Following a few acquisitions, IHG has improved the value of their points by improving the quantity of their top-end properties. Is it enough to justify loyalty to IHG?
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Mostly Holiday Inns
IHG has a dozen brands that range from the premium Chinese brand Hualuxe to the contemporary brand, Indigo. Of their 5,000+ hotels (which make them one of the largest chains in the world) most are Holiday Inn and select-service Holiday Inn Express fill out the ranks. Those two brands account for more than 5,000 of the brand’s properties and while many of the Holiday Inn Express properties are relatively new, most Holiday Inns have more in common with Howard Johnson than Intercontinental hotels.
Road Warriors, particularly in the United States, will find IHG properties almost everywhere they go, but in most markets, newer, nicer properties can be found with Hilton, Hyatt or Marriott. Comparing the select-service brands, Holiday properties are everywhere but you probably don’t want to stay in them.
Yes, there are Intercontinental Hotels that are very nice and a smattering of others. But when compared by percentage to other brands, their true high-end properties are few and far between. Years before we started blogging, my family had the pleasure of staying in a beautiful Intercontinental Le Grand in Paris – it was the nicest hotel I’d ever stayed to that point in my life.
IHG Purchases
In December of 2014 IHG acquired Kimpton Hotels for $430MM in cash bringing 62 properties into the fold. Most of those properties are at the high-end, boutique hotel market commanding higher rates and adding a fifth gear the brand badly needed. Of late, IHG has been on a premium buying streak. Earlier this year the brand acquired a majority stake in Regent Hotels which adds just six hotels to the fold but plans to grow to 40 more. Principal Hotels were purchased from Starwood (a boutique hotel management company, not to be confused with Starwood Preferred Guest SPG) placing another 13 premium properties in the system.
These acquisitions are small when compared with the SPG merger with Marriott, but for as few true premium properties as were in the IHG line, these 100 or so properties are a dramatic lift.
Integration
When IHG purchased Kimpton Hotels they existed mostly in a vacuum. To the rejoicing of Kimpton members, the loyalty program remained outside of IHG’s Rewards Club – they had far better benefits and treatment akin to SPG (pre-Marriott merger) and Hyatt. However, early this year, Kimpton properties rolled into Rewards Club allowing members to book the properties.
Integration of the new acquisitions is rapidly improving. While Regent properties have not yet hit the system, Principal Hotels have already been slated to go live on the system. Their improvement in placing these hotels into the system where members can book them is a big improvement.
Hotels I Actually Want To Book
These are properties that have me excited to book with IHG:
The Kimpton Seafire Resort in Grand Cayman:
I just reviewed the Kimpton Monaco Hotel Pittsburgh this morning:
These are just a few that have me inspired to try IHG’s new premium properties.
IHG Still Hates Elites
One thing that keeps me from making IHG my full-time, primary brand is that they hate their elites. I say that often but in fairness, they probably don’t actually hate elites. IHG just doesn’t give any benefits for those who are not invited to their Royal Ambassador program which includes people like me who logged 110 nights last year. In order to be included in that exclusive club I would have needed to stay in more Intercontinental (only, not IHG) properties but fewer overall nights. I can only stay in hotels they have in the market I visit, with so few Intercontinental hotels in the world, it’s just nearly impossible to hit with my travel pattern.
Spire elites (75 nights stayed in any IHG property) get next to nothing when compared to their competitors. IHG doesn’t give free breakfast, they begrudgingly allow 2 PM checkouts but aren’t conditioned to give even those out very much (in practice). You earn more points, sure, but to this point, there was very little I had wanted to spend those points on.
How Hard Would I Pursue IHG?
I put this in a wait-and-see category. Hilton hotels are everywhere and as I detailed earlier today, they really perform from the bottom of the line Hampton Inns (not all great but lots to like in the category) to the top of the line Waldorf-Astoria and Conrad properties. Hyatt will be my focus because their product is consistently great, though fewer hotels than the rest. Marriott and SPG, have too high of thresholds and I don’t trust their management.
I’d place IHG about third on the list, but because my work takes me to smaller communities where they may be the only show in town, I may end of staying with them more than the others as a matter of efficiency or lack of choice, rather than making a decision to do so. Depending on how things go with a couple of these target properties, they could move up the list.
What do you think? Do these new IHG properties have you re-thinking your loyalty? Am I missing something that makes IHG your top choice?
“…there are only about 30 Intercontinental hotels in service today.” Recommend a fact-check here — there are many, many more than 30 Intercons around the world.
@Diamond – You are correct, sir. I have removed the line. For the avoidance of doubt, there are 180 Intercontinental Hotels.
Kyle, we all have our favorite chains, but this post is just riddled with errors. For starters, as of 13/3017, IHG has 194 IC hotels, bit 30, not 180. And that’s more than JW Marriott and Ritz combined or than Waldorf Astoria and Conrad!
You state that IHG has 5,000+ hotels and 5,000 are HI/HIX, which also misrepresents the facts. According to their last financial statement, they had 5,348 hotels and out if that were 3,842 GI/HIX. That’s a very different story – and not that different from Hiltons Hampton…
If you travel more internationally, you’ll like IHG more – they have a higher percentage of their hotels in AsiaPac and EMEA than either Hilton or Marriott and many times they are the only major chain in town. That’s even more true, if you go off the beaten path were you will rarely find a Marriott!
And while IHG RC might not guarantee you specific benefits, I have received great treatment, especially in Asia and Europe.
So, IHG might not fit your travel pattern, but that’s no reason to dump on them, with false information no less…
I have the facts and figures for all the big chains on my blog, if you want to read up on the facts…
@Rupert,
What do you mean by “as of 13/3017” AND “bit 30” AND “3,842 GI/HIX”?
