Holiday Inn is in
IHG Rewards (formerly known as Priority Club), and there's no need to "work on" status there, if you're USA-based. Just get the Priority Club Select
credit card (or whatever they've renamed it or about to rename it), and you get
instant Platinum status, lots of one-time signup bonus points, a 10% rebate on reward redemptions, and after 1 year, when your modest $49/year annual fee is finally due, a free night certficate usable at most properties worldwide (I'm not sure if all the resorts qualify, but it's not explicitly capped at a tier at present).
At first, I didn't try Marriott much because in my pricepoint it was mostly some Fairfields and only some of the time, but then I discovered LNF (Marriott's Best Rate Guarantee), and I'm amazed at how much I'm able to use it to get even some full-service Marriotts down from $150+ to $80ish (sometimes even less). It gives you 25% off of the third-party rate you found, and you can in theory use it for every single hotel night you need, there are no restrictions on "once a month" like at those programs where the BRG gives you totally free night. And you earn normal Mariott nights/stays/points/promos on such LNF discounted stays! YMMV, but if you didn't know about this, you may want to look into it to see if it's worth giving Marriott another try. Start here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...rsion-brg.html
(Btw, I avoid Courtyards too!
)