Changes to Priority Club Reward nights?

I got my monthly statement from PC, and it states:

Any clue on what could this be? there is nothing new on the link as of now. I put up my thoughts here...
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/livef...valuation-to-ihg-priority-club-reward-nights/

OK. Devaluation as expected.

Crowne Plaza will be 25,000 or 35,000 points/nights vs just 25,000 until now.
Indigo - 25,000 or 35,000 vs 25,000 until now.
InterContinental - another 50,000 points level.
Holiday inn - another 20,000 points/night level.

So no more cheap 25K CP NYC

NOT cool...one of the things that has kept me using IHG properties...

Maybe Hilton HHonors will run a Luckiest Loser promotion?

Bad news for what was a decent program. I'm pretty upset by this latest move. It may be time to re-think hotel programs.

I just had a telephone meeting with Priorioty Club's VP Don Berg.

25% of Priority Club hotels are increasing reward cost.
20% of Priority Club hotels are decreasing reward cost.
55% of hotels no change.

There will be no list of hotels changing tier level. Don Berg told me their research indicates Priority Club members plan hotel stays by destination and not by the reward cost of hotels.

He also says publishing a list would give their competitors an advantage. I guess that means Priority Club has an advantage over Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and Starwood since they all publish a list of which hotels are in each reward category.

Priority Club members have a 60-day window from January 18 to book hotels through the customer service center at the old lower cost or rebook hotels that have dropped in points cost. So probably until around March 18 we can book at lower reward rate. There is a 360-day booking window for reward reservations.

But still a devaluation of the program!! I'm already angry with them because they don't recognize status on Reward Nights, which means all those nights means nothing to them since you're not paying and it's like they are making you a favor by letting you stay in the property for free!

very cute of them , they did some very nice promos last year in order to lure all those who were at the Programs they stayed with, especially Bashed Hilton and now they themselves simply follow Hiltons lead

well it was nice but I dont see PC working out for me going forward

yes, but don't forget the devaluation of the BOGO by having to book through a special URL at infated rates (at least IMO)

Mr Berg needs to do some more research, while yes I look at destinations, it is the # of points required that make me decide whether to stay at a particular destination.

So just have the next megado at IHG properties (There are usually good IC properties in cities where we would visit for the megado), and pay for everyone's room with the IHG credit card

Hope they will continue with their best Point Breaks program.

I think some folks are missing an important piece of info in the line I have bolded below:

Not like someone else here, or the competitors couldn't draw up their own list

I'll wait to see the list and compare. Remember Aeroplan did some a similar creative statistical analysis to sell their award chart changes last year.

Lists of properties and their award rates (from some months ago) is here:
http://milepoint.com/forums/threads...-to-points-needed-for-redemption-is-up.21733/

The real question is how those hotels were determined. If I was Priority Club, and in a face of devaluation have to make myself look good, I would take the list of the hotels and reduce the award to the 20% of the hotels which have the lowest redemption nights (I will guess that with the size of Priority Club there are hotels that do not get any redemption night or very few nights a year). I still can say 20% of hotels decreased their cost - but that will cost nothing to me, as no one redeem nights there anyway. On the other hand, I just increased the cost for the 25% of the most redeemed hotels.

The best hotel for the least amount of points typically is the deciding factor in where I go [or some other similar calculus]. In other words, at least one person absolutely does determine where to go based on hotel award rates. .

Anyone want to take odds that 100% of this 20% are Holiday Inn Express and Candlewood Suites?

I'd actually be pretty ok with that. I don't redeem for ICs as for the most part all I need is a clean, relatively quiet room with a bed. I don't plan to spend huge amounts of time in a hotel.

yeah I'm not thrilled with this latest change. I just changed jobs and getting ready to really ramp up my stays. I was going to hit IHG hard but now I may rethink this.

could not agree more Rob, while Mrs Sweet Willie & I pursue 'luxury' to a certain extent, PC points have come in handy (for us) far more times for non-IC properties. Especially seeing as even as an RA that benefits are not honored on award stays at some (many?) ICs.

And that is exactly why, if they're going to start charging more points to stay at properties, they should at least sweeten the sting a little bit by matching their competitors and giving elite benefits consistently on award stays. Especially RAs (though of course I am biased...)

On topic:
IHG's loyalty club to raise point rates for 25% of hotels - USATODAY.com

Had to find a little good news from the article.