Intercontinental Hotels Group has announced plans to roll Kimpton Hotels’ Karma Rewards programme into its IHG Rewards scheme from early next year.
IHG completed its acquisition of Kimpton in 2015, and has gradually been expanding the brand outside of the US, with the first European property opening in Amsterdam this year.
Kimpton’s Karma programme will cease to exist next year, with members automatically enrolled into the IHG Rewards Club. At that point IHG Rewards Club members will be able to earn and redeem reward nights at Kimpton properties.
Karma Tier 1 members will map to the Club tier in IHG Rewards, with Tier 2 mapping to Gold Elite, Tier 3 to Platinum Elite, and Inner Circle to Spire Elite.
Tier 2 members and above will continue to benefit from Kimpton’s ‘Raid the Bar’ privileges (effectively a credit against restaurant bar and minibar spend), but Tier 1 members will lose this benefit. The $30 in-room spa credit will continue across all tier levels.
IHG says that “All Kimpton Karma earned reward nights will be honoured”, and “activity accrued toward an earned night will be converted into IHG Rewards Club points”. The group added that “Karma InnerCircle (the scheme’s top tier) will continue to exist at Kimpton hotels and will be grandfathered into the program in 2018”.
Commenting on the news Kathleen Reidenbach, chief commercial officer, Kimpton, said:
“Becoming part of IHG Rewards Club allows us to answer some common requests from our Kimpton Karma Rewards members, such as no blackout dates, online redemption, and perhaps the pinnacle of it all, a whole world of international opportunities that the IHG Rewards Club programme offers.
“With the increased portfolio of hotels – 80 times more hotels than what we’ve been able to offer – our members can now travel all around the world earning and redeeming points, including new international Kimpton destinations.
“What’s equally exciting is that members will continue to enjoy the highly personalized experience that Kimpton delivers, while gaining access to the rich benefits of IHG Rewards Club. It’s really a win-win.”
