Necessary commitment for optimal use of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG):
Budget per night: at least 70€ (better 100€)
Nights per year: at least 70
IHG One Rewards is a very good hotel points collection programme as an alternative to Marriott or Hilton. I would never recommend using it as a primary programme, only if you travel a lot on business in smaller cities or have alower budget for hotel nights. Otherwise, it is always very good as a complementary collective programme to Marriott or Hilton if there is no alternative in the respective city. There is often an IHG One Rewards hotel in Europe (especially in Germany) such as Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express. The programme nevertheless comes with a wide range of 19 brands with diverse low-budget and high-end hotels. The geographical coverage with IHG hotels is very good in Europe and especially in Germany, which is certainly the biggest advantage of the chain. Only the coverage with high-end hotels is not particularly good, especially in Germany.
There are a total of 5 status levels. Every registered "IHG One Rewards" member is initially a "Club", the table shows the other 4 status levels Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. For the sake of completeness, it should be mentioned that there is also a purchasable status. The Ambassador status of the flagship chain InterContinental can be purchased for US$200 or 40,000 points and takes you directly to the Platinum status level (for the benefits see Table 2, but these apply only at the InterContinental Hotels & Resorts brand). For every $1 spent (other currencies are automatically converted to dollars via IHG's internal conversion rate), the guest is awarded 10 points and one night in the "IHG One Rewards" account. With each status level, which is dependent on the number of nights spent in the year, the number of points to be received increases. At Silver by 20% - so it increases to 12 points per dollar. The other point increases can be seen in Table 1.
Late Check-Out at IHG is already available from status level Club and always until 2 pm. This is a bit of a shame for status members in the higher categories, as chains such asHilton andMarriott also offer3pmor 4pm. On the other hand, this offers the possibility to get a late check-out until 2pm just by registering with IHG. From Gold onwards, there is the cool feature of Roll-Overnights. This allows you to use unused nights as part of achieving status the following year. For example, I achieved 19 nights in the last year, receive Silver status (10 nights) and thus just fail to achieve Gold status, this means that I take 9 nights into the next year and do not start at 0.
From the status level Platinum you get a snack, drink or extra points (usually between 300 and 600, which is not very much) and from the level Diamond you can choose afree breakfast for you and a guest from the same room. There are also executive lounges at IHG, for example at InterContinental, Regent, Crowne Plaza, Voco and even Holiday Inn. However, in Europe there are relatively few hotels with executive lounges, if then mostly in the Crowne Plaza or InterContinental. In addition, it is noticeable that access to the lounge is not granted via the status level. Presumably, they want to prevent the lounges from being flooded with people who have reached the status via challenges or matches from other hotel chains.
Access to the Executive Lounge can already be achieved at IHG from 40 nights via a milestone bonus (see Table 3). The milestone bonuses, which are shown in Table 3, start from the 20th completed overnight stay. From then on, you can choose one of up to 4 options every 10 nights (additional points, vouchers for food and drinks, suite night upgrades or the already mentioned lounge access.
Important:If possible, always book via IHG directly, otherwise the status levels will not be recognised and you will not receive any points or nights credited. Use the company codes of your companies to get the correct price displayed and not to pay too much.
Unlike Marriott, Hilton or Hyatt, you cannot achieve status on lifetime at IHG so far.
Table 2 shows which brands are included in the IHG One Rewards programme. Each brand has received a comment from the author for characterisation. The classification into the 5 categories Luxury, Up-Scale, Mid-Scale, Lifestyle & Hip and Apartment Style is also a subjective assessment by the author.
Luxury: Absolutely high-end hotels with high prices, but fantastic designs, excellent service and high-quality and extensive facilities. My favourite: Kimpton (very stylish high end hotels, with mostly also cool bars / restaurants).
Up-scale: Hotels with a very high standard, often in big cities with corporate rates/contracts booked by business people (corporate consultants, auditors, sales, etc.). My favourite: Crowne Plaza (compact brand, often with wellness and executive lounges).
Mid-Scale: Cheaper alternatives, which bring a good "value for money", but are not always very luxurious standard. My favourite: Holiday Inn Express (the brand has had a new design concept for a few years and has already implemented it to a large extent, which is why the hotels have a good look, besides the high coverage, thevalue for money is absolutely convincing here).
