Dr. HFH

I hate to be negative; but this line struck me as central to OP's post:
OP seems to have two major complaints, 1) Starwood properties aren't giving me special treatment in terms of benefits to which I'm not entitled, and 2) they aren't as nice as Hyatts.

No sympathy from me on #1. On #2, I think that you do have a point, particularly in North America. If Hyatt has locations everywhere you need and you are happy with it, are Uber points the only reason you're considering Starwood? If so, I would suggest that unless you're using Uber as a replacement for a personal vehicle 24×7, it is unlikely that you'll ever accumulate enough SPG points from Uber to earn even a single free night.

Keyser

same here....after that line the op gets no sympathy from me as well....

i have stayed at some hyatt properties & they have been very nice but for me no other hotel chain works or treats me as good as spg does....i've had top status with hilton, ihg & marriott as well in the past but at the end of the day for me personally spg trumps them all....

luna6

Value with SPG for me is their point system (generally hard to earn so don't see as much devaluations like other programs, but if you spend on their hotels points do pile up quickly). Second and, equally as important to me, their footprint covers everywhere I want to go, especially in Asia. Hyatt is usually further away or the price is way higher than I want to pay. SPG also has a nice mixture of lower cost hotels (Four Points in Seoul) to high end (W Hong Kong/St. Regis anywhere) which really makes staying with them sticky for all types of trips.

Every time I looked into booking a Hyatt room couldn't find a reasonable answer to book with them instead of comparable SPG hotel (Tokyo is one place Hyatt probably has SPG beat, but love Osaka/Kyoto so much that I can't ever find the time to go there).

SPG's platinum upgrade policy is really hit or miss and not a reason I stick with them.

DudeE

So, in a nutshell, you're annoyed that Starwood isn't snowed by your charm and powers of persuasion?

I'm not sure what you define as the "DCA area," but Starwood has plenty of quality properties in DC/NoVA. Le Meridien Arlington is a few stops up the blue line. There's the Westin Georgetown, the St. Regis, Sheraton Suites Alexandria, etc. I've stayed at all of the above and they are not in the least dingy or sub-par to Hyatt properties.

DudeE

I have rarely seen such a comment, and I would dare say converting to air miles - while convenient at times - is about the worst use of SPG miles.

As point of comparison, I just booked 5 nights at a SPG property in Hawaii for 40,000 points. Roughly $1,500 worth of room nights giving a value of almost 4 cents per point. Equivalent airfare would likely cost you at least 80,000 airline miles.

stargold

Incidentally, 40,000 points is actually more than what is required in order to redeem a one-way AA ticket between AUH and LHR in their First Apartments. To me that's a considerably higher value than $1,500.

As far as my own assessment goes, SPG redemptions aren't really worth considerably more than the cash cost unless you're talking about peak or spikes in demand when the price is a lot higher than usual. During times of normal demand, I usually see equivalent or worse value for points compared to cash rate.

DudeE

If we're looking at corner cases, I booked five nights at the Equinox for 48,000 points forgoing a $3,000+ paid stay. But I'm not sure I'd point to either of these examples as typical.

ldsant

Just continue staying at Hyatt when you visit DC. Problem solved.

stargold

For someone living in AUH and having to visit LHR regularly, in my personal case the example is far from atypical But I suppose this is very much OT to the thread.