indiafan

Thank you again for the some really amazing perspectives from those who have far more experience than I will ever have.

OK I feel I am going out on a limb here but here you go:

I travel TUL-PNQ twice a year. Is there anyway to help pay for these using hotel points (not just hilton, any brand)? I rather keep my WN CP for domestic travel rather going with a legacy carrier for domestic travel and then use points for the international flights. I typically get lowest united/lufthansa K-class fares for about $1K to $1.2K.

My current preferred routing is TUL-IAH-FRA-PNQ. But the FRA-PNQ leg is getting canceled October end. So my new routing may be TUL-(any etihad getways cities like DFW, ORD, IAD)-AUH-PNQ otherwise I accept one more stop like TUL-DFW-LHR-BOM-PNQ and I would take it over traveling by road the 100 mile BOM-PNQ journey as that can take 4 hours and tire you out more than the flights. Also these flights are much more expensive at $1.8K.

May be I should post this in another thread. Please advise.

arlflyer

What you are missing is that some other chains treat their elites better than Hilton does, and that the benefits on margin by becoming an elite at one of those chains would outweigh the highly devalued points earned on margin by spending the rest of that money with Hilton.



If there is a doable routing with EY or QR and you are flexible enough in your dates to make award redemptions an option, then I'd suggest looking into how to scrape together enough AA miles to do at least one of your two trips per year that way. To do it in biz it's 130k miles and there are plenty of bonuses out there. Your dollars always work the hardest for you going towards earning signup bonuses (versus regular category bonus spend) so in my opinion if that means you have to divert some hotel spend towards earning those bonuses then so be it. The opportunity cost and actual cost are still going to end up being well less than the $1800 figure you cite for doing the trip in economy.

General rule of miles/points: figure out your goal first, then figure out how to make your money work towards that goal most efficiently. If your goal is to go to PNQ for free once a year then map out a plan for how to do it and focus on that, even if it means forsaking the opportunity to stockpile some other points that would not work towards your goal.

Andriyko

I agree with UVU Wolverine that it all depends upon what you are looking for in a loyalty programme. Unless you're going to visit places where either programme is not represented I would stick with HHonors.

indiafan

I see what you are saying. Thank you for explaining that.


This is exactly what I am struggling with right now. For example, If I go to Marriott way and get their credit card, then I would earn platinum elite in their program after a year, and with rewardsplus I would get premier silver with united, I could transfer points to mileageplus at a better ratio than others enough to get a saver economy reward plus, also have points to transfer to Southwest to top up for their companion pass if needed, again at a reasonable rate than others.

So that program appears a better fit for what I would I prefer as my benefits. But I am skeptical of Marriotts as a chain as I haven't had positive experiences in my past 3 stays with them. Maybe I should give them a try at my business travel destination and see of that would work for me in that instance.

Hilton brands have generally provided a comfortable stay without any hassles for me so far and that is the reason I prefer them. I wish their Hhonors which generates a ton of points for loyal customers could be easily deployed to other programs. Their transfer rates are terrible. But then again each program is different by design. More to ponder.

arlflyer

If you really are going to do this (which I wouldn't advise), then it may be simpler and easier for you to just do spending on something like the CSP, where you get generic, flexible points that can be transferred to a number of partners (in the Chase case that includes both UA and WN).

But still, I don't know why you would want to do this. If you want to earn hotel points, spend money at hotels and on hotel cards. If you want to earn airline miles, spend money on airline cards. Focus on signup bonuses as they will earn you an order of magnitude more points/dollar than ordinary bonused spend. And pick the best program for where you want to go any what you want to do. For the actual work flying you mentioned, it sounds to me like you want to use WN and accrue miles in that program for your domestic use. For your trips to India, I would suggest accruing AA miles as those can be used on both EY and QR, which gives a lot of options. But I would accrue those without ever setting foot on an AA aircraft. Of course yet others will argue that you should probably be doing your domestic flying with AA rather than WN.

It all comes down to how much spend you do and how many tricks you are willing to use.

indiafan

No worries, I am not doing it. I gave it as an example of my options. The example I gave would of course sacrifice hotel points to prioritize award air travel.

