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IHG CEO, Keith Barr, has made it publicly known that they are looking to absorb a true luxury brand very soon: “We are very focused on the sweet spot of acquiring an asset light, small luxury brand company or companies with a strong customer proposition, strong owner proposition that we can grow.” This brand would become the flagship of the company, targeting a different price point than Intercontinental hotels, which currently serve as the top of the IHG totem pole. When IHG mentioned an asset lite, small luxury brand it set the internet ablaze with speculation. Many thought that meant they would pick up Belmond – a true luxury hotel group, formerly known as Orient-Express, that manages many properties around the world as well as the Orient-Express train group. However, those rumors have been thwarted. So if not Belmond…
I have a few ideas
When you’re looking at uber top tier hotel groups you need to look at the following:
- Rosewood
- Mandarin Oriental
- Rocco Forte
- Peninsula
- Four Seasons
- Langham
- Kempinski
The top contenders in my book…
I think it’ll boil down to how luxurious and how small IHG ultimately wants their acquisition to be. Mandarin Oriental has been speculated, but that rumor was shot down, Rocco Forte is heavy on assets, as is the Peninsula. I can’t see them acquiring Four Seasons, Langham while targeting the luxury market has a relatively small footprint, isn’t exactly asset light in comparison with Rosewood or Kempinski.
I’d put my money on Rosewood or Kempinski
Rosewood is a truly 5 star hotel group. The service, prestige, and price point is WELL above Intercontinental. $1000 a night isn’t a crazy number for an entry level Rosewood room. Kempinski, on the other hand, has many resorts that are in the same category as an Intercontinental, but it also has a considerably larger presence and would work better with IHG’s current corporate mold. In my opinion, Kempinski hotels are a step up from Intercontinental and many of them are landmark properties. Rosewood is UBER premium…Kempinski I’d argue is nicer than Intercontinental, but doesn’t require the deep pockets of the Rosewood group.
Rosewood
- Uber luxurious
- Price points WELL above Intercontinental
- Manages 22 properties in 13 countries with 15 hotels in development.
- Asset Light
Kempinski
- Operates 76 5 star hotels in 31 countries
- Owned or leased hotels:
- Hotel Vier Jareszeiten in Munich
- Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin
- Palais Hansen in Vienna
- Grand Hotel des Bain in St. Moritz
One of the most Iconic Kempinski Hotels is the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi
What are your thoughts?
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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