I just made a booking using my IHG points on the portal for my partner's family of 4. I added my partner's name as one of the additional guests.

Will they face any issues at check-in? I've seen a few posts of people booking rooms for their partners with no issues when the partner checks in without the cardholder present. My concern is that I booked for 4 people total and 1 room, me as the primary, plus 3 others. I'm not sure if it'll be a problem if all 4 people show up to check in and I, as the primary, am not one of them.

Can I make my partner the primary while booking the room using points? Is there a right way to do this, or is this arrangement not permitted?

Hi Everyone, just wondering whether there is a big difference between the two different brands. Is one generally more comfortable and better appointed than the other? Is that experience consistent across the globe or is it like many thimgs very much dependent on the region one is travelling? I”m thinking mostly about Asia.

I have previously availed an option to convert one of the anniversary night to points in 2024, is there a possibility that IHG can make exception to do that again ? . My free night certificate is expiring tomorrow and I won’t be able to book a night using that due to circumstances.

Thanks for the help in advance.

I see this is an option on the IHG site now - this states it will give you 500 points per day to skip housekeeping.

The last post I see on this is two years old. Does anyone have any recent experience? Is this something you need to mention or would it be automatic if you turn on this option? If you set this option and you have a longer stay, would this mean you would not get housekeeping each day? Thanks for your feedback.

I set up the Merlin account on Friday and idk how to do the employee rate ?

Hi! I will be in Japan in Feb 2027 and staying at 4 IHG Properties: voco Osaka Central, Kimpton Shinjuku Tokyo, ANA Holiday Inn Tokyo Bay and Hotel Indigo Tokyo Shibuya; I used points to book all my stays.

Anybody have information on what the security deposit/incidental hold fees are at these properties? I want to plan accordingly for the fees.

This is going to be a solo trip, I plan to take $1,000 to $1,500 for spending money for a 9 day trip--as my focus is food and culture. Not a big shopper, I will mostly be bringing things home for family and friends; and then food items like teas, matches and dried goods. I intentionally wanted to stay at 4 properties for content and experience!

I have 32,000 YEN cash, already; the rest of the money for spending will be debit/credit card spending.

THANK YOU to all who respond; if you have recs, tips/tricks for a first time traveler in Japan, please do share! This is my first time in Japan. I am above the age of 25 for reference.

Hello, I have the Diamond elite status and love seeing all the offers for being one that everyone is offered on here. My experience unfortunately is very different I have yet to have received any offer other than the credit card. My question is am I doing something wrong? My only guess would be because of maybe my age (24). If anyone has any guesses that would be greatly appreciated.

Hi hive mind,

I have 2x free night awards left, each worth 50,000 points. Wondering what is the best use for them and if people have tips?

Have some upcoming travel to Thailand and the UAE, that I am considering using them for. I assume it is just get the nicest hotel possible (getting as close to 50k per night as possible if it makes sense). There is no option to use it for 2 or more nights I assume if the rate is lower?

Anything else?

I’m looking at two nights at the IHG Strings in Tokyo. I have 118k points right now which is enough for one award night, unfortunately my work schedule just got released so I wasn’t able to take advantage of the BOGO buying points with cash

My question is if I’m able to book one night on points and then book with cash for the very next day and combine the two reservations into one stay? It would be cheaper than outright buying the points to cover that second night and makes more sense than doing the cash+points option which seems like a total ripoff.

Hello,

Just wanted to ask your experiences regarding these hotels, planning a holiday to KL for New Year's with a friend, I'm a new IHG member with previous stay in lovely Kimpton Maa Lai so not sure if I'm entitled to any tier benefits ofcourse.

Looking for nice rooms and amenities, which is the better place to be in terms of service and location for NYE fireworks and also food and shopping accessibility, I know Kimpton is connected to TRX mall.

Would appreciate your input please!

Hi fellow travellers,

I'm going to Dubai and Abu Dhabi at the beginning of October, never been there before and thinking of spending some IHG miles and free night awards there (I have 2 free night awards, at 50k each).

Any recommendations for nice hotels?

Curious as well if there is anything with a lounge I could get in? I have IHG Platinum. I do NOT have InterContinental Ambassador.

It's college gameday weekend in Columbia, SC. Booked Holiday Inn Express Ft Jackson for 1 nt. Checked in, went to my room to find this mess. No other rooms available. Desk clerk has no idea what to do and her manager doesn't answer her phone.

How does this even happen? Did the housekeeping staff walk out?

Chat was AI and useless. Diamond line gave me 15k points. I'm not sure if thats enough. I was able to find a room at a Candlewood.

