Rewards Canada contributor Jeff W. who provided the Scotia Rewards redemption story from earlier this week forwarded to us his email from IHG detailing their actions for Coronavirus.
This change from IHG addresses the typically cheapest non-refundable or non-cancellable rates that have become so prevalent in the world of hotel stays and now allows you to cancel them with no penalty if your stay is planned up until Apr 30. They also recommend that if you book stays beyond April 30 to book best flexible rate (or it can be another rate like the CAA/AAA rate) which allow you to cancel with no penalty up to one or two days prior to arrival. Personally here at Rewards Canada those are the only rates we ever book - we have never booked a prepaid non-refundable rate as travel plans can and do change.
Also seeing that hotel stays are being severely affected by the Coronavirus outbreak IHG is lowering the elite qualifying criteria to earn or retain status for 2021. I like that they have lowered the rates to qualify but am a little surprised they aren't extending status for their members like we have seen from Best Western & Shangri-La. Here are the revised requirements for IHG Rewards Club status in 2021:
As you can see you can get Gold Elite status with IHG for 30% less than standard while Platinum sees requirements cut by 25% and Spire is just under 27%.
You can learn more about IHG's response to the Coronavirus here.
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