These days, I'm spread across Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, and IHG. The soft product everywhere has grown so mediocre that the programs have become purely transactional for me. Even redemptions at Ritz and W=A have been underwhelming - more limited amenities and service than what those brands once represented.

IHG is basically my rural U.S. play. HIX's are generally pretty good for a roadtrip. I was vaguely aware that IHG had British roots but I've never really thought of any of the constituent brands as particularly British, even IC. The biggest knock on IHG is that it's very thin on the mainline city business hotels. IC and Kimpton tend to price well above the Hilton/Marriott/Hyatt tier. Crowne Plaza simply isn't very good. The other IHG brands that might fit the bill are simply too niche - can't count on them to be everywhere.

When we've driven around the UK we've tended towards small B&Bs. We'll probably always do that just for the Britishness of them but it's good to know there's some HIX options if we need them. I've just never really looked.

Indeed again. It was a needed stay with almost no other alternative unless enduring a lot inconvenience. I was quite happy to clean up my HH account which was kept active by small charges on AMEX Hilton card for 4 to 5 years. The last pay out saved beaucoup cold hard cash, so I was satisfied.

I will shout out to the HIX in Lisbon (there are a few of them so I'm referring to the Plaza Saldanha one). The breakfast was basic by international 5* standards - which it is not and does not claim to be - but perfectly fine for what it was with fresh and reasonable quality foods. Scrambled eggs, cold meats and cheeses, a few salad vegetables, a few fruits, pastries, cereals, yoghurts, decent coffee from a machine. No made-to-order Eggs Benedict of course but you have to rate these things with the standards the hotel sets itself and this one was perfectly fine. I reiterate that it cost €150 a night when the Moxy was going for €500 a night and would only give you €10 F&B credit rather than breakfast if you were elite. The breakfast I had at the HIX Pattaya (don't judge me; it was one night only) was poorer but did have a live egg station. Let's see how KL's is in a few weeks time. Frankly, even when staying at 5* resorts I will have coffee, eggs, some meat and maybe a croissant so do not partake in the extensive Indian, Chinese, or other local dishes at this time of the morning so HIX breakfasts have proven to be fine for me so far. But let's be clear: a clean bed and bathroom is what they're about and in Asia/Europe I don't feel Bonvoy has a footprint of cheap properties like this. Maybe that's what these obscure Bonvoy brands are for across the US but they don't seem to reach around the world whereas HIXs are everywhere.

Interesting discussion
 

[QUOTE=Happy;36188096]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![/QUOTe

I am based I the US and travel to NYC and Europe. I am Marriott Platinum and recently acquired IHG Platinum as a hedge against Marriott’s skyrocketing prices in New York. And London. Because I am going to London for wedding and I had the opportunity to compare prices between the chains and that made pull the trigger. The Marriott prices were off the charts for booking either with money or points. The IHG options in London were more reasonable. (I opted for Holiday Inn Camden Locks avg $ 225 per night, for being close to the wedding and the Eurostar)

One of the other legs of the trip is taking me to Berlin where I opted for the Courtyard Berlin Center City. The facility seems a bit better than the nearby IHG offering and I paid 145,000 points. The cash price points were very similar.

Looking at price and location in NYC, IHG is has better prices and the locations are comparable. The most affordable Bonvoy locations are all near South Street Seaport near Wall Street. There are also some affordable IHG locations closer to mid-town.

On balance, IHG, I think, is a great hedge against the Bonvoy program. One attraction now is the 140,000 welcome bonus after spending $3,000. Using the IHG card , coupled with Platinum, gives a 26x multiplier on every dollar spent on a hotel property.

Adding to the discussion,
S/O who is American from the deep Middle America, the heartland....

Explained to me once,
Marriott as an American company has a dedicated American following,
usually Americans prefer to stay at a Marriott because they can expect American conveniances they all know and love.
aka: expectations of strong airconditioning in all seasons weather, icemachine, American hot buffet breakfast, high level English proficiancy, American service standards, consistency. As such, American tour companies, American businesses prefer to have their clients stay in a Marriott.
Any other non-American brand sounds/smells/tastes/reeks foreign, as such hesitant to step out of the comfort zone and book a different chain.

