Intercontinental Ambassador
What is it?
- It’s the elite program for Intercontinental branded hotels resorts. It’s recently (Feb 2009) been tweaked and rebranded – essentially the same as before except that you can no longer use your Free Weekend Night certificate on suites – but on the plus side the coupon now lasts for 12 months!
How do I get it?
- Sign up here and pay US$200 for your first year’s membership
- Part with 28,000 points via Calling Priority Club service centre and asking for the exchange
- Occasional promotions come along – such as stay 3 nights in an Intercontinental hotel and get free ambassador status – but don’t you want the status before you arrive not after you leave!
How to Keep it (Renewal)?
There are a number of deals open for Ambassador renewal – but which is best? If you’re points rich then go for Offer 4 – there’s little reason to hang on to thousands of points which may get devalued with little notice. For everyone else if we value points at US$7 per 1,000 points based on this method and if you need some additional points then Offer 2 gives best value. Finally if you plan to redeem more than 80,000 points then Offer 3 is your friend as we can value 8,000 points at US$56.
- Offer 1: Renew for $100 and receive 5,000 bonus points
- Offer 2: Renew for $150 and receive 15,000 bonus points
- Offer 3: Renew for $200 and receive 15,000 bonus points plus a 10% points rebate on Reward Nights for a whole year
- Offer 4: Renew using 20,000 of your Priority Club points and receive 5,000 bonus points
- Renew here
What do I get when I join?
- Free weekend night certificate
- 5,000 point voucher
- Instant Gold Status! But you still need 60,000 points to hit Platinum
And when I stay (officially Paid Stays only)?
- 4 p.m. late check-out
- Complimentary Pay TV film per stay
- Instant Check-Out
- Guaranteed room upgrade
- Fresh fruit and mineral water (often after the occasional prompt)
I’ve been Platinum for almost 10 straight years now, but about 5 years ago, went to Royal Ambassador. It got me absolutely NOTHING. I originally paid for Ambassador at the Sydney Aus. Intercontinental and after a few stays here and there, found myself at the Kowloon IC. I showed the clerk my RA card and he looked at it and said “So what?” Needless to say, I never joined that program again.
@Greg Shoesmith
You should have got at least an opportunity to empty the mini-bar free of charge. If not then you must have had a poorly trained member of staff.
I would have complained to the powers above.
It is now 32.000 points ! Regards
@Greg Shoesmith
i agree, it gets you zip.
they just look at it and go “don’t see these very often”
its a waste
I wonder if the hotel’s propensity to award room upgrades is based on the room level originally booked. I recently stayed for a third time at the IC Hong Kong. Was already Priority Gold. Booked a Deluxe Jnr Suite, then discovered Ambassador status for a fee (and paid just in time), was upgraded the day before I arrived to a Deluxe Executive Room, and then opted to pay the nightly surcharge (AUD320) to get me from there to the Executive Suite (sitting/dining room, separate bedroom, enormous marble bathroom with spa that overlooked Victoria Harbour.) Not cheap, I grant you, but worth every penny.
I have stayed at IC Burswood Perth (Reward Points) and IC Sydney (Free Night). Was not upgraded at either even after I requested it. I referred them to the leaflet on the Front Desk saying “Get a Room Upgrade every time you stay”!. No asterixs or qualification. They said it does not apply to Reward Nights. Which part of “every” is confusing?
And from their website,
“Guaranteed room upgrade
Enjoy an immediate upgrade to a superior room each time you stay.”
Paul
I only joined a short while ago and i note the info now says every PAID stay ( another little tweak) i wonder ?????
Dear customer service,
I am Mrs A AL ABBASI a gold ambassador # 448 416 278 at present am staying in IC/Kaula Lumpur room #2725+2723 where I have certain issues which have really disappointed us on our stay here in KL:
Firstly we had been given an upgrade to suite room interconnecting with my childrens room on the most noisest side of the hotel where major constructions are taking place in spite of raising this to the reception they said that the hotel is and old structure and do not have other vacant suite interconnecting which i could understand although need do seriously draw your attention that the hotel is in immensely in need of refurbishment since it is really old in every aspect and not conveniant at all from the furniture to the lighting system.
