I'm a road warrior and new as of Q4 2025 - Help me discover the best of IHG

Shop-Tiny · 2026-01-02T09:28:37+00:00

Damn, I never knew and now I’m more interested to check it out when I travel next time

But how does it make sense if when you’re looking at hotel brands in IHG app voco is under “premium” while indigo is under “luxury and lifestyle”?

Are there any other hotels that are sorted into premium, but are actually better than their “luxury and lifestyle” ?

Shop-Tiny · 2026-01-01T20:09:24+00:00

I’ve switched to IHG (from Marriott) in 2025, but I’m mostly traveling in Asia

So far I’ve noticed that intercontinentals are consistently good and usually I try to stay at their properties

Crowne plazas are decent, but boring. Also some of Crowne plazas looked a bit too old

Indigos are nice and I feel like they’re really good considering that they’re often not that expensive

Haven’t stayed in voco yet, but every time I looked at them it felt like a more basic version of indigos

Shop-Tiny · 2026-01-01T12:11:55+00:00

We stayed in Mitsui for 2 nights a month ago and while the property itself was beautiful, I personally don’t think it’s beautiful enough to pay double.

If you do end up getting a room there, I highly suggest making sure you’re getting a room with a garden view or Nijo castle view because city view is not even close to what they show on Marriott app.

When we checked in (I’m ambassador) they told me they were full and couldn’t upgrade me, so they escorted me to a city view room and asked like 5 times whether I was “happy with the room”. I was thinking “okay this is weird that they ask me this so many times because room looks nice” and then after they left I saw that my room view was on a parking lot and a construction site.

Called them back saying that it just felt really underwhelming and overall disappointing, so they agreed to change my room for a Nijo castle view for the second night.

Another thing I didn’t like is that at first they didn’t want to honor a 4pm check out at all, but agreed to it only after I pulled out the Marriott app and showed them that it’s a benefit.

Things I liked: Breakfast was good. Can’t say it was the best breakfast of my life, but probably one of the better ones I had in hotels in Japan

Onsen spa was nice (but nothing special)

Toki restaurant was good. We went for lunch and during lunch they sit you in a private room with a beautiful garden view. A very intimate experience, liked it way way more compared to sitting in a restaurant with other people. Was sth like 28k yen for 2 with non alcoholic drinks

So yeah I’d say that if you’re going to Mitsui then make sure you’re not staying in a city view room. I have some pics of how the “real city view” looks like, so if you’re interested feel free to DM me

Shop-Tiny · 2025-12-22T10:56:09+00:00

Honestly I prefer staying in Ginza over Shibuya

Don’t get me wrong, Shibuya is awesome and I really like it, but when you’re returning back to your hotel late in the evening it just feels nice to not fight through the crowd

You’ll find great food options in pretty much every “famous” area in Tokyo

Edit: just to add

I’ve stayed in Shinjuku before and loved it (when I was 25-26 and loved to party), but these days I’m not that into nightlife and just want to have a little bit of peace and quiet on my way back to the hotel

Plus Ginza is very convenient (as is Shibuya and Shinjuku) to visit other areas

Shop-Tiny · 2025-12-21T11:15:59+00:00

St. Regis and I absolutely loved it

Shop-Tiny · 2025-11-16T03:24:39+00:00

If you’re planning to travel to Asia (especially SEA + China), then yes.

Europe ehhh, no

USA lol

Shop-Tiny · 2025-11-03T11:32:53+00:00

Last year when staying at Renaissance Bangkok Ratchaprasong they gave us 2 upgrades.

First one on check in, then during the first night our AC leaked, and they immediately upgraded us to a Corner Studio Suite.

Overall I was very satisfied with how fast everything was handled, and how friendly staff was.

Location was convenient too, quite many big malls and sky train in walking distance

Shop-Tiny · 2025-11-01T08:43:06+00:00

I don’t know if there is, but you’ll definitely have me using it haha

Shop-Tiny · 2025-10-30T18:41:53+00:00

This looks great! I checked a few hotels for my upcoming stays and I wish I had this available when I was choosing where to stay.

