Royal Ambassador
What is it?
- It’s the über elite program for Intercontinental branded hotels and resorts. Access By invitation only – although the invitation rules are fairly well known and listed below. You can look forward to a life decent upgrades and an all you can drink complimentary mini-bar!
How do I get it?
- Technically it’s invite only – but you can either earn it or blag it!
Earn it:
(Note the published requirement is to be in the top 1% of customers and be an Ambassad0r. What follows are the unwritten rules)
- Join as an Ambassador and pay the current fee (US$150)
- Stay 5060-70* nights in any hotels within the Group
- With a minimum of 3 nights in 3 different Intercontinental hotels within your Ambassador Year
- You should then be upgraded to Royal Ambassador (sometime a prompting phone call helps)
* Updated summer 2009
Blag it:
- Every Royal Ambassador that qualified the hard way has a referral voucher to invite someone else into the scheme
- They sell on ebay for US$500-US$900 – ouch..
What do I get if I make it?
- Everything an Ambassador gets and..
- A new membership card / luggage tags
- Instant Platinum Status
- If you earn it (instead of blaging it) you will also receive a referral voucher
And when I stay (officially Paid Stays only)?
- As above – Everything an Ambassador gets and..
- 1,000 extra points on every stay (So 4,000 in total)
- Guaranteed room upgrade at time of check-in to an Executive or Suite room (which in practice leads to a two level upgrade on what you book)
- Welcome gift (such as chocolates or biscuits)
- Guaranteed room availability for one room with 24-hour advance reservation (although they may offer you the presidential suite at silly prices)
- Depending on the hotel – extra perks such as club lounge access or improved upgrades
- 8am Check-in
@Rgeene
Ebay! But I’ve heard of experiences of “lost post”…
@malte53
If you send a voucher now, your new status will only last until Dec11. Renew your status, and then send your voucher.
@tdmobile
I’ve heard that you need at least 3 different IC’s – and then ~60 nights anywhere in the group. Are your IC’s different or the same?
A question: I am a newly minted RA member. Should I book the lowest possible room at the lowest possible rate in order to take greatest advantage of the program? So even if I book a room with a twin bed, will I end up with a room with a king bed, for example?
@Shawn
As an RA, you book the least expensive room. Your upgrade does not depend on the room you book but on your negotiation skills. At a hotel with a club, you will get a minimum of club room with club access. No club? Minimum of a suite. Getting a free breakfast on top of the suite is sometimes easy (far east) sometimes hard (Willard, IC Chicago), but is always possible. I have been more
than 100 nights as an RA in more than 20 different IC, and was never denied an access to club; only once, in the absence of a club, denied free bfast (Tampa, but they gave me the presidential), and only once got club, but no suite (Grand Stanford, in one of my 5 stays there).
I asked many IC employees what the rules are for getting an RA. I got it in 2009 instantly after registering for the ambassador. In the 6 months prior to that, I had spent about 90 nights at
IHG hotels, including about 20 at IC. I was told that nights alone do not make it: an RA must
stay at 3 different continents. I cannot contradict this claim, since my stays above were in America, Europe and Australia. To stress: IHG hotels in 3 continents, not IC hotels in 3 continents!
@admin
Add-on: the “3 different IC” that is being mentioned above cannot be correct. I got it with
2 different IC, and one of them was free (some promotion) and was months before I registered to the ambassador.
Suppose someone blagged it. Does he get to renew it every year. Or is it just valid for the period in question..?
RA referral voucher, 5oo$, if anyone interested contact me
Sorry – this is not a platform for trading RA vouchers.
I have just received my RA “SHARE” referral certificate that now states that associate receives all the privileges of RA “All for an initial fee of $200.” and “not for barter or resale” … so they have finally stopped the trade in these or at least dropped the value of this. Very disappointing.
still selling your RA certificate?
@david