I like IHG, but They Have Some Work Before I Love Them

I like IHG, but They Have Some Work Before I Love Them

I wanted to just take the time to make a couple of observations about IHG.  Since status on Hilton is already in place with the Hilton Citi Reserve, I decided to give IHG a shot since I already had Gold status and thought I’d try to get to the next level.

First off, I really like the product IHG offers.  I have to say, I’ve stayed at IHG hotels that surpass some of the Hilton hotels that I’ve stayed at and has a better level of service.  I think they have some really nice hotels and I think the service from check-in to checkout is really great.

I have to complain about their service outside of the hotel, though.  Recently, I was flying to China and the flight was canceled, which meant I wouldn’t make it to China until the second day of my reservation.  I sent a direct message on Twitter and asked if they could change my reservation to reflect the change, since it wouldn’t let me do it on their website.  I had a refundable reservation up until 24 hours and it was still 24 hours our from the reservation, but they replied on Twitter that I would have to pay for the lost night and that they couldn’t change it online.  They also said that if I wanted to try to get a refund for the last night, I would have to speak to the people at the hotel and provide proof from the airline that my flight was canceled.  This was disappointing, given that I had a refundable fee and was still within that window.  Instead, I sent an email to the hotel itself and they instantly took care of it, changed the reservation, and did not charge me for the first night.  It is disappointing that they couldn’t have just taken care of this without my having to reach out directly to the hotel.

Something else that bothers me about them is the long delay in points posting to my account, particularly when they are bonus points for their promotions.  In two out of my last three stays, I had to request the points for my stay because they did not post after the 7-10 business day period they advise you of when you inquire about the points not posting.  Even 5 days after the stay, the stay still appears in my upcoming reservation list.  It seems odd that their app seems so technologically behind.

Also, I’ve had trouble with points posting from their promotion.  With the spring promotion, I have been waiting 6 weeks for the bonus points to post.  When I checked in with them about two weeks ago they told me all stays are being evaluated and that all points will post once their dedicated staff evaluated the stays.  I don’t understand what has taken six weeks to evaluate the stays, since it is pretty cut and dry that I met the requirements, but it seems to be a recurring trend with them.

In conclusion, I really like the service at the hotels, although I’ll leave the benefits of status with them to another post (spoiler alert: they aren’t that good).  That being said, their service outside of the hotel is far behind other service I’ve experienced with numerous other chains.  It seems odd to wait two months for points to post and it seems odd that even with a refundable fee I am told the reservation can’t be changed and I will have to pay for a lost night.  I want to love IHG, but I think they have some work before I’m willing to go that far and give them my full service.