Kimpton Rewards Will Be Merged With IHG Rewards In 2018

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IHG purchased Kimpton back in 2015 but, at the time, chose not to integrate Kimpton’s Karma Rewards program in to its own IHG Reward program. This was seen by many as a peace offering to Kimpton loyalists who didn’t want to see their preferred boutique chain engulfed by the IHG behemoth.

Since then there have been various rumors circling around as to what IHG had planned for Kimpton Karma Rewards, but nothing much ever seemed to happen….until today.

This morning IHG has announced that it plans to combine Kimpton Karma Rewards with the IHG Rewards Club “in early 2018”.

Here are some of the details that IHG has shared:

• Members of the Kimpton Karma Rewards program will be automatically enrolled in IHG Rewards
• IHG Rewards Club members will be able to earn and redeem reward points at more than 60 Kimpton properties.
• All Kimpton Karma earned reward nights will be honored
• Karma member tier levels will map to IHG Rewards Club membership levels, and activity accrued toward an earned night will be converted into IHG Rewards Club points.
• Karma Inner Circle will continue to exist at Kimpton hotels and will be grandfathered into the program in 2018.
• The personalized perks and recognition that guests associate with Kimpton Karma will continue as part of the Kimpton experience, in addition to exclusive Kimpton offers, invitations to private events and more.

Here’s a screenshot from a Kimpton page showing what’s staying, what’s new and what’s changing for Karma Rewards members:

The loss of the Kimpton Journey Reward will be a hit for some – Kimpton would award two free nights (valid at any Kimpron property) to guests who stayed at ten unique properties in a calendar year and one free night for every additional five unique properties they stayed at in the calendar year.

Mapping From Kimpton To IHG

Because IHG Rewards and Kimpton Rewards are two systems that work very different from one another the mapping of Kimpton accounts over to IHG isn’t exactly a simple one.

Where IHG Rewards members earn points for their stays, Kimpton Karma Rewards members earn a free night after 7 stays or 20 nights.

Banked Free Nights & Nights Stayed

• Banked Kimpton Free Night Rewards will convert to IHG Rewards Club Free Night Rewards at a 1:1 ratio and will be redeemable from “early 2018”.
• Tier 1 Kimpton Rewards members will receive 1,000 IHG Rewards points per Kimpton Night they have earned towards their next free reward night
• Tier 2 – 4 Kimpton Rewards members (and Inner Circle members) will receive 2,000 IHG Rewards points per Kimpton Night they have earned towards their next free reward night

To put a value to those numbers all you have to do is note that IHG members earn 10 IHG Rewards Points per dollar spent at full service properties so Kimpton Tier 1 members are effectively getting a points equivalent of a $100 hotel stay….which seems harsh.

Tier 2 – 4 members are doing better with getting points equivalent to a $200 stay but, considering the cost of Kimpton properties, this still doesn’t strike me as being very generous.

Tier Status Mapping

• Kimpton Tier 1 ——> IHG Club (entry level)
• Kimpton Tier 2 ——> IHG Gold
• Kimpton Tier 3 ——> IHG Platinum
• Kimpton Inner Circle ——-> IHG Spire

Kimpton Inner Circle Remains as a stand-alone invitation only tier as well as mapping to IHG Spire Elite although IHG Spire Elites will not get Kimpton Inner Circle status.

Here’s what IHG/Kimpton had to say about Inner Circle:

Our most loyal members will continue enjoying Inner Circle status and all the rich benefits that come with it when staying at any Kimpton hotel. In addition, they also get all the great benefits of Spire Elite when staying at Kimpton as well as any other IHG hotel. Win win! Members who earn, or re-qualify, Inner Circle status by December 31, 2017 will enjoy both Spire Elite + Inner Circle status and benefits through 2018. To qualify for 2019, members will need to:

• Earn Spire Elite status

• Receive an exclusive invitation into Inner Circle

Earning an exclusive invitation into Inner Circle for 2019 and beyond is based on similar variables as today – loyalty to Kimpton. While the invitation criteria are unpublished, things like frequency of stays, spend, history and more are considered.

Benefits

This is what Kimpton Elites can expect from IHG Rewards (click to enlarge):

And these are the benefits each status level will now get at Kimpton properties (click to enlarge):

In case any non-Kimptonites were wondering what “raid the bar” is (I know I was), this is a benefit that offers guests a $10 credit which can be used at the bar in the hotel restaurant or in the in-room honor bar (the credit is raised to $15 for NYC properties).

More details on Raid the Bar here

Stays at Kimpton properties will earn a base level of 10 IHG Rewards points per dollar with the same elite bonus available as we already have in IHG Rewards:

Thoughts

As an IHG Rewards member I think I’m getting a better deal than Kimpton Karma Rewards members.

IHG Rewards members now have access to a lot of new (and often very nice) properties and, while that’s technically the same for Karma members, I can’t help but feel that they’re being a little stiffed on the nights stayed to IHG points conversion.

If Kimpton loyalists wanted access to IHG they could have had it quite easily already so I suspect there will be some disappointed people reading this news.

Still, a big welcome to IHG Rewards to any Kimpton Karma readers – hopefully you’re not overly annoyed (I suspect some of you will be) and if you have any tips for those of us who know very little about Kimpton Hotels we’d love to hear them in the comments.

Featured image courtesy of IHG