Priority Club account posting stay errors...report yours here

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QF WP

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Hot on the heels of my issues with service at the HI City Centre Perth (thankfully resolved), I had a 2 night stay at CP Royal Pines (Gold Coast) post as a non-qualifying stay and no points credited.

Had reservation (made online) using Entertainment Card rate of $245 per night, in a King Spa Suite for 29 & 30 September.

So when it turned up as a non-qualifying stay in my account a week later, I entered a Points Discrepancy Notification (on 7 October) using the web site. Had a response on 11 October:

Dear Ms. Wilson,

Thank you for your inquiry regarding an adjustment to your Priority Club® Rewards account.

Please be advised that Priority Club® Rewards does not issue credit for room rates that are discounted more than 30% off the hotel’s regular room rate. These include discounted group rates, locally negotiated rates, employee rates, entertainment rates, and Internet rates booked through third party websites like Expedia.com, Hotels.com, etc.

After reviewing your reservation dated Ashmore Australia on 28 Sep 2007, we have confirmed that it had been booked using an Entertainment Rate. Unfortunately, we will be unable to issue Priority Club® Rewards points for your discounted room rate. We apologize if you feel you were not made aware of this information when booking your reservation.

In the future, if you would like to accumulate points for your stays, we suggest that you ask for qualifying room rates that would be eligible for credit. For your reference, other rates found in our website: InterContinental Hotels Group Hotel Reservations | The Official Web Site (including the 21-day advance purchase, weekend web savers and internet saver rate) offer a discount of up to 60% but also carry coding which automatically earns Priority Club credit.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Should you have further queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. Attached is the link to the service centers' phone numbers page: InterContinental Hotels Group | Priority Club Rewards Service Centers

Well, I wasn't that impressed at being addressed as a female :evil: , but it happens. After checking my facts with Dave Noble, I fired off this email on same day:

Whilst you correctly advise details about heavily discounted rates are not eligible for points under PC Rewards (from Section 11 of the Terms and Conditions), you may not have taken into account the line (bolded) from the following quote of Section 11:

Eligible Charges Worldwide include the following Qualifying Room Rates paid for hotel room nights: non-discounted rate, standard corporate rate, worldwide sales negotiated rate, national/regional/local government rate and specified leisure rates as confirmed by IHG's HOLIDEX® Plus reservation systems. Points will be awarded for Qualifying Room Rates booked through IHG central reservation offices, IHG web sites, travel agents or directly at the hotel. In addition, in North, South and Central America and the Caribbean, points may be collected on locally negotiated rates if these rates are discounted less than 30%. At Asia Pacific hotels, Qualifying Room Rates also include all locally negotiated rates.

The stay was in an Asia Pacific property (Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia is in the Asia/Pacific region). The Entertainment Card rate is a locally negotiated rate (only 10% discount from the regular rate).

Please cease my inconvenience by correcting the mistake in the system and crediting me with the 2 night stay and relevant points for the expenses incurred.

Now let's wait and see what transpires - nothing credited yet.
 
Considering the entertainment card uses the IHG web system for reservations I would hope they code such rates automatically!

Lindsay, the hotel you stayed at is part of a cartel of hotels that dont like paying for points, it is often the case that they will not have availability at the IHG web site but will have availability at certain web sites at the same rate + a booking fee, and of course these do not attract priority club points despite the fact your are paying more than if you had booked on the IHG website.
 
Ages ago (probably over a year ago) I did a Priority Club survey which concluded with a statement that soon, all rates would be eligible to earn points (makes sense to me given that points are earned based on spend).
I wish they would implement this policy because the arbitrary nature of the current policy is just annoying.
 
Lindsay Wilson said:
Well, I wasn't that impressed at being addressed as a female :evil: , but it happens. After checking my facts with Dave Noble, I fired off this email on same day:

Now let's wait and see what transpires - nothing credited yet.

Having been down this path with every stay I have made in Australia this year (including Best Flexible, Weekend rates and various PP 10% off rates), it generally takes 2-4 days to resolve this ath stage you are at (but I had one that took about 10 days)
 
markis10 said:
Considering the entertainment card uses the IHG web system for reservations I would hope they code such rates automatically!

Lindsay, the hotel you stayed at is part of a cartel of hotels that dont like paying for points, it is often the case that they will not have availability at the IHG web site but will have availability at certain web sites at the same rate + a booking fee, and of course these do not attract priority club points despite the fact your are paying more than if you had booked on the IHG website.

Must be a big cartel that doens't like paying the points. Mind you I have not noticed any of the ones I stayed in this year having no availibility on IHG but having some elewhere
 
markis10 said:
Considering the entertainment card uses the IHG web system for reservations I would hope they code such rates automatically!
I agree - and I have that as an ace up my sleeve if they continue to deny my points - which haven't posted yet (and I've not had a return email yet)

Lindsay, the hotel you stayed at is part of a cartel of hotels that dont like paying for points, it is often the case that they will not have availability at the IHG web site but will have availability at certain web sites at the same rate + a booking fee, and of course these do not attract priority club points despite the fact your are paying more than if you had booked on the IHG website.
Thanks for the heads up, markis10. Whilst I'm not sure whether it's their (the hotels) fault for this being shown as a non-qualifying rate. However if they don't want to give me points, I don't want to stay with them. Never had any trouble with CP Surfers Paradise, so they'll get my business instead. I don't get mad :mad: , I get even :p
 
Lindsay Wilson said:
I agree - and I have that as an ace up my sleeve if they continue to deny my points - which haven't posted yet (and I've not had a return email yet)


Thanks for the heads up, markis10. Whilst I'm not sure whether it's their (the hotels) fault for this being shown as a non-qualifying rate. However if they don't want to give me points, I don't want to stay with them. Never had any trouble with CP Surfers Paradise, so they'll get my business instead. I don't get mad :mad: , I get even :p

My understadning is that it is the hotel that flags whether a rate is qualifying or not.
 
Finally, I have had a response from Priority Club:

Thank you for your kind response.

We regret to inform you that we are unable to issue credit for your stay in Ashmore Australia on 28 Sep 2007 as we have confirmed that it had been booked using an Entertainment Rate. We apologize if you feel you were not made aware of this information when booking your reservation.

As gesture of our commitment to serve you better, we have deposited 2,000 Priority Club points to your account.

We would also like to take this opportunity in expressing our profuse apologies for the inconvenience this may have caused.

Should you have further queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. Attached is the link to the service centers' phone numbers page: InterContinental Hotels Group | Priority Club Rewards Service Centers

Unfortunately (for them), I do not accept their response and token points (as the points to be credited would approach 10K). I am going to get to the bottom of this situation now by escalating the issue and talking to them. By far the majority of my stays are using entertainment card rates and they have always posted. In fact, my two stays on either side of the Gold Coast were both EC rates and they posted automatically.
 
Amazing what a telephone call and escalation to a Supervisor can do...a much better explanation of the Entertainment Card rates ensued and as I advised her, this has never been explained to me before. With that, she said that she would give me an adjusted stay credit of 17K points (one of the major reasons I was so unhappy about it not crediting).

WARNING FOR ENTERTAINMENT CARD HOLDERS: Whilst the basic Entertainment Card rate is 10% of the (rack) rate; there are also Entertainment Card rates that are a significantly greater discount (but you may not be aware of it). For example, in booking my Spa Suite at $245 per night at the Crowne Plaza Royal Pines, it was at a greater than 10% discount and therefore they deem those bookings non-eligible.

Now knowing that, I won't be booking Suites at Entertainment Card rates again. This is quite misleading and I suggested that they CLEARLY show whether certain EC rate are eligible or non-eligible in the future.

Now well over the Platinum re-qual mark with more stays to go.
 
Lindsay Wilson said:
WARNING FOR ENTERTAINMENT CARD HOLDERS: Whilst the basic Entertainment Card rate is 10% of the (rack) rate; there are also Entertainment Card rates that are a significantly greater discount (but you may not be aware of it). For example, in booking my Spa Suite at $245 per night at the Crowne Plaza Royal Pines, it was at a greater than 10% discount and therefore they deem those bookings non-eligible.

Congratulations Lindsay, persistence can pay off.

I would suspect that the reason it was not explained to you, is that it is not in accordance with their published terms and conditions. While they point to the T's and C's, I have never been able to get them to point to a specific clause that disallows the stay as eligible.

The other problem is what is 'rack rate'. It certainly is not Best Flexible, as they have argued these are deeply discounted with me before.
 
