InterContinental will be increasing the cost of its paid Ambassador program in the coming days. As far as price increases go, this is hardly unreasonable, though I wanted to post a reminder, for anyone who may want to renew before these changes kick in.
Continue reading: InterContinental Ambassador Price Increasing To $225 Or 45K Points
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
uhhhhh....yall do know a person can only redeem the InterContinental Ambassador weekend night ONCE per 12-months, right???? Anyways, IHG already nerfed several key benefits this year and making it medicore....and now theyre theyre steeply raising the cost? HARD PASS. Their also fustrating wrinkles of the Ambassador/InterContinental hotels partnership.
Better off doing amex FH&R, or THC (or Cap1's version) than wasting $$ on IHG Ambassador/InterContinental hotels program. And lets be real...no reason to stay at an IHG property (anymore), unless its airport adjacent.
I've been an Intercontinental Ambassador for about 10 of the last 20 years. I've also been an IHG Diamond and an Intercontinental Ambassador. It's just not worth it anymore. The domestic Intercontinental lounges are barely better than a Marriott lounge, except alcohol is included. And even then the wine is pretty low-end ($7-$12 wine). With no guaranteed benefits at Kimpton, Crowne Plaza or Holiday Inn, I don't see the value in Ambassador status. I'll revert to IHG Platinum, thanks to a co-branded credit card. It's not much but is enough status for the 20-25 nights a year I have to spend at a Holiday Inn Express when I'm in the middle of nowhere and the only options are a Holiday Inn Express or Best Western.
Not sure I’d call this increase “steep”. It’s $25 or $2 a month. Most properties Ben reports on charge about $25 for a dirty martini
I signed up for it in the fall of 2022 after seeing the promotion and knowing the one free night would pay for itself.
Since then, I've been lucky that my IHG Platinum Elite has been extended through 2025 for some reason. I've used that status to match to other hotel chains for specific trips and two different rental car companies.
Overall, it's paid for itself and then some if you know how to work the system a bit and plan to travel some.
I'm Platinum with 300K points and find this underwhelming. Platinum gets me most of these (2pm not 4pm, but that's never needed). Since the vast majority of my stays are at Staybridge or Candlewood, there are no upgrade rooms, no weekend night participation (as best I can tell), no restaurant/bar for the allocation, and I travel alone.
I'm Platinum with 300K points and find this underwhelming. Platinum gets me some of these (2pm not 4pm, but that's never needed). Since the vast majority of my stays are at Staybridge or Candlewood, there are no upgrade rooms, no weekend night participation (as best I can tell), no restaurant/bar for the allocation, and I travel alone.
the free night is a bit of a "scam" if you have any type of CORP discount, the free night costs more than booking and paying for free nights.
No, the benefits aren’t guaranteed at those properties but nearly every time I’ve stayed, I’ve been recognized as a Platinum member and received a nicer room without asking.
Even using the current 100% bonus points offer, it’s still less expensive paying cash as opposed to buying points.
Does anybody know if paying for Ambassador still elevates Platinum to Diamond? I heard it didn’t work that way anymore but renewed it anyway along with qualifying for Diamond, and got Diamond through the end of 2025.
I am an IHG Diamond Elite member organically.
But for some reason I still buy the Ambassador program each year.
However the “Free” Weekend Night voucher is misleading as it is charged out at full rack rate. You are sometimes better off not to use the Free night voucher and buy a discount weekend rate.
My Ambassador status got me upgraded from the lowest level king room to a one bedroom suite at an Intercontinental in London for a month long stay. The annual $200 fee gave me a room that costs $250-300 more per night. It is an amazing deal. I love being able to sleep with the internal door closed, essentially totally blocking out all hall noises (slamming doors, maids, kids, etc). The extra space brings home-like comfort to the hotel. My wife can be in the other room without us hearing each other—great if she is up before me or one of us has a call to take. All for $200/year! $225 is no different to me. I’d pay $1000, possible even more.
Complimentary weekend night is a rip off as you need to pay a higher rate than the normal full flex rate to get it. This rate has no extra advantages other than being eligible for the "free night" so it's not like your paying for flexibility, breakfast or other perks. So you're effectively paying extra to get a free night which effectively turns one free night into 0.6 free night or similar 😀 and you can't even combine this on one booking if you're continuing your stay into the week.
Ambassador is still worth it even without the free night, but I strongly dislike being lied to or ripped off so I probably won't renew it.
The free night rate is actually higher than the full rack rate. You can get full flex rate for a lower price if you don't use the pseudofree night.
I consistently struggle to find a good value with the Ambassador second night free and my certs expire more often than not.
It never did. At least not intentionally. It did extend status for Diamonds for a while, but it wasn't meant to.
It provided some value during the pandemic when you could use the certificates any day of the week at Kimptons and expended Spire Status. Now it is mostly worthless. You can to time the buy one get one free for the weekend at IC properties which are few and far between in the US and with no extension of Diamond Status and combined with the high rate charged when space is available and the tacked on amenity fee charges, it is not worth paying the fee. Will not renew this year.
When I had this I found it to be very difficult to make it make sense to use the annual "free" weekend night. It's restricted in days, also, the rate is always higher than what you would otherwise have booked, and not always available. In the end I just let it go without using it.
It did elevate me to Diamond in 2022 (i.e., not just extend but elevate), which was great for a few fancy Intercontinental stays, but my understanding is it no longer does that.
Just finished a 10 month RTW trip. Signed up for Ambassador before leaving, thinking it would be useful. In the situations where my destination aligned with the terms of the free night - not one place ever allowed me to use the perk.
And, since I have the IHG biz and personal cards, that status was worth something, but Ambassador never was. A waste of money, and I opted out of renewing.
I will never understand why people would give their loyalty to mediocre American hotel brands, and shirk stays at superior local properties around the world in exchange for early check-in, free (American, gag) breakfast or the occasional room upgrade.
Americans are truly the dumbest travelers.
Overall I found the Ambassador worthwhile when renewing my membership at the hotel at check-in. Usually a significant upgrade was offered in return.
The 4 pm checkout is very useful for weekend stays. We enjoy to go out in the city, have lunch, sightseeing a bit and refresh in the room before checking out. It is guaranteed !
However I noticed that resorts, for example in French Polynesia, play games with the Ambassador room rates - it is never available, so you can't use the certificate. This would have been one of the places where it would have been worthwhile, given the high rates.
I'm sure you had to set down your glass of champagne and put in your monocle to ask your manservant to type in that completely irrelevant and condescending post. It must be so hard to know you're the smartest in the room, in every room.
We weep for you. Seriously.
Just stayed at the beautiful month-old IC San Antonio using my wkend cert. We were upgraded free to a Riverwalk Suite & given free Club Access which covered the Ambassador fee + $1,200+ over my pd 1-nt. Great program with new properties continuing to open (Buckhead, too, is gorgeous btw).
Weekend free night..........what a joke they are never available at any nice properties............
I just booked a free night at the New InterContinental Bangkok Sukhumvit for the upcoming weekend...
Then those superior local properties must be even dumber for choosing not to offer those benefits and missing out on so much business, to wit: billions a year in profits that the mediocre American brands rake in.