IHG Rewards Club OTA Book Direct Promo-Update (IHG Clawing Back Points From Some)

IHG Rewards Club launched back in April (read more here) OTA Book Direct-campaign for 40,000 bonus points requiring just three stays by December 31, 2017.

There was already confusion around this promotion in early August when the promo was retired for short period and IHG Rewards Club customer service was claiming that it has been ended early (read more here) only to be resurrected couple few days later.

You can access IHG Rewards Club page for this promotion here.

READ MORE: IHG Rewards Club Rate & Bonus Points And Miles Promotions

Here are the pieces that I have written about this offer this year:

IHG Rewards Club Book Direct Promotion: 1,000 Points For Registering & Up To 39,000 Bonus Points After Three Stays April 1 – December 31, 2017

UPDATE: IHG Rewards Club Book Direct Promotion 1,000 Points For Registering & Up To 39,000 Bonus Points After Three Stays April 1 – December 31, 2017

UPDATE: IHG Rewards Club Book Direct Promotion 1,000 Points For Registering & Up To 39,000 Bonus Points After Three Stays April 1 – December 31, 2017

IHG Rewards Club Book Direct Promo For Up To 40,000 Points Withdrawn Early?

UPDATE: IHG Rewards Club Book Direct Promo For Up To 40,000 Points (Seems To Have Returned)

Here’s an email from the reader today:

I think this warrants a post on your blog to warn others. I just saw today on my account “AMEA Campaign Adjustment” which removed all points on my account. This is due to the OTA Book Direct campaign promotion to earn 41,000 points for 3 stays in Asia Pacific. (I had less than 41,000 points on my account so all points were removed.)

I was under the impression that this offer is open to all. Refer to this page: https://www.ihg.com/content/gb/en/deals/member-offers/book-direct

The terms and conditions says “Offer is eligible only to members residing in Asia Pacific (excluding China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan)”. Since I am living in Asia Pacific I should be eligible. Nowhere did it say this offer is for targeted members only.

I talked to the Twitter team and they accused me of fraud. Talked to the IHG call center and the Ambassador call center. Same response.

Do you have any advice on this issue? If not for the OTA Book Direct campaign, I definitely wouldn’t have made the stays I made with IHG earlier this year.

Here’s screenshot from reader’s account history:

Here’s chat history:

Conclusion

I thought that I had seen it all, but these Twitter team replies makes me shaking my head in disbelief. I believe that the CS team in Manila is just making up replies as they often do.

Promotion that is valid for members in Asia-Pacific (Excluding Greater China) Middle East and Africa is suddenly somehow not valid for a member in Thailand that is in Asia-Pacific? Makes no sense at all.

The promo page has sign up instructions for new members while at the same time has the usual verbiage buried somewhere in the T&Cs that “this exclusive offer is valid for original recipient only and cannot be combined with other promotions”. You can, however, combine this with other offers such as the Accelerate.

I have forwarded this case for IHG Rewards Club spokesperson in the States, but it probably takes couple of takes a day or two before I hear anything back as this offer is managed from their office in Singapore (what an irony!).

The points from this offer are still sitting from my account (already earned them in April/May).