Last week’s Best Rate Guarantee stay at the Holiday Inn Express Tehachapi had some pleasant surprises for me at the hotel and for my IHG Rewards Club account. I wrote about this Friday October 25 in Live Testing IHG Best Rate Guarantee.
Seth Miller of The Wandering Aramean says hotel loyalty programs are a waste of money and Gary Leff of View from the Wing knocks IHG Rewards Club for not providing elite benefits on reward stays.
The IHG Best Price Guarantee offers a free night for an approved claim. I booked the Holiday Inn Express Tehachapi hotel on Friday, 10/25 for a one night stay on Saturday 10/26. Tehachapi is a small valley town 4,000 feet in the hills at the Tehachapi Pass separating the San Joaquin Valley from the Mojave Desert and about the half-way point for the 500 mile drive between my coastal home in Monterey and Las Vegas.
InterContinental Hotels Group Best Price Guarantee
A successful IHG Best Price Guarantee claim gives first night free. I booked a one night stay for the Holiday Inn Express Tehachapi at $125 and immediately filed a Best Price Guarantee with IHG based on an Expedia 10% sale rate for the same hotel at $112.50.
One of the differences in the IHG Best Rate Guarantee from nearly all other hotel chain best rate guarantee terms is there is no deadline posted for when a claim has to be filed. Most hotel chains require the Best Rate Guarantee claim to be submitted at least 24 hours before standard hotel check-in time. I filed my claim about 27 hours before hotel check-in.
Best Western requires 48 hours and Choice Hotels has a 72 hour before 6pm date of arrival to submit a BRG claim. Hyatt is the only other chain without a posted deadline for BRG claims, however, Hyatt validates claims over the phone while you wait, so there is really no need to have a deadline.
The message I received back from the IHG Best Price Guarantee representative was the rate would not be adjusted in time for my stay. Another email stated I will receive a refund by check in the mail.
The result is I received points for my IHG BRG hotel stay.
A Whole Lot of IHG Rewards Club Points
The last paid stay I had with IHG Rewards Club was in March at the Holiday Inn Alexanderplatz booked on 2-for-1 rates. I stayed four nights in Berlin and paid two nights. This was the reason my Big Win offer included having to stay in Europe to get the main bonus.
For this Tehachapi stay I signed up for several promotion codes from this FlyerTalk IHG Master Promo Thread 2013 page.
15,875 points earned from the IHG Best Price Guarantee free room night.
And this stay qualified for the first of the Big Win bonus points for One and Done offering 1,000 points after one stay.
The Big Win 1,000 points.
My IHG Best Price Guarantee night at Holiday Inn Express Tehachapi earned 16,875 points for a $125 hotel room night that I am getting refunded by check.
I booked four IHG PointBreaks nights this week for 20,000 points saving over $400 on hotel stays next weekend.
*****
Holiday Inn Express Tehachapi
IHG Newcomer of the Year Award 2007
At check-in the receptionist told me I had an upgrade.
That was a pleasant surprise.
The room had a couch.
And two chairs with a table.
King bed room.
I wondered how this room could be larger than other rooms when it seemed standard wall space in the middle of the hotel.
The larger rooms are located over the entrance and have several more feet of room space than the standard rooms seen recessed from the front center portion of the hotel.
Refrigerator and microwave in room.
Express Start Breakfast was ready at 6am and I was on the road speeding to Las Vegas by 7am. My only complaint about the hotel was the internet was not functioning properly and I could not get access by wireless or cable in my room.
Fitness room at HIX Tehachapi.
The outdoor pool was closed with a sign. I don’t know if this is due to off-season conditions or some other issue with the pool.
Holiday Inn Express is among the largest single hotel brands globally with 2,235 properties worldwide according to IHG 2013 Q3 financial report.
Their brand slogan is ‘Stay Smart’.
The 16,875 points earned on this stay nearly covered the four nights I booked this week on PointBreaks and a refund check on the way for the $135 payment due to my approved IHG Best Price Guarantee claim makes me think I stayed smart.
Holiday Inn Express Tehachapi, California is on the latest list of IHG PointBreaks hotels available for 5,000 points per night through January 31, 2014.
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