Uh Oh. IHG May Not Keep Kimpton Karma Rewards Based on This Find

I was looking at hotels in Chicago the other day for this upcoming holiday weekend, and after booking one, decided to check out the homepage for the new Kimpton De Witt hotel in Amsterdam, wanting to use several free nights I have with Kimpton.

I saw they were accepting reservations starting in June, but when clicking on the link to book, I received a pop-up. Uh oh…

Bookings for the new Kimpton De Witt hotel are now being done on IHG‘s main website, and further, Kimpton Karma Rewards and the Kimpton Best Rate Guarantee don’t apply. Crap.

What Does This Mean?

Just based on this little snipped, I suspect that IHG really will do-away with the Kimpton Karma Rewards program, which I consider to honestly be one of the most valuable hotel loyalty schemes out there. Here’s the odd thing, though – Kimpton has opened several new hotels recently, and more in the pipeline, but the De Witt, seems to be the only one moving to the IHG website, which is confusing. That said, I suspect if IHG had any intentions on keeping Kimpton Karma, they wouldn’t so boldly state that none of the Kimpton rewards or policies apply.

IHG could have kept both IHG Rewards and Kimpton Karma, just as Marriott had done with Ritz Carlton. The two loyalty programs could live side by side, and since Kimpton truly was  unique brand with its own culture, I honestly could have seen this happening. But, there’s the flip side where it’s just easier to roll it into one program, which makes redemptions and earnings all come out of the same system. That said, I’m extraordinarily sad to see the Kimpton program die in the process, because it really was (well, is, for the time being), one of the best loyalty programs. I don’t know anyone that doesn’t love Kimpton, if that’s saying anything.

To get a free night at any Kimpton or IHG property worldwide, get the IHG Rewards credit card!

What do you make of the notice on the Kimpton De Witt’s website?