Explorer789

I have a hard time believing that too many people who are currently loyal to SPG will move away from the Marriott/SPG brand. Sure, there will be some shift in benefits for the higher tiers. But for a larger number of people, the free breakfast and lounge access as a Gold completely upgrades the stay experience.

As others have mentioned, IHG is considered a backup for me. Biggest issue is that most often there are Marriotts family hotels for similar price with higher review ratings and newer rooms than that of IC or Holiday Inn.

beachmouse

Another fan of the premium extended stay hotels here. We've also had good luck with Hyatt House. Just wish their footprint was bigger.

I think FT chatter just really skews toward premium cabins and luxury hotels, but there are plenty of us out there who had a happy stay with a new or recently renovated Holiday Inn Express lately. (Heck, my back-up chains are La Quinta or the 2-3 star part of the Accor portfolio so I'm definitely a peasant sort here ) I'm also ore interested in free stays than perks, not that I turned down the two category upgrade at a Staybridge a few weeks back or anything. And IHG has typically been an easy earning program for me.

Land-of-Miles

At the end of the day though the low end stuff doesn't yield much in terms of status benefits. On my few forays into SB I have never had a room type other than that booked. There just isn't the return for status so whilst it may be a solid choice it's unlikely anyone who has Starwood status not earned wholly from 4P or Aloft would be that motivated by the joys of SBS or HIX.

The last thing I would ever want is free stays in a SBS or HIX either, it isn't like there are an array of killer resort properties to choose from and the last thing I want to do with my leisure time is spend it in dreary provincial backwaters or edgy areas of larger cities.

robnc35

I live in Thailand all of my IHG stays have been in this part of the world. 2 years ago i loved IHG always got club access and upgrade at all IHG properties over here as Plat. Then about 4 or 5 months before Spire started all the Benefits started to fade away. Club Access was gone had to pay.. and room upgrades were nothing to write home about.

Like has been said on this thread i guess its a preference. If free nights is what your looking for then i guess IHG is the way to go. I on the other hand really like being treated as little bit special for my loyalty. Club lounge and suites are more my thing..

Thats why over here i switched to Hilton because i know what i am getting. Im Diamond and always get lounge access and 90% of the time i get a suite. and always free breakfast either in the lounge or in the main restaurant.. With IHG none of that happens anymore (used too but not anymore)

This week staying at the Conrad and Hilton Sukumvit in Bkk both nice properties. Last year it would have been CP BKK which i still like but with no benefits for being Spire whats the point...

beachmouse

One person's provincial backwater is another person's gateway to a national park. Starwood and Hyatt are just too small to be interested in Montrose, Colorado (The amazing Black Canyon of the Gunnison), Springdale, Utah (Zion), or the Olympic Peninsula, where it's either a tired and overpriced park lodge, if available, or the HIX or Hampton just outside the gates.

I've also got zero interest in beach resorts. I already live in a perfectly nice beach area where I can get that experience by driving ten minutes across the toll bridge to some of the best white sand beaches in the country and then returning to my 'deluxe three bedroom villa' (aka our house) in a 'golf course community' when it clouds up. As far as I'm concerned, the only reason to visit Hawaii is for the mountains.

ElmhurstNick

Even since the devaluation a couple of years ago which allowed HIX/CP to go into the 30k+ range, I've gotten incredible value booking HI/HIX at the entrance to the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone. 35k vs. $300+tax for any property in the area is a no-brainer.

Sometimes you just need to sleep for six hours.

rbAA

I thought CP's UPG'd to Club access for Spire-at least I have been, though I have never stayed at the CP BKK. I've read that most are UPG's there.

Like I've said before, I've had great luck with UPG's to suites in Thai HI's and HIR's.

The thing I never liked about HH when I was DIA was the properties are pretty bland and usually the Lounge breakfasts was just so-so. Might as well save the money, move downscale a little and eat out. And, generally there's a reasonably priced HIX (cash or award nights) near where I need to be. For example, while I like staying at the IC SF, I usually need to be in the East Bay (and the car parking is outrageous at the IC and surrounding area,) so I'll use the HIX Walnut Creek or CP Concord instead. When they're >$200, good use of points. Plus, in San Clemente, I am there for a week three or four times a year and in high season, very pricy. Planning ahead, I got the HIX SC for 20k per night versus >$200 on the nights it was available.

