I think you got unlucky. My experience is that the Ambassador and RA benefits at IC are delivered much more consistently than at SPG, for example. You will almost always get some amenity in your room (and if they somehow forget, you can call and they will send it), and most of the time an upgrade.

That said, there is just as much variability in the quality of the hotels as there is at SPG. They are just all over the map; some close to luxury hotels like Four Seasons (mostly in Europe), more of them comparable to something like a Westin, and a few that are real dumps (e.g. Austin and Dallas).

Overall I have been happy with IC as my second program. It is not first for me for three reasons: limited availability of reward rooms, too few locations, and a lousy credit card program. Aside from those three issues I would say it is as good as or better than SPG, Marriott, or Hilton (the others I have status in).