Crowne Plaza Nanchang Riverside by IHG

I booked a soon-to-expire IHG credit card anniversary free night through IHG’s 1-800 reservations line for a friend, since I wasn’t going to be there. I made the booking directly in my friend’s name the day before, and she wasn’t added after the reservation was created. She checked in without a problem, but about an hour later the staff called her room and said I had to contact IHG again for approval because I wasn’t present. I called IHG, and their reservations team tried calling the front desk. They couldn’t reach anyone who spoke English, so they opened a case. The hotel replied the next day saying that, under some China policy, my friend needed to be on the reservation at least seven days in advance. IHG hadn’t told me this when I booked, and the hotel didn’t raise it at check-in. If they had, my friend would have left right away. The staff also couldn’t explain the situation to IHG support when they called. In the end, she had to pay the nightly cash rate, which would have included breakfast. She earned no points on that payment, and my free night expired and couldn’t be redeposited, despite the manager assuring me at checkout that it would be.