Years ago I used to be Ambassador level at IHG, their highest level, and was reminded today of why I abandoned IHG for Hyatt and Marriott. IHG doesn’t really listen to their customers, their processes are customer unfriendly, and they waste a lot of customer time unnecessarily. I have a stay coming up at the Holiday Inn Express Kuala Lumpur, but my IHG online account doesn’t show it. I wanted to add my IHG number to the existing reservation made through an airline to get the confidence that the reservation could be seen by IHG before showing up to check in. Both IHG and this airline have been a nightmare to deal with the past, so it’s scary to show up for check-in without having a reservation to point to that the hotel can see on their own site.My call to IHG was routed to their call center in the Philippines. The person answering seemed to be irritated by my request and read me a lot useless not-applicable info, and provided no help. The second person I was transferred to, Bleu in Makati, did seem to understand what I was looking for, but only offered to add the IHG number to the reservation AFTER I CHECKED OUT. I asked her how this would allow me to point to a reservation that the hotel could access if it was not done before check in. She put me on hold several times trying to get a supervisor. Each time I talked to her there were loud roosters in the background. In the end I was cut off 43 minutes later and never talked to supervisor. Nothing was accomplished except a huge waste of time. I then typed this summary up and called one more time to give IHG a chance to correct this so I didn’t need to Post this. I was transferred to IHG supervisor Vita in Baguio, Philippines. After explaining all to her (person #5), she put me on hold to try to call others to get direction. After 24 minutes I was cut off, AGAIN. Time to cancel IHG and go back to Marriott if the booking airline allows.IHG, please learn to listen and actually help your customers. This is why you lose your best customers. I encourage those wanting to use a US chain to use Hyatt and Marriott instead. They value and listen to their customers.
