I don't necessarily expect IHG to be anywhere. (But SPG has an "Inka Terra" resort or something similarly named in Peru that's far outside a major business destination, but I guess IHG doesn't do resorts the way SPG does?)

At any rate, obviously not at Machu Pichu town itself (there are only small indie hotels there in town), but Cuzco is a sizeable city and is the typical departure city for Machu Pichu. So I would expect a presence in Cuzco before bothering to promote your hotel program with Machu Pichu.

The text of the ad (when you see the ad in its larger form where there is more text) talks about Hawaii. Why was the picture not of, say, Hawaii (hopefully an insland on which they have hotels!), rather than Machu Pichu???

Yes, I realize one hotel program won't get me through South America. At Igauzu Falls, on the Argentian side there's only a Sheraton (SPG), within the park no less, and on the Brazilian side there's I think only a Best Western, among hotel programs. In Salta, Argentina, again there's only a Sheraton, and then an hour north in Jujuy there's only a Howard Johnson (WyndhamRewards).

But until I looked up Machu Pichu after seeing this goofy ad, I didn't realize just how bad the Priority Club presence in South America was. It's not one of those "in this place, you can only use this program, and in that place, you can only use that program" programs there (like BW, SPG, and WyndhamRewards are). I think every single one of the cities it's in there are plenty other programs there too.

(There are, of course, other parts of the world, including the UK, where Priority Club is the program with propreties in places where no other points program has properties.)

Does this have something to do with it? Ie, are they more timid in South America because it's so far away and so different from their home base (compared to US-based programs)?

Do they make up for it by having a better presence in parts of Africa than other programs (that are based in the US)?