Inner Circle member loving the IHG transition
Feb 2, 2018, 9:17 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2017
Programs: Marriott, Starwood, American, United, Amtrak, Enterprise
Posts: 48
Inner Circle member loving the IHG transition
Mostly I've seen Inner Circle members either disapproving of the IHG transition or predicting it was going to be terrible and ruin the brand. From my experience, I'm mostly seeing positives, but then again I'm a free night chaser:
It's even easier now to consistently earn free nights. I just booked and paid for two nights at the Surfcomber in Miami. With a low $189 roomrate, I'll be getting 3,780 points per night (base 10 pts + spire elite 10 pts), plus an additional 1400 pts/night assuming the IHG credit card earns 5x on resort fees and taxes as well as the roomrate, for a total of 5,180 points per night. With Kimptons seemingly pricing between 50,000 and 55,000 points, that's a free stay every 10 to 11 nights - before accelerate bonuses, other bonuses, or F&B being added to the room (assuming you get the 20x base + elite points and 5x credit card for that, I don't know). Versus the old free night every seven stay metric, I certainly did better on occasion with a bunch of 1-night stay hopping and double credit sales, but I'm almost glad to be free of that compulsion to hotel hop! And it's certainly better than a free stay every 20 nights under the old program.
The free night expirations in the old Kimpton program definitely caused me to make some below-par redemptions. I had success extending the nights with Kimpton when I called in, but it was an extra step that I no longer have to worry about with points living forever (provided qualifying activity).
The ability to 'create' IHG points. It seems booking and cancelling cash/points rates is basically a very open secret. But if you're short the needed points to book a room, suffice it to say it's very easy and cost-effective to top up your account after a brief google search. Though I didn't use this trick, I booked the other part of my Miami trip on points for the more expensive room nights, and saved a bundle. Not to mention the free night every year with the credit card.
Did I mention that low $189 roomrate? It seems IHG is keeping the Kimpton sales/marketing group. I've always had great success taking advantage of last-minute deals and perusing the current special offers list. I'm glad that's sticking around! Moreover, on road trips I usually booked into Marriott Courtyards (or Fairfield suites if I could find them) as I chased Platinum status there every year. I've started booking into Holiday Inns now for quick sleeps, and I've found the nightly rates are almost always better, which matters as I'm paying on my dime.
Finally, in talking with both Angler's and Surfcomber, it looks like everything that made Kimpton special really is sticking around (especially the liberal upgrade policy for Inner Circle members). While I miss the old Kimpton booking platform, and I'm not too enthused about Spire Elite or needing to earn it, these downsides aren't too bad. You can get a good idea for the cheap nights using any OTA platform, and then specifically checking the hotel for better rates. Since most of my leisure travel is to Kimptons rather than SPG/Marriott, I'm even putting my money where my mouth is and giving up on Marriott/SPG for my work stays (where I don't care about upgrades or perks) and throwing in IHG ones instead.
While I'm still new to the IHG program and learning about it, consider me one of the converted. I guess I've fallen for IHG's strategy here!
It's even easier now to consistently earn free nights. I just booked and paid for two nights at the Surfcomber in Miami. With a low $189 roomrate, I'll be getting 3,780 points per night (base 10 pts + spire elite 10 pts), plus an additional 1400 pts/night assuming the IHG credit card earns 5x on resort fees and taxes as well as the roomrate, for a total of 5,180 points per night. With Kimptons seemingly pricing between 50,000 and 55,000 points, that's a free stay every 10 to 11 nights - before accelerate bonuses, other bonuses, or F&B being added to the room (assuming you get the 20x base + elite points and 5x credit card for that, I don't know). Versus the old free night every seven stay metric, I certainly did better on occasion with a bunch of 1-night stay hopping and double credit sales, but I'm almost glad to be free of that compulsion to hotel hop! And it's certainly better than a free stay every 20 nights under the old program.
The free night expirations in the old Kimpton program definitely caused me to make some below-par redemptions. I had success extending the nights with Kimpton when I called in, but it was an extra step that I no longer have to worry about with points living forever (provided qualifying activity).
The ability to 'create' IHG points. It seems booking and cancelling cash/points rates is basically a very open secret. But if you're short the needed points to book a room, suffice it to say it's very easy and cost-effective to top up your account after a brief google search. Though I didn't use this trick, I booked the other part of my Miami trip on points for the more expensive room nights, and saved a bundle. Not to mention the free night every year with the credit card.
