The point about elite status is that most of us in this thread, and in Flyertalk in general, have elite status. I have zero interest in judging a hotel as someone without elite status because that is meaningless to me.

As for whether IC is luxury or not, like I said it's not in the class of the real top brands such as MO, FS, Rosewood, etc. But neither is St Regis or SPG Luxury collection or most RC's. I have a lot of experience in each of these brands in the cities I go to and IC is very much in that class. Some cities better, some worse, but generally in the same class. I can't claim to have that experience at every city in the world, but then who can?

As for the Hilton PL, I once spent a night in one of the huge Park Lane suites and the room was indeed very nice and spacious with great views. But the rest of the hotel, especially the EL, was decidedly on the lower end of the 4 star spectrum. Not as good as the IC PL. IMHO anyways.

And those "suites" at the Park Tower are just two of the cookie cutter rooms joined together right? Even as SPG Platinum booking an Executive level room I've never seen a suite there. While I have seen many different suites at the IC PL booking entry level and even on award nights.