I actually prefer to use IHG in ASIA and Marriott in South America and Europe. The pricing seems to be a bit more fair in Asia for IHG vs Marriott tends to be overpriced. It’s either HIX or IC/Kimpton/Regent or bust for me normally but there are some nice HI and CP in Asia. I normally always stay at a IC my last night in Asia because the 4pm checkin is highly valuable since most my flights out tend to be after six

yes it’s diminished some what after they fixed that and when they stopped giving 10% of any reward stays back … reason why I held off for 6m rather than renew immediately.

However, disagree it’s no benefit vs staying 40 nights or buying base points at c$7 per 1000 to get there faster. It’s a great way to jump up to near top tier status, get IC upgrades , 4pm guaranteed checkout at ICs, $20 credit per stay etc

The 2-4-1 was only valid at Kimpton for 2 years during / post the pandemic can’t speak for US but plenty good European, Middle Eastern and Asian ICs where a 2-4-1 works just fine to atleast break even if not come out ahead after 1 stay … none I’m aware of charge an amenity fee either.

That's correct. The F&B credit is converted to local currency at a rate determined by the property and there are some pretty wild interpretations of 20 USD out there. Guaranteed Benefit is single category (no suite guarantee) upgrade at ICs only (free weekend nights excluded): 10k points in your favor if not honoured.

Does IHG do any status matching to Marriott?

You can also get a points bonus extended to you for renewing Ambassador. 15k points on top of the 241 IC weekend night certificate makes it pretty easy to realize some good value from keeping the status.

I have used IHG as my secondary program for many years. I primarily use it for HIX "utility" stays. I also enjoy Kimpton and Indigo for nicer stays. As others have already mentioned, one may have better coverage in a region than the other. Also, sometimes IHG is cheaper, especially for city stays, than Marriott. Having the flexibility to choose between IHG and Marriott has worked well for me and enabled me to optimize my travel lodging. Also having both chains to choose from has been useful for vacation stays.

Hyatt rates are almost always above my expense guidelines for the areas I travel to for business. That combined with the relatively limited coverage is a dealbreaker for me for Hyatt. If I had more stays per year, I would consider adding Hilton as a third program. One year there was an especially good third quarter Hilton promotion and I took advantage of it and earned Diamond status. That was a once and done occurrence for me.

Bottomline, I think having two programs makes sense for most even semi-frequent travelers. For folks who wouldn’t have enough stays to earn status in both programs, affiliated credit cards can be used to get status in at least one of the programs. That is what I do. I organically earn Titanium status in Marriott most years, even though I already have Lifetime Titanium Status, and then use Chase IHG credit cards to maintain platinum IHG status. I realize for folks outside of the USA the credit-card based status may not be an option. YMMV…

--Jon

the suites aren’t excluded full stop it’s just not for speciality suites / penthouses or guaranteed you’ll get a further upgrade if you use a suite upgrade voucher.

also there’s no exclusion of guaranteed upgrade when using the free weekend voucher as far as I can see in the full terms.

Much harder to get value from IHG points vs. Marriot or Hilton in my experience.

Not true. It is always YMMV.
I have found many HI / HIX in Europe are far better value than Marriott, let alone Hilton. Used 55K for 4 nights at an HI in Munich a week ago, thanks to the 4th night free, plus will get 10% rebate back.

My bad, exclusion of guaranteed upgrade is for Reward Nights/Free Nights and the Ambassador Complimentary weekend night is not that.

I am not talking about Hi/Hix type bookings, I am talking about the aspirational bookings like Maldives etc. where you can get values like 4 cents or higher per point with Marriott or Hilton. I found high end IHG properties to always be astronomically priced … and I have tried! There are some good IHG redemptions, but I find them to be significantly more limited

Thank you for the great laugh! IHG redemptions are amazing value if you are (a) willing to book far out and check occasionally and rebook in case of a drop, (b) somewhat flexible on dates, and (c) US-based (and thus able to obtain Chase cards, which offer 4th night free and 10% back on points redemptions). Mind you, it's easy to buy IHG points directly from IHG or via Discover America at $.005 per point, so the dollar values shown below aren't hypothetical, but rather actual cost. For reference, here are some of my redemptions in the past half year:

-- IC Paris at 43.75k points ($220) a night. Beautiful junior suite, excellent club with free-flowing champange all day. Advance purchase rates for the base room around €450 at time of booking, inching up to €600 as the stay approached. Marriott wanted 50k points for Moxy (!) Bastille, 65k for Ren Republique, 75-90k for Westin/Ren Vendome. Initially had the Indigo reserved here for 31.2k a night ($155), but IC dropped significantly a month before the stay.
-- IC Vienna at 19.8k points ($100) a night. Not an amazing hotel, but the similarly weak Marriott would have cost over 50k points a night.
-- IC Strings Tokyo at 36k points ($180) a night. Aging upscale hotel with a good lounge, easily on par with Westin Toyko, which would have rung in at 87k points a night.
-- Regent Phu Quoc at 49.5k points ($200) a night (over peak NYE season). Spectacular hotel with a stunning club lounge. JW Marriott wasn't available on points, and the godawful Sheraton wanted 41k points.
-- IC Phu Quoc at 28.5k points ($140) a night (NYE). Have this puppy booked again for NYE 2024 at 18,675 points a night ($94).
-- IC Osaka at 36k points ($180) a night during peak Sakura season (well, what was supposed to be peak), beautiful hotel with an excellent lounge. RC and SR were at 80-90k points, Sheraton, Courtyards and Alofts at 45-50k, some Moxies around 30k, the Westin (Westin!) at 70k. Completely nuts!
-- IC Cascais at 27k points ($135) during 2023 peak summer dates, vs. cash rates around €400. I have 12 nights booked there for July 2024 at 20,925 points a night ($105), also vs. cash rates of €400.

I'm not gonna dig up more reviews, but realized while searching for the above ones that the two of us had an exchange in the "is Titanium worth it" thread where you showed that you weren't quite up to speed on recent improvements to the IHG program.

From 2015 to 2019, I had over 100 nights annually with Marriott. This was due in part to footprint, but mostly because of Marriott's BRG program, which was far more honest than what the competition had to offer. It's become much harder to find BRGs, especially at rates I'm willing to pay. Post-Covid, my experience as Marriott Tit deteriorated, culminating in an awful year in 2023. Minimal (and in many cases zero) upgrades even in Europe and Asia, crowded lounges with reduced offerings. Add to that the grotesque Bonvoy points requirements in many places, and it's just not worth it for me. Now, to be sure, I'll probably end the year with a couple dozen Bonvoy nights, simply because there are some hotels I like, and also because my main programs IHG and Hyatt don't have good coverage in many locations, at least not with hotels I want to stay at. Bonvoy is a great tertiary program to fall back on with LTT status, as long as one goes in with low expectations.

I have added your name to the FlyerTalk Marriott BONV°Y lifetime roll call Wiki, as a lifetime Titanium (LTT) Elite.

The FT Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Status Roll Call & Hall of Fame

The thing is that if you are Plat or above with MB you get lounge access, not Plat with IHG unless you have 40 nights BIB to unlock lounge access pass.

I do find IHG points handy some times. In Japan I was able to get the Kumamon room at CP Kumamoto for 25k points when cash rates was $160+

MB hotels are more expensive in IHG in Northern Germany - it almost look like they charge the extra because they have to give elites welcome gifts. I find the newer HIX nicer than FFI in the US, and HIX in Europe are much nicer than Moxy. I hate Moxy - the lobby it's like what you see when you are high without being high, and the rooms are very dark - again it feels like they are made for people getting high. The FD said, "the lift is behind the big Flamingo" - it's like the Sims game...

The IHG 4th night free is much honest than BonVoy's cheapest night out of 5 nights free! plus the 10% rebate - the raison d'etre that many of us hold on to this no longer available old select card, AND the 0.005 cost to acquire points - all make IHG program a lot better than BonVoy program now for most regular travel needs, outside the "aspirational" stuff.

To be honest, we dont care for Maldive or Samui or Masa Mara or whathave you. Those who aim for such can feel they are getting a high value per pt redemption but completely ignore the other high costs to get there (may be Samui is not as bad), especially Maldive where we feel extremely boring on an atoll that can be covered on foot in a few hours ...

Again, it is all YMMV on what are worthy redemption - to us, IHG has both the high end and the low end that fit our needs when the corresponding BonVoy properties ask for twice or thrice pts!