Did I mention that low $189 roomrate? It seems IHG is keeping the Kimpton sales/marketing group. I've always had great success taking advantage of last-minute deals and perusing the current special offers list. I'm glad that's sticking around! Moreover, on road trips I usually booked into Marriott Courtyards (or Fairfield suites if I could find them) as I chased Platinum status there every year. I've started booking into Holiday Inns now for quick sleeps, and I've found the nightly rates are almost always better, which matters as I'm paying on my dime.
Finally, in talking with both Angler's and Surfcomber, it looks like everything that made Kimpton special really is sticking around (especially the liberal upgrade policy for Inner Circle members). While I miss the old Kimpton booking platform, and I'm not too enthused about Spire Elite or needing to earn it, these downsides aren't too bad. You can get a good idea for the cheap nights using any OTA platform, and then specifically checking the hotel for better rates. Since most of my leisure travel is to Kimptons rather than SPG/Marriott, I'm even putting my money where my mouth is and giving up on Marriott/SPG for my work stays (where I don't care about upgrades or perks) and throwing in IHG ones instead.
While I'm still new to the IHG program and learning about it, consider me one of the converted. I guess I've fallen for IHG's strategy here!
Feb 2, 2018, 4:42 pm
#2
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Amsterdam, Asia, UK
Programs: IHG RA (Spire), HH Diamond, MR Platinum, SQ Gold, KLM Gold, BAEC Gold
Posts: 5,072
Feb 25, 2018, 10:01 am
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: RSW
Programs: Delta - Silver; UA - Silver; HHonors - Diamond; IHG - Spire Ambassador; Marriott Bonvoy - Titanium
Posts: 14,185
You should get 5x credit cards points on the net total charged for taxes, fees, etc. as a guest. It's the tax and tip on the incidentals that (almost all) hotels screen out when awarding the 10x qualifying stay points.
Feb 25, 2018, 7:55 pm
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2000
Location: RDU
Programs: AA LT Gold, DL SM, HY Disc, Marriott LT Gold
Posts: 12,503
I've been pleasantly surprised so far. The extra bonus on all non-Kimpton IHG stays and the ability to use my 2017 free nights at non-Kimpton properties have balanced things out vs. earning for every 7 stays. Making Spire is trivial, I'm already 1/3 of the way there after six IHG stays and nine nights, and about $40 in buying 1k/5k bonuses on leisure stays. And inside the properties, nothing seems to have changed for Inner Circle members. And once they got the IT hashed out, booking my free room at the Everly was a snap and I got my second choice of night.
What still concerns me is the fuzzy criteria for retaining Inner Circle at the end of 2018. I used to be able to do it with about 20-22 revenue nights. This year, I'm on pace for 25-27 Kimpton nights across probably 10 properties. It's going to leave a bad taste in my mouth if that's not sufficient, especially after Hyatt decided at the end of 2016 that my steady 25-28 stays and 35-40 revenue nights a year wasn't going to be sufficient any more.
What still concerns me is the fuzzy criteria for retaining Inner Circle at the end of 2018. I used to be able to do it with about 20-22 revenue nights. This year, I'm on pace for 25-27 Kimpton nights across probably 10 properties. It's going to leave a bad taste in my mouth if that's not sufficient, especially after Hyatt decided at the end of 2016 that my steady 25-28 stays and 35-40 revenue nights a year wasn't going to be sufficient any more.
Feb 26, 2018, 5:13 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2017
Programs: Marriott, Starwood, American, United, Amtrak, Enterprise
Posts: 48
Gotcha, scrounger - I'll have to look for that on my next invoice!
The opaqueness of the Inner Circle qualification criteria are bothering the heck out of me too, Nick. Especially now that I'm transitioning my business spend to IHG over Marriott. I'll be racking up these IHG points on business nights, but on my leisure travel, I only want to stay at Kimptons. The consequence will be that I'm not paying for the Kimpton nights in $s, but rather in IHG points. If I paid for the Kimpton nights in actual $s, then I'd just be sitting on exceptionally-vulnerable-to-theft IHG points. No idea if award nights at Kimpton will be used to determine loyalty, and since dining spend no longer counts (dining karma program is over), how they determine loyalty may be just to look at how many actual $s each member spent at Kimpton that year. I imagine their goal is to use this as an easy way to manage how many Inner Circle members are in the program. If they only want 5% of their clientele to have IC status, it's fairly simple to rank-order by $s and cut everyone below the threshold.
