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I decided to book here for an impromptu 5 day stay after seeing very reasonable rates and an unused Confirmable Suite Upgrade (note: all bookings non-refundable within 7 days of arrival). Diamond Ambassador here.
Room categories are quite confusing in terms of balcony space/loungers/sunlight if you’re looking for anything above a basic room. 11 phone calls through varying grasps of the English language and IHG central reservations confirms the CSU can upgrade into a 1 bedroom suite which photos show a big balcony with long pool, 2x loungers and lots of sun – happy days!
Applying the CSU 14 days before check-in – obviously everything has fallen apart. 7 phone calls later I manage to find someone who knows what a CSU actually is. It’s now only applicable up to a ‘junior suite’ (hotel dodgy dealings for a basic room plus a sofa) – and only twin bed variants remain. 3 more phone calls and I’m assured an agreement has been reached with the property – but even 5 days later no promised call-back appears. Booking cancelled while I decide if I have the energy to fight this nonsense.
A fresh attempt 5 days before my stay is magnificent – understanding exactly what I’m asking and a 1 bedroom suite is available and definitely confirmable! A booking is made, a brief hold while they liaise with the property and… suddenly the CSU is not valid for a 1 bedroom suite, your booking is non-refundable, and is for a twin bed junior suite. Not the wedding anniversary I had in mind.
On arrival the app shows I’ve been upgraded to a 1 bedroom suite – victory snatched from the jaws of defeat?
The room bears no relation to the photos of the category at all. A fully enclosed (on 3 sides) north-facing ‘balcony’ with roof with no hope of any sun, 2 small chairs but no loungers and shallow paddling pool. If I was paying full whack I’d have checked out immediately.
Rooftop bar and pool is a building site with no prospect of opening anytime soon – the ‘main’ pool is nice enough though.
As ever in hospitality – raise expectations at your peril, fail to meet them 100% and you’re already on the back foot struggling to recover. I’m sure our stay will be fine but in spite of the hotel so far – not because of it.
Trip report to follow – hit me up if you have any questions you’d like answered.
That’s unlucky – I called to apply a suite upgrade cert a few weeks ago and it was all done and dusted and confirmed in about 5 minutes! We got a beautiful 1 bedroom penthouse suite at the brand new Indigo Grand Cayman.
From another site (FT), it does sound as though IC’s do their level best to give guests the absolute minimum in terms of the upgrade.
Unfortunately, this is the score with brand new hotels In soft opening especially when the rates appear low. It’s opened when not all rooms are quite ready and as you say no rooftop bar / pool.
staff getting to grips with all the IHG nuisances et.
I’m sure the bits that are open will be great and hopefully they can grasp victory from the jaws of defeat by delivering from an F&B and relaxation perspective.
What an interesting start. Hope you can relax in Crete.
Very timely review! Did your stay get any better? Was considering using the upgrade voucher here, thought they would be more accommodating as a new hotel? Sorry to hear that wasn’t the case for you, what a nightmare
do they have a club lounge?
To add my own experience, I used my suite upgrade voucher here, which took me from a classic room to a junior suite.
Property then upgraded me to a 1-bedroom suite with individual plunge pool. Similar to OP, I wouldn’t have been thrilled if I’d paid the £500+ a night full rate. Nice views, no sun on balcony, plunge pool was filthy and tiny to the point of being unusable.
Overall, pretty underwhelming. Service was frustrating – they have a well rehearsed line to blame issues on being a new hotel (like no hot water in the evenings for three nights).
On the plus side, I’m now an expert in their many room categories if anyone has questions. There is no lounge.
Thanks both for posting this. It was one on my list for my voucher expiring in march.
I’ll give it a miss now if they’re playing games like this
I don’t believe it’s games.
Any hotel that has just opened and the staff aren’t IHG veterans will have issues. It’s why the rates are low you’re getting a low price for on the job training.
It’s not like there are millions of CSUs out there being used multiple times a day etc
I think the hotel closes for off season too closing between Nov and April so no good for your voucher.
@TGLoyalty – this is a serious IHG/IC problem. They cannot endlessly use the reason or excuse of being a ‘new’ hotel months after opening. IC aspires to be a four star chain under the IHG umbrella and has all the resources to recruit and train staff to brand standards well ahead of opening and to parachute in staff from existing properties to train and help in the early stages. The problem is that IHG/IC doesn’t do any of this properly so unless the owner cares, the place won’t be up to scratch and it’s then hard to recover. The yawning gap between the best ICs and the worst ones in terms of quality and rates has been a nettle IHG has consistently failed to grasp even though it’s clear that the IC brand really means nothing; zero consistency, guest confusion.
Don’t get me wrong not having hot water isn’t a “we’re a two month old hotel” type issue.
The person said their CSU worked and they got a junior suite and upgraded to a 1 bed suite I don’t see what the gaming there was.
My comment was about how they treat IHG elite guests and handle upgrades or know the ins and outs of the programme.
Anyway this is a hotel selling rooms from £165+ it’s not asking luxury hotel prices so I wouldn’t go there asking for Four Seasons level service.
The day it starts asking £400-500+ a night for base rooms is when you can start talking about its shortcomings as a luxury hotel.
Totally agree about the inconsistency of Intercontinentals. I think it’s fair to expect a certain standard.
For what it’s worth, there’s a similar hotel next door (Niko MGallery hotel). The Intercontinental was about 20% cheaper so it wasn’t exactly a bargain rate to mitigate new hotel pains.
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