Originally Posted by
farwest101
"Top category" doesn't equal "top quality" wrt Carlson. It's all low and mid range. And that's why many aren't interested. If you just want a roof over your head, Carlson can't be beat for 2 night stays.
For one night stays, or the ability to stay at large number of properties with true top tier, Hilton is hard to beat.
Imo, for the Average Joe who doesn't want to bother with multiple programs to make sure they get the "best" redemption possible, HH has to be the program of choice, because of their large footprint, the relative ease and low cost of garnering points, large footprint of low to true top tier properties, and the ability to earn top status without a quadzillion stays under their belt.
But I suspect many on FT don't mind multiple programs. I do SPG, Hilton, Hyatt and Carlson, and stay at the best hotel I can in whatever location I go. Only major cities have Park Hyatts and St Regis (or are in "destination" locations), so Hilton gets most of my second tier location stays (with the occasional Conrad or resort property like Koh Samui included) because of their much larger footprint. I have yet to find a place where Carlson is the best option, so have yet to set foot inside a Carlson.
I have stayed at the top end hilton, hyatt, and cc properties in london. While Hilton had the best view, that was really the only thing going for it. Hyatt didnt win in a single judged category for us when we compared, very unimpressed. CC was our hotel of choice out of all three properties. The cc in dublin was also our top choice, although there is a westin, we just didnt have the points for that at the time of booking and cc points were far cheaper to ms, but the westin was really the only possible competition. If you dont step foot in them how do you know they are not the best option?