The opaqueness of the Inner Circle qualification criteria are bothering the heck out of me too, Nick. Especially now that I'm transitioning my business spend to IHG over Marriott. I'll be racking up these IHG points on business nights, but on my leisure travel, I only want to stay at Kimptons. The consequence will be that I'm not paying for the Kimpton nights in $s, but rather in IHG points. If I paid for the Kimpton nights in actual $s, then I'd just be sitting on exceptionally-vulnerable-to-theft IHG points. No idea if award nights at Kimpton will be used to determine loyalty, and since dining spend no longer counts (dining karma program is over), how they determine loyalty may be just to look at how many actual $s each member spent at Kimpton that year. I imagine their goal is to use this as an easy way to manage how many Inner Circle members are in the program. If they only want 5% of their clientele to have IC status, it's fairly simple to rank-order by $s and cut everyone below the threshold.
May 24, 2018, 5:04 pm
#6
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: SEA town
Programs: Alaska LTG, HHonors-Gld, IHG-Dia, LT MR Ti
Posts: 627
The opaqueness of the Inner Circle qualification criteria are bothering the heck out of me too, Nick. Especially now that I'm transitioning my business spend to IHG over Marriott. I'll be racking up these IHG points on business nights, but on my leisure travel, I only want to stay at Kimptons. The consequence will be that I'm not paying for the Kimpton nights in $s, but rather in IHG points. If I paid for the Kimpton nights in actual $s, then I'd just be sitting on exceptionally-vulnerable-to-theft IHG points. No idea if award nights at Kimpton will be used to determine loyalty, and since dining spend no longer counts (dining karma program is over), how they determine loyalty may be just to look at how many actual $s each member spent at Kimpton that year. I imagine their goal is to use this as an easy way to manage how many Inner Circle members are in the program. If they only want 5% of their clientele to have IC status, it's fairly simple to rank-order by $s and cut everyone below the threshold.
What still concerns me is the fuzzy criteria for retaining Inner Circle at the end of 2018. I used to be able to do it with about 20-22 revenue nights. This year, I'm on pace for 25-27 Kimpton nights across probably 10 properties. It's going to leave a bad taste in my mouth if that's not sufficient, especially after Hyatt decided at the end of 2016 that my steady 25-28 stays and 35-40 revenue nights a year wasn't going to be sufficient any more.
According to IHG website, very vague requirements https://www.ihg.com/kimptonhotels/co...a/inner-circle
1. IHG Spire status (which is pretty easy to get)
2. Invitation to Inner Circle
Earning an exclusive invitation into Inner Circle for 2019 and beyond is based on similar variables as today – loyalty to Kimpton. While the invitation criteria are unpublished, things like frequency of stays, spend, history and more are considered.
I'm willing to give Kimpton up to 50 nights a year, but that better get me IC.
May 28, 2018, 3:11 am
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2000
Location: RDU
Programs: AA LT Gold, DL SM, HY Disc, Marriott LT Gold
Posts: 12,503
I think they're hedging their bets, but every time I've brought this up with anybody affiliated with Kimpton, they tell me not to worry about it and to just keep doing what I'm doing. 40 nights should be no problem unless they're all in the cheaper DC properties during off-season.
Through the end of May, I'm at 6 Kimpton revenue stays and 13 revenue nights, and I've been burning - 4 free Kimpton nights in March, 3 in July. But I'll be in Kimptons every 3-4 weeks for a $250 night (alternating Born and LA Palomar) through early November, and then I stay at a Kimpton almost every weekend for the rest of the year as i take advantage of cheap last minute rates combined with reusable Southwest flights. I'll hit Spire by the end of July as I'm already at 53k points for 28 total nights (my other 15 are mostly HIX/HI).
Through the end of May, I'm at 6 Kimpton revenue stays and 13 revenue nights, and I've been burning - 4 free Kimpton nights in March, 3 in July. But I'll be in Kimptons every 3-4 weeks for a $250 night (alternating Born and LA Palomar) through early November, and then I stay at a Kimpton almost every weekend for the rest of the year as i take advantage of cheap last minute rates combined with reusable Southwest flights. I'll hit Spire by the end of July as I'm already at 53k points for 28 total nights (my other 15 are mostly HIX/HI).