IHG’s premium Luxury & Lifestyle program is being reinvented as “Destined” with a simplified structure and improved benefits.
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IHG’s Premium Benefits Program
For travelers booking IHG’s premium and luxury products, life just got a little better. IHG Luxury & Lifestyle was a program by which special benefits and inclusions for qualifying rates were guaranteed with the rate. The program has been rebranded and updated. Here are the new benefits:
- $100 USD or USD equivalent hotel credit per stay
- Daily complimentary full breakfast for 2 guests per day
- Complimentary room upgrade (Subject to availability)
- Local welcome amenity
- Personalized welcome note
- Early Check-in/Late Check-out (Subject to availability)
Under the prior program, some hotels came with a $50 amenity and some with $100. There’s also an update to the breakfast note to include a “full breakfast” instead of a complimentary breakfast. This seems like splitting hairs, but when a complimentary breakfast may be just coffee and some bagels, it’s rather different than something off the menu in the hotel’s restaurant.
Also, Destined will add a personalized welcome note. This, too, seems like an insignificant piece, but in reality it means one thing. More people are aware a guest is on a premium stay. The sales manager for the property supplies these to the hotel’s General Manager to write and sign, and housekeeping staff are also aware because they place it in the room. The note itself, while sincere, is less about the guest being welcomed by the GM and more about making sure that multiple layers of the property’s service team are actively engaged on that exact guest.
Guests selecting an IHG Destined rate starting next year will continue to earn IHG One rewards points as they do now in the Luxury & Lifestyle program.
Select Agencies
Outside of American Express’s Fine Hotels & Resorts, the major hotel chain’s each have their own premium programs for luxury travel advisors. My own agency has access as do many others in the premium space, but worth noting, consumers cannot book these rates on their own regardless of status, points, or OTA.
Which Properties Are Included
Here’s an exhaustive list of each included hotel:
United States
- Regent Santa Monica Beach
- InterContinental Bellevue at the Avenue
- InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta
- InterContinental Chicago Magnificent Mile
- InterContinental Costa Rica at Multiplaza Mall
- InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown
- InterContinental Miami
- InterContinental New York Barclay
- InterContinental San Antonio Riverwalk
- InterContinental The Willard Washington D.C.
- InterContinental Washington D.C. – The Wharf
- Kimpton Angler’s Hotel South Beach
- Kimpton Armory Hotel Bozeman
- Kimpton EPIC Hotel
- Kimpton Harper Hotel
- Kimpton Hotel Monaco Philadelphia
- Kimpton Hotel Monaco Salt Lake City
- Kimpton Hotel Palomar Beverly Hills
- Kimpton La Peer Hotel
- Kimpton Pittman Hotel
- Kimpton RiverPlace Hotel
- Kimpton Santo
- Kimpton Sawyer Hotel
Latin America
- InterContinental Managua at Metrocentro Mall
- InterContinental Miramar Panama
- Kimpton Grand Roatán Resort and Spa
Mexico
- InterContinental Presidente Cozumel Resort Spa
- InterContinental Presidente Guadalajara
- InterContinental Presidente Mexico City
- InterContinental Presidente Monterrey
- Kimpton Virgilio
- Hotel Indigo Guadalajara Expo
Caribbean
- Six Senses La Sagesse
- InterContinental Dominica Cabrits Resort & Spa
Europe
- Six Senses Crans-Montana
- Six Senses Douro Valley
- Six Senses Ibiza
- Six Senses Rome
- Six Senses Shaharut
- Regent Carlton Cannes
- Regent Porto Montenegro
- InterContinental Amstel Amsterdam
- InterContinental Athenaeum Athens
- InterContinental Athénée Palace Bucharest
- InterContinental Barcelona
- InterContinental Berlin
- InterContinental Bordeaux – Le Grand Hotel
- InterContinental Cascais-Estoril
- InterContinental Chantilly Chateau Mont Royal
- InterContinental Crete
- InterContinental David Tel Aviv
- InterContinental Dublin
- InterContinental Edinburgh The George
- InterContinental Geneve
- InterContinental Lisbon
- InterContinental Ljubljana
- InterContinental London Park Lane
- InterContinental Lyon – Hotel Dieu
- InterContinental Madrid
- InterContinental Marseille – Hotel Dieu
- InterContinental Paris – Champs-Elysées Etoile
- InterContinental Paris – Le Grand
- InterContinental Porto – Palacio das Cardosas
- InterContinental Rome Ambasciatori Palace
- InterContinental Tashkent
- Casa da Companhia, Vignette Collection
- Convent Square Lisbon, Vignette Collection
- Kimpton Aysla Mallorca
- Kimpton Blythswood Square Hotel & Spa
- Kimpton Charlotte Square
- Kimpton Clocktower Hotel
- Kimpton De Witt
- Kimpton Fitzroy London
- Kimpton Los Monteros Marbella
- Kimpton St Honoré Paris
- Kimpton Vividora Hotel
- Hotel Indigo Barcelona Plaza Espana
- Hotel Indigo Milan – Corso Monforte
- Grand Hotel Wien
India, Middle East, & Africa
- Six Senses Bhutan
- Six Senses Fort Barwara
- Six Senses Kaplankaya
- Six Senses Southern Dunes, The Red Sea
- Six Senses Vana
- InterContinental Al Ahsa
- InterContinental Amman (Jordan)
- InterContinental Bahrain
- InterContinental Cairo Semiramis
- InterContinental Dhaka
- InterContinental Doha Beach & Spa
- InterContinental Dubai Festival City
- InterContinental Fujairah Resort
- InterContinental Ras Al Khaimah Resort and Spa
- InterContinental Residences Abu Dhabi
- InterContinental Residences Dubai Business Bay
- InterContinental Residence Suites Dubai F.C
- Arabella Beach Hotel Kuwait, Vignette Collection
Japan & Asia Pacific
- Six Senses Kyoto
