Christinern

I would like comments on the reward programs for the travel pakages. Comparing the hotel/flight awards from each program.
Marriott:
-you have the ability to purchase 99000 points for your redemtion reward (this benefit will help me alot)
-the travel packages that have hotel nights & airline miles seem to be a good deal
-I don't have their credit card - is it as good as starwood for point accrual?

Starwood:
-can you purchase points for a redemtion reward, like marriott allows?
-the night & flight rewards seem very good
-I have their credit card & love it

I am wanting to stick with one program & am not sure which one to choose. I realize many people love either/or but for what reasons.

Thank you for your comments----------Christine

HouFlyer

It depends what forum you ask that question on. Obviously...most everyone over here is going to say SPG. If you go over to the Marriott forum you will get the opposite.

1AAFlyer

Hands down Starwood. Better properties, better benfits, better customer service.

troyintn

My biggest gripe with the marriott program is that not all hotels earn the same. Some are 5 points and some are 10. I have the same beef with Hyatt, but they do it for counting stays for status and it is easier to understand. Marriott has some things I like, Lifetime status and Plat premier. Overall the program is ok, but I do not like their properties/ locations. I prefer Hilton with SPG as my back up. I love the SPG program and the rules are easy to understand.

LIH Prem

Marriott has two different credit cards. The Signature Visa earns more than the normal one, but it also costs more per year. Neither one is particularly good at earning points on normal non-Marriott purchases. I carry the Signature one and only use it for Marriott purchases. Either of the cards gives you silver status in Marriott Rewards for as long as you carry the card.

You can purchase points, but not at a very good rate. (At least, I'm pretty sure you can, I've only done it as part of the Inside Flyer subscription tie-in that was a good deal several years ago, but I always see threads about it here.)

Both programs are good programs. It's easier to make top tier at Starwood than it is with Marriott, since it only takes 25 stays with Starwood to make Platinum. A free night can be earned with a lower spend amount in Marriott Rewards, but most Starwood members would argue that no blackout dates more than makes up for the extra spend required in the Starwood program.

And, as you noted, the Starwood Amex is the best of the three credit cards.

Marriott (and Hilton) has properties everywhere. Starwood doesn't have the presence of Marriott or Hilton. (Marriott's/Hilton's brands are literally everywhere when you travel across the country. Starwood is good for most major cities, but not all. Starwood's lower tier brands are not as ubiquitous as Marriott's and Hilton's. And at least with Marriott if you stay at a Courtyard or pretty much any of their lower tiered brands, you pretty much know what to expect in terms of quality, etc. This isn't true with Four Points, which can vary quite a bit from really nice to really bad.)

I think that's a pretty balanced reply. At the end of the day, you have to decide which one works better for you if you're going to choose just one. If the difference is that you can make top tier in Starwood but not in Marriott because it takes more stays, I would go for top tier in Starwood.

-David

CPRich

It really depends on where you travel - for work earning and on vacation redeeming. I've been maintaining PLT on both for the last few years as they are complimentary.

Marriott has many more properties so it's easier to find somewhere to earn and more opportunities to burn. I've been on projects with no SPG option, never with Marriott. Marriott's theoretical earning power is greater - fewer room-night equivalents to earn a reward.

Marriott's weak point, which plays to SPG's strength, is blackouts. Many times the places you want to go, and the time you want to go, is double points or not at all (then again, I've managed standard awards at St Kitts, Grand Cayman, Oahu, Big Island, and Kauai this summer with advanced planning). Maintaining PLT is a challenging 75 nights/yr.

I aim to keep both, try to redeem MR points where I can, and save SPG points for when it's the only option. If I had to pick one, I suppose it would be SPG.

SPG's card is the best deal in the industry, MR's is relatively standard. Purchasing points is very rarely a good deal. And I never use the combination of air&hotel rewards as I have plenty of air miles.

yyliu88

Marriott is the worst program, its hotel looks same, no nice hotels.

SPG has a lot of nice hotels

Hilton has many nice resorts too

Holiday inn points are so easy to get.

Marriott has nothing!!!!!!!!!

both spg platinum and marriott platinum get 500 bonus points per stay, but u only 2000 points for a free night at spg, but marriott needs 7500??? I have never find any cat 1 hotel for Marriott, but they are many nice cat 1 spg hotels in asia.

