beachmouse

As someone who has fewer earning possibilities than a lot of folks here, I love the IHG PointBreaks lists. I had a perfectly nice weekend at a $130/night Indigo paid for by My Coke Rewards points from when they had IHG as a redemption option. The options for picking up, say, Delta miles from collecting bottle caps are a lot rarer.

United isn't bad for collecting no cash outlay miles, but redeeming them for a flight out of a reasonably close airport to me is abysmal. When your award tickets are consistently pricing at 20% more miles than the SkyPeso award tickets for same destination and date, it's hard to get excited about alleged great value.

milehound

Generally speaking, the OP may be right, and I don't know what kind of deal Delta Diamonds get for redeeming their miles for hotel stays. As for me, I redeem my miles for hotel stays because I can stay in 5-star boutique hotels for free, liberating me from the tyranny of the hotel programs; also, elite AAdvantage members get a discount. I don't care that much about an upgrade as long as I'm in an exit row, premium economy, or have a row to myself. Also, I pay for most of my flights, so I have to make sure I meet the minimum eqm flown each year to maintain my mid tier elite status before I start using them for free flights (to Europe in winter, the best mileage bargain).

eponymous_coward

Just as an example, Hilton HHonors converts to most programs at 10:1. So, 125,000 Hilton points nets you a domestic one way flight on AA/UA/AS.

While there are situations where that MIGHT work out OK, that's still a lot of hotel/manufactured spend to not use on a rebate, and even after devaluation, there are plenty of places where 125,000 points can be worth hundreds of dollars or more. I think there are more efficient ways to generate mileage.

Generally speaking, with some notable exceptions (Marriott travel packages and SPG come to mind, or some cases in the past where stackable promos like US's Grand Slam were exploitable), conversion from one loyalty scheme to another one is a place where loyalty programs can take a lot of value out of your points.

Preacher7

Both, and, I say. I've had 5 night stays recently at Park Hyatts in Paris and Milan, and the Dolphin Resort at Disney World for free! I've also recently flown Etihad and Singapore Suites, and Emirates First, with George Clooney and his fiancée, across the aisle, I might add! You can have a lot of fun doing both: flying on great flights and staying in great hotels.

nlkm9

in my case we rarely fly and do long weekends......so the points are great!!! merits to both, however they fit in your life.

trekker954

I have the Hilton card and although rarely stay, I keep the Gold status and can usually get a free night each year. Hilton may had out points like candy but go to redeem them and whoa. Regardless if its a Hilton or Hampton, they really ask for a lot of points. I'm finally going to stop sitting on them and use them up on my spring Australia trip. I do try and always take advantage or Hilton and Marriott, 5 night stays to get the best return for my points.

And staying in a hostel - NEVER. As I earned status with air and hotels, I like the royal treatment. I dropped my AA XPlat status to Plat this year and am treated like a commoner, a COMMONER I said, can you imagine

pantanal

it all depends..for example using carlson points and combining with the carlson card is an awesome value

HansGolden

Exactly. A diversified and deep portfolio is possible on the cheap. Because points acquisition is so cheap and plentiful, it's rarely an either/or question. Despite vigorous burning on air and hotel (for a family of seven!), my points stocks keep growing. However, I'm a bad example because my source of points is not FT-traditional. However, I know the state of the game (including example friends) which illustrate that it can be done. Because of that, focus not on being choosy to maximize redemption value between hotels or airlines, but rather focus on increasing your recurring mileage income so you can make the choice on the basis of what serves your needs (budgetary, location, and amenity wise).

However, as Seth so graciously points out, there are places without chain hotels. If you've used AwardMapper.com and found there aren't suitable chain hotels nearby, it's likely a spot that has some very cheap hotels to take advantage of. Or if you're like Seth and actually dislike chain hotels, then by all means buy local hotels on Hotels.com. But the OP makes it seem like you're not and that you'd like to stay at chain hotels. Contrary to Seth's assertion, MrMoonlight was not saying chain hotels are always the right choice, but rather that you should have enough points to not be making hotel choice based upon point scarcity.

I don't pay extra for free breakfast and free internet. I usually pay way below market with Hyatt C+P or other discounts and get free breakfast and huge suites. Alternatively, I stay at places like the Westin Wall Centre (as I did last night) for 7k points where rates are $350/nt and the cheapest airport alternatives of any star level start at $133. Oh, I wrote this from the Club Lounge of the Westin where I stayed last night in the Presidential Suite. I also frequently stay at Sheratons for 2-4k/nt, an insane deal that is also elite qualifying. In short, staying at chains doesn't mean you have Vendome your way across the world staying in Park Hyatts the whole way (though that's an admittedly nice way tro travel!), but there's really good value to be had at the lower end as well. I'm staying at a Holiday Inn for a number of nights this (northern hemisphere) spring in New Zealand for 15k points/nt and I regularly stay at the Cat. 2 Hyatt Regency Wichita at my hometown airport if I have an early morning flight.

