Many frequent travellers are accustomed to climbing the status ladder with their preferred airlines. The further up the status ladder you go, the greater the benefits you gain. However, many travellers are not as aware that many hotel loyalty programs offer similar status levels. And again, with that higher status comes greater benefits. For those in the know, however, the requirements to reach status with hotels just seem more out-of-reach than for airlines. Why? Because many travellers can rack up status points from airlines via day trips for work (or leisure, for that matter). Whereas hotel loyalty programs require stays and nights. And in many cases, multiple stays and multiple nights to get meaningful rewards.
So wouldn’t it be great if there was an option to fast-track your way to hotel status? Introducing the InterContinental Ambassador program. For an annual membership fee of US$200 or 40,000 IHG One Rewards points, you fast-track your way to a special status within the IHG One Rewards program. It’s not an IHG One status in its own right; rather, it sits alongside the IHG One Rewards program.
Such a paid membership is quite unique in the industry. Accor is the only other hotel chain offering a similar pay-for-benefits membership through its Accor Plus program. This guide runs through all the benefits you can expect if you join the InterContinental Ambassador program.
What is the InterContinental Ambassador program?
After you’ve paid the US$200 or 40,000 IHG One Rewards points annual membership, there are no other requirements needed for the Ambassador program’s benefits. As an Ambassador member, you will receive:
- Guaranteed one-category room upgrade
- Guaranteed extended 4 pm check-out
- Complimentary weekend night*
- Platinum Elite status in IHG® One Rewards, and the corresponding benefits
- Restaurants & bars credit of up to USD$20 for every stay*
- Complimentary mineral water
- Complimentary internet
- Dedicated check-in area
- Single room rate for double occupancy
- Mainland China Only: Complimentary breakfast for one each night you stay
* Terms & Conditions Apply. See Full Terms & Conditions.
As an Ambassador member, you will be upgraded to Platinum Elite status within IHG One Rewards. So technically, when you join Ambassador, you can’t be anything less than a Platinum Elite Ambassador member. Stay enough at IHG properties and you can upgrade yourself to Diamond Ambassador status.
Unlike Ambassador, which is only recognised within the InterContinental brand, Platinum Elite status is recognised across the IHG portfolio of brands.
Invite only: Royal Ambassador membership
Select InterContinental Ambassador members may be invited to join Royal Ambassador status. This is an invite-only tier extended to a small percentage of members based on their activity at InterContinental Hotels & Resorts.
The benefits of this invite-only status include:
- Guaranteed two-category room upgrade
- Free Night at an IHG property*
- Guaranteed extended 4 pm check-out and early 10 am check-in
- Club InterContinental® lounge access where available, and complimentary breakfast for two per night at properties without a Club InterContinental lounge
- Complimentary Weekend Night*
- Diamond Elite status in IHG One Rewards, and the corresponding IHG One Rewards benefits
- Updated for 2024: 25 Food & Beverage Rewards valued at USD$20 each* (this replaces the previous minibar benefit)
- Complimentary premium internet
- Choice of a sweet or savoury snack, or fruit
- Dedicated check-in area
- 24-hour room guarantee
- Waived destination/amenity fees
- Single room rate for double occupancy
- Invitation to Kimpton Inner Circle
*Terms & Conditions apply. See Full Terms & Conditions.
What are the best perks of InterContinental Ambassador?
My three favourite benefits are the granting of Platinum Elite status, the annual complimentary second weekend night stay and the one-category room upgrade. With the latter benefit, this has the potential to offset the majority of the annual membership cost.
Ambassador free weekend night certificate
There are some restrictions on the use of the free weekend night certificate. You must make sure that you select the Ambassador Weekend Rate (IHG-speak for flexible rate). And that you book on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, except in the Middle East, where you must book Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Otherwise, there is no free second night for you.
Clearly, a flexible rate is more costly than a non-refundable rate. However, for two-night weekend stays, using the certificate will generally still be cheaper than booking at a restrictive rate. Therefore, the second free night offers great value.
ANZ Rewards Velocity Platinum
- Sign-up Bonus:
- Up to 80,000 bonus Velocity Points
- Rewards Earn Rate:
- Earn 1.5 ANZ Reward Points per $1 spent on eligible purchases up to $2,000 per statement period, then 0.5 Reward Points per $1 you spend on eligible purchases above $2,000 per statement period. Keep on your auto redemption to transfer your ANZ Reward Points to Velocity Points. 2 Rewards Points for 1 Velocity Point.
