Priority Club members can buy points for $11.50 to $13.50 per 1,000 points. 5,000 points is $67.50 and the rate drops to $57.50 per PointBreaks night if you buy 26,000 or more points at a time. Members can buy up to 50,000 points in a calendar year.

Hopefully you already have points in your account. The availability of the Holiday Inn Express in Fortuna, California has me thinking about a coastal road trip north into Humboldt County this winter.

The selection is primarily in the USA this round with few hotels elsewhere in the world.

InterContinental Tahiti at 5,000 points per night is a deal if you can find a reservation and swing the airfare. Hint: Look in Asia.

Tahiti was not bookable when I tried just before posting this. The rate still showed 30,000 points per night. Sometimes it takes a few hours or even a day before the hotels are bookable.

Here are observations I made concerning the changes to InterContinental Hotel reward tiers.

InterContinental Hotels in the USA (25 hotels in 50 states and Puerto Rico).

• None of the 8 InterContinental Hotels formerly at 30,000 points increased tier. They are still 30,000 points. Atlanta Buckhead is the only hotel in the USA to decrease from 40,000 to 30,000 points tier.
• In contrast, 7 of 17 hotels in USA and Puerto Rico increased from 40,000 points to 50,000 points. This means 41% of the hotels in the USA that were 40,000 points per night increase 25% in reward night cost. Austin, Boston, Chicago, New York (2 hotels), Scottsdale, Arizona and San Juan Puerto Rico are now in top tier.
• In total 1 of 25 (4%) InterContinental Hotels in the USA decreased by 25% and 7 of 25 (28%) InterContinental Hotels increased 25% in reward cost for US properties.

Global Changes

InterContinental Perth is the only hotel to jump from 30,000 points to 50,000 points for a 67% increase in reward cost. InterContinental Sydney is one of only 10 hotels outside the US to increase to 50,000 points.

Australia in general has seen all hotel chains raise reward tiers. Currency exchange rates are a major factor in the increase in Australia hotel reward rates.  Since January 2003 the USD dropped from US$1.00 = AUD$1.70 to the current exchange rate of USD$1 = AUD$0.95. The huge devaluation of the dollar is detrimental to hotel point values which are based on the US dollar exchange rate.

And if you think hotel rates are bad, check out the price of beer in Australia after exchanging US dollars.

Other hotels rising to the 50,000 points reward tier are limited to a few key locations like Bora Bora (2 hotels), Paris (2 hotels), Cannes (1 hotel), Rome (1 hotel), Tokyo (2 hotels) and Hong Kong (1 hotel).

• 19 hotels are currently in 50,000 points reward tier. Only one hotel, InterContinental Ixtapa Resort in Mexico was 50,000 points prior to the new tiers of Jan 18, 2012.
• 11 hotels outside the USA increased to 50,000 points reward tier. 7 hotels in USA and Puerto Rico increased to 50,000 points.
• 19 international hotels decreased from 40K to 30K (27% of formerly 40,000 points hotels).

Formerly 40,000 points reward tier InterContinental Hotels (68 hotels)

• 18 hotels increased from 40K to 50K (26%). About 25% of InterContinental Hotels worldwide formerly at 40,000 points jumped to 50,000 points tier.
• 31 hotels remain at 40K (46%).
• 19 hotels decreased from 40K to 30K (28%).
• 19 hotels now at 50,000 points. 6 hotels in USA, 1 Puerto Rico and 12 international hotels.
• 1 hotel (Perth, Australia) increased from 30,000 to 50,000 points (67% jump).
• 7 hotels in USA and Puerto Rico increased from 40,000 points to 50,000 points per night (7 of 17 hotels or 41% of hotels in USA formerly at 40,000 points went up.)

Formerly 30,000 points reward tier (99 hotels)

• 99 hotels were 30,000 points before changes.
• 108 hotels or 10% more hotels are 30,000 points on Jan 20, 2012.
• 9 international hotels increased from 30,000 to 40,000 points (9% of 30K hotels). One of these hotels is InterContinental Geneva which had just dropped from 40K to 30K in 2010-2011.
• 1 international hotel (1%) increased from 30,000 to 50,000 points InterContinental Perth.
• All 8 IC hotels in USA previously at 30,000 points remained at 30,000 points.
• In all, 89 hotels at 30,000 points before remain at 30,000 points now (90%).
• 19 additional hotels were lowered to 30,000 points from 40,000 points.

Distribution January 15, 2012 among 168 hotels:

• 99 hotels (59%) = 30,000 points
• 68 hotels (41%) = 40,000 points
• 1 hotel (<1%) = 50,000 points

Distribution  with new reward tier levels on January 20, 2012 among 168 hotels:

• 108 hotels (64%) = 30,000 points
• 41 hotels (25%) = 40,000 points
• 19 hotels (11%) = 50,000 points

InterContinental Hotel Reward Tiers

The spreadsheet image below shows the former tiers of 168 InterContinental Hotels at 30,000 points in blue and 40,000 points in yellow in the first column. The hotels were shifted to the new 30K, 40K and 50K tiers to illustrate by color and position the former and current tiers.

Click on spreadsheet image to open full size in a new window.

New 2012 InterContinental Hotel Reward Tiers - Loyalty traveler

The other piece of official news from the FlyerTalk thread is PriorityClubRepresentative states the X stays, for Y points promotion is stackable with this double points or double miles promotion.

Priority Club Double Points or Double Miles (Code 6673 registration page)

• Begins with second eligible IHG brand stay at any Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, InterContinental Hotels and Hotel Indigo, except for Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites earn double points or double miles beginning with first stay.
• No retroactive credit for hotel stays prior to promotion registration date.
• Promotion earns 20 points per dollar at Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, InterContinental Hotels and Hotel Indigo.
• InterContinental Hotels will change earning rate during this promotion when IC hotels in North America, Caribbean and Latin America (about 50 hotels) begin earning 10 points per dollar on February 15, 2012. All other InterContinental Hotels worldwide (about 120 hotels) will maintain earning rate of 2,000 points per stay regardless of hotel spend. Double points will be either 4,000 points per stay or 20 points per dollar depending on date of stay and location.
• Staybridge and Candlewood brands earn 10 points per dollar with double points.
• Link to standard earn rates for IHG brands.

