Please help me settle a disagreement I am having with a traveling relative.

I have an IHG CC card which gave me some bonus points and I now use it for most of my travel. Basically, I travel for leisure 6 to 10 times a year and most of the places I travel to or through are medium sized to small cities that are not near major metropolitan areas. IHG has a lot of properties in these types of cities so it works well for me. It's either an IHG hotel or a locally owned hotel. Of course, I am a member of the IHG rewards program as well as many other hotel reward programs.

But, I will at times spend a bit more (usually $5 to $20 a night more) to stay in an IHG property rather than another equivalent big brand, because I figure that if I spread out my stays among a number of hotel companies I will never earn much int he way of upgrades, bonus points, etc.

My traveling relative thinks I am nuts. His argument is that if Brand H will sell me a room for $10 a night more, I should take the deal and, eventually, I will get an upgrade/bonus of some type from one of the hotels. And I can spend the savings on buying an upgraded room if that is what I really want.

I suspect that people are all over the map on this. But, I would appreciate hearing your story, and how it worked out for you.