Something happened today that two months ago I thought would be impossible. Before you get your hopes up, this isn’t some huge news like everything’s going to be fine and things are going back to normal. I’m way past that point.
So what happened that gave me a second of happiness in the midst of despair?
My expired IHG free night certificate showed back up in my account.
I can’t pretend that this was a total surprise. Back in February, I wrote about how I had a free night certificate left in my account that was going to expire.
I thought that was the end of the story but by March, things changed. Cities in the U.S. and around the world were being locked down. Even if I wanted to use my free night, I couldn’t. I read on other websites that people were calling and getting their certificates extended. I didn’t want to add to the stress on the call centers so I sent an email asking to have my certificate extended before it expired.
I never heard back, but on April 6th IHG announced that any certificate expiring after March 1, 2020, would be good until the end of the year. However, by then my expired certificate was gone from my account. I sat tight, knowing that IT is difficult and I was in no hurry to book a room with the free night certificate, anyway.
This evening, I received an email.
Since my free night from this year was already in my account. I logged in to check.
There we go, two free night certificates. The expired one is back in my account, good until the end of 2020, and the new one is there as well. Given the 2020 certificate isn’t showing the 18-month expiration date but IHG has until 2021 to fix that.
Many people will discount these certificates because they’re only valid at properties costing up to 40,000 points. If you want to use them at a resort or fancy hotel in a big city, that may be true. If you’re in our shoes and potentially looking at a “Plan B” vacation in the form of a two-week road trip in November, these free nights are going to come in handy at several roadside Holiday Inn Express. More than worth the $49 a year annual fee we pay for the IHG Select credit card.
If you’ve been waiting for the dates for your certificates to be extended, check your IHG account. While you’re at it, set a real password and get rid of your 4-digit pin. 🙂
#stayhealthy #stayathome #washyourhands
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
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