Earning Double Miles with Priority Club

Priority Club has over 40 airline partners for earning miles. There are many earning structures depending on airline and hotel brand. The miles earning rates are shown here.

The US-based airlines of Alaska, American, Delta, United and US Airways earn miles at these rates:

• 2 miles per $1 spend at Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Hotel Indigo and beginning February 15, 2012 at InterContinental Hotels in North America, Caribbean and Latin America. Double miles = 4 miles/$1.
• 1 mile per $1 spend at Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites. Double miles = 2 miles/$1.
• 500 miles per stay at InterContinental Hotels. Double miles = 1,000 miles/stay for all InterContinental Hotels worldwide prior to February 15, 2012. InterContinental Hotels in North America, Caribbean and Central America change to 2 miles/$1 February 15, 2012. There will be no change in miles earning rate for InterContinental Hotels in other regions.

Priority Club Double Points is stackable with quarterly stay bonus points offer.

*** InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club Rewards – Priority Club members may register for one of the quarterly stay promotions running January 1-March 31, 2012. You can only register for one offer so pick the target you are most likely to reach. Stay 3 nights = 5,000 bonus points. Stay 7 nights = 10,000 bonus points. Stay 15 nights = 15,000 bonus points.

Hotel Chain Scales are used by hotel industry analysts at STR.com to segment hotel brands into luxury, upper-upscale, upscale, upper midscale, midscale and economy categories.

The largest hotel loyalty programs for the US are Hilton, Marriott and IHG in terms of the size and broad range of hotels in different market segments. Wyndham Rewards, Choice Privileges and Best Western Rewards are comparable megachain hotels, but there are far fewer hotels in the upscale to luxury segments in these three brands. Starwood (1,100 hotels) and Hyatt (500 hotels) have a high proportion of upscale to luxury hotel brands in their portfolios, however, the number of hotels are far fewer in these chains and not as useful for travelers needing wide geographic coverage.

Hotel Brands and Market Segments

What is a luxury hotel or an upper-upscale hotel?

Price is generally the defining line between hotel market segments. I do not work in the hotel industry and I am an amateur analyst interpreting numbers from hotel industry data. STRGlobal.com provides industry data reports and I gather statistical data about the hotel industry regularly from the free data provided online.

STR has a list of hotel brands in different chain scale segments based on the average room rate data for thousands of hotels worldwide.

This post uses the 2011 STR US Chain Scales  along with the latest hotel properties data for each brand from the hotel chain’s websites to compare market segments for hotel brands of Hilton, IHG and Marriott.

Basically I want to see how the hotels in Hilton, IHG and Marriott segment out in each chain and compare to each other when looking at the number of luxury, upscale and midscale hotels in each hotel loyalty program.

Hilton Worldwide Hotel Brands with Market Segment and Number of Hotels

• Hilton Worldwide has 3,712 hotels in this list, but this is only an estimate. New hotels open every few days.The percentage of hotels in each brand is listed in ( ).
• Conrad Hotels (luxury) = 18 hotels (<1%).
• Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts (luxury) = 23 hotels (<1%).
• Hilton Hotels and Resorts (upper upscale) = 540 hotels (15%) in 78 countries including 70 Resorts.
• Embassy Suites (upper upscale) = 201 hotels (5%) with 193 in US and 8 international.
• Hilton Grand Vacations (upper upscale) = 50 properties (1%).
• DoubleTree by Hilton (upscale) = 250 hotels (7%) in 17 countries.
• Homewood Suites (upscale – extended stay) = 309 hotels (8%) in North America.
• Hilton Garden Inn (upscale) = 515 hotels (14%) with 130 in development.
• Hampton Inn (upper midscale) = 1,800 hotels (48%) with more than 1,700 in US and growing international expansion recently.
• Home2 Suites (upper midscale – extended stay) = 6 hotels (<1%).

Marriott International Hotel Brands with Market Segment and Number of Hotels

• 3,747 properties in 13 brands in 72 countries. This total does not include Marriott Executive Apartments which earn Marriott Rewards points, but are extended stay contracted properties and not a typical hotel stay.
• Ritz-Carlton (luxury) = 81 hotels (2%).
• JW Marriott (luxury) = 62 hotels (2%).
• Marriott Hotels & Resorts (upper upscale) = 521 hotels (14%).
• Renaissance (upper upscale) = 160 hotels (4%).
• Autograph Collection (upper upscale) = 29 hotels (<1%).
• Marriott Vacation Club (upper upscale) = 59 properties (2%).
• Marriott Conference Centers (upper upscale) = 7 hotels (<1%).
• Courtyard (upscale) = 926 hotels (25%).
• AC Hotels (upscale) = 82 hotels mostly in Spain (2%).
• SpringHill Suites (upscale – extended stay) = 299 hotels (8%).
• Residence Inn (upscale – extended stay) = 627 hotels (17%).
• Fairfield Inn (upper midscale) = 689 hotels (18%).
• TownePlace Suites (upper midscale – extended stay)= 205 hotels (5%).

InterContinental Hotels Group

• 4,452 hotels (as of September 2011)
• InterContinental Hotels (luxury) = 171 hotels (4%).
• Crowne Plaza (upscale) =  401 hotels (9%).
• Hotel Indigo (upscale) =  38 hotels (<1%).
• Staybridge Suites (upscale – extended stay) = 195 hotels (4%).
• Holiday Inn (upper midscale) = 1,238 hotels (28%).
• Holiday Inn Express (upper midscale) = 2,103 hotels (47%) with 1,866 in Americas.
• Candlewood Suites (midscale) = 300 hotels (7%).
• Holiday Inn Club Vacations = 6 properties (<1%).

I have some issue with the broad segmentation of Crowne Plaza and DoubleTree as Upscale rather than Upper Upscale for some locations and Holiday Inn as Upper Midscale for some locations where the Holiday Inn is more upscale.  Keep in mind in the real world of travel there will be some Crowne Plaza and DoubleTree hotels that will be just as nice or better than the nearby Marriott, Hilton or Embassy Suites.

How the hotel chains stack up when brands are compared by market segment.

