I would stick to Intercont hotel or Hilton. My current preference is Intercont. If you can wangle it through work purchase their ambassador status which will give gold and other up-grade advantages within Intercont hotels. Pick-up their visa for an extra 10k point and with your stays you'll very quickly make platinum. There are codes at the start of the forum for stay 5 nights and get an extra 10k.

For your uk travel they have a wide range hotels even very local with the HI express. I made plat in 8 months which extends the ambassador up-grade benefits across all of the brands.

If you have an Emirates skywards number check out the skywards forum and the post on Hilton H Gold. I'm silver with Skywards and the link worked giving me gold.

Cheers