IHG has extended elite status until February 2023. Previously IHG had announced reduced requirements for the 2022 status year, but they are now doing a blanket extension for all Gold, Platinum, and Spire Elite members. Marriott & Hilton have already announced similar extensions.
Hat tip to OMaaT
Good luck.
Correction.
Apparently the rep I talked to was wrong, and it is opposite (which is consistent with the email sent out last night). See below:
Talked to Rewards Department, and they confirmed that the certs expiring on 12/31/2021 (which have already been extended ones or twice … depending on your original exp date) will NOT be extended anymore. Only the ones which are issued in 2021 (and therefore currently expiring in 2022) will be extended till 12/31/2022. So use the ones which have been already extended for you…
Keep in mind you have to stay before the cert exp date, not book.
Just some speculation on the free night certs, which weren’t addressed with this announcement:
First, it’s worth reiterating just how shamefully IHG handled this last year — they didn’t announce the extension of the certs until they were less than two weeks away from expiring at the end of 2020. And they were a significant outlier compared to when the other programs handled it.
Up until Wednesday, I would have thought there was no way the certs get extended again, especially since Hyatt had been strongly signaling that for them everything starts expiring again at the end of the year (points and certs). But with Marriott’s new announcement pausing point expiration through 2022 and extending certs to mid-year, I think Hyatt may have to respond/match, and if Hyatt then responds, IHG may have to as well.
On the other hand, its IHG, so they’ll probably handle this in the most frustrating manner possible.
IHG has an elite status program?
Yes, but it’s low on benefits.
Their Chase credit cards (the original $49 AF or the newer $89 AF) give automatic IHG Platinum status. That status used to guarantee free breakfast at Holiday Inn hotels many years ago, but then they dropped it. You may still get status at some hotels (lounge access at Crowne Plaza perhaps), but no significant in-hotel benefits are guaranteed any more.
I really hope that they extend the expiration of the free night certificates. I still have one completely unrestricted free night certificate. The rarest of the rare.
Me too. I have 2
There last part of their announcement talks about the certs. It’s cryptic and lacks any commitment to further extension. I checked and so far the certs set to expire 12/31/21 did not change the date.
Mine that was expiring 12/31/21 now shows 2/5/22.
Just re-checked. No changes for me.
Book 1 between
03/27/2020 – 12/31/2021
Book 1 between
03/27/2021 – 03/27/2022
I had one of those until early October. I used it for a Holiday Inn Express in the UP … not a great value proposition but I was not going to use it anywhere better by the end of the year.
I have a feeling that I’ll be burning mine too on HI Expresses soon.
in the UP????? Where at?
I have two 40K expiring 31 Dec… Hope they extend those.
I mean last year they didn’t extend them….they gave us another one. With that said, I used mine last week at a Kimpton in NOLA. They did a great job of hooking us up (2 room suite, bottle of wine at checkin and then a bottle of champagne for my bday). So I’m not too upset if they do extend them again.