( same logic applies to American chains of Hilton & Hyatt)

And indeed,
in our courting days, (90s/00s)
all Marriotts we stayed in were very consistent,
besides the always present "American" facilities,
all the Marriott decor was consistent red & gold and a certain book of M was always in the drawer of the nightstand.
And the opnion was it is a safe slice of America in a strange country.

In his experience, this changed with
Marriott acquiring / adding new brands, each aimed for different target market.
The once awe inspiring luxury top JW Marriott was surpassed by St. Regis, Edition etc. reducing JW Marriott to a 2nd tier brand
Plus some Marriotts were in a need for refurbishments.
Also Marriott hotels were slowly getting quite expensive, just for the sake of offering the American comforts.
With so many new different branded hotels by Marriott, it was getting difficult to memorize the benefits
It didn't help that with many creditcards and promos came more elites vying for the same benefits and thus encountered some disappointments.
(Earned Platinum was quite sexy in the past, now its forked out as credit candy)
It didn't help also that in some countries, staying in a Marriott was painting a bullseye and volunteering for target practice.
And with having a family, travel requirements / patterns / the budget changed in which Marriott wasn't the best fit for our needs.

And as such we slowly drifted away from Marriott.
If comparing IHG with Marriott,
we find that that with IHG we have more value in the wide range of lower & middle tiers hotels, as that is their core business.
They are developing a lot of fresh new Holiday Inn Express, Voco, Indigo and Kimptons.
There are still dreary Crowne Plaza & Holiday Inns out there but the newer builts outside the US are quite up to date.
But the biggest limitation of IHG is that it has limited reach in upper luxury segment.
An area which Marriott (by adding the SPG hotels) is much stronger in and which appeals to a different demographic targeting aspirational stays only.

I think it depends a lot whether you're paying out of your own pocket. Sure, there are other considerations (e.g., I'd agree that Marriott is stronger in the luxury segment). But it's a fact of life--especially outside the US--that Marriott-branded hotels tend to be the most expensive.

I see run-down CY's and Moxys' charging more than Hotel Indigos (despite comparable-quality location) all the time.

A previous poster's interpretation is spot-on IMO. Marriott and Hilton are the go-to brands of Americans abroad. (For upper middle management types and such, Hyatt plays a role, too. But for the most part, it's Marriott and Hilton, especially Marriott.) And hotels know Americans have little vacation and hence great purchasing power when traveling for pleasure and decent travel allowances when traveling for business. Marriott pricing very much reflects this.

Those who travel on other people's money (OPM), but foresee this coming to an end some day, should remain mindful of the fact that, unlike Marriott (or Hilton and Hyatt), IHG does not offer any sort of lifetime status whatsoever. :(

While this is true, it is of less concern for USA residents. You can get IHG platinum status essentially for free via a Chase IHG Card. The annual Free Night Award (FNA) is worth more than the $95 annual fee. Furthermore, if you like staying in the luxury segment brands (Kimpton, IC, Regent), you can buy ambassador status for $200/year. There are ways to cut this cost down to almost zero with the ambassador weekend certificate and other tricks. You can also use points to buy ambassador.

Don't get me wrong. Lifetime status is great when available and when I retire I expect to be relying on it with Marriott. I am currently a credit card platinum with IHG. I am frequently pleasantly surprised by how much recognition and perks that gets me from such a minimal investment.

TL;DR While lifetime status isn't offered by IHG, there are other mechanisms to effectively achieve it at little or no cost.

--Jon

It depends on whether you or the company live(s) longer. Look at SAS - it's struggling and now AFKL bought a big part of it. Once the Danish government sold its shares they can go down anytime. Once they are down there is more lifetime status.

As you rightly say, IF you are USA resident (and meet whatever credit checks etc)

Much of the world (including the OP in this case) does not live in the US :)

Yep, ftrichard, the OP, doesn't live in the US. My comments were intended to clarify the lack of lifetime IHG status isn't critical for other US residents (and for residents of other countries with Credit Card based IHG status). For those folks who are primarily interested in the upper segment properties (Kimpon, IC, Regent, etc.) Ambassador is available globally at a reasonable price point also minimizing the need for lifetime status. For limited service properties, status has minimal value. For mid segment properties Indigo, etc. the lack of a lifetime status is indeed a gap. Depending on the persons stay patterns, they may earn at least mid-tier IHG status organically each year. If not, perhaps it is cheaper in the long run to just buy the upgraded accomodations when desired.

