MilesBuzz! - Which hotel chain would you want indebted to you?

I have a dream... most likely it's only a dream, but if it came true, in my dream I think it could result in my being in a position where a major hotel chain might want to reward me in a significant way (such as, perhaps, lifetime top elite status plus a truckload of loyalty program points, or something like that). If you had such a dream, which hotel chain would you take your dream to first?

In my case, I travel in the U.S. and occasionally in Europe on business and prefer hotels in the Sheraton/Hilton range and up, and not so much the Holiday Inn/Hampton range. I also have a wife and two young children and anticipate family vacations in the typical places in the U.S. and Europe. We also love to snow-ski, preferably in the U.S. and Canada, and sometimes in Europe, so ski resort properties are a consideration.

For my normal travel, I like Sheratons and Westins and the sense that Starwood management generally seems to know what they're doing. And in my real-world life I think the SPG program is better for me than HHonors or Marriott Rewards or Priority Club, etc. But contemplating... er, that is, dreaming of... a points/status windfall where the focus would be entirely on spending rather than earning, I wonder if one of the larger groups might be preferable.

What do you think?

The "two young children" bit would probably tip my choice to Marriott: there are more Marriott timeshare-style properties that fully participate in Marriott Rewards and for certain destinations you might have Residence Inns, TownePlace Suites, etc. to choose from. The weak end of the Marriott chain is Fairfield (as compared to Hampton and 4Points), but since you don't need Fairfields this won't matter to you.

The exception would be if you already know that Starwood or Hilton has your favorite destinations well-covered. Hilton treats its Diamonds very well (including pulling strings to get you award rooms in prime destinations), and Starwood's high-end properties are consistently very good. (I don't know if Starwood pulls strings to get you a Plat a room when a property decides to game the "No capacity control" rule.)

But if it were simply for a decade or two of varying leisure travel, I'd err on the side of the biggest selection of family-friendly properties. That's probably Marriott.

I agree with pinniped. I was thinking of virtually the same response when reading the original post. Marriott has two BIG (IMHO) advantages over Starwood: (1) Properties virtually everywhere - It's hard to find a decent Starwood property in out-of-the-way places, and even in many moderately sized cities. (2) Marriott offers the "family-friendly" brands of TownPlace (lowend) and Residence Inn (mid-range), plus the timeshare properties (high-end).

With Starwood & 2 kids, I believe you'd most often be stuck with 4 folks sharing one bedroom or getting 2 rooms - which would cut the value of your points in half.

And Starwood experts help me out here: don't Starwood's timeshare properties have a lot of leeway regarding how much/little they engage in the SPG program? e.g., They don't necessarily offer up award rooms, recognize elite status, or award points on qualifying-rate paid stays.

Marriott's timeshare properties may not always have availability, but when they do they seem to be on-board with Marriott Rewards processes. You can book them with points (again, pending availability) at Marriott.com and earn points on your spending there. I know guaranteed upgrading doesn't apply at these properties, but in the two stays I've done as a Gold I have gotten what I would call the most desirable units possible given my booking (the best view, largest floorplan, etc.), so I think they do have visibility to the status.

Four Seasons. You talking about dreams, right?

Four Seasons. You talking about dreams, right?
Adamak You just beat me to it. I would love the FS to be indebted to me.

Thanks for the advice. Yeah, Four Seasons would be nice, but they don't have enough locations in places I might want to be. More importantly, this discussion made me realize another criterion for success: My "dream" is going to be worth a lot more to a hotel chain depending on how many business travelers they host each year. Including that criterion also points my choice more in the direction of Marriott and Hilton than Starwood (or even Four Seasons, sadly, but hey, Marriott also has Ritz Carlton...).

If a high end chain owed me many a point or many such award, I would try to find a way to convert it to many a dollar and have enough money to choose where to stay.

For example: You have a few mil laying around and love to travel, so why own a house for that period in your busy lifestyle of the rich and famous? Of course, if you did, you could stay there--in whatever town you have one in.

Or, you could expand the dream: Shoot for the top. Walk into the local realty office in Monte Carlo and ask Franz to provide you with the usual suite you have when you are here... Lay down your credit and go have fun, baby!

Points are for the rest of the civilized world and some of its citizens.
If it were about points, I am certain there are higher end loyatly programs for those with the millions that reach far beyond whatever we may find in this forum. I will have to have a look when I get my first cheque...

;)MM
did I mention this was a dream?

Since this sounds more and more like a real question (as opposed to pure dreaminess), can you provide more information about the scenario?

It sounds like you are in a position to contract with one of the big chains for a lot of business travel - perhaps for a large team of travelers over the course of a long period of time. Or maybe arranging a large convention, etc. Is this what we are talking about?

Okay, since you ask, it is a little closer to reality than PURE fantasy, but it is much more wishful than the scenarios you're guessing.

I had an idea a little while back for something a large hotel chain could do that (in my dream, at least) is certain to increase both revenue and loyalty among business travelers, and it would not even involve "giving away" anything valuable like points redeemable for future freebies. My first thought was to simply post it on TravelBuzz, and see if the idea ever osmosed into reality.

But then it occurred to me that the idea would have a better chance of getting to a decision maker if I approached the hotel chain directly, and of course that approach also might allow me to negotiate some type of compensation.

Now, I know the chances of this working out according to my dream are slim. I'm head of product development for my company, and I know that people who aren't professionals in my industry are likely to have ideas that seem foolproof to them, but which insiders know to be impractical for some reason the outsider could not know or anticipate. So I expect the same is true here.

And I also know that it's likely to be impossible to secure an upfront agreement from some hotel to pay me any substantial amount of cash if they agree to implement the idea (at least based on how things like this would play out in my industry).

But I figure it's at least worth a try to see if I could find someone at one of the chains willing to consider my idea for a few minutes in return for status if they decide to implement it and points correlated to the amount of revenue it generates (just like they'd give a customer status and points for the revenue he brings).

If it doesn't work with one chain (most likely Marriott first), I can try some of the others. And if none of them want to listen to me, that's fine, too -- I haven't lost anything.