I put together a quick spreadsheet, and here is what I came up with.

1)I compared free nights at Maui between Starwood, Hyatt and Marriott. All have properties on Kaanapali beach. I compared Hilton Waikaloa Village.
2)I used the cheapest awards I could find.
3)I assumed top-tier elite earning for all programs.
4)I ignored bonus points beyond the elite bonuses, as most of the programs provide something in this regard.

Results:

Starwood - $3,200 revenue per free night (includes the 5th night free.)

Hyatt - $2,308 revenue per free night

Hilton - $1,944 revenue per free night (Diamond level award)

Marriott - $1,264 revenue per free night

Conclusions:

This analysis may not be relevant to others, but it is to me, as these are the type of properties where I would use awards. I was surprised by the results.

The Hyatt program changed about 1 1/2 years ago. It used to take half as many points, and when I ran this analysis in 1991, they were an obvious choice for my business.

Starwood is clearly the worst value by far for this analysis, and Marriott is the clear winner. If not for the faster free nights at Hyatt, I would change to Marriott.

There is a BIG difference here.

I have reduced my travel to the extent that I “only” would spend about $15K/year at any of these chains. This is all on an expense report, so using Priceline would not benefit me at all. This translates to 12 nights at the Maui Marriott, vs. only five at the Westin or Sheraton. Hyatt would give me 7 nights, but, with the continuing faster free nights, I would get an additional 10–20 weekend nights per year.

The airline miles are insignificant compared to what I earn on United anyway, and the affinity cards are ubiquitous.

I look forward to more commentary from all of you.


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United UGS
Hyatt Lifetime Diamond
Starwood Platimun