Dave Noble

I cannot see any reason to be loyal to any of the programmes. Getting points / status etc is a nice outcome of travel but try and avoid letting it lead to making poor decisions. For my stay this week , a CP was a perfect choice but previous week Accor was a much better value option than what IHG was offering

mnredfox

We all play the loyalty game differently and for different reasons. Makes you really think about what loyalty really means.

nicolas75

I am very loyal to programmes which reward loyalty.

I do think that IHG rewards its most loyal customers very nicely with the Royal Ambassador status (even at CPs and HIs).

One of the reasons why I stay at Accor hotels only when no other choice is possible (generally good hotels, but very poor loyalty programme).

Dave Noble

Conversely I found for my Mel trip, that week, would have spent $236 at the HI to get a suite vs $197 to get a much nicer suite through Accor. That was $39 a night value straight up.

FlightNurse

I have learned that not one hotel company can take care of my needs. This is why it is IHG and SPG for me, between them both, I can stay in any time of hotel I want.

When it comes to NYC, _I_ feel that IHG gives the best deal... I have about 150 mights with SPG, which about 75% of those nights are at a Four Points hotel the other nights about 75-90 are in HIX...

zyxlsy

Agreed with the Tokyo part. The Strings by IC is pretty nice and rightfully priced. However, I did spent four nights in Ritz Carlton in Roppogi, paid by the company. The room size is like twice the IC's corner room, but the price is like tripled...

Basically what I'm doing these days is I open tripadvisor and filter the results by IHG + MR + SPG. Then I pick the first one from the top which I can afford

zyxlsy

I think IHG points can be good, although like a previous post says you have to be using the right promo, which I constantly forgot to seek around.

But, the award nights can be quite tough to enjoy when on vacation because it only gives you the basic room type. Yes, in MR you pay more points to get better rooms so basically it's not so different. But with MR you always feel you get more choices in using the points, maybe because I like their website more, as it spells out your choices very clearly.

zyxlsy

It reminds me my first trip to NYC. Was using SPG exclusively at that time (naive days), and ended up paying $500 for the first night, and $250 the second at a W on Lexington Ave.

The next trip I switched to IHG, a year later it was. Selected the HIX near Times Square, and was shocked at the $180 price tag. Even more shocked that it was quite the same as the HIX, room-wise...

If you go to NYC, which HIX/4p you choose? I just found some Residence Inns to be pretty good. If I go with IHG, I'd stay at the StayBridge on the 40th (near Port Authority). The street looks not good at night, but the hotel is really nice.

skaya

Probably easier if your employer pays your bills. Then build up status, and get benefits both on work and leisure trips.

For the fully self paying its another game.

BrightlyBob

I agree, comparing spend rates alone is pointless, but so is comparing only basic earn rates. These schemes are so different that the only real way to peer through the mist is to look at real outcomes... But to do that I guess we do need to start hypothetically, at what you can get for the points.

On a hypothetical redemption, on a like-for-like basis might see:

Hilton 60k vs IHG 40k vs Marriott 35k vs SPG 25k

On that basis SPG points would be the best, when in fact they're merely the most valuable. They are also by far the most difficult to accrue at a base rate of 2 or 3 per $. HiltonPesos seem to be the worst but in fact only have the lowest value. They also accrue the fastest at 20 per $. Marriott and IHG sit at 12-15 per $.

However this ignores the effect of bonuses, here Hilton offers lots of extra points, Marriott, not quite as strong, SPG bonuses offer fewer points on bonus promos, but as discussed those points are more valuable. IHG on routine promos (ie, stay X nights, earn Y bonus points) is probably similar to Marriott BUT their non-routine promos are the game changers. Using the codes on this board and the IHG Big Win in 25 paid nights spending about $2500 I've earned about 230,000 points, that's over 90 per $!!! And I'm not alone, just last week another FTer indicated he'd earned at a rate of about 80 points per $! By comparison I've earned about 100,000 Marriott points on a spend of about $5000, about 20 per $.

So real outcomes are Marriott 20 points per $, IHG 80+ points per $. And in no way are Marriott points worth 4 times more than IHG. The IHG earn rate is crazy and makes IHG loyalty well worthwhile.

BUT here I'm talking only about loyalty, not exclusivity... I'm loyal to Marriott because I prefer the hotels and their scheme is altogether more rounded, offering a balance of points and benefits, free lounge, real probability of upgrades and free breakfast. My 35 nights in which I retain Gold with them each year enables me to receive sufficient points to redeem about 3 nights at nice locations, plus vouchers for another 6 nights at lesser ones. My 25 nights annually with IHG used to enable me to maintain Plat with them, and still does enable me to earn sufficient for between 6, or on pointbreaks 40(!) free nights. Either way, IHG makes loyalty worthwhile, but especially here in Europe, exclusivity is nigh on impossible. No one group is everywhere. In Europe IHG has the greatest number of hotels, with Hilton and Marriott sitting pretty much equal 2nd and SPG trailing behind at such a considerable distance it's all but impossible to see how Europeans could maintain status with them. Since I don't really rate Hilton's hotels, nor their HiltonPesos, I maintain loyalty with both Marriott and IHG, since those 2 groups have everywhere I go to pretty much covered and the rewards of their schemes, Marriott with the balance between in-hotel benefits and points, and IHG with their pointearning emphasis, reward me well.

underpressure

I got sucked in with the IHG Visa and regret it.

I was in a hotel on Monday Tuesday this week, today I get a survey request for the same stay, but nothing posted on my account for the stay.

I was in a Hilton property on Wednesday Thursday this week and points and a USEABLE pdf receipt posted on my account this morning.

IHG just does not understand the import of time timely and accurate posting on these things. Four weeks ago, I filled in a survey for 2500 points, still nothing posted. I am currently enrolled in 3-4 different IHG promos and nothing has posted on any of them. The response I get from IHG is 4-6 weeks after the promo closes..... really?

I tried it for a year, 2014 will start with Marriott....

darthbimmer

I agree the special promos like Crack The Case and The Big Win are game changers. In the past 4 months with The Big Win I've stayed 7 nights, spent $900 (US), and earned just over 108,000 points including all bonuses. That's 120 points per dollar. And that's awesome. Though promos like CTC and TBW only come around once every few years. And those promos have been structured to give weaker rewards rates to IHG's most loyal members while lavishing easy points on IHG floozies such as me.

Campath

Just did the math for my recent stays. I generated about 83k points for $365 in spend over 4 stays. That's 225 points per dollar!

BrightlyBob

Wow, that's quite the earn rate!

In my post I talked about my total point accumulation for the year to balance the program against Marriott where earnings are pretty consistent (very much like their hotels).

As a matter of interest I looked at my stays during the big win promo, when I also spent half an hour hoovering up a load of codes. During my 12 big win nights I spent $1300 and with my 60,000 big win points, plus base and code bonuses earned 160,000 points in total. That's almost 125 points per $ which I consider to be fantastic. Your earning rate is pure madness!

Campath

It would have been even better if I could do 2 Saturday night stays in certain cities. That would help me max out the Big Win promo and get about 77k more points for approx $200 in spend. Unfortunately I don't have any travel to these cities and cannot justify the cost and time of flying there for a mattress run.