Finally, this has been a very interesting thread. I added IHG as a secondary program to Marriott approx. 10 years ago. It has been interesting to see others folks analysis of IHG and Marriott. Let's keep the discussion going.

--Jon

Agree and I would also add that Marriott customer service is not what it used to be. It seems like the hotels can do whatever they feel like and look at how hotels wiggle their ways out of giving us breakfast (when it is part of the welcome gift selection).

I don’t think your point about HIXs being more upscale outside the U.S. is unique to that brand or chain. I can think of several non-IHG hotels I’ve been at (4P Sukhumvit, Aloft Soi 11, HP London City East) where the hotel quality and services really exceeds what you would get in the U.S. My guess is the owner wants the U.S. branding but a lower chain like HIX or 4P or HP costs less than Crowne Plaza/Westin/Hyatt Regency. You attract American dollars looking for a reasonably priced option they are familiar with and then you exceed expectations…

I feel the much newer, built for purpose, low cost IHG brands these days both inside or outside US, far exceed what their older siblings are. The unfortunately part is, people already have an existing perception on those brands (HI, HIX, CP), especially the Americans, it is hard to make them try those much newer properties.

Staybridge is one of our preferred IHG brands that is not mentioned here. The Staybridge at Vauxhall is our first choice on our London sojourn - they treat even lowly Plats like us very well. We always got upgrade to the much larger studio (each one is equipped with a mini yet very functional kitchenette. The breakfast is carefully prepared - many ingredients are organic, lots of options on yogurts and juices, and the hot meat rotates everyday. The breakfast there is far better than many US Marriott properties incl the full service one that have a lounge. Staybridge also has a tradition - encourage people to brownbag their breakfasts if they are in a rush. That is a very handy feature for both leisure or business travelers.

In general we found IHG properties tend to give recognition better than BonVoy properties, by a wide margin. The lowly Plat can be had with a Chase CC, yet we get drink vouchers, welcome treats, occasional room upgrades, and the shocker of all, a breakfast voucher at Kimpton Monaco Philly recently! The breakfast voucher value is even HIGHER than what The Notary Autograph Philly gave to us, $50 vs $40! And I am Marriott Plat that should get complementary breakfast to begin with, while complementary breakfast at IHG is only available to Diamond.

Without wishing to appear contentious, I didn't make that point or anything close to it. Nowhere did I claim that HIXs are more upscale outside the US and I certainly wouldn't use the words "HIX" and "upscale" in the same sentence as this would be an oxymoron. I have little personal experience of branded hotels in the US but I do understand that hotels of many brands are so markedly different (whether Four Points, Courtyard, or HIX) and specifically across Asia to make the brand and its standards a mockery if you view them internationally. The point about US brands I was making was that Marriott has a bunch of apparently low-end brands (Residence Inn, Townplace Suites, Fairfield, Springhill) that barely stretch beyond the border of the US and possibly (I don't know - I have no experience of them) these compete in the segment of HIX in the US but not elsewhere because they barely exist. Maybe this is what City Express and Four Points Express are intended to fill. Who knows, until we see them developed widely. One thing I will identify in HIX's favour is that I've not found a Marriott brand that is widely found internationally that provides breakfast for everyone in the room rate as a brand standard and an edible one at that. I'll reiterate that I paid €150 a night in Lisbon at the HIX including an adequate breakfast while the Moxy wanted €500 and as an elite I'd only get 2 x €10 = €20 F&B credit there - enough for two decent cocktails at the bar (at least that's what I spent it on last time I stayed there).

Ultimately, I'm happy with the feedback I've got from this thread. I'll have lounge access for two years from January 2025 to try out ICs and CPs where they make sense and at least Platinum membership of IHG rewards. No credit cards available (bizarrely, for a British company, they dissolved their credit card agreement in the UK a while ago) and I'm not convinced I'd bother paying the IC Ambassador as I won't specifically focus on that brand. Definitely HIXs will feature where I want a budget option due to price and footprint. ICs, CPs, etc. will compete on a level playing field with my Bonvoy brands