According to LoyaltyLobby, IHG recently updated its official terms, with several notable changes to benefits and rules that many of us care about. Details are below.

One of the more important changes:

Outside of Greater China any guest listed as a second guest on a Reward Night reservation may stay on the Reward Night reservation without the member staying. Second guest must be over 18 years of age, provides valid identification and credit card.

In other words, a free night certificate or points booking can be gifted for a second guest to use on their own. The guest checking in must be at least 18 years old and provide a credit card and valid ID. Note that this rule does not apply in Greater China, which means you cannot simply gift the stay to someone else there; the account holder must be present.
In Greater China (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan) if a Member books a Reward Night on behalf of another person/beneficiary, the Member must contact IHG Customer Care no less than 7 days before the stay date. The Member must provide specific personal details for the guest who will be using the Reward Night, as requested by IHG. Any changes to such guest’s details must be completed through IHG Customer Care. If the Member fails to provide and/or change the requested information on time or the information provided is not correct for any reason, the guest using the Reward Night will not be able to Check-In and the relevant booking will be cancelled. This requirement applies to all Reward Nights earned through Stays, Points, promotions, or in any other way.

If you are in Greater China, you need to contact customer service at least 7 days in advance and provide the guest’s information to IHG. Any changes to the guest details or room type must also be handled through customer service. That is the only way to complete the gifted award night.
In the event of an erroneously published Reward Night point price, IHG One Rewards reserves the right to cancel the booking and refund the points. Members will be notified in the event that this occurs.

This means that if an award booking is priced at a glitch rate, IHG does not have to honor it and has the right to cancel the reservation outright.

Other changes include:

  • Priority Check-In removed from elite benefits: In my view, this benefit was not especially useful anyway. It was available starting at Silver, so it had become far too common. It might have made more sense as a Diamond and Ambassador-only benefit, but now it is simply gone.
  • Select Breakfast menu items may be excluded (such as specialty/local-themed items): This means that if your free breakfast comes from elite status, certain local specialty breakfast items offered by some IHG hotels may not be included. The impact should be limited, since relatively few hotels offer those kinds of specialty breakfast options.
  • Confirmable Suite Upgrades cannot be used on Ambassador Complimentary Weekend Night certificate stays: This closes a small loophole. Ambassador free night certificates can no longer be combined with confirmable suite upgrade instruments.

The new terms can be found here: