Originally Posted by
sharklover
I would say Hilton for actually stays but SPG points are better to earn.
agreed. SPG points can also be transferred to many airlines at 1:1 (and if you transfer 20K points, you get 25K miles).
Originally Posted by
AnthonyF1227
snip..
So if you look at the difference...
SPG: 35K in spending = 1 free night
HH: 32K in spending = 1 free night
So from a pure CC spending standpoint, HHonors is still better
This may be true at the high end, but SPG has better deals in the mid-range. For 1/3 of those points (10-12K SPG points or 30K HH points) the deals are very different. Hilton gives you a suburban Hampton while Starwood gives you a downtown Westin in a major city. Well, that may be a slight exaggeration but not by too much.
Picking a few places at random:
Chicago: Hilton offers 15 hotels but none below 40K. Starwood offers 20 hotels (four at 12K, four at 10K, five at 7K and six at 4K).
Atlanta: Hilton offers 30 hotels, most of which are priced at 30K. only 5 are more and the rest are less. Starwood offers 13 hotels (two at 12K, 4 at 10K and the rest lower)
Istanbul: Hilton offers five hotels, only one of which (the HGI) is at 30K (the rest are more). Starwood offers four hotels--one at 10K, one at 12K and two at 16K (high season rates for a 12K hotel)
Bangkok: three hilton hotels, one each at 20K, 30K and 40K. Starwood has nine hotels, only one is more than 10K (the others are evenly split between 10K, 7K and 4K)
In general, I think you get a (much) better deal in big cities at Starwood. On the other hand (to be fair), Hilton can get you a room at many smaller places where Starwood has no presence.