2009 could be a year where more effort is made to improve benefits for Platinum elites if IHG wants

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Loyalty Traveler wants to hear from Priority Club Platinum elites and Ambassadors. Please share your opinion on the value of Priority Club elite membership as evidenced by hotel recognition in terms of upgrades and amenities during your stays.
Elite membership in a travel loyalty program offers value-added benefits like room upgrades, free meals, gifts, complimentary Business Class/First Class flight upgrades, airport lounge access, and change fee waivers. Loads of award travel opportunities have come my way courtesy of Starwood Hotels, Hyatt Hotels, Marriott Hotels, Hilton Hotels, United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, and so many other loyalty programs even where I did not have elite status. IHG is the major hotel chain I have not frequented as an elite guest.   I have been planning 2009 to be a Priority Club Rewards / InterContinental Ambassador elite membership year.
Now, in recent weeks, I have been made more aware of Priority Club Platinum elite members claiming they are not feeling the love. A discussion on FlyerTalk , highlighted in the TalkMail email I received yesterday prompted this discussion of whether Priority Club Platinum members are getting adequate loyalty attention from member hotels.
I have repeatedly walt disney world cheap tickets been reading anecdotes from Priority Club Platinum members walt disney world cheap tickets stating the upgrades are far and few between and aside from the bonus points, there is not much recognition from hotels as a 50 night per year (or 60,000 points) elite program member.
2.       Hotel Market segment distribution for IHG compared to Starwood Hotels.   (I'd like to expand this to show a comparison to Hilton and Marriott, but time constraints keep me from going into a broader comparison today.)
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is a product of corporate acquisition of hotel chains through the 1990s by British brewing company Bass.   Holiday Inn was purchased in 1990, Crowne Plaza in 1994, and InterContinental in 1998.   The IHG portfolio is the merger of two upper upscale hotel brands with the midscale Holiday Inn/Holiday Inn Express walt disney world cheap tickets brands–a much larger proportion of hotels and rooms within IHG.   In all fairness, there are several walt disney world cheap tickets hundred Holiday Inn hotels which should be in the upscale or upper upscale market segment, but as a whole entity the brand is downgraded walt disney world cheap tickets to midscale due to the numerous older, standard room hotels.
The international model of loyalty seems to be more fee-based with loyal travelers buying membership for additional privileges.   Six Continents Club formerly existed for InterContinental Hotel guests and has evolved into the current Ambassador loyalty program.   Priority walt disney world cheap tickets Club was the existing free loyalty program for Holiday Inn and incorporated Crowne Plaza and other brands into its earning and redemption offers.   There is value in belonging to both if you are a Priority Club member planning walt disney world cheap tickets stays with IHG brands including InterContinental Hotels.
2009 could be a year where more effort is made to improve benefits for Platinum elites if IHG wants to be competitive with the other major programs.   The flip side of the argument is IHG may have already chosen its path with adding a benefit to the fee-based membership perks with Ambassador members now eligible to earn 20,000 Priority Club points after 15 nights in a calendar year at InterContinental Hotels.
InterContinental is the top tier brand and maintains its own separate InterContinental Ambassador fee-based loyalty program in addition to offering Priority Club Rewards points for InterContinental Hotel stays to Priority Club members.
Fewer than 18% of rooms in IHG hotel properties in the Americas are positioned in the upper upscale market segment within Crowne Plaza and InterContinental Hotels.   The majority of the upper-upscale hotels in IHG are located outside the USA.   Americas is defined as hotels in USA, Canada, Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America.   A significant number of the 68,000 upper-upscale rooms shown above are not located in the USA.
Only about 16% of Starwood Hotels are not in the upper upscale or luxury market.   Upgrades are common for SPG Platinum members.  I have had some nice upgrades walt disney world cheap tickets to suites at certain Four Points by Sheraton hotels in places walt disney world cheap tickets like Sydney, Australia and San Francisco walt disney world cheap tickets Airport.   The typical hotel in the Starwood chain has a variety of room types and upgrades are common for SPG Platinum members.
