IHG finally puts a fork in it!
From one of the best possible programs out there where you could literally stay for free almost anywhere including 5 star suites that cost $1000 a night, it turned into a frustrating program where it was almost impossible to get a room anywhere.
Over time I went from a BRG every month to 1 or 2 a year and it was hardly worth all the effort anymore.
The program is now officially completely worthless!
If the intention of such a program is to get people to book directly from IHG instead of third party sites, then the "new" program is a real waste of manpower.
Most smart travelers will realize that if they can get a discount of 10-15% on another booking site or use a program like hotels.com that gives you every 11th night free, it is a much better deal than booking directly with IHG for the off chance that they might get another 10k once in a blue moon after jumping through a thousand hoops.