Journal · Programs
IHG Destined: the Asia specialist
If you’re booking a hotel in Bali, Bangkok, Singapore, Dubai or the Maldives, the program that comes up most often in our planning sessions is IHG Destined. It covers a portfolio that, at its top end, contains some of the most compelling properties in Asia: Six Senses across the region, InterContinental flagships in most major cities, and Kimpton and Hotel Indigo at the more design-led end.
The portfolio, quickly
IHG — InterContinental Hotels Group — is one of the world’s largest hotel companies, and Destined is its preferred-partner program for luxury travel advisors. The brands that matter for our travellers: Six Senses (wellness-focused, extraordinary locations, a genuine category leader), InterContinental (the reliable urban flagship — the IC Singapore, the IC Bangkok, the IC Mumbai are all in our regular rotation), Regent (the relaunched luxury tier, including Regent Bali and Regent Shanghai), and Hotel Indigo (design-led, neighbourhood-rooted, reliably characterful).
The benefit set is consistent: daily breakfast for two, a property credit of $100 (occasionally more at Six Senses), an upgrade when available, flexible check-in and check-out, and a welcome amenity. At Six Senses specifically, the credit sometimes increases and the resort team’s briefing process is notably thorough — the spa director knows you’re coming, and why.
The Six Senses question
Six Senses sits at the top of the IHG portfolio and is the most frequent Destined discussion in our planning. The collection spans the Maldives (Laamu and Kanuhura — both have excellent house reefs), Bali (Ubud, deep in the valley), Thailand (Koh Samui and Yao Noi), and increasingly India (Vana in Dehradun, for those who want the wellness retreat without the long-haul). The brand’s model is total environment: the food is serious, the spa philosophy is genuine, and the rooms feel like they belong to their landscape.
“At Six Senses, the spa director knows you’re coming, and why.”
For Destined to work well at Six Senses, the briefing matters. These properties respond to context — a couple celebrating a recovery from illness, a post-exam family, a milestone anniversary — in ways that the standard benefit set doesn’t capture. The $100 credit is the floor. What builds on it is the relationship.
Where we use it most
Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak is the Destined property we book most frequently by volume, because it sits in the right location, delivers consistently, and the Destined benefits make a good hotel feel very good. The InterContinental Maldives at Maamunagau is the Destined answer for the Maldives traveller who wants a reef, a proper restaurant, and a room rate that isn’t at the absolute ceiling. InterContinental Bangkok Riverside is the quiet recommendation for Bangkok: slightly off the main drag, a river view from the room, and the kind of lobby that doesn’t exhaust you at 11 p.m. after a long flight.
A practical note: IHG One Rewards status and Destined benefits stack at IHG properties, and the combination at Regent or InterContinental level creates a meaningfully elevated experience. If you hold Diamond status already, the Destined layer adds the advisor-briefed dimension — the note about your trip — that loyalty programs alone don’t provide.
From Bali to the Maldives to the Gulf, Destined is the program we reach for first — and at Six Senses, the briefing matters more than the benefits. Tell us what the trip is for. The resort takes it from there.