IHG Is Extending Free Night Certificates Till The End Of 2020
Since travel came to a screeching halt, almost overnight, there has been some uneasiness about how things would be handled. We were left with a lot of uncertainties in terms of status, miles, points and free nights. Would our status and points be extended? What about our free night certificates? One by one companies have been stepping up and extending all of the above, well except for cough cough American. IHG was one of those companies that started extending free night certificates but only for people that reached out. Well it appears reaching out is no longer needed according to an email our podcast mate Joe just received. IHG is extending free night certificates till the end of the calendar year!
Details
Joe reached out to IHG a few weeks ago about his expiring cert and just heard back yesterday. Here is what the email said:
Dear Joseph:
Thank you so much for reaching out to my office. My name is Peg, I am a Manager at IHG, and I appreciate the opportunity to assist you with your above referenced case. I apologize for the delayed in my response to your request, unfortunately, we are experiencing unprecedented communication volumes with worldwide hotel closures and cancellations due to restriction on movement to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Regarding your Chase Free Night(s), I am pleased to let you know that IHG will be automatically extending the expiration date of anniversary free nights until December 31, 2020. No action is required by you, your account should automatically be updated in the next few weeks, and IHG will be reaching out to card members directly with more information in that same time frame. I am hopeful that this will bring a resolution for you. If you have any further questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to reach back out to IHG with the above reference number.
We hope that you are remaining safe and healthy during this time and thank you again for being a member of IHG, be well and travel safe.
Final Thoughts
This is a great move on IHG’s part even if it is pretty much expected of everyone at this point. It is particularly great news if you still have one of the uncapped free nights left over in your account. This should put people that have a near expiring cert at ease some. Hopefully IHG extending free night certificates until the end of 2020 gives everyone a chance to use them.
Thanks for the tip Joe – be sure to follow him on Twitter
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[…] IHG Rewards also extended the free nights. Good, I had one expiring in August so it is good to now have it expired in December. […]
One of mine free nights is still showing 26/10/2020 expiration date. So does not appear to be automatic on all accounts for all nights
They said it will take a few weeks to make the change so it won’t happen till later in the month.
The title is a little misleading because IHG has not said anything about the highly valued Ambassdor free weekend night (241) Certs our Ambassador membership extensions.
Can you call back and get confirm for Ambassadors?
That is a bogo certificate and not a real free night certificate. I would call or email them and see if they are extending them (I would imagine they are). Let us know what they say!
Hilton and Hyatt, also my favorite. We were scheduled to use our two IHG certificates next week for spring break in TX. Not IHG’s fault we couldn’t use them but slim chance they’ll be used this year (maybe a staycation). I don’t think they will extend them further—seems unlikely now.
I think that will depend on how long travel is kept under wraps. If it starts back up in July or August then probably unlikely they extend but if this goes on through the fall where it is advised not to travel much etc. then they will likely have to extend.
I would call this a very weak response, not great. IHG offered a shorter window to use your free night than Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott. Use your blog for facts, not bait.
Where was the bait HLC – the title says extended till end of 2020….
Totally agree with Gus. IHG’s move is not good enough. As for “most people had 9-10 months to use these before everything went to hell so they kind of put themselves in the predicament a little bit too” – again I strongly disagree.
We have two in our household and save them for use in expensive markets on specific trips. It is very questionable whether we as seniors will be able to safely travel before the end of 2020.
IHG, and Chase, I hope you are reading this. Your corporations need to step up and serve your customer base better than this limp effort of first extending only on demand, and then extending only until 2020.
Now that they are capped going forward I don’t think saving them will make much sense. I understand why people did that with the uncapped free nights but for the 40K capped ones I would use them earlier on if possible.
They gave me 6 months when I called 2 weeks ago.
Does the 6 months go further than the end of 2020?
Mine FNA also extends only for 6 months to Oct 2020. I called IHG CS last week and was told they cannot extend any further since it was automatically extended.
I disagree with you on this one. It’s not ‘great’ it’s ‘something’ but far less valuable than what Hilton did by extending through the end of summer 2021. The problem is it’s a use-by date not a book-by date. Keeps open the chance for holiday use I guess but 2020 spring vacation season is toast and summer season is iffy, so not super valuable and mostly just kicking the can down the road for a lot of us. Wish they had matched Hilton or made the current batch ‘book-by’ end of year.
I get what you are saying Gus but if you look at it from the other perspective most people had 9-10 months to use these before everything went to hell so they kind of put themselves in the predicament a little bit too. That is why I try to use my free night certs right away, one so I don’t forget and two so I don’t find myself scrambling at the last minute.
Now people that certs that expire later in the summer are getting less of a good deal for sure. But I imagine if it comes to it they will simply extend them again.
Hilton’s gesture was much better though, I agree with you there, as way Hyatt’s. That is why they are my two go to brands because I have found their customer service to be better than the rest.