Luxury market segment

• IHG = 171 hotels (InterContinental)
• Marriott = 143 hotels (Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott)
• Hilton = 41 hotels (Conrad, Waldorf Astoria)

Upper Upscale market segment

• Hilton = 791 hotels (Hilton, Embassy Suites, Hilton Grand Vacations)
• Marriott = 776 hotels (Marriott, Renaissance, Autograph Collection, Marriott Vacation Club)
• IHG = 0 hotels (based on STR chain scale rankings, but in reality many Crowne Plaza hotels are upper upscale).

Upscale market segment

• Marriott = 1,934 hotels (Courtyard, Residence Inn, AC Hotels)
• Hilton = 1,074 (Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood Suites, DoubleTree)
• IHG = 634 hotels (Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Staybridge Suites)

Upper Midscale market segment

• IHG = 3,341 hotels (Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express)
• Hilton = 1,806 (Hampton Inn)
• Marriott = 894 (Fairfield Inn, TownePlace Suites)

Midscale market segment

• IHG = 300 (Candlewood Suites)

The key point here is to consider what market segment you desire for your travels. IHG Priority Club will tend to be lower room rates, but Priority Club does not offer frequent guest elite members the level of defined benefits provided by Hilton HHonors or Marriott Rewards to their md-tier and top-tier elite members.

Another point to add is the practice of placing branded hotels in the same chain adjacent to each other. This is really common with Marriott where Courtyard and Residence Inn are literally adjacent hotels in many places. I have seen three Marriott properties in the same location in places. Geographic coverage is not as extensive as you might think when all the locations with multiple properties are considered. On the other hand, the placement of hotels in the same chain next to each other makes hotel hopping for loyalty promotion stay credit an easy task when you want to earn free Marriott MegaBonus nights.

Comparison of hotel loyalty program benefits across these hotel brands will be discussed in future posts.

The new double points or miles Priority Club promotion applies to stays from January 23 to April 30, 2012. The main thing to know is registration is required before your stays. There will be no double credit for stays made during the promotion period before promotion registration. SPG is generous in this aspect of promotions in that eligible stays usually receive retroactive credit as long as the SPG member registers by the promotion deadline.

The disappointing aspect of this Priority Club promotion is the registration page is not fully ready even though this offer has been blogged about since the beginning of the week.

Priority Club Double Points 2012

This registration page looks all good until you click the registration link to be met with a page requiring a promotion code to be entered. I have stated several times over the past couple of months that my pet peeve is having a promotion announced, and in this case a registration page available to members, before the promotion registration links are ready.

[ Update Jan 18 2:54pm Pacific Time: The Priority Club Double Points or Double Miles Registration Links in this post changed to registration link posted by PriorityClubRepresentative on FlyerTalk today, the company representative.

Update Friday, Jan 13 - 9:37am Pacific time: Priority Club has changed the promotion registration webpage in the past hour and code 2837 no longer seems to work. I assume they are getting the page redesigned for automatic registration with no need to enter a promotion code.]

BarbiJKM posted code 2837 yesterday on FlyerTalk that appears to work. When I registered using 2837 I received this confirmation message.

Priority Club Rewards 2012 confirmation message using code 2837.

Priority Club Double Points or Double Miles (registration page)

• Begins with second eligible IHG brand stay at any Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, InterContinental Hotels and Hotel Indigo, except for Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites earn double points or double miles beginning with first stay.
• No retroactive credit for hotel stays prior to promotion registration date.
• Promotion earns 20 points per dollar at Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, InterContinental Hotels and Hotel Indigo.
• InterContinental Hotels will change earning rate during this promotion when IC hotels in North America, Caribbean and Latin America (about 50 hotels) begin earning 10 points per dollar on February 15, 2012. All other InterContinental Hotels worldwide (about 120 hotels) will maintain earning rate of 2,000 points per stay regardless of hotel spend. Double points will be either 4,000 points per stay or 20 points per dollar depending on date of stay and location.
• Staybridge and Candlewood brands earn 10 points per dollar with double points.
• Link to standard earn rates for IHG brands.

Earning Double Miles with Priority Club

Priority Club has over 40 airline partners for earning miles. There are many earning structures depending on airline and hotel brand. The miles earning rates are shown here.

The US-based airlines of Alaska, American, Delta, United and US Airways earn miles at these rates:

• 2 miles per $1 spend at Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Hotel Indigo and beginning February 15, 2012 at InterContinental Hotels in North America, Caribbean and Latin America. Double miles = 4 miles/$1.
• 1 mile per $1 spend at Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites. Double miles = 2 miles/$1.
• 500 miles per stay at InterContinental Hotels. Double miles = 1,000 miles/stay for all InterContinental Hotels worldwide prior to February 15, 2012. InterContinental Hotels in North America, Caribbean and Central America change to 2 miles/$1 February 15, 2012. There will be no change in miles earning rate for InterContinental Hotels in other regions.

Priority Club Double Points is stackable with quarterly stay bonus points offer.

*** InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club Rewards – Priority Club members may register for one of the quarterly stay promotions running January 1-March 31, 2012. You can only register for one offer so pick the target you are most likely to reach. Stay 3 nights = 5,000 bonus points. Stay 7 nights = 10,000 bonus points. Stay 15 nights = 15,000 bonus points.

Priority Club reward nights will cost less for 20% or about 900 IHG hotels globally.

Priority Club Brand Tiers for Reward Nights as of January 18, 2012.

Click on image for full size view. This chart is located on PriorityClub.com.

60 Days from January 18 to book or rebook at best reward redemption level

Don Berg, IHG VP for Priority Club stated to me in an interview today that members will have two months to book hotel rewards through customer service at the lower points level for reservations up to 360 days from booking date.

FlyerTalk and blogosphere comments indicate IHG customer service agents aren’t really up on the changes yet as news of the impending tier addition and IHG hotels shift spread rapidly across social media channels today.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis (based on pure statistical guesses and no detailed knowledge of actual changes other than 25% hotels going up and 20% going down.)

Every IHG brand has a new higher tier as seen in the chart.

Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express add a new 20,000 point reward tier. Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels already had a 25,000 point hotel reward for about 1,000 hotels globally and 70 % of the 3,300 Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels are currently 15,000 points (60%) or 10,000 points (10%).