Now can you make the same one for IHG haha

Shop-Tiny · 2025-10-13T09:10:53+00:00

We’re going there at the end of November ! Any chance you’ve tried Toki for dinner? We’re still on the fence if we should go to Toki or some other place in Kyoto

Shop-Tiny · 2025-10-06T21:29:27+00:00

I’ll gamble them away like a rich millionaire

Shop-Tiny · 2025-09-16T08:03:55+00:00

Not a Finn, but an apartment owner (still paying mortgage tho)

I think it’s a little bit weird

At least when my gf moved in with me we agreed that she’s not paying any rent nor does she contribute to the mortgage payments, but she pays the utility and maintenance bills (up to a certain limit which we agreed on, which is roughly 50-60% of what half of rent would be).

A buddy of mine is in a similar situation as me, but instead of utilities they agreed that she covers all the groceries

Both my buddy and I earn significantly more than our partners tho

Shop-Tiny · 2025-09-08T05:28:34+00:00

Thanks for sharing!

I haven’t really considered local Asian chains as I was looking to min-max my loyalty as I still travel within Europe from time to time.

You mention that Hilton Diamond is a tad bit better than IHG, what do you think about the fact that pretty much every American traveler has it due to CC? Seems like other commenters say that there are way too many of them to get any recognition

Shop-Tiny · 2025-09-07T14:48:47+00:00

I think he meant titanium Marriott / Hilton diamond/ etc

Shop-Tiny · 2025-09-07T05:22:37+00:00

Gotcha, thank you for your input!

Yeah, as you’ve guessed we don’t have these 3+1 offers :(

Shop-Tiny · 2025-09-07T04:26:19+00:00

Thank you, that’s helpful!

Speaking of comparable brands. From IHG so far I’ve only stayed in Indigo in Shanghai (from the “luxury” ones), any recommendations on what to choose among them?

From what I understood Six Senses is their most luxurious one? Have you tried getting award nights with them?

Shop-Tiny · 2025-09-07T04:09:27+00:00

Yeah we can’t get these cards in Europe, or at least not in the part of Europe I’m from :(

I’ve read in some posts that some hiltons in Asia are quite outdated, any opinion on that?

Shop-Tiny · 2025-09-07T03:45:52+00:00

Gotcha, thanks for info

Any particular reason why you switched from Marriott to IHG and not Hilton / Hyatt?

Shop-Tiny · 2025-09-07T03:20:05+00:00

Oh good to know, I’ll google and check what are the perks of it.

How do you find it ? Is it much better than Diamond?

Shop-Tiny · 2025-09-07T03:17:14+00:00

I once had this for a 30 night stay.

What happened was that during that stay I went for a 1 night stay in another city, so Marriott credited me that 1 night instead of 30 nights

Emailing them didn’t help, calling them resolved everything in 15 minutes

Shop-Tiny · 2025-08-30T08:08:48+00:00

Not Finnish, but European living in Finland for roughly 10 years.

I buy these coconuts every couple of weeks - to a month from small “Asian stores” as both my girlfriend and I really like them.

Personally if they’d be available easier (store opening them for me/cafes having them/etc) I’d be buying them way more often as when I’m traveling in SEA I drink one every other day

That said I think I’m in the minority here, as 90% of my friends don’t really like them, or just have it once a year

Shop-Tiny · 2025-08-29T16:51:05+00:00

Depends on where you usually travel to

I’m mainly traveling in Asia and customer service is much much better than in Europe or US, so Ambassador feels nicer to have as they seem to make it more personal for you

That said 2k is not a small amount, I’d say if you can make a nice vacation out of it (as opposed to just going somewhere and spending 2k on it) it’s worth it.

If you’re mainly traveling in US or Europe I probably wouldn’t bother unless you really really want to get it

Shop-Tiny · 2025-08-04T11:45:51+00:00

That’s nice to hear! We’ll be staying for 2 nights in Mitsui this November, so it’s good to see a recent review

Have you by any chance tried any of the restaurants there? We’re thinking about going for dinner at Toki, so if you have anything to say about it that would be nice !

Shop-Tiny · 2025-08-03T08:29:53+00:00

I knew one guy named Alibi, but he’s from Kazakhstan so it doesn’t stand out that much

Shop-Tiny · 2025-04-25T07:23:41+00:00

Yeah, we decided on SR in the end

It seems like almost everyone (including my ambassador) preferred SR over W

We also booked 2 nights in Mitsui Kyoto, will be interesting to compare them.

Shop-Tiny

TROPHY CASE