ProjectSunburst : thank you, i will do a curtsy in appreciative flair



The reason why there exist:
AMB for Intercontinental hotels
InnerCircle for Kimpton hotels
IHG-1rewards status for other IHG-brands

is that it al started with Intercontinental hotels having just the AMB programme

afterwards Intercontinental as a company grew / fused to become IHG : Intercontinental Hotels Group
Its portofolio were
Intercontinental hotels and a lot of other brands (aimed midscale/limited service etc)
for this end IHG-rewards (old priority club) loyaltyscheme was set up
AMB-programme was kept because Intercontinental hotels reported high% of repeat customers and found it essential in their business strategy
(somewhere floats an IHG slideshare presentation -google- about prepandemic AMB strategy and retainment focus)

Kimpton was acquired by IHG
It had its own Kimpton Karma programme of which Inner Circle was their top status.
This managed to survive during the takeover and
it seemed an essential to Kimpton hotel's philosophy

That's the short story ... for longer i would advise to delve into the depths of FT's threads