how to fix an "access denied" message

Unless you're using a true VPN tunnel, such as between you and your employer's, school's or bank's servers, they provide false security from a privacy standpoint.  Read these articles:  FPubic VPN's are anything but public,, Former Malware Distributor Kape Technologies Now Owns a Number of Public VPNs and a Collection of VPN “Review” Websites and Security Risks: The Dangers of Using Free VPNs (eccu.edu).  

Just some food for thought.

Try turning your VPN off. I use “TunnelBear” as my VPN. I could not access IHG reservations using the link they sent me. I tried turning my VPN off and it works. Weird. I turned VPN back on after doing what I needed to do.

Try a different browser.