[update Jan 3 2:25pm Pacific - the original post read 90% of these two brands were at 10K or 15K. This data was corrected from 90% to 70% based on the Priority Club Reward tier categories compiled by ChongCao on this website.]

I expect 80% or more of the 2,000 hotels changing reward tier up or down will be in these two brands. Four reward tiers will allow easier shifts for Priority Club hotel rewards for Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels based on revenue and reward demand.

InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Hotel Indigo will likely see a shift upwards in most high occupancy metropolitan areas. Perhaps 25% or more of hotels will increase by 10,000 points per night and that is about 150 hotels in these three brands.

Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites will likely change upward for high revenue locations and affects about 120 hotels of 500 or so if reward nights increase by 25% more points.

Any techie care to produce a list of current Priority Club Reward levels before January 18?

Update Jan 3 2012 - ChongcCao has a UK website updated in August and November 2011 showing Priority Club reward tiers in 2011 for Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and InterContinental hotels and tier changes from 2010 levels.

Frustrating to me is Priority Club Rewards does not have lists of hotels at the different reward tiers on the Priority Club website. I asked Don Berg, VP IHG Priority Club loyalty program, why Priority Club has no list of reward tiers for its hotels? Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and Starwood publish the reward cost of all their hotels in easy to search lists. He said Priority Club research indicates the general Priority Club member does not have a need for a master list showing the reward cost of hotels.

Priority Club requires the member to look up a destination like Paris, France or Lubbock, Texas and see hotels and their reward cost.

Priority Club nicely displays Reward Night Rates in hotel searches.

My January 18th question is “Did the hotel reward tier go up or down?”

The need for a master list to me is to make use of the 60-day window for booking rewards at the lower level. There are no master lists of Priority Club reward tiers to know if a hotel went up or down when the new tiers are added January 18. We can tell which hotels increased to 35,000 or 50,000 points with several of the brands. The changes will be easily detected with Crowne Plaza, InterContinental and Hotel Indigo.

What about the midscale traveler’s needs?

Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels is where I think more than 80% of the 2,000 hotels shifting tiers will occur. On January 18 how will you know if that 20,000 point hotel reward was 10,000 or 15,000 or 25,000 points before?

You will only know the January 18 reward rates and not the previous reward rates when you look up Lubbock, Texas or Key West, Florida. How will you even know to call and book the lower rate during the 60-day grace period after the tier changes at those 800+ Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels that go up in reward cost on January 18?

The following data is an addition to the original post based on data from ChongCao’s census of IHG hotels at different Priority Club reward tiers.

2011 reward tier data for Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels prior to January 18, 2012 changes.

InterContinental Hotels (ChongCao hotel tier list for 169 properties)

• 30,000 points = 99 hotels
• 40,000 points = 70 hotels

USA – Holiday Inn  (671 hotels) (ChongCao reward tier hotel list.)

• 10,000 points = 27   (4.0%)
• 15,000 points = 372  (55.4%)
• 25,000 points = 272  (40.5%)

USA – Holiday Inn  Express (1,731 hotels)   ChongCao 25K reward tier hotel list

• 10,000 points = 212   (12.2%)  ChongCao 10K and 15K reward tier hotel list
• 15,000 points = 1,107 (64.0%)
• 25,000 points = 412  (23.8%)

International – Holiday Inn  (549 hotels) (ChongCao reward tier hotel list.)

• 10,000 points = 35  (6.4%)
• 15,000 points = 309  (56.3%)
• 25,000 points = 205  (37.3%)

International - Holiday Inn  Express (367 hotels)

• 10,000 points = 57   (15.5%)
• 15,000 points = 216 (58.9%)
• 25,000 points = 94  (25.6%)

Related link FlyerTalk ChongCao – Master List of 10K and 25K Holiday Inn /Holiday Inn Express List
2011/2012  (Nov 9, 2011)

Cannery Row Stohan's Gallery and El Torito Mexican Restaurant.

Cannery Row is still somewhat of an eyesore on half the length of the street with vacant, fenced off lots on the ocean side and a large asphalt parking lot on the other side. By the the mid-1970s all the canneries had closed down. Restaurants and shops come and go and change names frequently.

Culinary Center of Monterey closed its doors in 2010.

Cannery Row Hotels

A few fine hotels have opened along Cannery Row over the past few decades with the Monterey Plaza Hotel being a leading redevelopment project for Cannery Row when it opened in 1985 one year after the Monterey Bay Aquarium on the opposite end of Cannery Row. Monterey Plaza Hotel is a member of Stash Hotel Rewards. The newest addition is The Clement Monterey InterContinental Hotel opened in 2008 and available as a Priority Club Rewards hotel at 40,000 points per night.

Monterey Bay Inn is adjacent to San Carlos Beach and is a smaller hotel at 49 rooms.

Monterey Bay Inn on Cannery Row is adjacent to San Carlos Beach,

Monterey Bay Inn and its sister properties Spindrift Inn and Victorian Inn are three hotels comprising the Inns of Monterey Collection. Spindrift Inn at 45 rooms in the center of Cannery Row was named the #1 Romance Hotel by TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Awards 2011. Victorian Inn is a Best Western Hotel two streets up from Cannery Row. The Victorian house is a beautiful part of the inn accompanied by an additional wing of regular rooms where most guests stay.

Cannery Row can have the feel of a tourist trap taking you for money.

The hotels are the one commerce trade where I think there is good value on Cannery Row. Cannery Row is the primary developed place on the Monterey Peninsula where a visitor can stay overnight by the sea. Many rooms at Cannery Row hotels offer the guest a sea view and some rooms even offer over-the-sea views.

Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa, Cannery Row, Monterey, California

The restaurant building housing El Torito Mexican Restaurant is a good place for ocean views of Monterey Bay and happy hour margaritas. This location provides some cheap entertainment with drinks compared to prices at many places along Cannery Row. This place has been a Mexican restaurant for decades with Tia Maria’s being a key Cannery Row business when I was a teenager in the 1970s.

McAbee Beach and Spindrift Inn, Cannery Row

Spindrift Inn is in the heart of Cannery Row adjacent to the only remnant of beach left of the original McAbee Beach along Ocean View Avenue Monterey at the beginning of the 20th century. This site has held a hotel since the 1920s according to the Spindrift Inn website.