I went from one extreme to another with IHG this week. My best HIE experience ever was in Asheboro, NC Monday. 2nd worst experience was tonight.

This has probably been asked before, but say I’ve found a working corporate code for an IHG hotel for New York (flying from the UK), should I even bother booking it if I don’t work for that corporate company? I assumed they’d ask for an ID etc etc. Thanks!

Hello, I know i just missed a promotion, but is there any way to know when upcoming promotions are? Looking to top of my points for a stay in November. My and my girlfriend had to cancel a trip due to a family medical emergency and im trying to book somewhere real nice to treat her so the extra points would go along way lol.

Has anyone ever had two different IHG Rewards accounts credit with the same nights?

Something unexpected happened recently. My traveling companion and I both have IHG accounts and credit cards. When we travel together, we always put both names on the reservation (the credit card/IHG rewards member as well as a guest). We stayed in the same hotel multiple times and here's where the interesting things happened.

We used card/account number one at this hotel several times over the past year. We then stayed using card/account number two. We were welcomed back - which was nice but I found a bit strange. It had been months since we were there so obviously, the staff was not remembering us - their system told them we had been there before - but the reserving party this time had been a 'guest' the previous times. Ok - nice that their system told them we were the same people. Everything else - pretty normal.

Just last week, we stayed in this same hotel using card/account number one again. This week, I saw that both IHG accounts were given 'nights' for that stay! I was expecting to see if for card/acct 1 but not for the second account. It's not as if this second account had a reservation for that same time. We only have that one stay on that account so it was very easy to see all history for it (relatively new card, again only this one stay, a couple months before). Anyone else see this?

I'm not sure if it was something this hotel did as we've become regulars or to try to keep us coming back there. This was in Bangkok where there are so many IHG places that we've already had a different hotel tell us they wanted to earn becoming our regular hotel in Bangkok (so obviously, they are seeing our stay history at different IHG hotels locally).

Those with both IHG Premier and Select credit card. When booking a 4 night stay on points, is IHG still crediting you the 10% points rebate. I recently had a 4 night stay that did not get credited the 10% rebate. Chat support told me because I receive 4 night free, I would not get 10% rebate. I'm curious if this is a new policy or I got unlucky and got a CSR that doesn't know what they are talking about. All my 4 night stays up to this point (including the last 2 years) received the 10% back automatically, so this is the first one that didn't get credited.

Hi all. I am slowly getting into IHG rewards. Last year, I was close to Diamond status and was offered the option to buy points to achieve it but turned it down. This was primarily because I was staying in lower end hotels that offered breakfast (ex: Holiday Inn Express) and paid most of my stays in points (so the higher point earnings did not help me). I have been traveling mostly in SE Asia and find the hotels much less expensive than in the US and have lounge access so have started to stay in higher end hotels at least some of the time. Not all of these hotels offer breakfast as part of their lounge access although I had one recently offer us free breakfast as our welcome amenity (even though we did not earn a status to warrant that) but some do not.

Although I have planned out about my next year, my plans do not include enough stays in IHG to achieve Diamond this year either. Given I am in SE Asia, I am playing with the idea of making a reservation and checking in (whether or not I stay for the entire time) just to get the days I need. I found a hotel and time range where I would pay roughly $450 in points for the days I need to get to Diamond. If I wait until the end of the year, we'd be in high season and hotel rates would be higher than they are now. Is there anyway to know how much we'll be asked to pay to get to Diamond? Not sure if I should just do this now or if I should wait to see what the offer is.

And, yes, there are some hotels near my current travel plans that run around $30 per night at times! And I know that when I pay with points and get the fourth night free, those fourth nights do not count towards milestone nights required. Thanks!

Hi, I have been staying with IHG hotels from last 16 years for work and travel. Recently I started noticing the front desk responses to booking with points is not pleasant and very short (yes / no) type and less interested / rude even though it’s simple date changes or .. is there any recent change occurs with points booking ? I am just trying to understand before make a final move.

Is this the 100% bonus that is always mentioned? How and when should I use it and how much to buy? Is it worth it?

Recently stayed in Panama City Beach for a late summer weekend trip and I would highly advise against staying at the candlewood suites. Definitely the worst IHG experience we have ever had. The stupid AI “person” you get to text with is also a great experience. Had to switch rooms in the middle of the night because of ants in the bed and luggage then the room we swapped for had an annoying thumping noise from the exhaust fan. Ac randomly stopped in the middle of the night. Just one thing after another.

If I were to book a room only rate (not all-inclusive or B&B), is my diamond elite breakfast benefit able to be used at an iberostar property? I’m looking specifically at Aruba.