general45

My wife and I have a huge amount of Priority Club points but for whatever reason have always stayed at Hilton and Marriott properties. I have always had a stigma about IHG properties because of the bad experiences we had in the past.We just completed a vacation trip which had us making reservations with customer service each night based on where we were.We decided to use some of our points at IHG properties.
Our first night was Brookings,SD.We stayed at a HIE.I was given a goody bag with water and a snack.This is a great property with comfortable beds, a really good breakfast selection and employees who really seemed to care about the property success.
Another night was spent at the West Senaca NY Staybridge Suites. They had a spinning wheel when we checked in for prizes. Some of the prizes were soft drinks, snacks. I won 1,000 points! We were upgraded to a spacious suite. The breakfast was also very good and the receptionist took the time to print out driving directions to Mulberry Restaurant in nearby Lackawanna when we asked how to get there. again, the employees were very friendly and had a "can do" attitude.
Than we stayed in Burlington VT. It's an older property but O.K.I received a Platinum goody bag filled with food,water, a Schick razor and discounts for area attractions.We didn't stay for breakfast so can't comment. the room and bed were very comfortible.
Another night was spent in the Auburn MA HIE. The property is 7 years old but very well kept.The eggs at breakfast were inedible,but everything else on the menu was very good. Overall,we were both impressed with this property.The only downside was the constant sound of "Jake Breaks "from trucks exiting from I-90. If you can, request a room facing away from the Interstate.
Based on the experience we had,we will be using IHG for more stays in the future.I am Diamond with Hilton and Gold with Marriott but Intercontinental has done alot to improve its image by updating or building new properties and eliminating others that didn't measure up to therte new standards.
Unlike Marriott and Hiltons high redemption rates, we only used 55,000 total points total on our trip to redeem for these IHG rooms.I'm sure there are still some IHG horror stories out there, but they have definitely earned the opportunity for us to do more business with them.

Keyser

i agree with you general45....even i was a little hesitant to give pc a try & was sitting on a great number of points thanks to all the fantastic promos last year....but over the last 6 months i've spent over 30 nights at the holiday inn jaipur, crowne plaza dubai, intercontinental madinah, candlewood suites new york & crowne plaza - the city in london....i have been extremely impressed with each property & the service i have received....

with the recent dilution of the diamond force benefit at hilton, i am now going to drop that program & concentrate on pc as my second program after spg....

Nolarchy

General45, not trying to be ugly, merely just curious, if you never stay in IHGs, where'd all the points come from? Was thinking maybe you had a points tree in your yard and would send me a cutting.

You're spot on with the redemption limits. I have found many 10 to 15k properties that were perfect for overnight/weekend getaways. Yeah they may not have a ton of frills, but frankly if I'm going to the beach, I'm not there for the room.

Keyser

i managed to accumulate almost 500k points with just about a dozen nights in pc properties over a 6 month period....thanks to stuff like ctc, luckiest looser, various promo codes, pc visa bonus, etc....pc has been really nice to be....

typhoon

Really? 500k/12 nights? ^

While I follow assiduously the promo thread, I have been less fortunate than you Keyser. You must share your secrets for such a splendid points haul.

I'm glad you got good value from your IC points general45 but what caused you to have a stigma about a whole hotel group? There are bad eggs in every basket, as much in the IC group as in Hilton or Marriott. Welcome back to IC and don't forget the great value from pointbreaks at 5k/night too.

Points Scrounger

I am in full agreement with your observation.

Keyser

no real secret....i've signed up for every promo code available on the promo thread & end up getting anywhere from 10-20k per stay....ctc got me 130k points, another 60k for getting the visa card, 20k each for card spends, luckiest looser & stuff like the 'anywhere challenge' & 'win it in a minute'....it all adds up very easily....

general45

We both have accumulated over 600,000 points over the years with credit card churns and spending.We both received "Crack the case" promo offers for 330,000 points collectively. Points don't expire and we never really used them.We thought we would give IHG another try after a few years of very disappointing stays. Hope that helps.

By the way my "points tree" is reading "Frugal Travel Guy", 'View from the Wing", "Points Guy" and "Free Frequentflier Miles" religiously every day of the year.

general45

I live in Maine and some of the properties we had were consistantly inconsistant(can you say that) in quality and personel. One property had a blood stain the size of a half dollar on the pillow(face down)and another was extremely dirty when we arrived.

Another property in Bangor was aging and in need of a facelift.Needless to say, the first 2 properties mentioned have been retired and rebranded in the last year and the other in Bangor has seen some improvements to conform with IHG's commmitment to bringing consistancy to their product line.

I guess it was the fact that I never really had a bad experience with Hilton and Marriott and IHG IMHO seemed to have quality problems that I decided to devote my spending to the former properties. My recent stays at IHG tell me that they have definitely made progress in the last couple of years.

Of course, being the mileage and point junkie that I am has never stopped me from taking advantage of every IHG promotion that came along.

sweets61250

You location says India. Is there a PC credit card for India?

Keyser

nope....i used to live in the US....

mookie10

+1 - a lot of disillusioned Hilton members will start rediscovering IHG - they now have a good opportunity to cement their brand loyalty.

Ziptie

And this is the reason that I only have a couple of nights this years when in the past couple of years I have had 80+ each year.
They reward the infrequent guests and make it hard to collect for the regulars.
I will get more points by opening a new account and staying just a few nights per year. Way to go. IHG