Very nice, I will try have them match my marriott status.

pending outage!
 

I received this email from them yesterday:


Dear Member,

We are taking a few days to make some behind-the-scenes improvements to the I Prefer Member dashboard and online account management tools. This temporary service disruption will take place starting November 1, 2019.

During this time, please be aware that you will not have access to redeeming, viewing, or printing Reward Certificates on either IPrefer.com or the I Prefer App. If you have travel planned during this service period, please print the certificates you intend to use at the property on or before October 30, 2019, or ensure that you have received it via email. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause. The Member Services team is available to help during this time should you need basic account information. Members Services' contact information can be found here.

Once the planned improvements have been completed, for security reasons, all Members will be sent instructions for changing their current password. Please be on the lookout for more information after November 4, 2019.

Thank you,
The I Prefer Team

Well, they're either down again, or still...

Trying to sign up or login sticks you on a planned maintenance page which says down dec 1-5, and also strangely talks about having to reset passwords ... just like your quoted email.

Anyways... has anyone signed up for the elite program through Amex India since 2017? In there, it promises lifetime status, but the maybe more current benefits page seems to offer it for one calendar year.

Anyone has recent experiences with this program as an elite status? How are the benefits when checking in etc? Thanks very much.

I'm iPrefer Elite.
I had a stay in February in Hotel C Stockholm.
That hotel is apparently a member of multiple loyalty programs and iPrefer was not their preferred program (pun intended).
I had to explain them how iPrefer worked, they asked me what I usually got as drinks and welcome amenity (I should have told them that I usually got a fancy handbag, missed opportunity).
I also had a $100 voucher from iPrefer that they happily accepted.

It was a bit awkward explaining all the rules and it felt like I was begging for the benefits but in the end it was OK.

don’t understand why they had the nerve to get back and forth with me for weeks on my missing points request until it is six months away from the stay
Isn’t the cost of issuing points second to none?

Hotel C is primarily a Nordic Choice property. I don’t stay there often — and never as iPrefer there — but from what I recall they are mostly used to the common status amenity auto-populating in the phone app or hading a paper voucher for use at the hotel F&B venue to Nordic Choice Club status members. And while the staff faces there seemed relatively new or back after a break during Covid, I had already gotten used to a bit more genuinely clueless yet curious interactions from hotel staff there even prior to 2020.

Any more recent or semi-recent experiences with iPrefer? They statusmatched me to Elite (highest tier) and I am looking at booking the Aranwa Sacred Valley Resort in Peru. Currently booked via booking.com for ~450€ + 45€ Cashback and free upgrade to Deluxe Room. Via the hotels own homepage, the iPrefer Member rate is 450€ for the lowest room category (Deluxe Room at 500€). I tried my luck and sent them a friendly email with the confirmation of my booking.com reservation, and that I am a iPrefer ELITE member, and if they would maybe like to match the price (because afterall it would still be cheaper for them, I assume, and they advertising "best price" on their homepage), but they simply did not respond at all now for a week, which I find rather rude - they could at least nicely decline or something.

I was considering to change to the 450€ lowest category room on their own homepage in the hope of a suite upgrade with the Elite status, but with little to no upgrade experiences for the iPrefer program found online I think it is probably too much of a risk and again the hotels behaviour of simply not replying is also turning me off.

Here's my data point. I was recently matched to Elite and stayed at Parkhotel Quellenhof in Germany. I did get the room upgrade but had to ask for welcome drinks, amenities etc. It really depends on the person checking in you. Majority of the staff at the hotel seem to forget or are rather ignorant about the ipefer program. Preferred Hotel platform booking was in a mess for a while too.

The members email is very responsive. I suggest you message them instead for help.

Bottom line. I am hesitant to stay at any iPrefer hotels in the future.

Hmm, that's what I feared. Thanks for the data point

I just had an issue trying to do a points booking (only limited hotels participating in this). Provided all information, then the reservation failed, but the points were still taken from my account. Called customer service… told this functionality does not work for any hotels and has not worked “for some time”. Supposedly my points will reappear in “a couple of days”.

:rolleyes:

Update: Was able to get a supervisor to open a ticket and the points were added back within the hour. Reservation agents cannot make points bookings as that functionality currently not working. I was able to make the reservation on second attempt.

If your points are going to expire you can always request a voucher. The vouchers don't have an expiration date.

Has anybody ever stayed at iPrefer hotels in Japan?
I know how hotels in Europe are rather clueless about the program but since Japan is at a whole other level when it comes to hospitality I wonder if upgrades/benefits are better there.

Got a status match from Accor Platinum to Prefer Explorer. Wish I knew status match was possible before my first Prefer stay recently at the Amerikalinjen in Oslo. They did however provide an complimentary upgrade on check-in from their "Standard Cozy" with a single bed to a "Standard Explorer" with a queen bed, even being a base level member, which was kind. Staff were excellent, it was a lovely stay!

On a long stay at Landmark Bangkok, booked as a series of back-to-back shorter stays. I‘ve been paying the bill for each of the substays as I go, and so stays have been duly posting with I Prefer while I’m still at the hotel. Thus I quickly moved up in status — twice — mid-stay. I’m now an Elite member. Hooray!

I asked at the club floor about an upgrade and they gave me a great one, to an 87 m.sq. suite (I had booked and was staying in a smaller suite).

This program seems more laid back than others I’ve been familiar with. Despite having I Prefer desk ornaments at the front desk and club floor, there’s not a lot of branding associated with it and the people at the hotel aren’t all that forward about it, almost like it’s an afterthought. But my sample size is exactly one hotel, so I’m open to being mistaken. Regardless, my experience at this one hotel has been quite generous.

Im going to try to use a voucher or whatever it is I’ve accrued, soon.

Can you stack multiple vouchers for single stays, or can you only redeem them separately?

Also, why are only a handful of hotels available for reward night redemptions online? When searching by state, it only shows a select few properties that can be booked exclusively with points...