Originally Posted by
RedSun
.As usual, as IHG Platinum member, we never received any room upgrade. I guess to IHG, Platinum is low tier.
It is always hard to figure out the IHG loyalty program.
There is not much view since it is a city hotel. The chair is old as usual.Mini food and drink area. No one touches it. Room service people may be tired to clean them off the dust. Its bathroom is so common. There is only one sink. The
Thank You for the impressive well documented trip report ^
Some focal and data points:
IHG technically & historically has had no elite benefit for IHG Platinum members when staying in InterContinentals.Their other brands absolutely
There is separate recognition program that one must purchase through their Ambassador program to achieve recognition @ IC hotels if one wishes to be reasonably certain of recognition
Or one can do an extraordinary amount of business and be invited as a Royal Ambassador for free.
Some IC hotels still do a courtesy upgrade occasionally from what I hear from other Platinum's
Seems overseas benefits are even stingier on award and revenue in select countries.Considering Marriott Hilton & Hyatt are vastly superior you think IHG would fix this tp remain competitive
The IC Sydney has been the poster child of whats wrong with IHG Rewards/Ambassador across the board for years yet they remain within their rights due to the poorly written out of date guidelines/terms that IHG still publishes
The Inter-Continental TS has a mediocre restaurant buffet for breakfast that some may be happy with but its certainly nothing anyone would go out of their way for
The hotel has a reasonable upcoming renovation planned
Depending on the housekeeping team and floor one is on the room cleaning may be inconsistent based on which housekeeping team is on duty which can happen in many a large hotel
On an upside IC TS has an improved VIP area now for Ambassadors to check in with where the concierge team use to sit.They were very helpful to me
Ambassadors and Royals are pro-actively upgraded without request based on availability
While some IC hotels do upgrade Platinum members unfortunately they are under 0 obligation to do so and those elite members are on the bottom of the priority list technically
The only thing IHG Rewards shares in common with the Ambassador program is that all members may earn and redeem points through IHG rewards and that's where it officially begins and ends
IMHO the IC hotel has slightly improved on my last reward stay as an Ambassador earlier this month.
The room rate was over 400 plus dollars a night plus tax plus destination fee in December so 70,000 points plus a 20% points rebate
made good sense to me for a few nights
Happy New Year tomorrow!