Originally Posted by PHLGovFlyer

I was really only commenting on what one point was worth in terms of redemption, not on the ability to earn points.

My estimate of point values is based entirely on my own personal experience redeeming hundreds of thousands of points in both programs.

For some "real world" examples I picked some random dates in October for a trip to the big island:

Marriott Waikoloa, category 5. Current cash room rate for a typical room that you'd book with points is $229 per nite. A 5 night award costs 100,000 points (including 5th nite free). So 100,000 points for a room that otherwise costs $1145 yields 1.145 cents per MR point.

Next door is the Hilton Waikoloa Village. Current cash rate for those same dates is $249 per nite. A 6 nite GLON award costs 225,000 HH points. So $1494 for 225,000 points yields 0.664 cents per point.

I also checked one nite stays in Minneapolis for a random week nite in October.

Marriott's Hotel Minnepolis. Category 4, 20,000 points or $259. 1.295 cents per MR point.

Marriott City Center. Category 5, 25,000 points or $289. 1.156 cents per MR point.

Hilton Minneapolis. Category 6, 40,000 points or $229. 0.5725 cents per point.

The Marquette. Category 5, 35,000 points or $279. 0.797 cents per point.

These are just averages, and of course, the room rates vary all the time but they are pretty typical for rooms that I've actually booked using points from both programs.

I know that there are properties with both HH and MR where you can get better redemption yield. I did the Marriott Stellaris Aruba In February on points this year. 140,000 points for 5 nites in a room that was going for over $700 per nite (about 2.5 cents per point). And of course, there are HH properties where redemption is routinely well above average as well. My personal experience is that on average a MR point is worth around 1.2 cents and a HH point is worth around 0.7 cents.

As I mention in the other thread, my experience is that earning points for a typical two nite $280 stay, with promos and elite bonuses, would yield more value in terms of MR points than with HH points.

OTOH, I've argued elsewhere that in terms of yield on credit card spend the HH Amex beats MR Visa because you get 3 points per dollar versus 1 point per dollar spend with the MR Visa (IOW, about 2.1 cents value with HH Amex versus 1.2 cents with MR Visa). That is the main reason why I carry an HH Amex (along with the status of course).