Skift Take
Whatever IHG ultimately does as it proceeds with this loyalty program merger, the No. 1 thing they don't want to do is to anger Kimpton Karma elites. We also wonder: Will new IHG CEO Keith Barr start letting IHG's most elite loyalty members get access to his phone number too?
It's been 1,008 days since InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) acquired Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, the company that jumpstarted the boutique hotels movement in the U.S., for a cool $430 million.
And in those thousand or so days, there hasn't been much news to report on the two entities' respective loyalty programs, both of which have continued to operate separately — until now.
Friday morning, IHG announced that by early 2018, Kimpton Karma Rewards will become a part of IHG Rewards Club, forming a combined loyalty program with a single points-based reward system.
When the combination of the two programs is completed next year, all Kimpton Karma Rewards members will be automatically enrolled into IHG Rewards Club, which is considered to be the world's largest hotel loyalty program by membership numbers with more than 100 million members total. IHG wouldn't divulge exactly how many members are in the Kimpton Karma Rewards program, or what kind of overlap there is in membership between the two programs.
Kimpton Karma members will then have access to IHG's total portfolio of more than 5,200 hotels in nearly 100 countries worldwide. IHG Rewards Club members will also now be able to earn and redeem points at Kimpton's more than 60 hotels in North America and Europe. IHG Rewards Club current status will be recognized and members will receive all applicable in-hotel benefits beginning in early 2018.
"IHG Rewards Club members who stay at Kimpton hotels will receive 10 points for every qualified dollar spent on room revenue," Susanna Freer Epstein, SVP of global loyalty marketing for IHG, said. "Elite members will receive bonus points on top of that. Any valid Karma Free Night Rewards will be converted to IHG Rewards Club Reward Nights and will remain valid in members' new IHG Rewards Club account, with existing expiration dates."
IHG also noted that Karma member tier levels will "map" to IHG Rewards Club