- Annual Fee:
- $149 p.a.
- Get up to 80,000 bonus Velocity Points + $50 back with the ANZ Rewards Platinum Credit Card. Earn 60,000 bonus Velocity Points and $50 back when you spend $3,500 on eligible purchases the first 3 months from approval, plus 20,000 bonus Velocity Points when you keep the card for over 15 months from activation.
Ambassador room upgrades
Room upgrades are valid on any commercial rate. Your upgraded room is based on your original booking rate. As an Ambassador, that is a one-category bump.
The best way to use the room upgrade benefit is to carefully research the room types at the InterContinental Hotel you are looking to stay at. Target the specific room category you want to stay in and then book one category below this. As a tip, you may wish to email the hotel before booking to ensure you book the right room type.
We’ve collated some of the room upgrade policies for Ambassador members in Asia-Pacific here →
Once booked, you can then revalidate with the hotel (again by email) that they will be upgrading you to the room type you desire. Some InterContinental Hotels will upgrade your reservation category for you in advance so you can see it on your online booking or through the app. Don’t be disappointed if this doesn’t occur, however, as it is not an officially published benefit.
How does InterContinental Ambassador work with IHG One Rewards?
As a refresher, Ambassador sits alongside IHG One Rewards and is not a status level within the IHG One Rewards program itself. That is, the word ‘Ambassador’ is going to be tagged onto the end of whatever IHG One Rewards status level that you hold.
In 2022, IHG made changes to its status levels, which included new names and changes to status benefits. Here is a link to the changes to the IHG One Rewards Rewards program.
Summing up
For an initial and ongoing annual fee of US$200 or 40,000 IHG One Rewards points, you get a host of benefits when staying at InterContiental Hotels and Resorts, as well as some benefits that extend to the entire IHG group of brands. Specifically, the Platinum Elite status.
These benefits make your travel experience just that more comfortable and stress-free. From extended check-out time to a restaurant and bar credit, these benefits all help to make the travel journey run smoothly.
Therefore, if you frequent InterContinental Hotels and Resorts, the Ambassador program may just be the fit for you.
Article updated by Brandon Loo and Daniel Kinnoch.
Do you hold InterContinental Ambassador membership?
Have you had a great value Ambassador stay? Let us know in the comments below.
I’m so disappointed I fell for this. It’s not clear anywhere the free weekend nights is SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY. Like other commenters do not purchase the ambassador program to get a free weekend night as chances are it’s not available at the hotel or weekend dates you want.
I was a member for a year. It was great to get some status perks but it is limited to Intercontinental hotels and not the broader IHG branded hotels so the options are very limited in Australia and I find Intercontinental hotels to be a bit bland and stuffy without any vibe or edge so I did not renew. The only good thing was upgrade to Platinum Elite status which I was able to milk the extended checkout benefits at other IHG brands. Unless you love Intercontinental hotels I think Accor Plus membership may provide better variety and value where you can simply redeem 1 free night vs having to buy a 2 for 1 weekend here (which Fri/Sat eve’s are the most expensive nights to purchase).
Royal Ambassador now and have to say it’s a little disappointing. I heard a few years back it was incredible, the unlimited minibar etc.
The $20 vouchers get used up pretty quickly and when you stay more than 130 nights a year, the actual normal ambassador credit ends up being more beneficial. Once the vouchers run out, that’s it!
I am actually going to ask to go back to normal ambassador as it works out better.
Thank you for an informative article but I have some comments on the ambassador and the intercontinental rewards program. I have been an ambassador member for a long time and currently I am a diamond elite member with around 1,400,000 points, but I must say that I am very disappointed with the program because it does not provide any significant benefits ! For years I have been a loyal customer to intercontinental hotels world wide, yet I have never felt special. On the contrary I was a member in the hyatt group rewards program and I had much less points, yet they always showed me respect and appreciation and I felt the significant advantages of being part of their program. I must say that I am very disappointed and thinking seriously to going back to the hyatt group.
Great article, these are always very useful. I purchased this program with a view to using the rewards night to visit family in Sydney. All the other benefits were nice to have, but the rewards night was the main target since I go to Sydney anyway, and do like the Intercon Sydney. But when I came to book, there are no rooms available for the entire year of my membership. Not one. After querying it with support, they said talk to the hotel. The hotel said sorry, but they don’t have access to the system that makes them available and they must all be booked out.
