<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by divaof travel:
Does anybody know of a resource which compares hotel programs by the award received for the revenue dollars spent?
I have been Diamond gold passport at Hyatt for years, and was recently comped platinum status at Starwood. A cursory glance at the programs tells me I have to spend $4,000 revenue at starwood to get one night at Sheraton or Westin Maui. In the Hyatt program, I only have to spend $2300 for the much better HR Maui.</font>
I am mid-tier on HH, Marriott, and Starwood. All three of the programs have their strong points and weaknesses. The questions you have to answer for yourself will determine which one is best for you:
- First and foremost, should you use Priceline and forget about paying 2x or 3x Priceline rates to earn points?
If you make it past that hurdle and decide that you will pay points-earning rates, move on to the following:
- How many revenue stays/nights do you do in a year? Would you be able to qualify for top-tier or mid-tier in one of the programs? That can make a difference: as Rut Dog points out, the key complaint about HH (award availability) mostly goes away when you hit the Diamond level.
- What is your dream reward, and is that the driving force behind your using a hotel program? If you are gunning for a free week at an upscale romantic hotel on Maui, then Hilton is out and Marriott might not be a great choice either if they sell the Renaissance Wailea. (Although Marriott points can be redeemed for Ritz stays, the redemption rates are pretty harsh.) If you don't care as much about 1 particular award but want a lot of flexibility to use points for a variety of stays, then Hilton and Marriott look better because they have so many properties.
- Do you do revenue stays across a variety of hotel classes and locations? If so, Marriott and Hilton are again best bets with their mid-scale and long-stay chains and more rural and suburban coverage.
- Can you take advantage of the good promotions when they arise? If you can do that, then Hyatt may truly be your best bet with that FFN thing they keep doing. Marriott sometimes has stay-three-get-a-free-weekend deals. Hilton had
massive promotions in 2001 and 2002 and has been hesitant to do anything big in 2003.
Talk about bang for buck: using those massive Hilton promotions, I earned 2 weeks in Hawaii from about $2000 worth of my normal business stays in 2001 and 2002. Had to occasionally hotel-hop during a week (and I threw in the occasional peronsal Hampton stay to hit the thresholds), but it paid off with free weeks in Oahu and the Big Island. So bang for the buck varies widely when promotions are involved as your earning power can be magnified by 10x or more.