Questions and Answers

Hi Lucky,

The Intercontinental Le Moana Bora Bora has completely removed all award availability. I have been in the middle of booking a vacation for 4 to Bora Bora, while waiting for my anniversary night and Accelerate bonus points to post, IHG removed all award space at the Le Moana. 2.5 weeks ago there were about 250 days with availability, then 2 weeks ago all availability disappeared. I have called IHG multiple times and am being told to check back soon, that availability will reappear.

So my question is: How do get IHG to honor their minimum award availability requirements? Is there a number to call or a department I should escalate to? It seems like a clear case of a hotel not displaying the proper availability.

Thank you,

Hotels are required to only make 5% of their rooms available with points. So, [I]theoretically, [/I]all those rooms have been allocated already.

If staying at this hotel is your only option, one recommendation would be to book a refundable rate and continue to monitor award availability.

Lucky wrote about this issue briefly here [URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/10/16/not-all-no-blackout-dates-reward-nights-are-created-equal/[/URL]

[QUOTE=”rickyw, post: 28451, member: 1436″]Hotels are required to only make 5% of their rooms available with points. So, [I]theoretically, [/I]all those rooms have been allocated already.

If staying at this hotel is your only option, one recommendation would be to book a refundable rate and continue to monitor award availability.

Lucky wrote about this issue briefly here [URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/10/16/not-all-no-blackout-dates-reward-nights-are-created-equal/[/URL][/QUOTE]

So I understand that is possibility, but it seems highly unlikely, as literally overnight 200+ nights of availability disappeared. Also when I call IHG they say that they are just updating their availability. I feel as though the hotel is just not opening up reward nights. Maybe I am wrong though.

Well, the hotel does not want you there. As simple as that. And they hate anniversary nights anyway. Even if you will be able to book something on points there, they will somehow make your life miserable. Why bother? There are properties that appreciate your business, and if you cannot afford them, then Bora Bora is just not for you.

Luckily you will be able to find reasonably valued individual properties everywhere across French Polynesia.

[QUOTE=”SpoiledBrat, post: 28480, member: 215″]Well, the hotel does not want you there. As simple as that. And they hate anniversary nights anyway. Even if you will be able to book something on points there, they will somehow make your life miserable. Why bother? There are properties that appreciate your business, and if you cannot afford them, then Bora Bora is just not for you.

Luckily you will be able to find reasonably valued individual properties everywhere across French Polynesia.[/QUOTE]

It seems to me like every hotel that is worth using points on, does not want you there. Almost every hotel loses money on award stays and therefore does not want you there. Therefore your premise suggests that you should only ever pay cash, which kinda defeats the whole point of this hobby all together.

I guess I should restate my question more generally,

How do I get IHG, or any other chain for that matter, to honor their programs rules?

[USER=2953]@Dan In SF[/USER], the challenge here is that first you’d have to prove that they are not playing by the chain rules. Le Moana might have been more generous in the past than IHG required and have made a decision to go to the minimum. Have you considered reaching out directly to the property to see what is happening?

[USER=2953]@Dan In SF[/USER] — High-occupancy hotels actually make quite a bit on award stays, as their reimbursement rates from the loyalty programs typically go up based on occupancy. (Recent example here: [URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2017/02/15/how-much-did-ihg-pay-for-my-free-hotel-night/[/URL])

There are other considerations though. If the Le Moana has sold large blocks of rooms to tour operators and package providers, for example, those are likely to be the lowest category of rooms, which are also the ones typically reserved for awards, so that could be why there isn’t award availability.

If the room is available for revenue stays, but not awards, that’s a different (and fixable) problem.

[USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER] – Thank you for responding. In regard to the reimbursement rate, everything I have read indicates that the hotel makes much less off of reward stays. The article that you link states that the hotel was reimbursed $72. In the post the previous day ([URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2017/02/14/how-to-use-ihg-free-night-certificate/[/URL] ) he mentions that the cash rate was $326, which would mean the hotel was reimbursed 22% of the cash rate.

Regarding the Le Moana, there are many revenue nights available in the lowest category room. For example, I can book the base room for the entire month of July, August or September with cash, and it states there are 3 rooms available all month long. I currently have 6 nights booked with points and 1 night booked with Anniversary night that I booked in late February. As of February 28, there were about 200+ plus nights scattered over the next year, and on March 1st there are 0. So there does seem to be something else at play.

[USER=79]@Gaurav[/USER] – According to the Hotel, they are updating their inventory. I think what you proposed, is what scares me the most, If that is the case, I have a lot of rescheduling to do, or a large hotel bill coming my way.