Questions and Answers

Hi Lucky and team,

I am curious to know whether one gets to earn loyalty credits when a hotel is about to exit the chain.
To illustrate: say it is January and you confirm a hotel booking through SPG for a stay in June. In April, the hotel is reported to have exited SPG. Are you then still eligible for loyalty credits under SPG?

Thanks a mil’.

My guess is you are not eligible.

Call SPG (or whatever hotel program) and explain to them that you booked a stay at a property because they were with SPG and fully expected to get benefits you’re entitled to (based on status) as well as earn points on the stay. I’d request that they compensate you in some way since you have no control over a hotel leaving the program.

[USER=1968]@jaywalker[/USER] – can you clarify your question? Are you asking about earning points under SPG’s program or, as David suggests, receiving benefits you’re entitled to as a member with status?

I do not believe you will earn points as the hotel no longer participates in the SPG program. Depending on the timing of the change you may or may not get the benefits of your status, in my opinion.

If the hotel has switched after you made your booking, they are likely not going to award points or benefits although you may be able to come to some arrangement with a one-on-one discussion with the property. If I booked through SPG I would definitely file a request for points with SPG after the stay. You made a reservation with the full expectation of point earning and benefits and SPG should make up what was not provided during the stay.

I would still think it depends on the timing. In the example above, there’s still plenty of time to change to an SPG hotel (excluding special event circumstances that might have most hotels in the area sold out). [U]As long as the customer was given ample notice[/U] that the hotel was leaving SPG, I wouldn’t expect SPG to award points for the stay. Now, they might do so and that would be terrific – I just wouldn’t count on it.

Agreed, although if I really needed to stay at that hotel, I’d probably plead ignorance and contact SPG afterwards :). I wonder how good chains are about notifying guests in these situations.

I was assuming that they may have booked a non-refundable rate from SPG and wouldnt be able to change hotels without a penalty of some sort.

thank you everyone!

seems like there is no explicit hard rule when it comes to such situations. I suppose one has a good case when it comes to prepaid stays.

thanks much once again!

I think the general take away is that when arrangements are changed because of decisions made by the provider or IRROPS, there is often leeway in what can be done if you can make a rational request to the right person. It’s best to consider all options and think about what you would like to achieve before contacting the provider.