In fact the two most likely places I’d stay, have zero nights available for the year, the whole duration of my membership. It is a really good program on paper, but maybe if you are thinking to take it on the basis of a weekend in a particular location(s), check with support first that they have any nights available.
By the way, great tip about gathering information on the specific room types, and requesting the upgrade accordingly.
Has this only recently been extended to Australia? I have been a platinum member for a number of years. Some years I qualify easily others I am scrambling to get the nights required to maintain. Am I reading this right, you pay 200US to join this and then you also get platinum automatically with no qualifying nights or points required for the platinum? Doesn’t seem right to me? I only ever stay at Crowne Plaza or Holiday Inn, could I still do that?
I am made to feel genuinely welcome at Intercontinental Adelaide I have always had room upgrade with no issue. I’m sure room service is delivered asap for all guests ,but I have been surprised several times at the speed of delivery.
The late checkout is worth every penny of the annual fee.
I recommend highly.
Thanks for the great article. Are you allowed to book the stay with other travel websites such as Expedia and Agoda? And then call the hotel to lunch in your membership details. Curious if that will get you to enjoy same benefits provided that you’ve booked the right type of room rates?
No you only get the benefits if you book direct with them.
Interesting, but not all that informative. How much does it cost in AUD? Where in AU may one use it? USD were excellent in the first half of 2014, but not now.
A glossary may be handy, given some of the earlier comments:
“Guess” is American for suppose, imagine or presume.
“Vacation” is American for holiday.
“Realized” is American for realised.
Sadly all those execrations came from the same correspondent.
“Melburnian” means Melbourner; think of Londoner, Berliner, New Yorker, Brisbaner etc. Simply add an R to Melbourne and you’re sorted. Has to be the worst appellation since “Sydneysider”, although that dreadful place also adds no fewer than two syllables to its name. Obviously those dreadful unfortunates should be known as Syds, not only saving no fewer than three syllables but restoring English to Australia.
If I am already IHG Gold Elite and purchase IC Ambassador will I get bumped up to Platinum?
No, unfortunately not.
Sorry if this sounds stupid, but I’m new to all this rewards travel stuff.
I’m interested in signing up for the IC Ambassador program because I’m planning a vacation to French Polynesia in 2018. So, I checked out the rates for a random week to stay at an IC in the area using the direct link on the IHG reservation page.
I guess I misunderstood how this works because during my first attempts, the website said the Ambassador Cert would not apply despite the fact my dates had me staying a week, including the weekend. Eventually, I realized the only way to use the Ambassador Cert is to check in on a weekend. Is that correct? It’s the only configuration that would work to kick in the Ambassador Cert for me.
In any case, once I compared using the IHG discounted rate for IHG members vs. the Ambassador Cert, I saw that there is not much savings for the type of trip I am planning. The Ambassador Cert rate was about $700 more than the discounted rate and that’s after I removed the price of one of the weekend nights.
I’m still going to sign up for the Ambassador program solely for the free upgrade. That makes membership worth it, but it looks like the free weekend night won’t really help for someone in my position (unless I’m missing something, which is entirely possible).
Hey Roxie – yes, you need to ‘check in’ on a weekend to use the certificate. In reality though you could book a non Ambassador rate until then, use the cert for another booking, and then another few nights with a third booking. That may minimise costs. Get the hotel to link the three bookings and you should be set – assuming there is a discount after getting the weekend night free.
The certificate night is more expensive because it’s charged at a more flexible rate – possibly the full rack rate. But usually after the second night kicks in you are getting a decent discount. But AFAIK you can’t use it to book a cheaper pre-paid, non-cancellable rate.
Hi Jack. Bali likes to try and get out of the upgrade to club but they did it for me at no cost when I booked a Duplex both in 2016 and in 2015. It did take a couple of emails before they finally gave in. Don’t take on for an answer!
I called the Bali IHG and asked what room I needed to book to get a upgrade to club, I was told the duplex which I did, I checked the app and I had been upgraded at the same price as the duplex room, I then got a email from the hotel telling me I now needed to pay additional 350 dollars, this after they confirmed the price.