Secondly, i had sent my clothes to the Laundry and to my utter DISAPPOINTMENT my elegant night gown which was originally a beautiful peach colour came back grey-blue
It was a very expensive night gown from montreal and a precious gift from my aunty too!
i immediately called the duty manager Mr Brian who tried his best to apologise and just cover themselves and believe me if you could see the laundry no one would believe it is a 5star hotel laundry in fact even a road side laundry would have NEVER make a disaster like this and even the clothes didnt smell fresh at all and according to the duty manager MR BRIAN he said every thing is HAND WASHED! it felt so disgusting!
Is this the service we deserve as ambassador members ?!
I really regret sending my clothes to this 1 star laundry where they have ruined my most expensive night gown and no telephone call even came from the laundry to apologise even the duty manager although a sweet man but didnt know how to rectify their mistake and was so indifferent to the situation.
Lastly the housekeeping needs alot to be taken seriously if you dont call the operator requesting things to be replaced i assure you that none of the toilet amenities get replaced even if used and finished. this is so disappointing!
In summary IC/KL LACKS CLASS.
I am very depressed my most expensive night gown has been ruined here in KL/Malaysia.
sincerely,
Mrs A AL ABBASI
20/11/2011.
According to the Membership T&Cs, room upgrades are not available for reward nights.
“When staying on Reward Nights, all Ambassador and Royal Ambassador privileges apply with the exception of upgrades, free Pay TV film per stay, 24 hour guaranteed room availability, 8:00am early check-in and complimentary mini bar beverages.”
how did you enjoy kowloon? Would you suggest it for romance?
@Greg Shoesmith
I am currently a Platimum Ambassador member, but for 2 years I was an RA member and I saw a significant difference in service, such as gift on arrival, an excellent platter and bottle of wine in Warsaw, a nice gift in Dubai Festival City which admittedly did take some prompting. RA is definately a class act especially with the free mini-bar which is not so mini at Amstel Amsterdam.
>009964 00527 062 P50609 – Please confirm that Mr. de Margerie had renew his Ambassador Membership during his stay in Hotel Intercontinental of Riyadh – Saudi Arabia in February 6, 2012.
My colleagues and I travel extensively ( 9 months in hotels) and stay at IC Hotels where available. All of us are ambassador members including “Royal Ambassador Platinum” status.
Just this trip we have stayed at IC Bangkok for almost 8 weeks solid, but to our surprise, our ambassador points only accrue on a “per stay” basis. If thats not an insult to our support we are charged extra to use the club lounge facilities, and other charges one would think could be negotiated as a result of our loyalty to the group.
But no, even after meeting all layers of management to negotiate a fair and reasonable package in exchange for our loyalty, was met with complete resistance.
It appears the IC group would prefer to support their short stay guests rather than please their long stay return business.
All business travelers and long stay guests should be mindfull of the above treatment and perhaps explore altnative accommodation, you too might be treated with complete disdain also.
My colleagues and I travel extensively ( 9 months in hotels) and stay at IC Hotels where available. All of us are ambassador members including “Royal Ambassador Platinum” status.
Just this trip we have stayed at IC Bangkok for almost 8 weeks solid, but to our surprise, our ambassador points only accrue on a “per stay” basis. If thats not an insult to our support we are charged extra to use the club lounge facilities, and other charges one would think could be negotiated as a result of our loyalty to the group.
But no, even after meeting all layers of management to negotiate a fair and reasonable package in exchange for our loyalty, was met with complete resistance.
It appears the IC group would prefer to support their short stay guests rather than please their long stay return business.