Lifestyle & Hip: A category that has emerged more strongly in the last 5-7 years, where every hotel group has developed several brands and opened hotels. It focuses on Generation Y and Z and wants to give a hip cool experience that is clearly differentiated from the classic approaches. Small modern rooms, with fewer features (uniform room sizes, hardly any furniture), but lots of life, space and opportunities to get together in the common areas such as the lobby (which is often converted into a breakfast room in the morning). My favourite: Indigo (cool brand, yet very upscale, often also with special local features and gym + wellness).
Apartment style: Category that is strongly influenced by the USA and not yet very widespread in Europe. Created for long-term stays, you will find rooms with a well-equipped kitchen and sleeping area and living room-like elements that are intended to enable self-sufficient living as in a flat of one's own. But the whole thing is also extended by facilities such as sauna and gym, as well as restaurant and room service offers. From my point of view a good case for management consultants, auditors or other business people who spend a long time in one place and don't want any more hotel breakfasts or every evening restaurant. My favourite: Staybridge Suites (there are only a few in Europe in the Netherlands, France and the UK, overall stylish but also really cosy like in a flat).
Note for newcomers: InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) is on the one hand the entire hotel group, but there are also InterContinental Hotels as a hotel brand.
Table 5 lists personal notes and subjective assessments by the author. The following categories are described:
Brand: In my view, IHG offers the best overall best geographic coverage above all through the strong mid-scale brands Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express. Here you can strategically collect in the Mid-Scale Brands and then book in high-end brands like Kimpton or Intercontinental via points. The disadvantage compared to Hilton and Marriott is that the free breakfast is only selectable from Diamond (70 nights). The IHG App is so far good for the basic functions bookings / cancellations. In addition, you can also choose between the options for milestones reached in the app (see Table 3). In comparison, the app does not offer any other noteworthy functions.
Upgrades: From Platinum status, I have received very good upgrades to large suites here in the past (especially at Regent and Intercontinental).
Lounges: Access is always for yourself and one other guest. What is particularly interesting about IHG's "Club Lounges" is that the guest explicitly does not have to be a guest in the hotel, so it is very convenient to invite work colleagues, business partners or friends/relatives. The lounges to which one has access through the selected option after the milestone bonus after 40 or 70 nights are very individually designed. The InterContinental lounges tend to have the richest selection, offering tea, coffee and soft drinks in the morning and sometimes a continental breakfast (egg dishes, sausages, bacon, mushrooms, etc.), during the day (approx. 12-17 hrs) a buffet of snacks (lunch snacks, sweet snacks) and in the evening (approx. 18-20 hrs) a buffet with 2-3 warm options. This is usually accompanied by beer and wine / sparkling wine as well as other high-proof spirits such as gin, vodka, whiskey. IHG outperforms Marriott and Hilton with the offer, as snacks are available during the day. At the others, you usually wait until the evening for food after breakfast.
Wellness: The wellness quality is good to very good, especially in the hotels from the luxury segment. Unique spa experiences with sauna, steam baths and pool can be found in the Brand Six Senses. In Germany I don't have a favourite, but in Europe the Six Senses in Rome.
Best Hotels: In Germany I don't have any hotels which I find really impressive. Depending on whether you get a renovated room, the InterContinental Berlin with its good wellness area left a very good impression on me. Overall, the hotel with the best all-round concept for me was the Intercontinental El Presidente on Cozumel in Mexico, where the location on the beach, mti the large high-end rooms and great resort stlye is very convincing.
Reward Nights: IHG has relatively humane prices here compared to Hilton when redeeming Reward Nights. There is also no high volatility with higher demand/supply shortages. Good value is offered above all by IHG's own brands (i.e. no partnership collaborations such as Mr. and Mrs. Smith) such as InterContinental, Kimpton, Holiday Inn, Hoiday Inn Express. Collecting points at IHG is not particularly fast even as a Diamond status level (100% extra points, i.e. 20 points per 1 US dollar) in comparison to Marriott and Hilton, as the internal conversion rate from euros to US dollars at IHG is not particularly good in my experience, often almost 1:1. For loyal customers, however, there are often promotions for double, triple or even quadruple points, which can fill the points account enormously quickly. Good to very good hotels can be achieved from 15,000 to 50,000 Punte per night, depending on personal preference.
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