IHG has become my wife's primary chain after we all but gave up on Hilton. Their footprint is indeed good; in our experience the quality of the hotels and guest service are a notch below Marriott but still better than Hilton (equivalent brand-to-equivalent brand). There seems to be a huge gap between the typical Crowne Plaza (which I would equate to a low-end Sheraton) and Intercontinental (which are more like St. Regis)--I think they could use a near-luxury brand in there both in terms of quality and pricing.