IHG Hotels that recognise status

[FishFood]

Thank you!

No we are all locked and loaded into the Regent for a work trip but no one has ever stayed there before. Seems like no one on AFF has either!!

I stayed there last year, but that might be long enough ago that someone has more recent feedback. I really enjoyed the stay and would be happy to answer any specific questions

 

[jakeseven7]

I stayed there last year, but that might be long enough ago that someone has more recent feedback. I really enjoyed the stay and would be happy to answer any specific questions

Oh nice thank you!

Here are a couple;

- How were the rooms? Beds? (Soft/hard?)
- Was gym any good?
- Location for good restaurants / cafes?

Thanks!

 

[FishFood]

Oh nice thank you!

Here are a couple;

- How were the rooms? Beds? (Soft/hard?)
- Was gym any good?
- Location for good restaurants / cafes?

Thanks!

- How were the rooms? Beds? (Soft/hard?)

I was given a modest upgrade due to IHG status, and found the room quite spacious for an ordinary hotel room. The bathroom was impressive with the marble finish, amenities and lots of bottled water replaced each day. I found the bed comfortable, but I generally prefer a firmer mattress so didn't notice the common feedback of the beds being 'hard'.

- Was gym any good?

I didn't used the gym, but used the rooftop pool a couple of times and enjoyed it. The change rooms were well equipped even including plastic bags so you can take your wet bathers back to your room.

- Location for good restaurants / cafes?

In the nearby area I ate breakfast at the hotel, which had a very wide variety of foods across a number of stations and was happy with the quality.

There are two hotel lounges, only one of which you can access with an IHG annual lounge membership. It was nothing special, but had light food and drinks so worth going if you have nothing else on.

 

[jakeseven7]

- How were the rooms? Beds? (Soft/hard?)

I was given a modest upgrade due to IHG status, and found the room quite spacious for an ordinary hotel room. The bathroom was impressive with the marble finish, amenities and lots of bottled water replaced each day. I found the bed comfortable, but I generally prefer a firmer mattress so didn't notice the common feedback of the beds being 'hard'.

- Was gym any good?

I didn't used the gym, but used the rooftop pool a couple of times and enjoyed it. The change rooms were well equipped even including plastic bags so you can take your wet bathers back to your room.

- Location for good restaurants / cafes?

In the nearby area I ate breakfast at the hotel, which had a very wide variety of foods across a number of stations and was happy with the quality.

There are two hotel lounges, only one of which you can access with an IHG annual lounge membership. It was nothing special, but had light food and drinks so worth going if you have nothing else on.

Thank you very much for your detailed feedback!

 

[kamchatsky]

Hotel: Holiday Inn Hong Kong Golden Mile
When: December 2023
Status: Diamond Elite
Rate: Standard Room Reward (40000 points per night)
Booked: Family room (2 Double Beds)
Received: Premium Themed Family Room (3 Double Beds)

We stayed here for 2 nights and got upgraded to a space-themed family room with 3 double beds. Received free buffet breakfast for all 4 of us. I eat the Chinese-styled breakfast only, but there are plenty of Western options available.

Somehow, I cannot insert photos when I attach photos. Always say it run into an issue.

 

[kerfuffle]

Somehow, I cannot insert photos when I attach photos. Always say it run into an issue.

Same here! Using both Chrome on my Pixel and Firefox on my laptop. @Mattg are you able to assist us with this? It's been like this for months (apologies for taking this off-topic)

 

[drron]

IC Bangkok.
Diamond Ambassador
Rate. Classic king senior rate.
Stay. January 2024.
Received Premium king, high floor.
Amenity. Points.
I have lounge access until end 2025 so no need for breakfast or drinks. Plus Club access also gives you the opportunity to have breakfast in the restaurant.

Great staff, lovely lounge and food.
Found our go to hotel for Bangkok.


CP Changi.
Rate. Standard king, senior rate.
January 2024
Received.Pool view king.
Amenity points.
New lounge.
Lounge staff excellent.


