Cam ...

Were you interested at all in a solution or did you just want to exercise some free speach?

I thought I provided a very reasonable solution for your required Marriott stays for the board meetings you mentioned in an earlier post. Was that need real?

Doc2Be:

In my humble opinion ...

No one program will do it for everybody. And most travelers will need to choose two or three. I'm in Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton and SPG. Because of where I stay, the rates and the rewards, I currently concentrate my stays at Hyatt and Marriott. In Feb, I will concentrate at Hyatt because of NAN and because MR offered me a very silly Megabonus (5k for 5 nights .. hardly worth it) and because Marriott refused to negotiate reasonable contract rates with the large company that pays for my travel. Right now, Hyatt has the edge pricewise. (I can't see spending $290 of anybody's money when I can stay at the Hyatt for $169 - $198 and the two properties are very comparable: SFO Hyatt Regency vs SFO Marriott.)

In March, I will continue my pursuit of the 20k MR points I need for my next 200k award by switching hotels at weeks end taking advantage of discount Sun-Mon and Thurs-Fri nights, persuing AAA discount rates when they become available, etc. After I get that, I'll reassess for the rest of the year based on all the factors and continue to reassess on an ongoing basis.

What I won't do is stay at a dump, regardless of what program I'm in. I also won't stay at a really inconvenient location just because I'm part of that program. At any rate, too each their own.

Healthy debate is a good thing.

-David