Did you mean Jan. 2018? And I also know of the HI and HIX but what’s the GI stands for?
You must be writing in a different language and the translator not doing you any justice.
Regardless, I believe the IHG and the ICH have great but separate programs that compliment each other. The treatment is awesome, point accumulation is easy, flexibility and availability of booking on points is great, and awesome properties are galore especially in APAC region. You can be an IHG Platinum for just having their credit card.
While some differ with my opinion on Rewards club solely for Royal Ambassador status, almost no one says both programs are great. If they do, I’d ask what they are comparing Rewards Club to.
In the past, I have only booked IHG when they were the only game in town or in an emergency, Today, I finally proactively booked an IHG property, It is the new Intercontinental at MSP airport. I fly there about 4-5 times a year and my return flight is always early morning so I will test and see if this is a good match for those circumstances (the hotel is attached to the airport itself and has a dedicated TSA portal for folks not checking bags). The hotel was a little more expensive than I was expecting but if it saves time/energy/perhaps an additional car rental day, it might all be worth it.
There are some completely fantastic Intercontinentals in the world (e.g. Porto, Singapore, Mauritius) but more than that it’s a solid reliable 4-5 star brand. In airline terms it’s not flying Cathay Pacific in business, it’s more like flying American in J. But for free, anyone would take that. So this summer I stayed at the IC Kiev, IC Bali, and IC Sandton in Johannesburg. And I was happy with all of them. They’re certainly worth redeeming points at
“IHG FINALLY HAS HOTELS WORTH BOOKING” What????
Kyle, do you just stay at Holiday Inns when booking an IHG night? If you do then I can understand where you are coming from. Otherwise, the title of your article is idiotic.
The IC Hong Kong and IC Bali are fantastic. I’ve stayed at both a dozen times and the reason I keep going back is because they are great hotels absolutely worth booking. Another favorite of mine is the IC Osaka. Oh I forgot to mention the IC Monterey, San Francisco, and Los Angeles which are also great hotels.
I am a Spire Elite and agree that it is worthless. I discontinued the Ambassador membership too because it has been severely devalued. The IHG loyalty program in my opinion is garbage, but they have many great hotels that are worth booking. The title of your post makes you look like you are not an expert.
Jason, it’s always great to meet a fan.
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“Yes, there are Intercontinental Hotels that are very nice and a smattering of others. But when compared by percentage to other brands, their true high-end properties are few and far between. Years before we started blogging, my family had the pleasure of staying in a beautiful Intercontinental Le Grand in Paris – it was the nicest hotel I’d ever stayed to that point in my life.”
We agree that there a few properties worth booking from IC. We agree that the loyalty program is worthless, that Spire Elite status is a joke and now so is Ambassador. And we also agree that there are now hotels within the IHG umbrella that are worth booking.
Where we disagree is that they were always great. I have passed over the IC Hong Kong due to the price in relation to value. Looking at reviews, it doesn’t even compare to the Conrad, the JW or the GH all around the same price point. I mentioned that almost a decade ago I stayed in a very nice IC in Paris (how has no one mentioned Bora Bora yet?), but a handful of properties spread over a brand as large IHG is not worthwhile.
I’m not interested in IHG’s upmarket properties: invariably a better alternative can be found ( 99% of the time cheaper) at other chains. Who wants to stay in a poorly located IC and pay a premium for very little return? Not me
On the other hand, I quite like some of the HIX properties…cheap and cheerful but usually in a premium spot. What you see is what you get. But even then, that space is better now with Aloft, Moxy, Ibis, Four Points and there is less reason to spend on the one way loyalty street that is IHG. They need to show their loyalty marketing mavens the door and get back in the game via some new ideas.. They used to be good at it.
IHG is only good when you are Royal ambassador and staying exclusively at IC,ivve been Royal/spire since the creation of both but i stay only at IC and wont bither about other properties specially since only stay at IC and spending at IC count toward IC Royal ambassador.
IC have some great properties like Davos/Paris/Beirut/Dubai.
I’ve had + and – experiences with IHG. When they had decent Accelerate promotions and especially when the credit card free night was unrestricted, there was a better value in rewards. Like any program, you just have to look for redemptions at a good points ratio. I’ve made a poor redemption in a hurry in Colorado during ski season when I should have just paid cash, but a bright spot was in Queenstown, NZ when as just Platinum, we were treated very well by the staff, upgraded to a room with a fantastic view, and even though breakfast was not free, the buffet was extensive and had local, UK, and Asian items.
If I was to leave IHG (currently Spire and use points every year to ge tIC Ambassador), which chain / brand would you suggest getting a status match / challenge with ?
Great question, easy answer. Hilton. They have a very large footprint, the lowest threshold for Diamond status (top-tier) at 30 stays or 60 nights, and the treatment has been excellent. There is also a good mix of high and low properties which is important. You need enough select-service hotels to give you an option no matter where you stay but you also need real value at the top of the chain to spend all the points you earn. Hilton has that fifth gear in Brands like Waldorf-Astoria, Conrad, and Curio. Until these acquisitions IHG had a handful but not enough aspirational properties to make those Holiday Inn Express nights worthwhile.
Thanks Kyle – I have another block of travel in the first few weeks of December so might give Hilton a ring then and see what they can do for me.
We play the IHG game just for specific hotels. For example on our trip to Japan, we are only using IHG hotels on points with the exception of 2f1 Ambassador night. Considering that we are saving over $5K on hotels, I’d say the stays that we have given them in their Accelerate promo has worked out really well for us.
Another excellent IC is the one in DaNang Vietnam. Absolutely great hotel!