IHG “Destined” Replaces Luxury & Lifestyle For Select Agencies

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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?