One very important point to keep in mind is elite chain status or the ability to get a top room at one of these hotels with your points. If you are in an entry or lower level room, I would not call the hotel experience "aspirational". For instance, I love the Park Hyatt Tokyo. But I have only stayed as a Hyatt Diamond member. If I tried to use points as a lower tier or non-elite Hyatt member and did not get a great room/suite at the hotel, to me it would be a relatively average hotel stay.

Thanks SD1K, but there are several newer IC's, especially in SE Asia, that I haven't visited. I hear the one in Danang is great. I agree that the IC Marseille is not only a wonderful palace, but it's also in the south of France which helps in the aspiration department. I can say the same for Le Grand Paris, but maybe I'm the only one because as a regular there I still get Club access and almost always a Prestige Suite on award nights. Hotel status isn't just about a shiny card or your tier. The best hotel status is that everyone at the hotel knows you because you are a regular guest and you get treated better than the highest tier in the chain. That brings up a point that most people here will probably not agree with. For me when I find a great hotel and a hotel that I feel at home at, and where I spend a lot of paid nights in, that is where I'd also like to spend my points at. Le Grand Paris is where I spend the bulk of my IC paid stays and IHG points at. If MO had points, I would use them all in Hong Kong or Bangkok because those hotels are where I spend the bulk of my money in those cities. And where I feel the most "at home".

Some hotels are aspirational due to their destination. Take the IC Nairobi for instance. It isn't in the top tier of hotels worldwide, but it is in Nairobi. And I love visiting Nairobi. It's a great place to spend your points at. I could rattle off a long list of great IC hotels in very inspirational locations, but I think that people in the top tier of IC, Royal Ambassadors, already know the hotels they like and the ones they would like to visit. So while I see some value in this list, I don't think it is really that necessary. If you are Hyatt Diamond and have a ton of Hyatt points that you can use for a great vacation, and you participate here on Flyertalk, then you probably know the Hyatt chain pretty well and have at least read about some of the great Park Hyatt hotels around the world. And as we all know when you turn on the TV at most of these hotels, you are presented with a special marketing channel for the chain which shows their top hotels in all their glory.