The Spindrift Inn designed by architect Paul Davis replaced the former Ocean View Hotel and opened in 1985 the year after Monterey Bay Aquarium opened. This hotel received TripAdvisor Traveler’s Choice Award 2011 for Most Romantic Hotel in the United States.

Spindrift Inn, Cannery Row, Monterey, California

Spindrift Inn Cannery Row located next to McAbee Beach.

McAbee Beach and Spindrift Inn, Cannery Row, Monterey, California.

McAbee Beach and Spindrift Inn view from El Torito (Jan 2011).

Bullwacker’s is one of the older restaurant bars on Cannery Row. This place offers live music some nights and has an outdoor patio.

Bullwacker's and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Cannery Row, Monterey.

Bullwacker’s has an outdoor patio that backs up to bike/pedestrian pass behind these buildings. Cannery Row Brewing Co. is in a building on the other side of the Monterey Bay Coastal Trail.

Bullwacker's patio Cannery Row, Monterey.

Paradiso Trattoria is next to the Spindrift Inn and a relatively new restaurant on Cannery Row opening in 2009 and operated by a Monterey County celebrity chef according to its website, John Pisto. The place gets mixed reviews on Yelp and I have no personal knowledge. I regularly cook my own seafood at home in Monterey. I have been trying to get my wife to help me with a restaurant review website for Monterey, but she would rather have me cook her dinner. Go figure!

Paradiso restaurant, Cannery Row Monterey, California

Ghiradelli’s Chocolate is our local San Francisco company with an ice cream counter. There are some outside tables on the ocean side of the business on a deck looking out to Monterey Bay.

Ghirardelli Chocolate shop on Cannery Row.

Asian history mostly forgotten on Cannery Row

Cannery Row was the site of many immigrant enterprises over the past 150 years. The first cannery on Cannery Row was the abalone canning business of a Japanese immigrant. The Ocean View Hotel on the site of Spindrift Inn was established in the 1920s by a Chinese family.

This area of Monterey once housed one of California’s largest Chinese settlements outside of San Francisco. Chinese fishermen harvested abalone and fish for shipment to San Francisco and dried fish for export to China. The Chinese maintained productive commerce for over fifty years along the Cannery Row area of Monterey. By the beginning of the 20th century competition with European immigrants and native born Americans created racial tension and anti-Chinese sentiment to relocate Chinese communities from many areas in California.

I lived in Eureka, California 400 miles north of Monterey for several years in the 1990s. The Chinese settlers in Eureka were driven out of the city in the 1880s and laws were passed to make it illegal to rent houses and land to Chinese immigrants. The Chinese community of several hundred residents was given an ultimatum to leave the city of Eureka, get out of Humboldt County or be massacred.

Cannery Row history tells of the Chinese settlement on China Point that suffered a similar fate. Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station is the site where the Chinese were burned out from their community soon after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake swelled the population by several hundred residents. Here is an informative historical description of Chinese immigrant culture and influence in Monterey from the Monterey County Historical Society. Here is the Stanford University Hopkins Marine Station history page.

Monterey Canning Company shops and restaurants, Cannery Row, Monterey

Monterey Canning Company is a facade for a building with Starbucks, boutique and tourist shops and food.

The centerpiece of Cannery Row is Steinbeck Plaza. There is a Pebble Beach Store with loads of logo covered merchandise. Sly McFly’s is a landmak bar on Cannery Row for decades with some of the best local live bands playing regularly.

Steinbeck Plaza, Cannery Row, Monterey, California.

Evergreen December on Steinbeck Plaza, Cannery Row, Monterey.

View from Steinbeck Plaza Cannery Row.

John Steinbeck bust at Steinbeck Plaza, Cannery Row, Monterey.

Sly McFly’s has live music most weekend nights. This is a popular nightclub on Cannery Row.

Prescott Avenue is the crossroad to Steinbeck Plaza Cannery Row. The photo below is taken from Prescott Avenue where the coast path runs in front of Cannery Row Brewing Company. Blue Fin is another bar/restaurant on Cannery Row.

View of Steinbeck Plaza on Cannery Row from Prescott Avenue, Monterey.

Cannery Row Brewing Company on Prescott Avenue, Monterey.

Two places of note in the Steinbeck Plaza shops are the businesses out at the water’s edge with The Fish Hopper Restaurant and Bar and A Taste of Monterey wine tasting center with great upper floor views of Monterey Bay and Cannery Row.

The Fish Hopper, Cannery Row, Monterey.

The Fish Hopper puts you right out over Monterey Bay.

The Fish Hopper on Cannery Row is over the water.

A Taste of Monterey wine tasting center at Steinbeck Plaza, Cannery Row.

Ocean view drinking at A Taste of Monterey on Cannery Row.

The Clement InterContinental Monterey

The only new build hotel to open on Cannery Row since the 1980s is The Clement InterContinental Monterey. I wrote an extensive review of the place with loads of photos soon after the hotel opened in 2008. Rates dropped to as low as $100 per night during the hotel industry rate collapse of 2009. Rates are as low as $169 this week with ocean view rooms over $200. This property changed its reward rate from 30,000 points to 40,000 Priority Club points in 2011.

The Clement InterContinental Monterey Hotel on Cannery Row.

View of Fremont Peak from InterContinental Hotel patio. Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaturant on right.

InterContinental The Clement Monterey.

Fish Heads and Lobsters

Perhaps I was one of the last people on Cannery Row who actually worked with fish outside of a restaurant environment prior to the opening of the Monterey Bay Aquarium in 1984. I returned to California in 1981 at the age of 21 after a year living in Montpelier, Vermont. The U.S. was in a tough economic environment in 1981 and I came back to California to attend Monterey Peninsula College. I had worked with a local marine biologist for several months in high school conducting a sea otter census along the Monterey County coastline. That experience probably landed me the job in an aquaculture facility in the back of a Cannery Row building adjacent to what is now the Monterey Bay Aquarium. My primary job was grinding up fish heads and weighing fish and krill portions to hand-feed hundreds of Atlantic lobsters raised in multiple layers of long plastic seawater tanks.