Ironically, I'm staying at a little indie hotel in the Swiss Alps tomorrow night as I'm headed to Geneva on the BA WT+ deal. In this case, there weren't decent points options where I wanted, so I splurged a bit for an indie hotel nestled in the mountains. I think I'll be happy with parting with the cash. It's a hotel that provides free internet, free breakfast, and an affordable half-board option.

So bottom line, do what works best for you. I find a hybrid approach works best for me with an 80:20 split between chain and non-chain. (Remember you can use Arrival to take care of non-chain stays.) However, don't let scarcity of points hold you back. Increase your points income.

farwest101

+1

farwest101

+1

The notion that someone "playing the game correctly" would ever give a rat's patootie about devaluations is laughable.

RustyC

I've always been on my own dime and have never been able to play the hotel-program game, as the cost-benefit doesn't tend to work out for non-biz travelers. Though I do remember staying a night in a Marriott in Dayton for 5K DL miles via some promotion they were doing some 18 years or so ago.

Would agree with others who've mentioned the exchange rates typically aren't good. An exception might be the infamous OnePass-to-Amtrak-to-United transfer of 14 or so years ago (ironic that they later merged), and we know what happened with that.

If I had a pile of hotel miles I'd probably look to redeem on hotels first, though you get cheap markets like Bali or just about anywhere in Thailand where you wonder if it's worth it to get the $200 room when 3* places might go for $40 and up. A place like Tahiti, OTOH, could be a different story.

Optimizing redemptions sometimes seems like a science unto itself.

eponymous_coward

It depends. Sometimes there's stackable promos that work out OK (I netted about 2000 Avios on a $250, 2 day stay in a suite at VIE in Bangkok recently, thanks to Accor promos), and Hilton's MVP codes usually bring prices in line with what I'd pay for a comparable star hotel in the area on Hotwire/Priceline, which is my usual touchstone for "I'm not getting ripped off by being 'loyal'". I don't find that SPG has promos that work well.

I have to agree that Western hotel chains in SE Asia to a certain extent aren't good bargains (though the slightly older, no longer "hot" properties like VIE, Pullman King Power and Hilton Millennium in Bangkok can sometimes have some good deals- 4 stars for under $100), and I wouldn't be fixated on staying in a particular chain. I ended up with a room in Tokyo on a recent trip for under $60 a night at APA Hotel Tsukiji-eki-minami. Would never have found it if I had been thinking "must stay at Hilton/Hyatt/SPG". Wasn't a big room at all, but comfortable, clean, perfect for touring Tsukiji. There's probably no kickback from a major chain I could have found that would have been worth an upcharge for a room in Tokyo for less than $60...

erog

The other thing to consider is kids.

For a family of four, it's pretty much impossible to get a first/business class ticket for everyone. Even at the cheapest redemption value, economy tickets for international travel, you are looking at 250K+ miles. It's exceedingly complicated to book mixed point/cash itineraries, especially if there are delays/cancellations.

So basically, for me the cost of entry is too high for redeeming miles. Whereas the hotel points can be used for the whole family.

KennyBSAT

That's interesting - I find the exact opposite to be true and all of our travel is as a family of 4. Without hotel status that guarantees upgrades, way too many 'standard' rooms (the only ones that can be booked with hotel points) have a max occupancy of 2 or 3. VRBO properties give real bedrooms and kitchens so you don't have to buy every meal which saves a lot of money.

By taking advantage of big bonuses we have had no trouble getting enough miles to travel 5 times a year or more with no cost for air travel except what it takes to MS for those big bonuses.

PDX Duck

I agree with the people who have already stated that Hilton hands out points like candy. This makes spending 30,000 points for a room much more palatable. If you have the Hilton HHonors American Express card, you can get 5 miles per dollar spent at restaurants, gas stations, and supermarkets. With all of the gift cards for sale at many supermarkets, it is not that hard to spend significant amounts of money. (One example: for Amazon purchases, I always buy Amazon gift cards at the grocery store, first.) This means that $6,000 in spending results in a 30,000 point hotel room that would otherwise cost $200. This is just using the no-annual fee AMEX. You can do even better with the Surpass card, that gives 6 points per dollar for the above purchases, if you are willing to pay the $75 annual fee.

Some people may not value a nice hotel room at $200. All I can say is that many of those alternatives, during the summer high season, are not appealing. Just like anything, location matters. While spending 30,000 points would not make sense in Las Vegas during July, when rooms are cheap, it does make sense in other locations when even rooms on Priceline and Hotwire are not cheap.