- ANA InterContinental Beppu Resort & Spa
- InterContinental Auckland
- InterContinental Bora Bora Resort Thalasso Spa
- InterContinental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa
- InterContinental Hayman Great Barrier Reef
- InterContinental Koh Samui Resort
- InterContinental Osaka
- InterContinental Perth City Centre
- InterContinental Sanctuary Cove Resort
- InterContinental Sydney
- InterContinental Sydney Double Bay
- InterContinental The Strings Tokyo
- Hotel X Brisbane Fortitude Valley, Vignette Collection
- Kimpton Margot Sydney
- Kimpton Shinjuku Tokyo
- Hotel Indigo Adelaide Markets
- Hotel Indigo Brisbane City Centre
- Hotel Indigo Inuyama Urakuen Garden
- Hotel Indigo Karuizawa
- Hotel Indigo Melbourne on Flinders
- Hotel Indigo Tokyo Shibuya
South East Asia & Korea
- Six Senses Con Dao
- Six Senses Kanuhura
- Six Senses Krabey Island
- Six Senses Laamu
- Six Senses Ninh Van Bay
- Six Senses Samui
- Six Senses Yao Noi
- Regent Bali Canggu
- Regent Phu Quoc
- Regent Taipei
- InterContinental Bali Resort
- InterContinental Bangkok
- InterContinental Bangkok Sukhumvit
- InterContinental Chiang Mai The Mae Ping
- InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort
- InterContinental Grand Seoul Parnas
- InterContinental Hua Hin Resort
- InterContinental Khao Yai Resort
- InterContinental Kuala Lumpur
- InterContinental Maldives Maamunagau Resort
- InterContinental Pattaya Resort
- InterContinental Phu Quoc Long Beach Resort
- InterContinental Phuket Resort
- InterContinental Singapore
- InterContinental Singapore Robertson Quay
- Dinso Resort & Villas Ko Chang, Vignette Collection
- Moire Hoi An, Vignette Collection
- Sindhorn Midtown Hotel Bangkok, Vignette Collection
- Kimpton Kitalay Samui
- Kimpton Maa-Lai Bangkok
- Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach
- Hotel Indigo Bangkok Wireless Road
- Hotel Indigo Bintan Lagoi Beach
- Hotel Indigo Singapore Katong
- Greater China
- Six Senses Qing Cheng Mountain
- Regent Hong Kong
- Regent Shanghai on the Bund
- Regent Shanghai Pudong
- InterContinental Beijing Sanlitun
- InterContinental Chengdu Global Center
- InterContinental Dongguan
- InterContinental Fuzhou
- InterContinental Guangzhou Exhibition Center
- InterContinental Hangzhou
- InterContinental Hangzhou Liangzhu
- InterContinental Kaohsiung
- InterContinental Nanjing
- InterContinental Ningbo
- InterContinental Quanzhou
- InterContinental Shanghai Harbour City
- InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland
- InterContinental Shenzhen Dameisha Resort
- InterContinental Xiamen
- Kimpton Qiantan Shanghai
- Hotel Indigo Alishan
- Hotel Indigo Taipei North
Yet Another IHG Positive Improvement
In prior years, IHG did a poor job with moving its member properties and its loyalty program with competitors and maintaining or building a luxury competitive advantage. Its loyalty program – even for top tier elites – required payment for the Ambassador program, they excluded breakfast which in some markets doesn’t matter, and in others can be rather significant and worthwhile. The Intercontinental brand was sometimes very upmarket and exclusive and other times was just another business hotel.
But in the last few years there’s been a meaningful shift in IHG’s focus on premium guests. The brand has acquired Kimpton for premium and aspiring lifestyle customers akin to the W brand from Marriott, Curio from Hilton, and Andaz from Hyatt. They have mostly left the chain untouched in its approach to guest services but added the money and broad reach to grow the brand in a way it would not have been able to do for some time on its own. It acquired Regent hotels, and Six Senses, and continues to add new markets for all of those lines.
Destined feels like two things: 1) An upgrade to par with the other programs Hyatt Privé, and 2) Acknowledgement that the brand has equals and should compete with them. I see these both as positive changes.
Conclusion
While Destined is not a paradigm shift for IHG, it is a continued migration toward competitive premium offerings, often in some of the most exclusive places on earth like the Maldives, Fiji, and Bora Bora. While the prior Luxury & Lifestyle program was hardly inferior, one concern was that both travel advisors and guests needed to have a clear understanding of expectations with certain aspects, like the on-site $100 credit. They are simplifying, defaulting to a better guest experience, and its a welcome change.
What do you think?
Nice to see some improvements but IHG really need to up their game with Platinum & Diamond members
I’m now down to platinum, so when staying at my usual hotel in Paris I get a choice of a paltry 500 pts or a complimentary drink voucher
Problem is, If I say 7 or 14 or 21 nights or just 1 night, its only one voucher I get, seems a tad miserable from IHG
are destined (luxury & lifestyle) rates eligible for promos ( bonus points for x night/stay, double EQN, x nights for status fast track,…)?
They are, they earn normally.
IHG continuing shining with lack of knowledge in geography. Tashkent, Shaharut and Tel Aviv are not locating in Europe.
So, pay a ridiculously high rate for a ridiculously overpriced product and get a free tote bag and $100 credit for something worth $15… PLUS the feeling of being elite and exclusive with a “personalized” welcome note that every other sap like you gets. You wealthy people are so funny.
Why is not available at every Intercontinental? I wonder if this is only valid at IHG-managed hotels. Of the major chains, IHG has the most franchised and licensed properties. It might also explain why the list of participating hotels in the USA is so short.