A room at the new Kimpton De Witt in Amsterdam, the group’s first European hotel. (Image: Kimpton)
Even though it’s been two years since InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) acquired Kimpton Hotels, the new parent company has left the Kimpton Karma Rewards program alone – until now.
But in early 2018, IHG said this week, it will fold Kimpton Karma Rewards into its own IHG Rewards Club. Kimpton members don’t have to do anything – their accounts will be automatically transferred into IHG Rewards Club, and existing accruals toward Karma Reward Nights will be converted into points in the IHG program. If a Kimpton member already has an IHG account as well, his Kimpton account will be merged into it.
As participants in IHG Rewards Club, Kimpton customers will earn 10 points for every dollar spent at any of IHG’s 5,200 properties worldwide, which are organized into 12 brands. They’ll be able to claim reward nights at any of those hotels, taking advantage of online award redemptions. They’ll encounter no blackout dates for reward stays, and will be able to use IHG’s app to manage their accounts and bookings, IHG said. Members will also be able to redeem points with many program partners and for “experience” awards like concert tickets.
Kimpton Karma members who currently hold tier status in that program will be given an equivalent level in the IHG program. Kimpton Karma Rewards’ Inner Circle “will remain as an invitation-only tier within IHG Rewards Club Spire Elite,” the company noted.
Here’s a summary of what’s changing and what’s not for Kimpton members:
Source: IHG
And here’s a quick look at new tier levels and benefits:
Source: IHG
Since IHG acquired Kimpton, it has been actively growing the brand, and recently expanded Kimpton’s property roster beyond its North American base. Earlier this year, the brand opened its first European location – the Kimpton De Witt in Amsterdam – and a Paris property is in the works as well. And just this week, IHG announced it has signed management contracts for the first three Kimptons in Asia – a villa resort in Bali, a resort in China’s Hainan Province at Haitang Bay in Sanya; and a 150-room/120 villa property in Shanghai.
Rendering of the planned new Kimpton hotel at San Jose’s Tech Museum. (Image: Kimpton)
Kimpton is also adding new U.S. hotels at a rapid pace. It recently cut the ribbon on a new property in Los Angeles, the Kimpton Everly (see Chris’s review here), as well as its second hotel in downtown Denver at the city’s recently renovated Union Station. Next month, Kimpton is due to open new properties in Charlotte and Palm Springs. Longer term, Kimpton is developing a new hotel in San Jose as part of an expanded Tech Museum of Innovation in that city, among other projects.
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