Originally Posted by
andreiz
I'm going to be traveling more this year and want to figure out which hotel loyalty programs it would make sense for me to maximize on. My budget is generally targeted to midrange hotels with a splurge here and there and I mostly stay at hotels when I travel abroad. I have Hilton Gold status and A|Club Platinum status based on those instant promos that were active recently, but I haven't stayed at those hotels in a while. Also, I don't have any hotel credit cards yet. Lots of chains are running promos in Q1, so which ones are good for 1 night stays, 2-3 night stays, etc so as to maximize the reward points? Which ones are good for redeeming points for hotels abroad?
How often are you traveling abroad and do you want the same mid-range level of hotels there as in the USA? If you are overseas with any regularity (~10+ days annually, I'd say) then I would skip the chains and stay independent. Way better value, particularly overseas, and no need to be loyal to anyone but yourself (and your wallet) when in the USA.
Also see here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...y-program.html.