Originally Posted by
vsevolod4
The one year that the qualification was transparent, qualification included all IHG properties (which meant some people gamed it with HX) with a 3 IC minimum, and benefits included Kimpton and Regent, but subsequently, the benefits were taken away (but if you stay at Kimptons you get Inner Circle).
And there has some explanation that it is based on ICH hotels only. No 6S, Vignette, Kimnpton, Regent, Hualuxe. Personally I wouldn't mind it if it counted and also if we got benefits across those properties. Sadly not all of them have lounges.
Ah those were good days. That one year (11 years ago now!), the Crowne Plaza Wakkanai had a mistake rate of 700 yen per night. So I flew to the north of Japan and checked into it for something like a month. Of course, as luck would have it there was a lightning storm and return flight was cancelled, so I had to bus back to Sapporo and fly immediately the following morning as I had to be at a work meeting, but it is those adventures we remember the most.