810 Cannery Row adjacent to Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Thirty years ago the gift shop was in front and a doorway in the back of the gift shop led to the large cannery building behind with a lobster aquaculture project in the warehouse.

Coastal access laws for new property development on the seashore requires public access be maintained. The InterContinental has one of the finest public access infrastructure on Cannery Row with a deck providing over the ocean access around Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. all the way around the hotel and exiting out next to Doc Rickett’s unmarked building at 800 Cannery Row.

Ed Rickett's museum is the building on right, owned by the city and rarely open.

‘Coastal Overlook’ is the sign marker showing public access route behind InterContinental Hotel for great sea views.

Rear of Ed Rickett's museum seen from Coastal Access walkway.

The lobster aquaculture project was located in the building on the right in the photo above.

Coastal Access walkway around The Clement InterContinental Hotel.

There used to be an elevated wooden deck at the lobster aquaculture facility on the side of the building with the facing windows in the photo. The building looks like it has seen some renovation since the 1980s. A fierce storm hit the Monterey Peninsula in winter 81-82 and damaged part of the wooden deck where I did my fish head grinding job. 1982-83 was the roughest winter in decades.  That storm brought massive waves that damaged many buildings along the coast of California and made these waves look small from the January 2010 storms.

Winter storm waves hitting Monterey Bay Aquarium in Jan 2010.

The nostalgia memories of Cannery Row for me are not the days of Steinbeck and canneries. Those were already gone when I was a child. Film and music are my fondest memories of Cannery Row. The 812 Cinema on Cannery Row was a unique movie theater in the 70s where movie-goers lay on big pillows on the floor. There were only a few chairs in the theater up against the back wall. 812 Cannery Row is now part of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The link shows a photo of the seating and an article about the theater.

Exhibit of 1930s housing around Cannery Row.

Monterey Bay Aquarium is the end of Cannery Row where the road turns left up the hill as David Avenue.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Past the Aquarium the town line of Pacific Grove is reached and the Monterey Bay Coastal Trail follows the shoreline in what is my favorite part of the Monterey Peninsula to walk along for sheer natural beauty.

Monterey Bay Coastal Trail.

Monterey Bay Coastal Trail pedestrian and cycling path.

Pacific Grove, California.

A coincidental aside from my personal history is my time working as a school teacher in Gouldsboro, Maine in the 1990s. Prospect Harbor, Maine next to Gouldsboro had Stinson Seafood where several of the parents of my students worked. These small fishing villages are located on the Schoodic Peninsula of Acadia National Park. Stenson Seafood had the distinction of being the last sardine cannery in the U.S. when it closed down in 2010 after a century of business.

Here are two photos from another website showing Doc Rickett’s Lab and photos of Cannery Row.

A really cool photo collection on CaliforniaCoastline.org shows Cannery Row aerial views from the past 40 years.

Cannery Row bears little physical resemblance to the 1930s setting described in Steinbeck’s novel. I did hear the loud whistle blow the other morning, but it was a noon whistle and not 3am like in the working days of old. When researching this piece I came across a good read ”Working on Cannery Row” by Bill Steigerwald (Oct 2011) on the modern Cannery Row and what Steinbeck might think of the Row today.

Guaranteed the InterContinental Santiago Chile will be a significant savings at 5,000 points compared to the published hotel rate. These hotels drop off the list once allocated rooms are booked so booking sooner is always your best bet.

Oceania tends to have scant participation in PointBreaks this past year.

United States

ALABAMA

CANDLEWOOD SUITES HUNTSVILLE

ARKANSAS

CANDLEWOOD SUITES ROGERS/BENTONVILLE

CALIFORNIA

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL FULLERTON

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL SACRAMENTO NORTHEAST

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL SAN JOSE-SILICON VALLEY

HOLIDAY INN FRESNO-AIRPORT

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS AND SUITES SAN JOSE-INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

COLORADO

CANDLEWOOD SUITES DENVER/DTC

CONNECTICUT

CANDLEWOOD SUITES WINDSOR LOCKS BRADLEY ARPT

FLORIDA

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL TAMPA EAST

HOLIDAY INN PORT ST. LUCIE

GEORGIA

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL ATLANTA PERIMETER GALLERIA

STAYBRIDGE SUITES ALPHARETTA-NORTH POINT

ILLINOIS

HOLIDAY INN CHICAGO-WILLOWBROOK-HINSDALE

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS ROLLING MDWS-SCHAUMBURG AREA

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS AND SUITES SPRINGFIELD

INTERCONTINENTAL CHICAGO O’HARE

INDIANA

STAYBRIDGE SUITES INDIANAPOLIS-FISHERS

KANSAS

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL KANSAS CITY – OVERLAND PARK

LOUISIANA

HOLIDAY INN MORGAN CITY

MASSACHUSETTS

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL BOSTON – NEWTON

MICHIGAN

CANDLEWOOD SUITES DETROIT-AUBURN HILLS

CANDLEWOOD SUITES DETROIT-SOUTHFIELD

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL DETROIT- NOVI

STAYBRIDGE SUITES DETROIT – NOVI

STAYBRIDGE SUITES DETROIT-AUBURN HILLS

MISSOURI

CANDLEWOOD SUITES ST. LOUIS

MISSISSIPPI

CANDLEWOOD SUITES FLOWOOD, MS

NORTH CAROLINA

CANDLEWOOD SUITES RALEIGH CRABTREE

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL HICKORY

NEW JERSEY

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL SECAUCUS-MEADOWLANDS

STAYBRIDGE SUITES PARSIPPANY

STAYBRIDGE SUITES PRINCETON SOUTH BRUNSWICK

NEW YORK

HOLIDAY INN BUFFALO-AMHERST

HOLIDAY INN LONG ISLAND-ISLIP AIRPORT

OHIO

CANDLEWOOD SUITES COLUMBUS AIRPORT

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL CLEVELAND AIRPORT

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL COLUMBUS NORTH

PENNSYLVANIA

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL HARRISBURG-HERSHEY

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL READING

SOUTH CAROLINA

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL GREENVILLE-I-385-ROPER MTN RD

TENNESSEE

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL KNOXVILLE DOWNTOWN UNIVERSITY