Standard Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels may have very few or no differentiated walt disney world cheap tickets rooms for complimentary upgrades to be offered to Platinum-elites.   Crowne Plaza and nicer Holiday Inns remain the only upscale brands for upgrades since InterContinental operates its own fee-based program for loyalty recognition.
Priority walt disney world cheap tickets Club has a generous points earning policy allowing multiple promotions and bonuses to the same hotel stay.   Free rooms are relatively walt disney world cheap tickets easy to earn, particularly at the high-end redemptions of Crowne Plaza at 25,000 points and InterContinental walt disney world cheap tickets Hotels at 30,000 or 40,000 points compared to the money spending required to earn high-end rewards with the other major hotel programs.
I too am trying to commit myself to PC this yr. I feel that the PLAT situation is a thorn n just about every hotel chain. But as a Hyatt Plat, I have received upgrades a few times. Other than that it does seem as if Hyatt is trying to loosen the belt some by giving all elites free internet(yes-this includes Plats). Maybe upgrades will be next.
Like u, I am just experiencing PC so I don t know if PC gives free internet,but if not hopefully they will follow n Hyatt s footsteps which may lead to an industry wide wake-up call to recognize the Plat give us free upgrades internet as well.
Priority Club Member. Stopped walt disney world cheap tickets at the holiday inn express @ 675 and wilmington ave this morning to fax 2 sheets to my home office. AS a platimum member I was told there would be a $2 charge. WE have spent 100 s of thousands staying @ this chain. NO I was not staying @ this facility @ the time. And I never will stay at these chains. Hope they invest their $2 wisely. Sorry I forgot to leave my $3 tip.
I am a traveling salesman covering 4 states. Some years I ll stay in hotels around 100 nights. Being a Platinum member, I am recogized walt disney world cheap tickets as such probably 90% of the time at check in. The better managed facilities almost always upgrade me automatically to a suite. walt disney world cheap tickets I don t even bother to ask for an upgrade, it s already been done. I ve stopped at different properties while traveling, used the fax machine, business center, etc.., never been charged a dime. The IHG Plantinum PC program offers the best value of any hotel chain period.
I just sent a complaint walt disney world cheap tickets to Priority Club regarding my Platinum Elite Status and not feeling walt disney world cheap tickets the love. I stayed 50 nights in the last 6 months of 2009 and many more nights for the entire year, this year I ve already walt disney world cheap tickets stayed 30 nights and as such am very much considering changing hotel brands as I m tired of not being recognized for my status level. The only hotel within the hotel brands to provide me with an upgrade is the Staybridge Suites in Sunnyvale, CA and this is limited as they are consistently over-booked (this is also the only one where they are willing to provide walt disney world cheap tickets me a room when they are sold out, when Priority Club contacted them on my behalf). The Holiday Inn I am currently staying in as I write this, did not provide me with the norm of free breakfast coupons or coupons for 2 free drinks as all the other Hotels within the organization provide. The Crowne Plaza while they have more rooms available for upgrades walt disney world cheap tickets have not provided me with an upgrade even when asked. Several years ago I paid for the Ambassador level when I was staying at the Intercontinental several times and they were they only ones (due to the Ambassador level) providing upgrades.
Holiday Inn has come a long way in improving their properties and the beds and showers are generally amazing, however, they are very quickly about to lose a customer if they do not start to provide a little walt disney world cheap tickets more incentive for me to continue to bring my business to their hotel properties.
You have choices. You should sleep around some hotel brands as many nights as you are in hotels. Give Hyatt a try since they have a fast-track to Platinum that can have you set for elite through Feb 2012 with just 15 nights.
You might want to give Marriott a shot if you can put in 75 nights. You can get night credit with a Marriott credit card to bring the nights down to 60. In 2009 Marriott had a nights count double promotion for a couple of months.