JBord

That was the point I made in my 2nd paragraph, apparently not very well. When I was at the San Juan resort, on vacation, with no free breakfast for a Gold, it wasn't a big deal to go across the street for $7-10. So I wouldn't "seriously question my loyalty" as the OP is, for a benefit of that value (to me).

And as others have said, I'm not sure the grass is greener anywhere else anyway.

hhoope01

And that is a good point. I like that Hilton will provide me free breakfast (Gold/Plat) even at resorts plus they will normally waive resort fees for award stays. But to get those benefits I have to deal with their ballooning point costs for award stays and more limited upgrades at resorts. And of course the breakfast will almost certainly be only a continental with a $ upgrade fee for the full breakfast. So it isn't always so free at Hilton either if you want a full breakfast.

So agreed the grass isn't always quite as green as you think it might be on the other side of the fence.

GoPhils

You don't think Marriott upgrades at resorts are "limited" also?

hhoope01

From my experience, not nearly as much. With Marriott, at a "business" FS hotel, CL room upgrades seems to be my most common upgrade. But I've tended to get much nicer upgrades at Resort properties (and that is even when staying for 5 to 7 nights at a time.) ^ With Hilton, not as many nice upgrades. In fact, one of my last Hilton resort stays (as a Diamond) at the Pensacola Beach Hilton, they "upgraded" me to an Ocean Front room with a balcony. But they one they put me on really had a great view of the extremely dirty roof of part of the resort (i.e. people had probably been throwing trash off the balconies for who knows how long with no one cleaning in up). They put me on the lowest floor that could have windows facing the ocean, unfortunately in those there just isn't much view of the beach as it is blocked by the great view of part of the hotel's roof. And as for moving, that was my upgraded room and was all I was going to get. In fact, that experience turned me off enough that last month when we vacationed through Pensacola Beach, we stayed at the Hampton Inn next door to the Resort rather than stay at the resort.

I will admit that a few years ago I did get a nice suite upgrade when staying off-season at the Daytona Beach Hilton resort. But that has been more the exception rather than the rule with Hilton.

And one of the things I really dislike about Hilton's program is if you want to reserve an upgraded room (i.e. ocean view/front, suite, etc.) A base room might be 50K-70K per night, but the ocean view room will show up as 150K night night or even more. Where for example, I'm staying later this year in Puerto Vallarta at the Marriott there using points in a reserved suite room. And while it took more points to guarantee the upgrade, it took about 100K extra points for the whole stay, not per night.

Speaking only from my experience, I still agree with the statement, "the grass isn't always greener on the other side."

threedjmay

Has anyone else heard that? I have a stay in January 2018.

SkiAdcock

Not sure if you mean hotel or exec lounge. The OP was talking about the exec lounge.

Cheers.

threedjmay

Thanks, I hadn't seen that news about the Exec Lounge... I had heard it was a great lounge previously, but haven't stayed there yet.

PaulMCO

when traveling overseas the lounge is definitely an important benefit, as is the breakfast they provide. Especially considering the hotel restaurant charges $25 to $30 pp = $50/60 per day for me and wife.

miraclebear2003

While providing some interesting information, this thread has fallen off the track so many times. At times I thought I was on Hilton.

Regarding loyalty, we are all going to have different desires and different results. While I can't stand what they did with CY (there is only one I will stay in because they have been wonderful in the past), that is only one brand and I judge by all the good things Marriott has done. As a small example we had a voucher from a charity auction at a JW for two nights along with golf for two. We don't play golf so after I made the reservation I asked to speak to someone who could maybe provide something else. The end result was two days of their great buffet for both of us. It's little things like that.

BTW, we have had great experiences at the Orlando World Center in their restaurants and bar, besides for their conference staff.

itsallgood

interesting topic. I'd just recommend that the OP makes lifetime Plat so that he can use Marriott as a backup.

I'd recommend going to Hyatt; they have the best domestic breakfasts and don't exclude resort properties.

I'm curious as to why the OP hasn't been staying at/including Starwood properties in this discussion. You have Platinum status at Starwoods and they include breakfast.

SkiAdcock

If OP doesn't have LT status, he's probably staying w/ MAR to keep his annual Platinum status or get close to/attain LT status w/ MAR. Just a guess.

Cheers.

CIT85

Op mentioned 10 years Plat, ~1000 nights and almost 2MM points, so just shy of MR LTP, but well above SPG LTP.

Based on the discussions here, Hyatt offers the best benefits for Globalists, free breakfast for 2 at all properties, just charge to the room (if hotel does not have Club Lounge) and they write it off at checkout. No resort fees for Globalists, no parking fees on reward stays. Guest of Honor confers Globalist benefits to anyone you offer to use your points for reward stays. If you need 2 rooms for large family, then book one room under your spouse's name and one under yours, then free breakfast for 4. Hyatt free breakfast benefit is the best among all hotel chains.

I recently used free night award certificates (1 Hyatt Visa cert) at Hyatt Centric South Beach and had zero balance invoice.

IMO the problem is MR is too big with too many elites, Gold and Plat, so they diluted benefits to contain cost. Resort fees, amenity fees, no breakfast at resorts, etc.

Srisarin

Might even agree if I could ever find a Hyatt in my next destination !!

And, have you ever compared the number of Globalists to total number of props to Plats in Marriott ?

And what benefits does Hyatt provide to the status below Globalists compared to what Marriott provides G ?

Kacee

Yes the published Hyatt benefits are better but as a Hyatt Refugeeist, I'm pretty happy with Marriott.

Many of the domestic Hyatts are downright resentful about the benes they are forced to provide. I've found very little of that with Marriott.

CIT85

As a SPG LTP, I have not stayed at many Marriotts in recent years. But the lack of any benefits at Marriott resorts, where I'd be on vacation and would appreciate those benefits, is a real turnoff.

Hyatt definitely has its drawbacks, main one being a small footprint. I have not encountered issues at domestic Hyatts resenting benefits they have to provide.

I think a lot of us SPG Plats are anxiously waiting to see what Marriott does in merging MR and SPG.