Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked King Classic on points got Premium King Corner City View (more than 1 level upgrade)

How are the rooms?
Room was very spacious with wall-to-wall windows and a nice City/Harbour combination view, was nice to see a different cruise ship parked right outside every morning! Nice separate shower from tub and bathroom was quite large as well.

Got two bottles of Italian mineral water and note from GM, daily water bottles were left by housekeeping

How is the exec. lounge?
Fantastic! The staff there is super attentive and full of useful information about the area (restaurants, sights, etc.) Right up there with IC Berlin in terms of staff quality. Lounge is open from 7AM-930PM, they serve a quite complete breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausage, potato, oatmeal, yogurt and a rotating hot dish) and the evening spread is more of a meal than canapés. Free pour alcohol from the taps (blonde and IPA beers, prosecco, chardonnay (Au Bon Climat), pinot noir (Rita's Earth) and cabernet sauvignon (Daou)) is really good quality and we certainly enjoyed the milestone benefit access!

What was good and what was bad?

Good
Excellent IHG one benefits recognition
Large spacious rooms with daily housekeeping
Great location right on the harbour with 3 aircraft carriers parked outside (I am an aviation enthusiast so having the CV Midway museum carrier and two CVNs (Abraham Lincoln and Carl Vinson) in my field of view was a treat)
Fantastic Club staff
10 minutes from airport by bus ($2.50) which stops right in front of hotel

Bad
This is more IC general, I cannot stand the standard fluffy soft pillows found in all ICs, plus the ultra tight sheet and comforter setup that winds up restraining me in the middle of the night
Quite pricey if not on points (seems year round in the $300-400/night range), not sure I would pay the higher end of rates here. Always busy however

Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?
I found excellent values using my points (even though some nights were 40K, had a lot of points to burn so was not too bothered), I will certainly return when I am in San Diego