Just seems wrong
Definitely flashed the Ambassador card at Sydney InterContinental’s Cafe Opera without a voucher, but I’ve checked the welcome pack and no mention of dining discount. It’s still mentioned as a benefit on the IHG iPhone app – click on your name, then “Earn”, “Dining Rewards” and the 25% is there. Agreed, not on website or iPad app either, so might be a legacy benefit they’ve forgotten to remove, however there was no argument at Cafe Opera back in July. One of the diners was our neighbour who had some really old membership (probably no longer offered) and that gave 20% off the entire bill but we used mine instead for the extra 5%. Anyway, seems maybe we just got lucky but it’s rather confusing. By the way, InterContinental Fiji is amazing. Used points to fly Business on Fiji Airways and they we awesome too.
Thanks for the reply. Only ever had the one membership type which is the $200 US Ambassador and the dining discount was mentioned upon sign up in June this year and honoured at the restaurant in Sydney. I’ll have to check the welcome pack.
Maybe it was a voucher rather than an ongoing benefit? I last Ambassador membership about 2-3 years ago now, it was useful at the time but haven’t since gone for it since. Dining discount doesn’t seem to be on the list on the IHG site either.
Hi Keith, I joined back in June when we were booking some hotels in the Middle East. Using the weekend night in Doha and have already been confirmed an upgrade to their Diplomatic Suite. However I’m sure there was a 25% dining discount included as one of the benefits. We’re currently staying at the Natadola Suite at the InterContinental Fiji but, whilst we’re getting well looked after in the Club, they are not acknowledging any dining discount. It’s still mentioned in the app, but I can’t find it elsewhere. We dined with 7 people at the InterContinental Sydney in July this year and saved 25% off th entire bill. I don’t recall being notified of a change. Can you enlighten me please if possible?
AFAIK a dining discount isn’t/hasn’t been part of Ambassador recently. Maybe you were thinking of IHG’s Dining membership program?
I used my Ambassador free night on a weekend in October at Intercontinental Wellington. As demand was high room rates were pushed up by $200. After allowing for the Ambassador membership fee this was a saving of $300 dollars. So the membership has paid for itself. One thing to note is because I wasn’t just staying for the weekend the reservation became quite complicated. I.e. I stayed Thursday until Monday which I booked via the IHG website. Because the free night only applied on a weekend rate stay the reservation staff had to make three separate reservations to cover the period. So it is possible to use the free night if your weekend is part of a longer stay. But you have to contact the hotel directly so they know you want to use your free night.
yes, Bert, that is true. I am at the Intercontinental San Francisco and the rate for Club usage is $50 pp/ pday. $60 for tow people.
For non Ambassadors it is $100/day.
The savings is still substantial though.
As for the Free Weekend Night coupon, things have changed there too.
I chose to pay for my weekend stay in cash this time instead of using my certificate: the “my rate” rate for two nights in cash. That rate does not allow weekend certificate usage and is much lower than the rates that allow for coupon use.
I hop to find a better use for the coupon later in the year.
I understood that of Sept. 1 2016, the Ambassador program does not give you access to the club lounge anymore. The club lounge will be accessible only for those who are paid club lounge guest. Ambassador members however can get access to a reduced rate.
How strict is IHG about only the member herself using the benefits? I’m wondering if I could get away with gifting my certificate to someone, if I make the reservation.
Thanks!
Nice one Antman! 🙂
I purchased an Ambassador membership for a family holiday to Hong Kong back in 2008; back then the joining fee and first year’s membership was $150. We stayed at the Intercontinental at Tsim Sha Tsui, the one with the incredible Harbour views. We received an upgrade from a Deluxe Harbour View Room to a Junior Harbour View Suite and used the free weekend night. Over the total stay of 4 nights, we saved about $200/night for the upgrade and the free night at standard weekend rates for a Deluxe Harbour View Room was about $700, which you need to pay to get the free weekend night (the advance rate was about $500). So, say $50/night benefit for the 3 paid nights based on the advance rate we could have paid plus $500 for the advance rate on a single night in a Deluxe Harbour Room (or maybe that should be $700, which was the advance rate on the Junior suite). So, a benefit of $650 or $850, depending on how you look at it, for an outlay of $150. Bloody good value in my books and still good value at the current price and room rates. I’m planning a Hong Kong and Singapore holiday later in the year and another Ambassador Club membership is definitely on the cards.
Nice, great maximisation of the benefits!
Hi,
That was a really useful write up. I had no idea this program existed and will make use of it in the future.
Thanks,
Dale.
Thanks Dale, glad you found it helpful!
Thanks for the comment Dale! Looking forward to hearing about your experience when you’ve had a chance to make of use of the program. 🙂