The 2017 Chicago Seminars was held this weekend at the Holiday Inn Elk Grove near the O’Hare airport. It was the 8th year where award travel beginners and veterans gathered to discuss the latest tips, tricks, and trends in the miles and points world. I was fortunate to be selected to present on Kimpton Hotel’s loyalty program, Kimpton Karma Rewards.
Related posts:
- Kimpton Annual Sale: Fast Track to Inner Circle Status
- The 11 best travel tips from Chicago Seminars
- Join me at the Chicago Seminars 2017
In This Post
Kimpton Karma Rewards merging into IHG Rewards Club
As luck would have it, Friday morning I woke up to an email from Kimpton announcing that they would be merging the Karma Rewards loyalty program into IHG’s Rewards Club in early 2018. Click here to read about the Kimpton/IHG integration.
I freaked out a bit because this news meant I had to completely redo and update my presentation. Here’s my Tweet to Kimpton.
Couldn’t you have waited until Monday @Kimpton? 😂 Now I have to redo my entire presentation for tomorrow https://t.co/KSKFpKHIvA
— Bald Thoughts (@BaldThoughts) October 20, 2017
Unfortunately, there is still a bit of uncertainty even after reading the announcement, including that the exact date of integration is still a bit fuzzy. Even though I’ve reached out to several contacts within Kimpton, the answer remains “early 2018.”
My best guess would be March, but who knows.
My Kimpton presentation at Chicago Seminars
Although this was my first presentation at the Chicago Seminars, it went really well. There was an audience of about 50 people and there were plenty of questions from the crowd throughout.
I was excited that so many people were interested in my favorite hotel brand, Kimpton.
Even though so much of the presentation had to be changed at the last minute, the presentation was well received. And several of my blogger friends joked about it and gave me a hard time. (Especially you, Rene.)
Click here or the image below if you’d like to download a PDF version of my Powerpoint.
I’d love to have your feedback on the presentation. Please comment below with your feedback and questions about the presentation and Kimpton’s integration into IHG.
The Bald Thoughts
As we know, the only constant in award travel is “change.” After IHG purchased Kimpton a couple of years ago, it was inevitable that Kimpton would eventually merge into IHG. We just didn’t know when. And because Kimpton was allowed to operate independently for so long without much involvement from IHG, we assumed that the integration was further into the future. That all changed with Friday’s email.
Stay tuned for more details. Plenty of other bloggers wrote posts about the changes, but they mostly just regurgitated the press release. As a true Kimpton loyalist with Inner Circle status, I’m working on getting some inside information that I can share and provide some strategy that will help you maximize Kimpton benefits going forward.
[…] those niche programs that has an almost cult-like following amongst the loyal. After listening to Lee Huffman from Bald Thoughts talk about the rewards program this past weekend at the Chicago Seminars, I can definitely see why […]
[…] The only facet of the program I am excited about for 2018 is the fact that Kimpton hotels have finally been brought fully into the fold. Sure, they are at the higher end of the points spectrum, but at least they have some more character. There are a couple bloggers who have loved being Kimpton Karma members (Lee @ BaldThoughts comes to mind). […]