All business travelers and long stay guests should be mindfull of the above treatment and perhaps explore altnative accommodation, you too might be treated with complete distain like we have. Good luck.
What are the major differences between the InterContinental Ambassador and the Ambassador? I have read that one can be invited to join. How does one get invited?
As you know there are lots of hotel rewards systems all over. This one is a C- at best. Not every hotel offers the same sets of services for an Ambassador. The hotel can choose which services they will and will not provide for the guest.
And that free night is a crock. IF the inventory is available, which it rarely is on a 2-night minimum stay. Ugh. I let mine expire last year and I’m sure it will this year too.
YIKES,,, What horror stories.. I just joined (15 days ago) and I’m feeling beatdown. Ihope I have better luck. But know now what;s out there my expectations are really low. So if I get free H2O I shoudn’t complain. And to think I left the SGPG program. Yikes again!
Do you know if the 10% points rebate (Offer 3) is also applicable when booking a “points & cash – reward night”?
Regarding option 3:
“Maximum number of points to be rebated not to exceed 100,000 points in a calendar year”!
We have been in the Intercontinental Barclay in New York for five night so far and have recieved our fruit and water one night. Based on the service for this membership so far I would not renew.
hi All,
I just received a REMINDER notification (today is 30September 2012) from PRC to renew my Ambassador status. It seems that the points option has been increased to 24,000 points (instead of the previously 20,000).
My Ambassador status will expire on 30November2012, so my question is if I know that I am not going to stay in any of the InterContinental hotels till April 2013, can I ‘save’ some months, by renewing of at the end of March 2013?
Or, will my renewal be auto-back-dated to begin at 01December2012, regardless?
Joined Ambassador right before a 2 night stay at the New York Times Square IC hotel. They could not upgrade me, but they offered to add points to my account as a token of their goodwill since the hotel was fully booked (this was the weekend of the NY marathon and Superstorm Sandy). I received a nice fruit platter and full size Fuji waters, which they replenished when I asked about it the 2nd day. The free internet was also great (they automatically took off the charges at check-out) The 4pm late check out came in very handy as we had an evening flight out. Later that week, when checking my PC account, I saw they had deposited 10,000 points for not being able to upgrade me. Several weeks later, we booked at the Palazzo (an IC Alliance hotel along with its sister The Venetian) in Las Vegas for 4 nights. We had a special check in counter, and I was given a room upgrade to a view suite; plus they accommodated our party by making sure we were all located on the same floor. We had a large platter of fruit brought in along with waters the first night, but it did not get replenished. They also had no problem giving us a 4pm late check out. They charge all guests a “resort fee” of $20 which provides them free internet along with access to the spa, etc, so the free internet perk for Ambassador status didn’t really come into play.
I have yet to see this stay put on my account since we just returned 3 days ago, but I will see if there is a 4,000 bonus added for booking this Las Vegas special on the PC website. Overall, our initial experiences as an Ambassador member have been very positive, and I am looking forward to booking a few nights in SF next. Still waiting for the Ambassador package with the bonus point voucher and free night certificate to come in the mail, but its only been around 4 weeks since I joined. I bought some points to push me into Platinum before the Las Vegas stay, so I’m looking forward to the added bump on base points earned with the new status to accrue points faster. Will keep my fingers crossed that the properties we choose to stay at honor the elite status…I believe it truly varies from property to property, so that is why reading posts/blogs about a particular hotel is very helpful (and worth the extra time to do that research) in making my decision to stay somewhere.
@Ann
They no longer allow you to purchase Ambassador with points.
I’m Platinum Ambassador. I have stayed 40 nights in IC so far this year, scheduled to hit 55 by end June and probably close to 80 for full-year. I am most frequently at IC Singapore and stay at least twice a month. Room upgrades are virtually non-existent and my experience and that of others at same/similar elite level are that the hotel will ‘upgrade’ you to a ‘Business Room’ which is just their basic low-end room with free internet, free breakfast and 2 pieces of laundry daily.