Questions and Answers

Hey guys,

Just thought I would post a useful trick I figured out this morning. It’s a bit “niche” but could come in handy for some of you.

It only applies to you if you have the older Chase IHG credit card with a still unused, uncapped free night certificate (mine was expiring in April but was extended to December), as well as a capped certificate (up to 40k points a night) in your account.

I was trying to redeem my uncapped certificate for a 70k points per night property later this fall. I verified there was award availability, however when trying to apply my certificate online, it would never show availability. I tried other hotels, on other dates, and had the same problem all around. Ultimately, I noticed that only properties 40k points and under allowed me to redeem the certificate.
I called IHG, no luck. No one was able to help me, and I tried 4 different times. The last time I was bounced around different departments but nothing.

Finally it dawned on me that IHG IT systems were probably not updated to deal with one uncapped and one capped cert at a time, since this situation can only happen since the covid19 certs extensions. It’s actually pretty obvious when you try to redeem either on the site: the same “Chase anniversary night” code populates in “Rate preference”, without distinction between capped and uncapped.

So here’s the trick I found if you want to redeem your uncapped night: first, make a dummy booking with the capped cert to make sure it’s no longer available in your account.
Then, try redeeming the uncapped cert. Magically, all the 40k+ properties are now appearing as available, since your capped cert is gone. Make your booking, and lastly don’t forget to cancel your first dummy booking to get your capped certificate back.
Hope it helps!