pinniped

In the Hampton/HGI segment, Hilton is far superior to Marriott IMHO. I find the properties to be cleaner and newer in general. It seems like a lot of Hamptons are the nicest hotel in their town (and for many miles in any direction), something their employees take pride in. It sort of feeds on itself...

Back to a point about the urban mainline hotels, Marriott has been aggressively deemphasizing lounges in many places, at least in the U.S. More and more are closed on weekends and some are now closed on low-occupancy non-holiday weekdays. Even in places that had weekend/holiday lounge service up until 2-3 years ago.

Hilton seems to have more lounges that are open on weekends, holidays, and the morning after holidays. As others have pointed out, lounge quality varies by property. Hilton also has the advantage that a restaurant breakfast is always an option, even on a weekend, when the lounge is closed. At Marriott, you're just SOL on weekends.

ffj

Was a longstanding Hilton Diamond. Began to stay at Marriotts and am happy with the switch. The lifetime Marriott elite opportunity is a big plus, as one approaches retirement. Hilton guest assistance is horrendous, while Marriott customer care looks out for the customer. The BRG for Hilton is a fraud; Marriott's is reasonable. Hampton Inn is better than FI, and weekend lounges and breakfasts in Hilton's are missed. Hilton points are inflated, but Marriot gives you many opportunities for promotions. Hilton has too much fine printon what is a qualifies stay; marriott seems simpler. Hiltons let's you could free nights towards elite status; Marriott does not. More pluses to Marriott than minuses.

dmlg

I have been Platinum Marriott for years however I have been staying at Hilton hotels each month when I travel to Japan and China over the last 5-6 months. It seems as though the points are dramtically less than the points I would be earning with Marriott. When I look to use points it seems almost double the points required for a 7 day stay versus Marriott. Is the Hilton program that much worse than the Marriott? Or am I missing something? I have been Gold for Hilton for many years.

justinc848

Are you looking at GLON awards?

dmlg

What are GLON awards? I am new to this site as well as taking full advantage of my travel points whereas for years I did not track. I will stay 90 nights plus at hotels this year however more than half of those will be in Japan and China, and I really like the the Hiltons in these countries versus Marriotts But my concern is I am losing valuable points by not continuing to stay at Marriotts. By dividing my stays I will not meet minimums for either Platinum or Diamond.

DiamondsAren'tForever

Interesting. In the hundreds of times I've stayed at a pay-for-parking Hilton, I've never once been offered free parking. Maybe I should ask next time!

jnorman76

Gold VIP HH, Silver on MR. I have really started to go HH lately, but only 6 nights so far this year. I have a MR Sig Visa, so credit for 27 nights somehow.

Anyone hold dual status? Should I stick with HH? Should I go back to MR?

SimpleManToo

Like you, I am a member of both Marriott and Hilton frequent stay programs. For years I tended to like the Marriott program better but these days I have moved over to Hilton and I will tell you why. Reason one is that Hilton Garden Inn's have become my favorite places to stay and I have gotten to know the staff at many hotels. I always can get a free water or cola at no cost anytime i want it at HGI. I also like the HGI adjustable beds. They are superior to anything Marriott has. Reason Two: Both Hilton and Marriott now cost more points per night on a free stay than in the past but lately Hilton has been doing some great promotions, much better than Mega Bonus and not restricted to use of one credit card like the current Mega Bonus program Marriott has running.

Those are just a few reason I moved over to Hilton from Marriott but to each their own. I find hiltons to be newer in most cases and i do not care for the Fairfield brand by Marriott at all.

As for upper end hotels, you are going to find they both have some real nice ones though I think Starwood will give either of them a run for their money overseas.

PS: I hold dual Status with Hilton and Marriott to this day.

drakejb915

I have been either Marriott Platinum or Hilton Diamond for almost 10 years, and have varied my loyalty each year by the location of the properties for my business travel. In my opinion, both chains are very similar and the best properties vary from one location to the next.

Last year, I stayed a bunch at Marriott Courtyards and was surprised that I did not get a free breakfast even as a Platinum! As a HH Diamond, I always get breakfast: whether in a restaurant or lounge, paid stay or freebie, at any of the Hilton family of properties. It may sound trivial, but looking for a place to pick up something quick to eat on the way to work is very important to me, and paying $15 for a buffet when I only want something light is ridiculous. That is why I prefer Hilton to Marriott.

