A LoyaltyLobby reader sent us an email about IHG closing his IHG Rewards Club account with 1,800,000 points.
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READ MORE: IHG Rewards Club Rate & Bonus Points And Miles Promotions
Here’s the email from the reader:
IHG closed my account claiming I acted against their T&C in a way that is considered fraudulent. More details here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/intercontinental-hotels-ihg-rewards-club-intercontinental-ambassador/2015926-closed-account.html
And one of the members mentioned that you had contacts and might help me to find out why. Any help is appreciated
I had 1.8m points in my account and 2 free nighst certs and one Ambassador Weekend Night Cert ….. worth a lot of $ (especially as I bought the points over the years through IHG).
They locked it and then closed it without telling me what is going on. The email is very upsetting (response to my request to give me more info).
I asked from the reader if there had been any unusual activity:
Not that I am aware of. The things recently were:
– cancelling a Japan trip (had cash upgrade agreements with some hotels) but gave them two month notice
– asking for Chase free night extension
– repeatedly had to ask for my 10% Ambassador Renewal Points back
– an 8 night stay where my wife checked in and I joined her after the first night (added her a second guest and informed the hotel beforehand).
Especially nothing “fraudulent” which I think would be selling points or selling reservations on the Internet or …..
Here’s the response that the reader had received from the IHG:
Thank you for the email, and I apologize this continues to be a source of frustration for you.
While IHG understands your request for more information, IHG’s decision to close your IHG Rewards Club account remains, as pursuant to the IHG Rewards Club Global Membership Terms & Conditions (www.IHG.com/Terms). I have included Section # 7 of our general Terms below for your records.
As advised previously, the decision to close your account and permanently suspend your ability to participate in the program by any means in the future is final. IHG considers this matter closed and any new correspondence will go unanswered.
We received a short statement from the IHG spokesperson:
We do not comment on individual member accounts. However, we take pride in creating a program that provides excellent opportunities for our members to earn and redeem IHG Rewards Club points. Our Terms and Conditions enable us to do so consistently and to protect the program for the benefit of our more than 100 million enrolled members around the world.
IHG Account Terminations Used To Be Common
Reader Question: “Random” IHG Rewards Club Account Audit (No Access For More Than A Month)
Conclusion
The IHG Rewards Club (and previously Priority Club) were aggressive at suspending accounts that had registered for multiple overlapping promotions back in the early/mid-2010s. There haven’t been many reports as of late about IHG accusing members of fraud and closing their accounts.
The reader is from the United States. If there has not been fraudulent activity (based on the information that was sent to us – I don’t see any), he always has the avenue of taking IHG Hotels & Resorts into small claims court. The value of 1.8M points is conservatively $10,800 that could be a ballpark figure for the amount sued (could be over the small claims limit in some states).
I hope that he keeps us informed of his next steps and what will come out of this.
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So what the HECK is the point in bitting into their promos and them stealling them back from us… IHG SHOULD BE PENALIZED… HEAVY… I WILL NEVER us them again…
Snap
Thanks for posting
Thanks for posting this , I am now my b less confident in IHG and was pooling points into my account , probably will stop now , this is very aggressive and non transparent from IHG
Is there any lawyer who can do it pro bona ? I think that would stop their draconian policy of cancelling accounts with no detailed explanation!
By reading this – I don’t want to stay in any of their properties any longer…
it’s appalling.
Why would anyone with over a million points be buying more points and never use their free night certs and BOGOs?
What the hotel did was still absolutely shitty and deserves boycott, but yeah I don’t know why he was stockpiling 1.8M… and just kept buying more.
There could be many reasons for saving points! I once saved 1.3 million points and used it for a long escape to Fiji for 23 nights when I took a gap month from work. Some hotels cost as much as 50-60 thousand points per night so having around 1.8 million points can get you only a month of rewards nights.
I had close to 3M at one point last year. All earned from stays and promotions.
No this is not okay. My employees have been at IHG properties exclusively for the last ten years and if this is how all my points can disappear for no reason I’m going to cash them all out now and never book their properties again. There’s plenty of better hotel chains where I travel. I can’t believe IHG is so shady with their loyal customers.
Alas, we may never get the full story from both sides. I’ve heard of accounts being closed from just complaining. You take a risk and play with fire, one day you’ll get burned. Move on.
Not sure how this ended up here. More detail in the flyertalk link list
IHG is the only hotel group I’ve never been active with, and it’s precisely for this reason. What a nightmare. And to send an email with no explanation and declaring the matter ‘closed’? Madness.
I used to use one of their brands as my go to hotel. I had not been aware of IHG points, but became aware and started accumulating IHG points. When I was able to use it for one night, and I tried to, they added restrictions that made it impossible to use. So for blocking my one free night and I did nothing even slightly questionable, they lost me as a customer. Since then I have spent 40 nights in a hotel, about half international, staying at another chain,that so far, has behaved great with me.. Let IHG know if their points and promotions are worthless, then time to go elsewhere.
