I have complained to CEO/President level twice due to circumstances where NO response was forthcoming from the properties in question.
The first was to CEO of LHW because after a disastrous stay at a member hotel noone who return phone calls, faxes or e-mails. After 2 months of trying, always being polite and not badgering them constantly, I decided to see if contacting LHW could induce the hotel in question to respond. A fax to LHW yielded a response from the hotel.
The other time was after a series of disappointing stays at a top rated luxury chain I wrote to the President to inform them of some concerns especially having so many poor stays in a row. A couple hotels had responded to my original comments but some did not. This e-mail got the ball rolling in establishing a dialogue with the hotels in question.
Any other issues with stays have been dealt with the appropriate person during or shortly after the stay -- most often there is no need to escalate to corporate in my experience.