With British Airways setting the bar comparatively high in terms of refunds, its the turn of Intercontinental Hotels Group to see if they impress in the customer experience of getting my money back.
For context, I had a non-refundable booking at the Holiday Inn Heathrow, made before COVID-19 became a serious threat.
And it’s been not a challenge – but it took two attempts to get my refund.
For this sort of cancellation, I hung onto the phone as opposed to dealing with webforms that were looking confusing. I requested a refund in early March once IHG had changed their policies. Alas – no refund was forthcoming. I was even more shocked I had a notification they were still expecting me.
Except by this point, the United Kingdom was in lockdown.
So I made another call to IHG – who looked into it and found the booking was still open. This time, I received a cancellation email on the 30th of March. From here – it was time to wait.
And it was a 25-day wait – but eventually, my Curve Account pinged me an alert that a refund was about it hit my account.
And as usual, the cash found it’s way back into my credit card account.
Not too long of a wait for a refund… but pick up the phone if you want help
Whilst this wasn’t the smoothest experience – at least I got my money back in full, without any questions thanks to the IHG Refund Policies that are in place.
A 25-day wait for a refund – whilst not ideal – isn’t the worst I’ve had for a refund.
However, once again by picking up the phone helps a lot if you’re not sure what the website says… and you can get a mostly positive experience.
Just don’t expect the cash in your account straight away…
There’s a couple more in this series… where the refund experience goes from weird to downright nasty… Stay tuned for more!
Welcome to Economy Class and Beyond – Your no-nonsense guide to network news, honest reviews, with in-depth coverage, unique research as well as the humour and madness as I only know how to deliver.
Follow me on Twitter at @EconomyBeyond for the latest updates! You can also follow me on Instagram too!
Also remember that as well as being part of BoardingArea, we’re also part of BoardingArea.eu, delivering frequent flyer news, miles and points to the European reader.
