If that's the plan, you'd end up staying at non-Hiltons most of the time. As someone mentioned, corporate-owned or leased properties are <4 percent, so you're looking at <200 properties worldwide.

IME, HGI's rarely upgrade and it's not one of the stated perks for that brand. Also, I believe all HGI's are franchised.

That being said, there is a big difference in how accommodating various properties are, some are great at giving upgrades or better breakfast options, while others are downright stingy. It would be great if Hilton would enforce more consistent policies, but the risk (and probability) is that if they enforce consistent policies we'll end up getting less everywhere.