IC Double Bay.
Rate. King classic Courtyard view.
January 2024.
Received. King village view.
Amenity. Points.

Amazing stay with Guest Liason Manager getting in touch 2 days before and arranging 1pm check in which happened. Staff very engaged. From 3 of them IHG are very good to staff with bonus points and free stays. All loved the GM.

 

[Captain Halliday]

Hotel: Crowne Plaza Belfast
When: July 2023
Status: Diamond Elite
Rate: IHGR Rate (Flex)
Booked: King Bed Standard Sofa
Received: King Bed Standard Sofa

Adequate for a short stay, but very poor in terms of delivering published benefits.

Some staff were great, others terrible.

If you need to be in Belfast CBD this is a poor option. But if you want fairly easy access to the major roads north and south of the city, this hotel is well located.

You can read a longer review in my trip report here.

 

[SRS1965]

IC Adelaide
Ambassador
Room booked - Club
Received - JS Club
Good service and offering in club
Valet $60

 

[bussyboy]

Hotel: Crowne Plaza Burwood
When: Feb 2024
Status: Gold Elite
Rate: IHG1r Adv Purchase
Booked: 1 King Bed Standard Park View
Received: 1 King Bed Premium City View with bathtub

Great upgrade to a corner room on the quieter side of the hotel with enormous bathroom, double vanities, and wet bar.

Checkin experience was fantastic, with early checkin at 1015am! Less than $430 for two nights, including Saturday night was fantastic value.

 

[bussyboy]

Hotel: Crowne Plaza Burwood
When: Feb 2024

One oddity to call out, the very plump pillows are 15% bigger than the pillow case, so they're initially too thick stuffed in there and felt lumpy until I pulled it out.

 

[The-Aviator]

Hotel: InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong
When: January 2024
Status: Platinum Ambassador
Rate: HKD $2,178/night (Visa partner rate)
Booked: 1 King Premium Victoria Harbour View High Floor
Received: 1 Bedroom Suite Skyline Harbour View (one-category upgrade)

My first IC stay since dropping back to lowly Platinum and it turned out to be a very enjoyable one! I specifically booked this room type after seeing an Ambassador upgrade map posted on FT which indicated this room type would give you an upgrade to a Skyline suite, which on price alone is the best value upgrade since at least on my dates it was almost a 100% price jump from one category to the next. The upgrade did not show online / in the app until after check-in.

Check-in experience at around 7pm was good, receptionist Lucia was welcoming and very helpful, arranging the 4pm check-out without issues and providing two welcome drink vouchers as well as a voucher for the HKD $135 Ambassador credit. There was an offer to prepay the breakfast buffet at a discount to the walk-up price, however I declined.

The room was large, clean, modern and had everything I needed for my short two-night stay. Views over Victoria Harbour were stunning as hoped! Interestingly instead of the brand-standard Byredo Bal d'Afrique toiletries this hotel instead used Byredo Blanche, which personally I preferred. There were six cans of Watsons-branded water (replenished daily) as well as minibar and tea/coffee facilities including a Nespresso machine (a travelling companion in a standard room didn't have a Nespresso machine, not sure if a one-off oversight or only something they provide in the premium rooms). Air conditioning, Wi-Fi and houseekeping were all good. The two TVs lacked Chromecast but had a good variety of channels including ABC Australia.

I was a bit hesitant with the hotel location as it looks to be quite far from the centre of Tsim Sha Tsui on maps, but in practice it wasn't a problem at all. It is about a five-minute walk down Mody Road to the P1 MTR entrance/exit from which you can then comfortably walk underground to Tsim Sha Tsui and East Tsim Sha Tsui MTR. You can also walk along the waterfront on the Avenue of Stars with a pedestrian bridge over Salisbury Road right next to the hotel. An additional benefit is the complimentary hotel shuttle which can take you to a variety of key spots around the area, including Kowloon Station which was useful for us when taking the Airport Express back to the airport after check-out.