Like said earlier, I plan to get diamond with hhonors for now and see what I feel should be my path forward from there on to maximizing what I am seeking to benefit from the exercise - which is still be hazy since I have not set my mind on one and only thing rather maximizing all possible avenues.

hhoope01

Definitely agree with focusing on CC signup bonuses as best you can.

But I will state where, other than with Marriott points, could you earn more than 20 airline miles per $ spent? (Assuming one orders a Travel Package award which comes with a 1-to-1 hotel point to airline mile transfer of up to 120K or even more.) Each program has its good/bad points, but I still feel that Marriott has possibly the best hotel award in any program with their TP awards. And with Southwest, not only could you get 120K airline miles, but you will get a Companion Pass to use for the rest of this year and all of next. ^

So if airline transfers are where you are looking and you can acquire more than 270K Marriott points, then that program is hard to beat. But yes, Marriott does have other issues (i.e. in general Hilton has much better non-FS hotel options.)

indiafan

Thank you for your input. That is why I started this thread for me. Whether divided loyalty may be able to serve twin purposes.

It is clear at 72 night threshold that is hard to do. If it were 120 nights then it would have been a lot easier.

hhoope01

True. But as some have already stated, figure out what is most important for you, personally. Then estimate what you can earn by focusing on each program or by splitting stays between programs and see which way gets you closest to or at your most desired goals.

mnredfox

Since HH canned the RT calendar I've split my stays. Went to IHG and did that for a few years til they devalued RA. Now Hyatt is my second chain of choice. Once I requal for both I rack up IHG points or just stay at Hyatts.

IsleOfMan

If I were a 125+ night/year person, I would surely split between Hilton and Marriott. As a ~50-60 night person, it's tougher to justify splitting with ANY program. I agree that I would pretty much be just as happy with HHonors Gold if that's what it took to add a complimentary program, but none really seem to fit for me.

- Marriott's high night requirement for Gold puts it out of the question. I'll actually make Silver this year, but only because of a few conference stays where we needed to be on-site, one of which was a Ritz and qualified for the double qualifying nights. I've thought about doing a Gold challenge and trying to earn enough points to do buy-back every year, but this seems counter-productive from an earnings standpoint and would really only ensure a higher level of service on paid stays.

- Both SPG and Hyatt either have sparse or overpriced options in the markets where most of my paid stays are. I like Hyatt Place and I'm intrigued by Aloft, but there just aren't enough of either where I frequent and the latter is usually priced just outside of what I like to spend on a paid stay. If I crack 60-75 nights/year (enough to make HHonors Diamond on stays and top-tier in one of these programs) I might reconsider, but I don't want to give-up Diamond to make top-tier, and mid/lower-tier in these programs doesn't really mean much.

- I'm also not impressed with the IHG offerings I'd have for most of my paid stays... I don't know that I want to stay in a bunch of Holiday Inn Expresses to earn a few nights at a random Intercontinental. The frequent lucrative promos would be the biggest draw here, but a lot of them seem like way more work than they're worth.

So far, there's not been a major pull to get me away from Hilton, mainly due to the property choices at the low/mid-level where most of my paid stays would occur. As such I stick with Hilton mostly exclusively right now and will continue to do so until I see my nights/year get up around 75.

KathyWdrf

Status can be achieved through means other than stays, at least for members in some places. So (at least in the U.S.), the Chase IHG MasterCard gets you Platinum status (benefits are not stunning but I at least get extra points and usually either an upgraded room or a free breakfast at brands where b'fast is not included). As an HHonors Surpass credit cardholder, I get Gold status. And as a Premier Gold with United Airlines, I get Gold status at Marriott.

So even though I don't stay nearly as many nights as a lot of others here, I have some reasonable level of status in (at least) three hotel programs. I find it much better to spread my stays around among chains -- I am freer to take advantage of promos, for example, or find a good property/good rate in a particular area where limiting myself to one chain would be unsatisfactory. And I don't even entirely limit myself to the three abovementioned chains -- I occasionally stay at others if they are the best choice for a certain location, etc.

But, that is me. Since everyone has different goals, different travel patterns, different constraints, and so on.... ultimately you are the best judge of what to do.

CMK10

I make Diamond based on stays but recently I've been using Starwood as my secondary (I'm SPG Gold). Some locations have better SPG coverage or pricing and I enjoy some of the Starwood chains better than Hiltons. Plus, you can use SPG points for some pretty aspirational redemptions which I like too.