The full story might reveal a key missing point. Those outraged below must have all the facts to some to such a strong conclusion. I don’t feel I do. If truly closed for no reason, then I would be upset. However, as we will perhaps never find out, there is (obviously) something else here. Otherwise, it’s random.
It happens all the times on ihg! They simply randomly close those high points balance accounts with no reasons (claiming fraud then claiming decision final and concluded).
Couple of years ago my frds in China faced the same issue too. But once getting the local authority involved, the so called final and concluded decisions made by those a-holes all in sudden magically disappeared. So you can tell they just close accts without any grounds.
Ihg is a hopeless programme anyway!
Yeah. It is really weird what is going on with IHG at times. You would think that they would give the member a clear reason why they have deemed him/her to be noncompliance rather than hit with the list above.
And if they did give the member a clear reason, the cancellation would serve as a deterrent — others would know / be reminded of the actions that will cause an account cancellation. It would also decrease the animosity toward IHG, because at least people would see the logic behind the decision (even if they didn’t agree with the policy).
Interesting, I don’t stay at IHG properties nor have I ever signed up for their program. However, I would be upset with the way the situation was handled without any explanation. It seems that if a person’s account is cancelled they should be able to know the reason why. I hope nothing like this happens with Marriott because I do have a lot of points with them. However, that was because I cancelled 3 stays that I had booked with points and cash and the points were redeposited into my account. Don’t have near the number of points like the person in this story, but still plenty. Also, like another person commented if you are staying at high end properties they could require at least 60,000 points per night which means you need to have a lot to begin with.
I feel like I’d the fraudulent actions actually occured, they should be able to give the exact instances. Instead of saying, theirndecision was final and we’re ignoring you now. That sounds shady a.f.
I’m a member of HHonors and IHG, never had a problem with either, but if someone ever did this to me with my 50,000 points I’d be pissing on someone’s desk. Lord knows what I would do about 1.8 million.
if*
So, you did nothing to find out what “fraud” was committed.
IHG once told my wife and I that we didn’t stay at a hotel for Thanksgiving weekend and we were there for 3 nights. They fought me tooth and nail because they did not want me to get whatever promotion bonus there was. Subsequently had to stay in December and earned the reward. I submitted receipts of my time in the city and did not have any photos of the hotel room. So, ever since that happened 5 years ago. I always take a picture of room/room number, key and ask for copies of check in and check out documents.
My wife and I used to hold about 200k so we could cover some longer trips with Point Breaks (that program sucks now). Also, the Chase Anniversary nights no longer apply to any hotel. Mostly Candlewood and HI Express. We have already shifted to Hilton and will use them as #1. Well still keep IHG for the free nights cause we could do 4 nights somewhere every two years but no longer concerned with promotions or points.
In precious years we’ve stayed Beverly Hills, New York, Paris and Miami Beach for free. I guess they felt like the free nights should no longer be used at top tier hotels.
IHG once told my wife and I that we didn’t stay at a hotel for Thanksgiving weekend and we were there for 3 nights. They fought me tooth and nail because they did not want me to get whatever promotion bonus there was. Subsequently had to stay in December and earned the reward. I submitted receipts of my time in the city and did not have any photos of the hotel room. So, ever since that happened 5 years ago. I always take a picture of room/room number, key and ask for copies of check in and check out documents.
My wife and I used to hold about 200k so we could cover some longer trips with Point Breaks (that program sucks now). Also, the Chase Anniversary nights no longer apply to any hotel. Mostly Candlewood and HI Express. We have already shifted to Hilton and will use them as #1. Well still keep IHG for the free nights cause we could do 4 nights somewhere every two years but no longer concerned with promotions or points.
In precious years we’ve stayed Beverly Hills, New York, Paris and Miami Beach for free. I guess they felt like the free nights should no longer be used at top tier hotels.
Pointsbreaks is done, they are not even doing it anymore. I had used that program to stay on points for 1 year at many different hotels, as it only released new hotels every 3 months. I got tons of value out of that program. I found it cheaper to stay in hotels then rent an apartment. Plus free breakfast every morning at staybridge and holiday inn express.
Just another reason I don’t stay IHG.
Can we really believe that a company may decide to close permanently an account if problems would not be serious?
IHG is simply a hot mess — we have 1.2-1.4 million points between my account and my wife’s account and trying to use them sooner rather than later but this latest devaluation, loss of point breaks, loss of Caribbean seasonal breaks makes the program not very attractive for us moving forward. It is not cool when they sell the points for .5-.6 each and now we are stuck as to where to use them to recoup value and the list is extremely short. The annual free nights is also a joke for the annual Chase fee as 40,000 points doesn’t get you anywhere that you want to spend time when you have some down time for R&R. Of course Hyatt isn’t any better… So back to Hilton and secondary as Marriott for now.