TEXAS

CANDLEWOOD SUITES DALLAS-BY THE GALLERIA

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL HOUSTON NEAR RELIANT – MEDICAL

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL HOUSTON-DOWNTOWN

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL SAN ANTONIO AIRPORT

HOTEL INDIGO HOUSTON AT THE GALLERIA

STAYBRIDGE SUITES DALLAS-LAS COLINAS AREA

VIRGINIA

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL RICHMOND WEST

HOLIDAY INN RICHMOND SOUTH-BELLS ROAD

STAYBRIDGE SUITES HERNDON-DULLES

WISCONSIN

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL MADISON

CANADA

ALBERTA
HOLIDAY INN CALGARY-AIRPORT

ONTARIO
HOLIDAY INN MISSISSAUGA TORONTO WEST
STAYBRIDGE SUITES GUELPH

QUEBEC
CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL MONTREAL AIRPORT
HOLIDAY INN POINTE-CLAIRE MONTREAL AIRPORT

Europe

BELARUS

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL MINSK

FRANCE

HOLIDAY INN STRASBOURG CITY CENTRE

GERMANY

HOLIDAY INN BERLIN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

HOLIDAY INN NÜRNBERG CITY CENTRE

ITALY

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL MILAN – MALPENSA AIRPORT

HOLIDAY INN ROME – AURELIA

KAZAKHSTAN

INTERCONTINENTAL ALMATY

RUSSIA

HOLIDAY INN MOSCOW – VINOGRADOVO

SLOVAKIA

HOLIDAY INN ZILINA

SPAIN

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS MADRID – ALCOBENDAS

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS MADRID-SAN SEBASTIAN D/L REYES

TURKEY

HOLIDAY INN ISTANBUL AIRPORT

UNITED KINGDOM

HOLIDAY INN AYLESBURY

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS BRADFORD CITY CENTRE

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL LIVERPOOL -JOHN LENNON AIRPORT

HOLIDAY INN LONDON – BRENT CROSS

HOLIDAY INN LONDON – SHEPPERTON

HOLIDAY INN MAIDENHEAD/WINDSOR

Central & South America

ARGENTINA

INTERCONTINENTAL MENDOZA

CHILE

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS ANTOFAGASTA

INTERCONTINENTAL SANTIAGO

COLOMBIA

INTERCONTINENTAL MEDELLIN

EL SALVADOR

INTERCONTINENTAL REAL SAN SALVADOR

GUATEMALA

HOLIDAY INN GUATEMALA

MEXICO

CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL VILLAHERMOSA, TAB.

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS CIUDAD JUAREZ

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS MORELIA

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS MERIDA

HOLIDAY INN MORELIA

ASIA

CHINA-PEOPLES REPUBLIC
INTERCONTINENTAL BEIJING BEICHEN
HOLIDAY INN BEIJING DESHENGMEN
HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS BEIJING MINZUYUAN
CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL BEIJING PARKVIEW WUZHOU
INTERCONTINENTAL DALIAN
INTERCONTINENTAL HUIZHOU RESORT
CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL NANJING HOTEL & SUITES
CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL SHANGHAI FUDAN
HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS SHANGHAI JINQIAO
CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL SHANGHAI PUDONG
HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS SHANGHAI WUJIAOCHANG

JAPAN
HOLIDAY INN – ANA SENDAI

VIETNAM
INTERCONTINENTAL HANOI WESTLAKE

OCEANIA – no properties

AFRICA – no properties

Middle East 

EGYPT
INTERCONTINENTAL TABA HEIGHTS

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
HOLIDAY INN DUBAI – DOWNTOWN DUBAI

Priority Club introduced Last Minute Reward Nights in 2011 with the stated intention of expanding these rewards to more dates. For now these discount rewards have only been offered on the first full weekend of each month. Hopefully they will be exapnded soon to other weekends in the month.

You need to use the geographic search feature to easily locate a hotel since the master list is only sorted by either cost in points or hotel brand without a state or country description. This has been my complaint since the program launched, but Priority Club has not added geographic data to the main list. There is a country and state search tool on the left side of the page.

Last Minute Reward Nights geographic locator tool

This week’s hotels offering Last Minute Reward Nights

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts CENTURY CITY CHENGDU 15,000 pts.

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts CITYSTARS CAIRO 15,000 pts.

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts FOSHAN 15,000 pts.

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts MENDOZA 15,000 pts.

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts MIRAMAR PANAMA 15,000 pts.

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts PRESIDENTE MEXICO CITY 15,000 pts.

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts PRESIDENTE PUEBLA 15,000 pts.

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts RESORT JIUZHAI PARADISE 15,000 pts.

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts SHANGHAI PUXI 15,000 pts.

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts SHENZHEN 15,000 pts.

Crowne Plaza DETROIT- NOVI 12,500 pts.

Crowne Plaza HOUSTON NEAR RELIANT – MEDICAL 12,500 pts.

Crowne Plaza MANAMA (BAHRAIN) 12,500 pts.

Crowne Plaza MOSCOW – WORLD TRADE CENTRE 12,500 pts.

Crowne Plaza SHENZHEN 12,500 pts.

Holiday Inn CHICAGO-TINLEY PARK-CONV CTR 12,500 pts.

Holiday Inn DUMFRIES – QUANTICO CENTER 12,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express CORYDON 12,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express DURHAM 12,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express ELMIRA-HORSEHEADS 12,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express FREDERICK-FSK MALL(I270/RT 85) 12,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express JACKSONVILLE BEACH 12,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express MYRTLE BEACH-BROADWAY@THE BCH 12,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express NEWPORT 12,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express NORTHAMPTON M1, JCT.15  12,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express RALEIGH-DURHAM AIRPORT  12,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express and Suites EXP-MONCTON, NEW BRUNSWICK  12,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express and Suites MONTREAL CENTRE-VILLE DOWNTOWN  12,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express and Suites OMAHA WEST  12,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express and Suites ORANGEBURG  12,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites BOSTON-PEABODY  12,500 pts.

Holiday Inn PARIS – MONTMARTRE  12,500 pts.

Holiday Inn STEAMBOAT SPRINGS  12,500 pts.

