IHG have sent out an e-mail to their members that effective January 1st, 2017 members must book directly through IHG to enjoy all the benefits of IHG Rewards Club membership. Previously you weren’t able to receive points or elite night credits from third party bookings but some IHG properties would recognize your elite status even if you booked with a third party.
It looks like that starting from January 1st, 2017 that will no longer be the case and you’ll need to book directly with IHG to have that elite status recognized. The reason that hotels want you to book directly with them is that third party booking sites such as Booking.com or Agoda charge these hotels high fees (anywhere from 10-25%, although chain hotels can usually negotiate a better rate than independent hotels). If a hotel can get you to book directly, they save themselves a huge amount of money.
Full e-mail can be found below:
