IHG Rewards Club currently has two InterContinental Alliance resorts and both are in Las Vegas. There used to be a third one in Phoenix are that got reflagged.
A LoyaltyLobby reader recently stayed at the Palazzo and sent a comment after the stay regarding the Ambassador benefits received (or lack of them).
You can access The Palazzo’s website here.
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Here’s the feedback (not complaint) that the reader provided to IHG after the three night stay:
We recently returned from staying at the Palazzo. Overall I was very impressed by the resort and we had a great time. The room was perfect and the staff members we encountered were friendly and helpful.
However, I was very disappointed by the resort not honoring the Intercontinental Ambassador benefits correctly and we were delayed in getting access to our suite when we arrived. In terms of the Ambassador benefits we were upgraded and did receive complimentary water and fruit when we arrived. However, we did not receive any further water during our stay as I understand we should have and there was no welcome gift provided.
My bigger issue was with the 4pm check-out. When we arrived it was confirmed to us that we would be entitled to a 4pm check-out on our last day, this was one of the main reasons for taking the Ambassador membership prior to our trip as we had a late flight that day and needed extra time in our room. On our last day we received a call in the suite at 1pm informing us that we should have checked out at 11am. I told the person on the phone that as an Ambassador we weren’t going to be checking out until 4pm and this had bee agreed when we checked in. The person on phone informed us that “we are not honouring late check-outs today so you should have left your suite.” When I stated that we had confirmed a late check-out when we arrived she insisted that this was not the case, but that they would this time allow us to stay. Shortly after this a man came to the suite to ask why we hadn’t check-ed out, I had to explain to him that we had agreed a late check-out. This was even more frustrating given that we had to wait 1.5 hours to get access to our suite when we checked in. We arrived at approx 4.30pm and didn’t get the keys until 6pm. We were very understanding about this and did not complain. Yet when the hotel wanted us out of our room they were quick to ask us to leave.
Overall this was a really disappointing end to our stay and not what I would have expected. To be harassed in our suite about checking out when we had confirmed that we could check-out late has spoilt our last day at the hotel. I welcome your thoughts on these matters.
READ MORE: Compensation Clinic: Crowne Plaza Belgrade
And here’s the solution follow up from the reader:
I submitted my thoughts to IHG using the Suggestions/Comments box rather than raising a complaint as overall we did have a good stay but it was some of the Ambassador Benefits that let us down.
Unfortunately I can’t find the response I received from the Guest Relations Manager/Representative at the Palazzo as I seem to have deleted that. In summary they apologised for the issues relating to the late check-out and offered to refund the resort fees that we had paid for the 3 nights we were there. I was happy with this and the approx $100 in resort fees were in my account within a couple of days. I have to say I wasn’t expecting them to be as generous, I was expecting a few thousand IHG points. I’m not sure if holding Platinum Ambassador status made any difference to the outcome, I guess I’ll never know.
Conclusion
Considering that the Ambassador status is NOT free and you have to pay for it or use points to renew it yearly unless you make it to the Royal Ambassador level, you would think that the properties would be familiar with the guaranteed benefits that do include the 4PM check out.
With InterContinental hotels the 4PM check put is GUARANTEED for all Ambassador members are there are no exclusions for this rule.
I am glad that the reader wrote a suggestion (note not complaint) and that the property proactively refunded the resort fees for the stay (not get me started about the resort fees!).
