What is the Holiday Inn Cancellation Policy?
1 June 2018
Booking a holiday is an exciting time, however, there are times when your plans may have to change. Nobody wants to cancel a holiday they’ve booked and depending on the hotel provider you’ve booked with will determine what you are entitled to recoup. If your booking is with the IHG Group, then you’ll need to read the Holiday Inn cancellation policy to find out what the terms and conditions are.
Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express are owned by the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) which also owns Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, InterContinental, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites. Across all of these hotel chains, the policy doesn't change very much.
As there are many policies out there, it can be easy to be caught off guard when trying to recoup funds or change details for your booking. But, we’re here to help solve that for you in this blog post, so you know exactly what the IHG cancellation policy is. Let’s explore it in more detail!
Is My Holiday Inn Booking Refundable?
The hotel group has recently changed their policy to a stricter 24-hour cancellation policy, in line with other hotels like the Marriott and the Hilton (although their policies are 48 hours, not 24). This means you must cancel your booking 24 hours or more before you're due to check in to your reservation to get any money back.
However, this is only on flexible room rates. Most people opt for the ‘Advance Purchase’ rate, which is less expensive but is not refundable. The Holiday Inn cancellation policy states that once your room is paid for, you will be unable to get a refund if you choose to cancel.
Refundable Holiday Inn Bookings
If you have a refundable booking, this means that you will be able to cancel your booking up to 24 hours before your check-in date and time. The IHG cancellation policy outlines how you can cancel your reservation. Here are the steps you’ll need to follow.
- Log in to your IHG account.
- Go to the ‘Manage Your Hotel Reservation’ section of the website and input your confirmation number and last name. Click ‘View Hotel Reservation’.
- Make the change to the date or time, or cancel your reservation. It’s not clear if there are any fees for this but have your credit or debit card to hand just in case.
- Alternatively, you can contact the hotel directly to get a refund or change your booking.
What happens if my reservation was made using IHG Rewards Points?
If you have made your reservation using IHG Rewards Points, then you can still cancel your reservation up to 24 hours ahead of your check-in time and you will be eligible for a full refund. The points used to make your reservation will be credited back to your IHG Rewards account.
If your booking was made using a combination of points and cash, then the cash used to make the booking will not be refunded back to you. Instead, you’ll get further points credited to your account.
Any reservations that are cancelled with less than 24 hours' notice before your scheduled check-in time will incur a one-night penalty charge. For example, a 2-night stay that costs 40,000 points will mean you’ll receive 20,000 points back on your account and the remaining points will be deducted to cover the penalty fee.
Non-Refundable Holiday Inn Bookings
If you booked an Advance Purchase room and paid in full, it may have been non-refundable. Usually the non-refundable option is cheaper than the refundable option, which can be frustrating when you want to cancel and have a good reason but cannot. You can check with your hotel or manage your booking directly to see if your Holiday Inn room is non-refundable, but it is usually written in the booking confirmation.
If you can’t cancel your hotel reservation without losing out on all the money you spent, you might still be able to change the date or time to suit you better. Be aware that the Holiday Inn and IHG websites don’t mention explicitly how to do this or if there are any fees. Individual hotels are often allowed to dictate the terms and conditions around this so get in touch with the hotel you were planning on staying with to double check what you can do.
However, this might still not be an option for you, particularly if you know you won’t be able to use the hotel reservation at a later date. Instead of cancelling and ending up out of pocket, you can change the name on the reservation and transfer it to someone else online.
What To Do If You Can't Cancel Your Booking
If you have booked the non-refundable booking and cannot cancel your reservation then you may be able to change the name on your booking. If you can change the name either by using the manage your booking function or speaking directly to someone at your hotel, then you can sell and transfer your booking with TransferTravel.com. We are a fair and ethical travel marketplace for buying and selling all types of travel tickets that can no longer be used.
All you need to do is sign up to our portal and create your listing. Click the button below to get started, and read on for further instructions on how you can sell your listing.
Selling your IHG booking with TransferTravel.com
Now you’re aware of all the details of the Holiday Inn cancellation policy, you can follow these steps to create your account on TransferTravel.com and start advertising your listing to thousands of willing buyers!
- Sign up for a free TransferTravel.com account. You can use your Google, Facebook or Twitter account if you want as this will make it easy to share your listing on social media, and maximise your reach to more buyers. This doesn’t allow us to post on your profiles or access private information. However, you can log in with an email address and password instead and choose to connect to a social media account later if you wish.
- Click ‘sell’ in the top right-hand corner and create a listing. In addition to the important details like the date and location of your hotel booking, add any extras such as whether or not breakfast is included. It is then submitted for approval and listed in the marketplace for thousands of buyers to see.
- If someone wants to buy your hotel reservation, we’ll connect you with them through our secure messaging system where you can exchange any information you need to transfer. You will need to contact the hotel and change your booking.
- Upload the new booking details so the buyer can download them and use them. Once they’ve been used, your money will be sent to you. We take a 15% commission but this is only once the entire transfer process is complete.
Selling your IHG booking with TransferTravel.com
If you have booked a hotel that you have to cancel, then you may have to cancel your full package. Well, that’s where we can also help you sell your package holiday. Should you need to sell an unwanted flight or any other travel plans, then we’ve got you covered too.