Hilton has hotel in Maldive, Marituris, Seychelles, they are the most beatiful places in the world.

spg and Holiday-inn have nice resort in Bora Bora.

marriott has nothing at those places

Spg platinum makes u feel like a platinum guest.

marriott platinum makes u feel like a frequent guest with marriott chains, that it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elite VIP

Need advice on whether to move forward with Starwood or Marriott. I am currently a member of both and seems like I should choose one or the other to be loyal to for future stays and maximizing chances of maintaining elite membership.

Advice please!!!

stjohn021202

With the recent "adjustment" in spg categories. Does Marriott rewards with the JW Marriotts and Ritz offer a better deal for hotel rewards when earning all points via credit card?

kevino

It depends on how you spend your points, but for most the SPG Amex card is better than the Marriott VISA card when it comes to earning pts.

I have both, but use my Amex when I can.

hhoope01

Not really.

The Marriott Visa (Premier version) is very good when used at a Marriott property (5 pts/$) and OK when purchasing at a resturant (2 pts/$). For Marriott your best bang for your points is purchasing Travel Packages and those take between 165K and 270K points. That is hard to rack up when only getting points from a CC.

VA1379

To the OP, do you have any paid stays at Marriott? If not, then the Marriott program is not the best to earn rewards just from the credit card.

Ken in Phx

Trying to redeem Marriott Pts with no status sucks. Its almost worthless.

So if you use just a CC to earn, SPG is light years better.

Guava

If you are only interested in hotel awards, I would argue the Hilton AMEX is better than either Marriott VISA or SPG AMEX.

With the Hilton AMEX, you can up to 5 pts per $ easily when you spend on restaurants, groceries, gas, telecom, pharmacies which are all fairly common day to day purchases. If you have your own business or travel a lot, your restaraunt and gas bill will certainly add up very quickly.

Whereas Starwood has hiked reward cost so much among its high end properties such as most NYC hotels or nicer hotels in Europe, you can have those with Hilton for 35~40K HH points per night or. You can even do 6~7 nights of those for 175,000 HH point. Now keep in mind, you earn only 1 Starpiont per $ spent but you earn 3~5 HH points per $ spent (say average = 4), then 40K HH / 4 = $10,000.

This means by spending $10,000 you can earn a free night in NYC with Hilton but not Starwood because most of them require 25,000 SPG points per night. Or if you stay for 6 nights, 175,000 / 4 = $43,750 spent

$43,750 spent on SPG AMEX will get you 43,750 Starpoints which can't even buy two nights in most SPG hotels in NYC, London, Paris or Rome but you get 6 nights with Hilton and the availability is pretty good these days to be quite frank with you. Hilton certainly worked a lot to improve their award availability. If cash & points is not available for the dates you want, you are pretty much out of luck with SPG.

NJUPINTHEAIR

This is just not true. It makes no difference what status you are when trying to redeem points.

This used to be true of Hilton until they recently allowed their hotels to have award availability similar to SPG. It also still may be true of Hilton Diamond members as compared to others in the program, though.

However, it was never true of Marriott Rewards. If a room was available for standard award availability, then it was available regardless of your status in the Marriott program. If not, then it made no difference in your status, as well.

The only thing that was different was the possibility that you could get upgraded rooms or other benefits on a reward stay if a Marriott Elite member (usually Gold and above, but some have said that even Silver members get upgrades in Europe, I don't know that) that general members do not.

HHoppe is correct in his observations above, by the way.

Really, as with everything else, there are pluses and minuses with Marriott Rewards. However, if you are joining MR with an eye to only redeem at Ritz properties, then I think you will be sorely disappointed, as the properties are very expensive for point redemption, availability, and even when point reduced, may not be in areas where you want to vacation.

As a quiver in your arsenal for potential point redemption, then I would go for it and suggest that you get the Marriott Premium Signature Visa card, as it pays for itself with the annual one night reward, even for the $65 annual fee.

More possibilities for redemption yields better reward availaibility, especially in areas where there are no countervailing choices e.g. try to find a SPG property in Wyoming, for example.

Finally, the same reasoning holds true for the Hilton AMEX as it is fee free and you get a number of points on first use.

Point accumulation differs among the big three (including SPG's AMEX) and remember, that an AMEX may not be accepted in all instances, and that is where the Marriott Visa can come in especially handy, if interested in point accumulation.