Only F&B we used at the hotel was a stop at Tiffany's New York Bar just off the lobby on Sunday night to use the free drink vouchers and Ambassador credit. A menu is provided with a list of options for those using the free voucher and for the Ambassador credit you can of course apply it against anything on the main menu. Prices were more or less in line with expectations, the atmosphere was nice enough but it's not the sort of place I would have visited if not for the vouchers.

Other hotel facilities included a well-equipped gym and rooftop pool, both of which I visited but didn't get a chance to use.

Overall a very nice stay, I would say my concerns prior to arrival about location and age of the hotel were unfounded. I would be happy to return.

 

[VPS]

Hotel: InterContinental Adelaide
When: January 2024
Status: Platinum Ambassador
Rate: $214 but one free night
Booked: 1 King City View
Received: 1 King River View

 

[VPS]

Just some more comments on my stay

Checking into the Intercontinental, there was a queue for ambassadors, which I was in, but the reception staff ignored me and people in the general queue just went up.

Checking in seem to take an age. I got a $25 food and beverage credit +2 drink vouchers which meant that I could buy anything up to $19 but they had to handwrite them.

The sign says that they would prefer contactless payments, but she wanted to see my physical card.

For some reason, they didn’t have my credit card on file, so I had to pay for the room in advance. When I went to use my food and beverage credit, they said that because there was no card on file that they I had to pay for it and I had to sort it out when I checked out and I said well no that’s not going to happen

In my room was a welcome card with two bottles of IHG water. There were also two bottles of water by my bed but a different brand and also complimentary.

Room is okay on the 20th floor, but I don’t think the bathrooms have been changed in 20 years. The carpets are just a little bit grubby in both the rooms and in the corridors. The cupboard holding the fridge really looks very shabby. The room is large and so is the bathroom

Couch is old and squishy.

The bed had a top sheet, and the quilt was wrapped separately but very thick so it was hard to get the temperature right. They used to just have the quilt wrapped in two sheets so that’s an improvement.

Aircon good and quiet. The lifts are very quick and didn’t have to wait long.

The first night I got a knock on the door asking if I needed anything and giving me two small bags (very small) of Fruchocs. I was out the next night but there were two more bags on my bed when I got home.

Within two days of checking out I got promotional mailing which I find annoying.

The guy on checkout how no idea about how Ambassador worked and when I said I was disappointed that you no longer got Diamond he waffled something but obviously had no idea.

 

[ols]

Hotel: InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong
When: January 2024
Status: Platinum Ambassador
Rate: HKD $2,178/night (Visa partner rate)
Booked: 1 King Premium Victoria Harbour View High Floor
Received: 1 Bedroom Suite Skyline Harbour View (one-category upgrade)

I specifically booked this room type after seeing an Ambassador upgrade map posted on FT which indicated this room type would give you an upgrade to a Skyline suite, which on price alone is the best value upgrade since at least on my dates it was almost a 100% price jump from one category to the next. The upgrade did not show online / in the app until after check-in.

Could you point me towards this upgrade map on FlyerTalk please

 

[The-Aviator]

Hotel: InterContinental Bangkok
When: January 2024
Status: Platinum Ambassador
Rate: THB ฿6,059/night (IHG 11.11 Flash Sale)
Booked: 1 King Classic High Floor
Received: 1 King Premium Club Lounge Access (one-category upgrade BUT they included the Club access too!)

Big call I know, but this would have to be one of my best hotel stays ever. Really enjoyed it!

I reached out to the hotel via email a few weeks ahead of the trip to get an airport transfer quote, took a while before they responded offering a sky-high rate of THB ฿3,500, or about AUD $150! I went with Welcome Pickups instead, which I have used before in Europe and was a much more reasonable $40.

I then received an email a few days out welcoming me and noting that I would have Club InterContinental access. I wasn't sure if this was just an automated email as in my time as an Ambassador I've never received Club access from an upgrade, but on arrival it turned out to be legit! Arrived at close to 1am due to queues at immigration and the hotel had put my file in a "No Show" folder, but there was no issue and everything was still good to go.

