IHG has joined the other hospitality sector actors that have decided to extend the members tier by additional 12 months, and in the IHG Rewards case, this means until February 2023.
IHG will essentially extend member tiers earned in 2019 and 2020 (some did qualify last year, too) until 2023. It remains to be seen what policies IHG Rewards has in place for qualifying in 2022.
You can access IHG’s page for Travel Advisories here.
READ MORE: IHG Reward Rate & Bonus Points Offers
Here’s the main update:
All members’ program status has been automatically extended through February 2023.
Status Qualification In 2022?
It is unclear what IHG will do with status qualification requirements in 2022. The current reduced policy only applies to 2021.
Spire Elite Choice Benefit:
Members who earned Spire Elite status in 2019 and had their status extended through January 2022 will receive the Choice benefit of 25,000 bonus points or gifting of Platinum Elite status by the end of March 2021.
Members who earned Spire Elite in 2020 received their Choice benefit at the time of achieving the status. To receive another Choice benefit in 2021, members will need to meet the 2021 tier threshold criteria.
IHG has not clarified the Choice Benefit requirement for those who have Spire Elite status in 2022.
Rollover Nights:
For Gold, Platinum, and Spire Elite members, all qualifying nights stayed in 2020 will be rolled over into 2022 and count towards status earned in 2022.
I am still lost here. 2020 nights are rolled over to 2022. What happens to consumed nights in 2021? Are they completely lost?
Conclusion
I am glad that IHG has decided to extend tiers of its IHG Rewards elite members for an additional year, like most of their competitors have already done.
It remains to be seen whether IHG will lower the status qualification requirements for 2022 like others have already done.
I find it very unlikely that there would be another blanket extension unless something awful happens with the Covid-19 in the coming months,
