have had >1,000 posts on FT. But yes, you are right - they only had maybe one or two stays.
It's a bit worrying, at the least.
Jun 4, 2014, 5:43 pm
#83
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: I hate my location and hope to flee from it soon.
Programs: Hyatt PL, PC Spire/RA, HH GOLD, SPG Green, Marriott Silver, Skywards B, CSA Gold, Lufthansa Paper,UA
Posts: 1,211
sdsearch ++++
Jun 4, 2014, 5:50 pm
#84
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: LAX
Posts: 10,906
I do not believe for a moment in "unprofitable" theory. PC spends lots of marketing $ to get people to stay and then call them unprofitable after one stay like OP? This is complete and utter nonsense.
I remain convinced that there is more to those account closure stories than posters disclose or perhaps some posts are there to deliberately mislead everyone (as we encountered in many blog-fueled manufacturing spend, credit card bonus etc discussions).
Perhaps there are some closed in error - who knows.
I remain convinced that there is more to those account closure stories than posters disclose or perhaps some posts are there to deliberately mislead everyone (as we encountered in many blog-fueled manufacturing spend, credit card bonus etc discussions).
Perhaps there are some closed in error - who knows.
Jun 4, 2014, 7:58 pm
#85
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: AL
Programs: All of the Above
Posts: 1,374
My father, who did not have an IHG account, recently signed up for an account (last couple weeks). He added the public promos to his account, and was planning on booking stays over the summer. It appears that his account is already closed and he can't log in. How do they know that a person will be unprofitable, before the fact? He stays in hotels an average of 3-4 weeks during the summer months (mostly Hyatt/SPG), but won't be staying in any IHG properties after this.
Last edited by DavidAL; Jun 4, 2014 at 8:54 pm Reason: grammer, sorry
Jun 4, 2014, 8:33 pm
#86
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 117
My father, who did not have an IHG account, recently signed up for and account (last couple weeks). He added the public promos to his account, and was planning on booking stays over the summer. It appears that his account is already closed and he can't log in. How do they know that a person will be unprofitable, before the fact? He stays in hotels an average of 3-4 weeks during the summer months (mostly Hyatt/SPG), but won't be staying in any IHG properties after this.
Last edited by FLYGVA; Jun 5, 2014 at 12:15 am Reason: edited inappropriate suggestion out of post
Jun 4, 2014, 8:42 pm
#87
In Memoriam, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Benicia CA
Programs: Alaska MVP Gold 75K, AA 3.8MM, UA 1.1MM, enjoying the retired life
Posts: 31,849
Jun 4, 2014, 8:57 pm
#89
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2001
Location: MSY; 2-time FT Fantasy Football Champ, now in recovery.
Programs: AA lifetime GLD; UA Silver; Marriott LTTE; IHG Plat,
Posts: 14,516
This is 2014. Consumers share info on the internet, and have for well over a decade. You cannot rely on stealth to keep a promo targeted. Almost every other company has figured this out by now. Most companies keep targeted promos tied to specific accounts; others cannot register, or even if they can, the bonus doesn't get awarded. Coupon codes not intended for mass consumption are sent as single-use codes. This isn't rocket science. It's marketing 101 in the 21st century web world.
IHG has not only failed to make the IT investment to keep their promos targeted, but hasn't even bothered to put a few words of warning text on the registration page to let customers know that registering for a promo may be considered a violation. And when they do the data mining to find the violators, rather than just rescind the points, or issue a warning, they close the account and forfeit the entire points balance? I'm sorry, but that's inexcusable.
IHG has not only failed to make the IT investment to keep their promos targeted, but hasn't even bothered to put a few words of warning text on the registration page to let customers know that registering for a promo may be considered a violation. And when they do the data mining to find the violators, rather than just rescind the points, or issue a warning, they close the account and forfeit the entire points balance? I'm sorry, but that's inexcusable.
Jun 4, 2014, 8:59 pm
#90
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: AL
Programs: All of the Above
Posts: 1,374
And as for those upthread that considered this "fraud", if you've ever used the site retailmenot, it's the same thing. I may have not received the email with the "coupon code", but it's listed publicly there, and can be used.