My favorite is the Embassy Suites. Big room, great breakfast, and I love the happy hour.

justinc848

This is what keeps me at Hilton. The free breakfast saves me and the gf $20 - $30 a day on vacation..

Estcoast1

As a 30 y/o IT consultant who usually does three to four nights a week depending on the client, I have to go with Hilton here.

I stayed at a Hampton Inn 3 nights a week for 2 years while working for a long term client long. In the beginning of 2010, due to proximity to my new client, I had to switch to a Courtyard. Since I'm flying coast to coast now, and the client is very understanding, I was able to work out a rate where I can keep my room at Courtyard 7 days a week.

What I've found as I close in on the end of the year is that I am by no means earning close to as many points and / or free nights as I was with HH. And this is with 7 nights a week at Courtyard.

HH has great promotions that I'm just not seeing with Marriott such as the free night certificates after X amount of stays, double and triple point offers, and the double dip. It seemed there was at least one great offer quarterly. Not to mention the free breakfasts (which saved me around $40-$50/week $2400/yr) at all Hilton family locations for Diamonds vs the total lack of one at the Courtyard for Platinums.

With Marriott, the only offer I see is their "Mega Bonus" which IMHO is anything but mega. 50k points doesn't even touch one free night at a higher tier property without some saver option. Maybe there are some deals in conjunction with a Marriott credit card I'm not seeing, or maybe it's the result of staying at a Courtyard vs. a higher tier property.

My client just asked me to stay for all of 2011 and the nail in the coffin for Marriott just happened today.

I made plans to surprise my wife with a long weekend in NYC two weeks before Christmas. I decided to use my 200k+ Marriott points for the first time. That amount is plenty for three nights at the Ritz or Algonquin but amazingly enough, they have no rooms for "reward stays" but plenty for regular payment. With Hilton, I stayed at their top tier properties many times with short notice on popular dates and Hilton stands behind their statement that if a room is available, you can book it.

I would be happy to hear if there are some tips and tricks with Marriott that I'm missing. To date I haven't found anything thats going to make me stay with Marriott at the end of the year.

MDixon

Estcoast - As both Diamond and Platinum, Hilton is certainly easier to find an open hotel and book a reward stay. Often with Marriott you need to look around. Take the NY stay, I'll bet the Residence Inn Times Square would be open during the time for your stay and it happens to be a great property.

My gripe with Hilton is the number of points required for the stay. Just this past weekend I needed a room for my wife and I to crash in for a night in a medium sized city. The Hampton was 30K points while the Fairfield was 7.5K points for basically the same hotel. I've stayed in both and they only differ by the exercise room and the fact the FI go out of their way for Platinum guests. Guess which property I stayed at?

So Marriott is more difficult to use the rewards - book early, search close by, and Hilton is easier to find open space, but higher redemption rates IME.

jan_az

You know as a Marriot PLT you can force an award allso?

jzoz01

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.2; en-us; Sprint APA9292KT Build/FRF91) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

I'm on track to do 35 - 50 nights a year. HHONORS makes a lot more sense for me as you can qualify on stays vs just on nights.

keeton

Agreed. The breakfast policy at Courtyard's for elites suck not to mention that there is _no_ breakfast for elites on weekends at any MR property that doesn't already give it free for everyone (Fairfield, RI etc.)

I don't see that. The highest tier MR award is 40K for a cat. 8 and those are the ultra-glam properties.

In my experience, it is easier to earn points with HH properties (if you work the system), but it will generally cost more points for equivalent stays.

You mean you _don't_ have the MR Premier Visa? The partner credit card (HH or MR) adds considerably to the value of both programs.

Agree again that CY sucks for elites trying to work the points. Residence Inn's suck worse (5 pts./$).

You understand that is absolute peak tourist time in NYC. But....

If you are a Diamond with HH, the Diamond force option applies even for award stays. MR announced with much fanfare "no blackout dates" (while raising redemption rates) a couple of years ago but the MR properties seem to be wiggling out of the promise. Hint: Keep checking on the NYC properties, something may open up.

If you can find a HGI next door to that Courtyard, I'd take it.