- I don't plan on adding additional credit cards... just don't want to go down that road.

- I already have the Platinum (free) HHonors AMEX which I would upgrade to Surpass to get Gold if needed, but I wouldn't be able to shift enough spend there to get Diamond.

- I'm ATL based but credit all of my flying miles to Alaska Mileage Plan so I can consolidate DL, AA, and a rare few international partners. The Suntrus SkyMiles Debit card is the only miles-earning debit card in our area, so I use it as opposed to no earnings on debit transactions. We earn enough miles on the debit card that having a DL and AS pool isn't really problematic.

- I'm starting to see that most folks don't see SPG Gold or Hyatt Platinum as great mid-tier programs. It seems maybe my 2015 strategy should be to shoot for SPG Platinum on stays as a primary program along with HHonors Gold and Hyatt Platinum as secondary programs... IF there are enough Alofts to do it. That makes me think, even more, that I need to push this decision off until Q1/Q2 2015 so I can analyze 2014 in its entirety and expect ~15% increase in the total number of stays.