Both IHG and Marriott offer members a birthday gift in their accounts. IHG has apparently run this promotion since 2016, giving 1000 points after your birthday each year. IHG points are not worth much, but it is still better than nothing. Marriott, on the other hand, gives one Elite night credit instead of a free night certificate, which can help with earning or renewing status. Neither benefit is huge, but they are easy enough to collect. In late November this year, I successfully received both gifts from these two hotel programs. If you do not pay attention, the systems will not necessarily issue them proactively to you, or they may miss you because of a system problem, as can happen with Marriott.

Since many readers may need this information, I have consolidated the articles originally posted in 101 News here. Below is a simple summary of how to get these gifts and how to request missing credits.

Basic requirement

Whether it is IHG or Marriott, to receive the birthday gift in your account, you must add your birth date to your account in advance. If your birth date is on file and you stay at a hotel on your birthday, you may even get an extra surprise.

  • IHG path: Go to the IHG website → Personal Information → ADD Birthdate
  • Marriott path: Go to the Marriott website → Profile → Personal Info → Date of birth

Note: After your birth date is added, any changes will require contacting customer service.

IHG account birthday gift

IHG’s birthday gift is 1000 IHG points, and this has been the case since 2016. At first, IHG would send you an email reminder so you would not forget. Later, IHG stopped sending emails and instead pushed a Message in the IHG app or on the website. You also need to register in order to receive the points. My birthday was in late November, and I received the notice in the app the day after my birthday. The path is shown below; just click through step by step:

Then follow the prompts and register for the offer.

  • Registration link (If your birthday has not happened yet, or if you have not added your birth date, you will not be targeted.)

After registering, you will receive an email notification, and the points post almost instantly. In My offer, the promotion appears as “Birthday Gift”:

  • This year’s offer appears to run through March 31, 2020, and will probably be renewed afterward

and the points activity will show as “Register For Offer”

How to request it if missing

If you added your birth date to your account before your birthday but forgot to register, first try the link above. If that does not work, then try contacting customer service.

Marriott account birthday gift

Note: It is possible that too many people have been requesting missing credits, and Marriott has realized there is a system problem and is trying to fix the automatic posting system for the Elite night credit. Still, you can try the method below. H/T: reader genius110

[This Marriott section was originally published in 101 News]

Marriott has long offered a birthday benefit: on your birthday, it gives you one birthday Elite night credit, which counts toward earning or renewing status. Marriott co-branded cards can give 15 Elite night credits each year. Add this birthday night and you have 16 total, leaving you 19 nights short of Platinum’s 35 nights. If you also hold a meeting at a hotel to get 10 Elite night credits (discontinued), you would only need to stay 9 nights yourself each year to renew status.

Before Marriott merged with SPG, this benefit was very reliable. It was rarely missed. But since the SPG merger, this Elite night credit has often failed to post. I received it normally last year, but when my birthday came again in late November this year, I found that it had not posted.

How to request it if missing

There are two main ways to request the missing credit:

  • Contact customer service directly by phone, email, or Twitter
  • Register on the Marriott insiders forum and submit a request there

The first method has proven inefficient. Customer service often cannot solve it right away and may need to open a case for investigation. The only advantage is that you may first receive 1000 points in Good Will points, but afterward the birthday credit often still does not get added.

Marriott insiders is essentially a Marriott member forum, and it is much easier to submit a missing-credit request there.

If your SPG account has not yet been merged with Marriott and both use the same email address, you can only register one insiders account. Find CustomerSupport and submit your request there.

After filling in the basic information, you can write any brief message; simply say request birthday Elite night credit.

Usually you will receive a reply the next day. The response is fairly standard:

Hi there,

Thank you for reaching out to us here at Insiders. In order for us to look into this on your behalf we need you to reply to this message from your Insiders inbox (not email) and confirm:

1. That your birthday was listed in your account before it occurred
2. That you have had a stay in the last year
3. That you are subscribed to receive all correspondence from Marriott Bonvoy including the News & Program Information, and Offers from our Partners

If you can confirm the above please let us know by replying to this message from your Insiders inbox(not your email) and we will look into adding your birthday Elite night credit.
If your birthday was less than 10 days ago please wait a full 10 days to see if you receive an email with a link to collect your birthday Elite night credit before reaching back out to us to look into it on your behalf.

Please keep in mind this is not a free night stay and credit from previous years cannot be added this year


After receiving this reply, respond through Marriott Insiders and state that you meet the three conditions above and have not received the credit. Customer support will reply again:

Hi there,

Thank you for your reply, we are in the process of filling this request for you. If all is in order, you should see it updated in the next few business days. If for any reason we need updated information, we will be in touch.
Please keep in mind this is an Elite night which counts toward your Elite status, not a free night.  You will see it updated under the Nights Earned section in your account activity.  There is a details link that you can click on, this will give you your 2019, night breakdown, the Elite night is counted under “promotional.”


I was able to see the added Elite night after about 2 business days. Hopefully readers will have the same success.

Note that each year, you can only request the missing birthday Elite night credit for that same year.

Other

Some hotel groups or airlines will send an email saying they have not forgotten your birthday and wishing you a happy birthday. If you are willing to ask, whether with a hotel, airline, or bank, you can actually call on your birthday, and customer service may have some discretion to offer you Good Will Points, YMMV. It may feel awkward to ask on an ordinary day, but it is easier on your birthday. Sometimes when you call with another issue, customer service first needs to verify your date of birth, which makes for a natural opening.