Re: Priority Club 2007 promotions

I'm still fighting PC to get recognition of my stay in Queenstown. They have decided for some reason, yet to be explained, that the stay was a non-qualifying stay. They've credited 72 pts for the Crown Lager that JohnK drank :D from my mini bar, but nothing for the 3 paid nights. Not happy. :evil:
If anyone has ideas of how to stir them up please let me know.
 
Re: Priority Club 2007 promotions

straitman said:
I'm still fighting PC to get recognition of my stay in Queenstown. They have decided for some reason, yet to be explained, that the stay was a non-qualifying stay. They've credited 72 pts for the Crown Lager that JohnK drank :D from my mini bar, but nothing for the 3 paid nights. Not happy. :evil:
If anyone has ideas of how to stir them up please let me know.
I'm progressing with this. So far they have posted 5053 points with a promise of another 6738 though this is still short of the X3 / X4 promo that is currently running. I'll continue the fight when I've worked out what they've offered thus far. :evil: :evil:
 
Re: Priority Club 2007 promotions

straitman said:
They've credited 72 pts for the Crown Lager that JohnK drank :D from my mini bar....
I thought this was a complimentary Crown Lager and was going to be charged to the previous occupant of the room!

straitman said:
I'm progressing with this. So far they have posted 5053 points with a promise of another 6738 though this is still short of the X3 / X4 promo that is currently running.
I stayed for 2 nights and paid NZ$180/night and received 9799 PC points for the stay. Assuming you paid the same rate then they are still offering a few thousand PC points short of the PC points that should have been earned with a 3 night stay.
 
Re: Priority Club 2007 promotions

straitman said:
I'm progressing with this. So far they have posted 5053 points with a promise of another 6738 though this is still short of the X3 / X4 promo that is currently running. I'll continue the fight when I've worked out what they've offered thus far. :evil: :evil:

Can be hard. I have been credited points for something before when they have knocked back a room rate. Just never figured out what that something was for.
 
Currently standing at 5053 popints for the stay and 6738 as a 'Goodwill Adjustment'

I plan to let this sit for a few days then follow up again. Maybe (I'm dreaming) they'll fix this without any further input. :rolleyes:
 
Yes straitman, you're dreaming - soon you'll wake up and it confirm it was a nightmare :eek:.

I'd be following up in writing and then getting to a Supervisor and arguing your situation - the night(s) that were award stay don't deserve points but the paid ones do - it was the Hotel that joined the two independent reservations together (which is where I think is the heart of the iissue). You do deserve points from anything charged to the room during the whole stay.

Then there's the status bonus and triple points, then quad points for booking online (if applicable).
 
Lindsay Wilson said:
Yes straitman, you're dreaming - soon you'll wake up and it confirm it was a nightmare :eek:.

I'd be following up in writing and then getting to a Supervisor and arguing your situation - the night(s) that were award stay don't deserve points but the paid ones do - it was the Hotel that joined the two independent reservations together (which is where I think is the heart of the iissue). You do deserve points from anything charged to the room during the whole stay.

Then there's the status bonus and triple points, then quad points for booking online (if applicable).
Lindsay,

I agree and will. It's just a matter of fitting it in inside the next week, and it is the triple points, then quad points for booking online that I'm chasing. I'll let you all know how i get on. :cool:
 
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Maybe there's a note on my account saying "give this member a couple of non-qualifying stays this year just to annoy him"

One of my stays this week has posted with those terrible words. Only a 1 nighter at CP Darling Harbour booke on Entertainment Card rates, but it wasn't more than 30% less than rack - just a standard room rate.

I'll be following up...it's about 12K points (based on quad points).
 
Lindsay Wilson said:
Maybe there's a note on my account saying "give this member a couple of non-qualifying stays this year just to annoy him"

I'm not sure its just you. Somewhere in the last year they seems to have started getting tight on the handing out of points. In my case, not one of my Australia stays has even posted automatically, and a bunch first posted as non-qualifying, followed by an adjusted stay.
 
Regarding Entertainment Card discounts, I'm a little confused about what's eligible, and not eligible.

Here's the rates for an upcoming stay in Singapore:

Entertainment card: $190SGD/night.
Best Flexible: $330SGD/night.

An amazing price difference, but not going to book the $190 rate unless it earns points. (Have another reservation at another SIN hotel which costs $200SGD Best Flexible, so will stay there instead).

My assumption is that as it's over 10% it's no dice as an eligible stay. Comments?
 
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