The hotel has just completed a top-to-bottom refurbishment and everything, including the rooms, looks spectacular. My 31st floor room had a plush king bed, lounge by the window and a work desk. Fully stocked mini bar and tea/coffee facilities including Nespresso were also available. In addition to complimentary local bottled water there was a welcome amenity awaiting me, which was a fruit bowl, a bottle of premium water and a plate of sweets. The modern TV included Chromecast and its list of channels was the most impressive I have ever seen; in addition to local channels they had international channels from the US, UK, Australia, France, Germany, China, India, Korea, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman and Kuwait!

The bathroom was spacious, with separate tub and shower. My favourite feature of the bathroom was that the toiletries (standard Bal d'Afrique) were not locked in a holder, I prefer this especially with the lotion as it's so much easier to access and carry to other parts of the room. Two disappointments with the bathroom were that the tiles in the shower came across as a bit slippery and water pressure in the rainfall shower wasn't quite right, so I used the regular showerhead instead.

Club InterContinental benefits include daily breakfast either in the lounge or main restaurant, afternoon high tea and evening coughtails and canapés. Had breakfast in the lounge twice and in the main restaurant once. Both were very different experiences but equally enjoyable. I would say if you want a lighter meal and more refined environment go for the lounge, if you want to try a bit of everything and don't mind the crowds then the breakfast buffet at Espresso is the way to go. If you have a few days, definitely try both! The high tea was lovely, with a high tea set brought around at the start with refills of anything that took your fancy. I was sad I could only make the evening happy hour on one night of my stay because it was excellent! Lounge staff were all really nice and the lounge is open throughout the day, so even outside of meal times you can stop by for a quick snack (fruit, chips etc) or a non-alcoholic beverage.

The hotel location was great for our needs. It is connected to Gaysorn Village shopping centre and from there you can also walk to Big C and Centralworld, Siam Paragon is not far either. There is a BTS station just across the road however given the short stay we only used Grabs, which were cheap and plentiful.

Other hotel facilities included a well-equipped gym and rooftop pool - the pool is spectacular both at day and night as you will see in the pictures! Alongside the pool is the all-day Oasis Pool Bar, the staff there bring towels and complimentary chilled bottled water to your pool chair and provide pool-side drinks service, an excellent way to use up some of your ฿600 Ambassador F&B credit! In terms of other F&B options the hotel has plenty however the only other one I used was the Balcony Lounge in the lobby for a drink. During busier hours they have live music however that had finished when I visited at close to midnight.

A highlight of the hotel would have to be the staff, service managed to be polished but still warm and welcoming. For most of the day they had someone to open the front door and someone in the lift lobby on the ground floor to call the lift for you. Service at restaurants and lounges as well as housekeeping were all really good.

Overall an amazing stay and at just AUD $260/night, unbelievably good value for money. This was my first visit to Bangkok but I'm sure I will be back and I will certainly be returning to the InterContinental!

 

[drron]

We stayed at the IC Bangkok in mid January for the first time. We although thought it one of the best hotel stays we have ever had. We tried 3 different hotels to find a new home. We had 101 stays at the SGS but the long serving GM retired finally in November 2022 and the new GM had changed things a lot.
So the IC Bangkok is our new place to be. We already have 3 more bookings in the next 12 months.

And agree about the staff. Just marvellous and they all said they loved the GM. That was the same as the SGS staff on our first 100 stays.

 

[kerfuffle]

The first night I got a knock on the door asking if I needed anything and giving me two small bags (very small) of Fruchocs. I was out the next night but there were two more bags on my bed when I got home.

I stayed here in March and October, but only got complimentary Fruchocs in March. Wonder if it's a Summer thing or a supply issue. I'm due to stay here in July, so hopefully they still have complimentary Fruchocs!

 

[The-Aviator]

Could you point me towards this upgrade map on FlyerTalk please

Sure, here you go.

 

[ols]

Sure, here you go.

Thanks for that.
Sorry, I thought it was some magical spreadsheet that would show upgrade paths for all the IC properties