Holiday Inn WOKING  12,500 pts.

StayBridge Suites CALGARY AIRPORT   10,000 pts.

Staybridge Suites CRANBURY-SOUTH BRUNSWICK   10,000 pts.

Candlewood Suites CHICAGO/LIBERTYVILLE  7,500 pts.

Candlewood Suites DETROIT-WARREN   7,500 pts.

Candlewood Suites EMPORIA   7,500 pts.

Candlewood Suites JACKSONVILLE   7,500 pts.

Candlewood Suites ORLANDO   7,500 pts.

Candlewood Suites WASHINGTON-DULLES HERNDON   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn ALLENTOWN-I-78 (LEHIGH VALLEY)   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn CHENGDU CENTURY CITY-WEST   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn DENVER LAKEWOOD   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express DARTFORD BRIDGE    7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express DERBY – PRIDE PARK   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express EAST MIDLANDS AIRPORT   7,500 pts

Holiday Inn Express GAS CITY   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express GUADALAJARA EXPO   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express KANSAS CITY-BONNER SPRINGS   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express LONDON -CHINGFORD-NTH CIRCULAR   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express MEMPHIS MEDICAL CENTER MIDTOWN   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express MILTON KEYNES    7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express PLYMOUTH   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express TORONTO-NORTH YORK   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express and Suites ANN ARBOR   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express and Suites CANYON    7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express and Suites CLAYPOOL HILL (RICHLANDS AREA)   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express and Suites COURTENAY COMOX VALLEY SW    7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express and Suites FLORENCE I-95 & I-20 CIVIC CTR   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express and Suites GREENVILLE    7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express and Suites MONTROSE-TOWNSEND    7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express and Suites MOREHEAD CITY    7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express and Suites ORLANDO-OCOEE EAST    7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express and Suites PHENIX CITY-COLUMBUS    7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express and Suites PLYMOUTH    7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express and Suites PROVIDENCE-WOONSOCKET    7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express and Suites SOUTHFIELD – DETROIT   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn GENT – EXPO   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites GRAND JUNCTION-AIRPORT   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn MOBILE-DWTN/HIST. DISTRICT   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn MORGANTOWN/PA TURNPIKE EX 298   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn ROANOKE – VALLEY VIEW    7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn ROCK ISLAND – QUAD CITIES   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn ST. PAUL-I-94-EAST (3M AREA)    7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Select CLINTON   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn TIMONIUM   7,500 pts.

Holiday Inn Express HENDERSON   5,000 pts.

Holiday Inn Express KRAKOW    5,000 pts.

Holiday Inn Express and Suites LEVELLAND    5,000 pts.

Holiday Inn Express and Suites LIVINGSTON    5,000 pts.

Holiday Inn Express and Suites LOS ALAMOS ENTRADA PARK    5,000 pts.

Holiday Inn Express and Suites MAGNOLIA-LAKE COLUMBIA    5,000 pts.

Holiday Inn Express and Suites NORTH LITTLE ROCK    5,000 pts.

Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites MANSFIELD-CONFERENCE CTR   5,000 pts.

My visit to the InterContinental Chicago in October 2010 impressed me with the hotel staff courteousness, old-style hotel elegance and important looking guests dressed with more accessories than I could buy with last year’s writing revenue.

Nice thing is the InterContinental Chicago was available during my trip at 40,000 points a night as one option or Points & Cash at 30,000 points + $60 or plop down $300+ for a room.

Michael Jordan’s Steak House

The reviews are mixed. The TimeOut Chicago review “An ambitious steakhouse. But not exactly a slam dunk.” by David Tamarkin is a fun entertaining read for a little MJ mystique even for someone like me who rarely eats in restaurants and cares less for restaurant reviews. The Chicago Tribune has kinder dining words.

InterContinental Chicago on the Magnificent Mile

There is an historic building and a modern building in the InterContinental Chicago. The hotel property was a $250 million restoration project over 12 years from 1988 to 2,000. The historic building was originally the Medinah Athletic Club from 1929. The swimming pool is one of the finest hotel pools in the city. There is a detailed history of the hotel on the IC Chicago website. And even more details on Wikipedia.

Historic building of InterContinental Chicago.

The north building of the hotel is modern.

InterContinental Chicago north tower.

Michael Jordan’s Steak House is located on the second floor of the open lobby. The restaurant is new so I don’t have a picture of it from my hotel visit one year ago. The restaurant there at the time was totally packed with noise carrying across the four-story high ceiling lobby.

InterContinental Chicago Main Entrance

There is a lion theme to the historic tower.

Palindrome lion room 1661 - InterContinental Chicago

The room felt comfortable, although the bathroom was a bit small. Most bathrooms have a separate shower.

Sitting room in suite - InterContinental Chicago.

Heavy drapes help damper the noise of North Michigan Avenue.

Bedroom drapes and chairs in bedroom of suite - InterContinental Chicago.

King bed InterContinental Chicago

InterContinental Chicago bathroom.

Sitting room in InterContinental Chicago suite.

The fitness center on the 11th floor provides access to the historic 25-meter indoor swimming pool. This room is the only remaining piece of the Medinah Athletic Club facilities. The highlight of the InterContinental Chicago for me was the extended time I was the only person relaxing in this space one afternoon.

InterContinental Chicago pool.

InterContinental Chicago historic 25-meter swimming pool.

Mood lighting at mid-day.

North wall of pool.

Balcony seating around pool entrance.

Pool room wall mosaic.

South wall of pool room.

The fitness center offers workout space in addition to the pool room.

InterContinental Chicago Fitness Center equipment.

InterContinental Chicago fitness room.

Key Accessed Fitness Center InterContinental Chicago.

The InterContinental Chicago is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

InterContinental Chicago Elevators.

The InterContinental Chicago is convenient for touring Chicago as it is located just north of the river at the beginning of the Magnificent Mile. As you travel north you’ll encounter the Marriott, The Peninsula, Park Hyatt, Westin Michigan Avenue, the Ritz Carlton that is actually a Four Seasons Hotel, the other Four Seasons Chicago and Hilton Drake Hotel.

InterContinental Chicago North Michigan Avenue entrance.

InterContinental Hotels logo.

InterContinental Chicago