What are the changes to InterContinental Ambassador benefits on reward nights?

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IHG has announced changes to InterContinental Ambassador benefits on reward nights.

Ambassador is the dedicated loyalty scheme for InterContinental hotels, operating separately from IHG Rewards Club. It has its own website here. It is not your usual loyalty scheme:

you need to pay to join ($200)
the benefits are guaranteed, and include a free weekend night certificate

Ambassador is changing from 1st March as we covered in this article. Here are the new benefits:

Platinum status in IHG Rewards Club
An “up to” $20 per stay food and beverage credit
Free weekend night certificate
Free mineral water
Guaranteed room upgrade
Guaranteed 4pm check-out

One annoying issue with Ambassador is that benefits were not guaranteed on reward stays, except for the 4pm late check-out. To be fair I have never had any problems getting upgraded on reward stays but I know that some hotels in the system stuck to the rules.

From 1st March, the $20 food and beverage credit is guaranteed on InterContinental reward nights for Ambassadors. You will continue to get the 4pm guaranteed check-out and mineral water.

The only part of the new benefits package that you are not certain to get is a room upgrade. You are better off to the tune of $20 per reward stay, and hopefully most properties will continue to honour the upgrade too.

The Ambassador terms and conditions from 1st March are here.

IHG Rewards update – December 2021:

Get bonus points: You can earn up to triple IHG Rewards base points with IHG’s new Autumn promotion. It runs from 1st October to 31st December. You can register here and our full article on the offer is here.

New to IHG Rewards? Read our overview of IHG Rewards here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our article on ‘What are IHG Rewards points worth?’ is here.

Buy points: If you need additional IHG Rewards points, you can buy them here.

You will get a 100% bonus when you buy IHG Rewards points by 4th January 2022. Click here to buy or learn more.

Want to earn more hotel points? Click here to see our complete list of promotions from IHG and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.