Does that mean you pay for your stays on your own dime and are price sensitive?

I do, and as such I can't afford to stay at SPG in most places. Partly because SPG have few if any "midscale" properties, they are higher priced than the Hampton/HGIs that I most often use within the Hilton program domestically.

Btw, are you aware of the step up (or even more) that the right cards can give you (if you live in the USA)? You can get Hilton Gold status for $95/year without any stays required with the Reserve card. You can get IHG Reward Platinum status (though what that gives you is debatable) for holding the credit card for that program (which btw for $49/year after the first year gives you a free hotel night cert every year after the first year). You can get 15 nights toward Gold/Plat status at Marriott with the Marriott Premier Visa from Chase (which btw for $85/year after the first year gives you cat 1-5 free hotel night cert every year after the first year). And so on.

So you want to have status in several programs, you may want to think about which ones to get credit cards for, so you don't need as many nights and/or stays in that program just to (re)qualify for status. That can free up nights and/or stays to put towards another program where you can't get it all from a credit card.

Meanwhile, which program works as a backup depends partly on where you travel. There are zillions of small towns in the USA where the only programs are Best Western, Choice, and/or Wyndham Rewards. If you travel to such small towns, you need one more of those. But if you don't, you may not need any of those. So that's just another example of why it's hard to give a general answer to a broad question such as "what hotel program is best"?