Hello All,
I'm not sure if this belongs here or the hotel forum?

Since we are working on maximizing our airline mileage accrual, last night my wife asked me if there was any good hotel programs and cards we could start to work on? From what I have gathered in my limited search was there was a large following of the Starwood Preferred Guest Amex and Starwood line of hotels. I also see that Hilton and Marriott each have their own cards and programs.

Many tout the transfer benefits of the Starwood program to airline partners, but it does hold up on its own for free hotel nights does it not?

The current offer for the Starwood Preferred Guest Amex is 25000 points once you've spend $5000. Is this traditionally a very good sign up promotion or have there been much heftier promotions that are worth holding out for if they develop?

Otherwise, both the Marriott (50K), Ritz (50K) and Hilton (40K) are the other options I see.

We are not in a hurry, but would prefer to pick the best program and work solely on it as much of our priority is toward airline mileage accrual and this would be our compliment to that. We travel all over, from a lot of cities domestically to everywhere else, so it is not like we have one specific chain that we work with.

If you were to choose one, which would it be and why?

Thank you.


(mods, sorry as not to know where posting this is appropriate)