Land-of-Miles

There is no guarantee of any meaningful upgrade at CP or any other brand as spire or RA. They may give you an upgrade but they don't have to. Even those that gave you an upgrade including club last week may change their mind this week. It truly is a dogs breakfast.

You might get lucky and have good upgrade experiences but you just can't depend upon them. It is all down to the properties really.

robnc35

The Bkk CP does not give upgrades to spire. I'm good friends with the staff in the club lounge was always bringing them food from chiang mai. They were very apologetic when i was there last time. But the policy is no more suite upgrades and no more club lounge unless payed for. As far as hilton goes here in SE Asia(i wouldn't bother with the ones in the USA or Europe) i really have been enjoying them.. drinks in the evening and their breakfast which you can have either in the lounge or restaurant.

rbAA

That's fine, as for me, I stay at the same properties frequently. As I previously mentioned, even a first time stay at the CP Wangfujing (Beijing) resulted in lounge access, though I was under the impression it was a standard benefit in China.

Maybe a review of actual experiences by a selection of FT'ers would help:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/inter...perties-4.html

I was impressed by post 55-a PB stay- with lounge access.

LondonElite

Why don't you just stay in the hotels you like Esther than having the tail wheels the dog. These silly hotel 'loyalty' programs aren't worth the effort people put into them.

rbAA

While I tend to agree that's the best approach, I tried that decades ago when I got tired of Marriott and HH, especially their European properties. So, I started trying well regarded independant properties, or upscale chains. Enjoyed the experience until the dollar crashed the end of the 80's/early 90's and the prices soared but the benefits didn't match up. Also, found the quality and consistency of those types of properties could also be more unreliable than what we have to deal with in the chains.

One real benefit of IHG is their price points. I can justify not having breakfast or lounge drinks/snacks included when I save more that what their costs are. Especially in areas when the food and drinks are substantially more enjoyable outside the hotel, or where I just don't feel like being couped up in a hotel. Usually, the hotel F+B is just OK, unless a really top property, and even then, breakfast offerings are usually no better than going to Waffle House.

beachmouse

I'm rather bummed they finally noticed that the HIX-Zion NP/Springdale for 20K a night when rooms routinely were going for $250+ a night (close to $300 after taxes) was honestly decidedly underpriced points-wise for summer high season cash pricing. 30K is still pretty fair but no longer the really good redemption deal it used to be.

Land-of-Miles

If you want to believe that IHG operate a consistent programme where status will always yield the "right results" then you will.

My practical experience over many years as RA (and thus Spire, previously Plat and with some additional recognition in some properties as RA even though they are not IC's) is that it is a total lottery and apt to be made up on the day by the person checking you in.

The latest wheeze in Europe is lounge access only for the member (when the lounge "has capacity") which is just a formal way of saying "it's a lottery".

That would drive me insane if IHG was my main programme and first choice of property, at the moment it is usually 3rd to 4th behind Hilton, Marriott and Starwood except in locations that have an IC where status benefits are MUCH clearer.

I think you really have to separate the core from the edge cases. All of the praise I have seen of IHG has come from those use cases which are on the margins not the core of most customer needs.

So IHG may be the best choice for long stay redemption in base rooms of 3rd tier towns and lodging close to the fringes of national parks in the US. What proportion of the potential global IHG customer base shares that as a primary motivator? It would be charitable to say we are talking about the 20% not the 80%.

rbAA

Of course, no program is perfect. But if you believe that IHG operates only as an inconsistent, unreliable system where status is disregarded, then that is your reality. You're welcome to it.

"3rd tier cities" are necessary travel locations, too, but I wouldn't consider South Orange County, California beach communities as such. Of course, there's no IC there for you. But then, getting to know the management at any brand of hotel always leads to better results whether its at the IC HK or a beach area HI. Maybe just being nice to a FD staff member checking you in will make the difference.