IHG Rewards recently revealed plans to extend elite status, and now free night certificates are being extended as well.
In this post:
How IHG is extending free night certificates
IHG Rewards is extending some co-branded credit card anniversary free night certificates — free nights originally issued in 2021 will now expire on December 31, 2022. In other words, these free night certificates will have up to an additional year of validity. These extensions will be automatic, and in the coming weeks members should see the expiration dates updated in their accounts.
There are no extensions to free night certificates issued in 2020. As a reminder, free night certificates originally issued in 2020 now expire on December 31, 2021.
Best card for earning IHG free night certificates
The IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (review) is one of my all around favorite hotel credit cards, as it offers an anniversary free night certificate on your account anniversary every year, valid at properties costing up to 40,000 points.
That’s only one of the many benefits of the card, as it also offers a fourth night free on award redemptions, IHG Rewards Platinum status, and a lot more.
With IHG Rewards now having dynamic award pricing, it means that the free night certificates can be redeemed at select properties on some dates, but not others. I’ve found the dynamic award pricing to work out quite well for these certificates, as they can now be used at some hotels that previously weren’t bookable with them. For example, I recently used a free night certificate to book the Kimpton EPIC Miami, as it was pricing at under 40,000 points per night for the day I was looking at.
Bottom line
IHG free night certificates issued in 2021 have been extended once again. Those issued this year are now valid through December 31, 2022. Since they’re usually valid for one year, this means the extensions are for anywhere from a few days to a full year.
Will you benefit from IHG extending free night certificates?
Expiring free anniversary night - Feb 17th '22.
1st call attempt - Jan 25th.
Run around, IHG promised to email back. Never happened.
2nd Attempt: Feb 3rd.
Had a denial for free night extension, and denial for 25k points. I kept the rep on phone for as long as I could, tried several arguments, quoted anecdotal success stories, mentioned several website reporting successful courtesy point outcomes.
No good. V. Disappointing IHG.
Are they doing it in stages? When I log in, it still says for my certificate "Book between 03/12/2021 - 03/12/2022." I'd love it to be extended!
very sneaky way of letting 2020-issued certs expire.
Marriott just honestly extended all RNA's. Shame on IHG
I agree. also check in by 12/30/21 :(
I logged into my IHG account and found that the free night certificate from IHG Premier card issued in August 2020 has the expiration date of March 04, 2022, not December 31, 2021. Is this something exceptional?
My cert given on 8-10-2020 is expiring in February of 2022. I guess it depends on when it was issued.
I believe 2020 issued certificate is valid for 18 months, not 12 month and not Dec 31.
No love for non-elites as there’s no extension of points expiration date. P2’s expire at the end of the year.
if you have a card just make a small purchase, that should extend it.
IHG website/account never shows the expiration date, just the booking dates.
The last booking date is also the cert expiration date. If you try to apply the cert for a reservation after the last booking date, it won't let you (it used to let you book up thru the last booking date for any date available thereafter, but they curtailed that a while back)
I'm sure they'll spin this as "this additional benefit to loyal members who have found it difficult to travel.... blah" is indicative of their lack of customer-centric service.
They've known about members sitting on tons of certs for months, but rather than give customers time to plan, IHG decided to leave it until almost the latest time possible to make this change.
I had a # expiring the end of this year, and...
I'm sure they'll spin this as "this additional benefit to loyal members who have found it difficult to travel.... blah" is indicative of their lack of customer-centric service.
They've known about members sitting on tons of certs for months, but rather than give customers time to plan, IHG decided to leave it until almost the latest time possible to make this change.
I had a # expiring the end of this year, and already rearranged hotels in Sep/Oct for Dec trips from Unbound to Intercontinental in order to use my free certs up. Thanks for making me waste my time, IHG
What are you whining about?
If they wanted you to keep them, they would give them without expiration.
"They've known about members sitting on tons of certs for months, but rather than give customers time to plan, IHG decided to leave it until almost the latest time possible to make this change."
-You had at least a year to plan and use it.
"I had a # expiring the end of this year,...
What are you whining about?
If they wanted you to keep them, they would give them without expiration.
"They've known about members sitting on tons of certs for months, but rather than give customers time to plan, IHG decided to leave it until almost the latest time possible to make this change."
-You had at least a year to plan and use it.
"I had a # expiring the end of this year, and already rearranged hotels in Sep/Oct for Dec trips from Unbound to Intercontinental in order to use my free certs up."
-You planned and used it.
Do you also whine about vaccines or masks?
Gov't knows the public is wearing masks for months, but rather than give public time to plan, CDC decided to leave it until almost the latest time possible to make this change.
Isn't it the same.
Interesting