Hi Everyone,

In response to Roger's question: No. There's no need to do anything differently in order to achieve or retain Inner Circle status. It's business as usual for our awesome members as we get ready to introduce new perks and surprises and a refreshed program. We can't wait to show you what we've been working on. Luckily, we don't have to wait very long...

I love Kimpton, but I have learned to not have a lot of confidence in the phone agents. So when looking to book award nights I have learned to call back.

My most recent experience involved a very sweet agent, but who sounded like my grandmother both in being endearing and (lack of) skill with a computer. She talked through each step she took saying things like, "Oh, l'etoile, now why is that there? That's not supposed to be there. How do you think I get rid of that." Needless to say she did not see availability at the hotel I wanted. A later call to another agent got the award nights.

So, while not the answer in all cases, it certainly can't hurt to try calling again. This was not a one-off for me with Kimpton phone agents who could not successfully handle a task.

Tried to book a reward night again and got "sorry, no reward nights available". I have yet to see more useless hotel rewards program. Details in this thread
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/othe...-level-16.html

Looks like Kimpton Hotels discovered a way to make their hotel rewards program even more useless. Since the last time I spoke to them (details here https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/othe...-level-16.html) one of my free reward nights mysteriously disappeared. A Karma advisor I spoke to on the phone had no idea why and offered to forward my concern to management :-) Very happy that I ended my participation in this program in favor of Hilton Honors Gold, which offers real and usable benefits.

5 TOTAL FT posts - all bashing Kimpton. Helpful.:rolleyes:

I spoke well of Hilton Honors, that's somewhat helpful :) No problems with Hilton after using them extensively for all travel over two month period.

Maybe rc3 found FT via a search after disappointing Kimpton stays (?) - that's kind of a valid reason to be posting almost entirely negative stuff. That being said, rc3 does lose a bit of credibility if his/her posting history re Kimpton is bash bash bash.

Spend some time on FT. Spread your knowledge. If Kimpton isn't your thing, and you've had bad experiences, please continue commenting ... but do note that the Kimpton Koolaid is strong and others will disagree (vehemently at times).

Cheers -