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IHG Rewards Club Book Direct Promo For Up To 40,000 Points Withdrawn Early?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).
![Airfare of the Day [Business Class] SWISS Chicago to Venice from $1,962](https://cdn.loyaltylobby.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/grand-canal-ga3af7ec58_1280-venice-120x86.jpg)
I suffered the same problem and got adjusted 30k points, I already contacted IHG and the answer is the same, that I ain’t being targeted. I already send the detail to loyaltylobby email.
There is a new ihg promotion called aggravation, which is self targeted and is not just available in conjunction with any of their other promotions, but is a free add on , one does not even need to register.
That is where they change conditions of a promotion after one has registered, close down some peoples account- helps if one is mainland Chinese for this one because at over a billion people just gotta be some thieves and rapists among them, don’t award promised points unless one calls and emails then at least a dozen times, plus at least half a dozen other techniques to ruin ones day, ones health , and ones blood pressure. They hired staff from Expedia and American Airlines with expertise in these areas, but mostly they just use staff in Manila, who are polite and earnest and have absolutely no authority. Oh yeah, buy some points, you can spend four hours trying to be the first to book limited point breaks inventory if the lottery says that the one intercontinental or Crowne plaza that season is in Ljubinsk, a place that you happen to be going to, or can spend two thousand dollars to get to in the middle of winter.
Coming soon , someone will take all the points from your account, because the only security is a four digit code , which one can try 9999 times until one gets it right. When you notice the loss ten weeks later, trained ihg staff will accuse you of fraud. Some customers are frauds, they don’t know you personally , so perhaps you are a fraud. Can you prove that you aren’t a fraud?
Happened to me 12 months ago but in thEIR defense I did receive an email from them confirming a change to my profile which was fraudulently to an address in the USA I AM in Australia
My account was cleaned out and they bought an iPad
I got into ihg immediately and they followed it slowly with me hassling constantly
I even rang the POLICE in the town in the USA. And told them and emailed them basically saying that if my account had been hacked and goods were being delivered there to that address then probably other fraud as well and they might Catch them for other offenses
Police were NOT INTERESTED AT ALL !
Eventually I got all my points back
4 digit verification is crap !!
So this offer is only for Asia-Pacific (Excluding Greater China) Middle East and Africa AND ONLY if member was invited to this offer (via email) ?
That is what is seems like. It is a very generous offer given that if you live in the APMEA area there are hotels for next to nothing. Three mattress runs and 40,000 points for less than $100, is really quite good. Seems reasonable that IHG may make it a targeted offer.
Same problem there. I’ve got 1000+5000+9000+15000 after I finished 3 stays. But the 10000 was not given upon completion. I’ve contacted IHG Rewards, they ignored my email for the first time. Another email I sent to them after 1 month, they replied I was not qualified to get the 10000 points. A goodwill of 5000 was given due to the late reply.
The same thing happened to me with the most common reply from IHG being ‘ our specialized team has determined that you are no longer eligible for the promotion’. I asked, twice, for a reason and could not get one. Finally they comped the missing 10K points.
I am done with IHG.
IHG often has very generous promotions that, in my experience, they have always paid up on providing each and every one of the “small print” conditions is adhered to. Miss one out and they will decline to give you anything and, from what has been published on this blog and others, if you persist on demanding, call you a thief and a cheat then take away all the other points you have. My personal experience has only been good. Talking about their promotions not their hotels some of which really are the pits.
Since I’m based in Malaysia I was an original recipient of this offer. Signed up and after one stay offer was withdrawn from my list (u posted about it) . Completed 2 more stays and after few weeks contacted IHG. Received an email saying that they are checking my account and after next few days missing points were credited. So I guess I was pretty lucky with that;)
Just checked my account after reading this post and found out they took back my points as well. Luckily there’s only 460points left in my account because I already used most of my points to book a stay in October, so that’s all they took.
My question is now that my account has zero points, if I earned some points from my next stay will they keep deducting the earned points until they reach 40000 points or is this just a one time adjustment move?
I fall in the category of those whose points did not post due to the promo “ending” in August, despite the page still saying it is until 31 December.
I emailed IHG, and after many back and forth they finally say:
“I wanted to thank you for your email, and I’d like to personally apologize for any inconveniences this has caused you. I know how frustrating it is.
I received your request for credit and our promotion specialist have responded and advised us that they have submitted your details to our marketing team for investigation and no further communication is to be expected unless we confirm that an error has occured. If we determine that you are really eligible, you will be registered and your qualifying stays counted towards the offer.
Thank you for your patience and cooperation. If you need anything else, feel free to let us know – we’d be happy to help you with your Platinum Ambassador account.
Speak to you soon, ”
fck ihg. i need to find ways to burn my 1 million points soon
I got exactly the same email!!!
I got same, was told only by Dec.14 they will know if I am eligible for the offer, I will patiently wait for a few more days which I believe they will tell me that I am not eligible, then I will seek justice from fair trading or court.
I really appreciate it if you could update me the following. Thanks
I have filed complains to NSW fair trading, you can join if you based in Australia, to be this is fraud promotion by IHG.
Let’s see what ihg will do about it. Unluckily I am not in Australia. I am in Middle East. No such customer protection laws here
It is a generous offer which is normal as targeted one, I guess their marketing and IT team screwed it together, the term and condition is not clear, and not restricted to certain user can register, especially put under promotion banner when I login, there is no way I can tell it is a targeted one.
True. Ihg👎🏼
I wouldn’t be so pissed off if they admitted the mistake and apologize, instead they just want to delay it till you give up.
Yes. This is really making me upset
IHG doesn’t respond to Australia Fair Trading and I am working on tribunal option, as IHG rewards might be an independent company registered in Utah, I also plan to file complain to Utah Division of Consumer Protection, do you want to join the game?
https://consumerprotection.utah.gov/complaints/manual.html
I wish I can. But I don’t live in Usa. I m totally a foreigner. Can I?
Start with BBB, will find out if I can file lawsuit outside US to get their real attention.
https://www.bbb.org/utah/business-reviews/hotels/intercontinental-hotels-group-in-salt-lake-city-ut-18001056
I’ve always been happy with IHG but the last few months almost every stay have lead to some email correspondence to fix issues. Recently they refused to give me my third and final points on the OTA because I was not targeted. After tens of back and forth emails with different reasons every time they finally said I was not targeted. I had been offered 5,000 points in compensation earlier because of the hassle that I refused. Once they said they found I was not targeted I gave up and said post the 5,000 as I remembered this post with some members getting points taken away. I am getting quite sick of IHG and I have been using them almost exclusively the last 3 years. At least I managed to get the first to stays posted but if I was not targeted I should’ve never been able to register. Typical IHG. But, still the easiest program to rack up points so as a private traveller I’ll not leave anyways.
I finished all my stays but didn’t get points, was told their marketing team need to investigate if I am eligible for this promotion as it was by email invitation only, actually the promotion was right under my account information when I registered it, I have confirmation email for registration and the promotion is still under my offer status, plus I was told on the phone when I called to check my points issue on this other stay.
I don’t see any issues with T&C about this offer, plan to file a dispute to Fair Trading in Australia, will see how it works for this kind of situation.
Dear, any update ? I got the same situation as u