[GarethForster1]

IHG customer service is very poor, even for those of us who are Priority Club Platinum. It takes them inleast two weeks to respond to the most straight forward of emails.

[janrotterdam]

I have during the last 3-4 years split my 125 nights per year in a hotel more or less equally between Starwood, Marriott and Swissotel…..dun have the time nor the appetite to try and understand the complicated IHG rules…

[Danbergg]

And I actually thought I was the only one having issues with PC’s guarantee. They have not honored the guarantee on 3 occasions over the past year. Shame!

[Shearer]

I work in the hospitality industry, and if you are going to do a lowest price guarantee style-offer you cannot and should not hide behind T&C.

For example, if I book with Expedia UK, it’s no good telling me that it won’t be honoured as Expedia rates are contracted in dollars, I just won’t buy it. Also, discussing internal practices is never the way to go with customer service – who gives a sh*t, right?

However, as Expedia may have an allocation of rooms to sell (we may or may not give them two rooms a night) as they sell to the world better than our little hotel ever could this could be where the trouble starts.

Because I might only have a suite left, yet Expedia still has that room on allocation to sell. You call me demanding a price guarantee Yet I physically don’t have that room available, and I am not about to break my contract with Expedia (or anyone for that matter) because it suits me at that time. And yeah, I could potentially save a massive Expedia commission, but a contract is a contract.

What fascinates me is that if Expedia have the room you want, at the price you want, book it.
Don’t start playing a supplier (me) off one of my key referrers (Expedia). You probably only found my hotel because of Expedia, so book with ’em!

Oh, and other booking sites are available. 😉

[tangey1]

Your argument to rather naive. IHG is not a supplier per se. They own less than 1% of the hotels on their website. Its a franchise business. Hotels signup for the exposure that being part of a major brand brings.
One might view IHG as the hotels KEY referrer, and part of the contract is that they remain the cheapest referrer. And as I stated early, it is the hotel that pays the price of the guarantee, not IHG, and so the only way the hotels will put up with it is if there are reasonable t&cs

Check on my blog charting my attempt to having a premium holiday at minimal costs, using frequent flyer programmes.

http://www.goingonrewards.com/

[Shearer]

Hotel franchising is not under discussion.

[PatJordan]

Well, I seem to have provoked a very interesting debate.

Today, I received em email from a manager (in IHG) who fully supported the decision to refuse my claim. It was a generic email which was amended (in a different font !!) to offer me 5,000 Priority Club Points.

I responded to voice my concerns at this, and the failure to meet the “Best Price Guarantee” despite their acceptance of the fact that a lower rate is indeed publicly available. In all the circumstances, I felt the offer of 5,000 points was insufficient.

I will keep the forum updated if IHG respond.

It is some comfort to learn that I am not alone in having difficulties with IHG. Do these people not realise that there are usually competitors more than happy to take our custom.

Pat

[tangey1]

“Hotel franchising is not under discussion.”

I’m certain you are the only person that thought it was.

Understanding what IHG is, it’s relationship with the hotels, the fact that IHG initiated the guarantee to keep hotels in line, and the fact that it’s the hotels that honour the guarantee yet not them that are offering it, is crucial to understanding why the guarantee is far from perfect from the customer’s point of view.

Check on my blog charting my attempt to having a premium holiday at minimal costs, using frequent flyer programmes.

http://www.goingonrewards.com/

[Shearer]

As a customer, I should not have to know what the relationship is between the brand and the building. IHG commit to a Lowest Price guarantee if they market it.

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.

[tangey1]

I agree totally with you point that it’s unacceptable, and it should be totally irrelevant to the customer. However you described yourself as working in “the hospitality industry”, and thus I assume that you might be interested in the internal mechanics of IHG’s guarantee.

The fact that when I queried non compliance by a hotel to a validated BRG claim that I was advised the exact mechanism and that IHG could not force a hotel to comply was poor form on two levels ( first that a hotel could indeed decide not to comply, and second that IHG was prepared to tell me that was the case). I am lead to believe that for the most part, non-compliance is no longer an issue.

In one way it is the most powerful guarantee in the industry, no other chain will give you a free night as part of a guarantee claim. It’s implementation still leaves a lot to be desired.

Check on my blog charting my attempt to having a premium holiday at minimal costs, using frequent flyer programmes.

http://www.goingonrewards.com/

[joeadvisory]

Well, i am a diamond member and you certainly got more than i did but either way you have wonder why these people shoot themselves in the foot with a badly managed marketting campaign. as i said they lost my custom and by way of simple maths, 1 month at the conrad will cost me at least 12k. it is good that you took the time to highlight the issue because that is the only way things change.

[Shearer]

I actually think we are in agreement really. I didn’t realise that IHG could not legally enforce a guarantee.

I suppose it’s like those McDonalds offers “at participating outlets”!

[MKB1964]

Complaining to the ASA is useless. They told me they would not investigate any website claims for UK hotels if the websites were controlled by a corporate office outside of the UK.

Both the IHG and Hilton guarantee schemes are scams, pure and simple, imho. I’ve had 2 claims with IHG and 3 with Hilton all rejected for incorrect reasons. I met all the published terms with my claims. The marketing departments of these companies are losing them plenty of my business as a result.

On the other hand, I’ve had pretty much 100% success with Starwood’s guarantee. It’s still not the “best-rate guarantee” they claim as there are plenty of non-qualifying but cheaper rates available elsewhere, but it does work within the constraints they publish. Just wish they wouldn’t keep trotting out the “best rate” tag, when it’s no such thing. Ditto the rate they call “best available rate” or “BAR” when it’s frequently not the best publicly available rate on their own website. This sours what is otherwise usually pretty good customer service from Starwood.

[Lando Marco]

Agreed MKB, I’ve not had problems claiming from Starwood. However, I did not have problems with Hilton either.
Its surprising IHG has been screwing so many people on the guarantee and they are still so popular!

[PatJordan]

Hi all,

just to keep you informed, I have sent IHG several emails in response to their communication almost a week ago. As yet I have not been graced with an acknowledgement, yet alone a reply.

This lack of courtesy is difficult to accept.

In the event that IHG decide to make any response, I’ll update the forum.

Pat

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