Originally Posted by Guava

There are many ways you can earn hotel points without staying with them except Hyatt. You can build a rich stack of hotel points through credit card for example. It makes sense to have hotel points from different programs if not just for a greater coverage of available hotels since they are not all represented equally in every city or destination.

In terms of hotel stays, if you are more or less indifferent between two competing hotels in a same city/area, then the tie breaker should come down to their points and promos. In my opinion, SPG is a program that requires a heavier dose of promos in order to remain competitive against other hotel loyalty programs because in terms of relative valuation, the earning/spending power of SPG points earned through stays is quite a bit weaker than others.

See this thread here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starw...r-value-2.html

And specifically, my analysis here:

SPG vs. Hilton & Marriott