Originally Posted by
rcurry01
I am always surprised when people say that Hilton is the worst program. I have moved to Marriott, but I still think that Hilton offered a much better value. While Hilton properties cost much more on a per point basis (not quite double Marriott ) you earn Hilton points MUCH faster. If you take points all the time you get 15 points per dollar at most properties. With the recent promotions make that 25. Marriott gives you 10 per dollar and the promotions stink.... A total of 10,000 for 5 stays. With Hilton credit cards you get 3 points per dollar spent with generous bonus categories offering 5 or 6 per dollar. With Marriott you get 1 per dollar and 2 in much more limited bonus categories. Not to mention Marriott's ridiculous 50 night requirement for a mid tier status. A status that Hilton basically gives away.
Well, it depends in part how much you pay for your paid stays. As you noted, Hilton's promos are almost always per dollar. So they earn less for those staying in cheap suburban hotels.
By contrast, Marriott has lots of promos which give the same amount of bonus no matter what your room rate is. So if you get low rates (either because the hotels are inexpensive normally or because you do successful Look No Further best rate guarantees which lower the third party rate by 25%), Marriott promos may be better, while if you are staying at more expensive properties, Hilton promos may be better.
Meanwhile, on Hilton basically giving away its status: Yeah, that's another reason I stay at Marriott more. I have no need to stay at Hilton to have with Hilton. Meanwhile, I'm just a few years away (if my current stay and Marriott bonus patterns continue) from getting meaningful lifetime Marriott status. While it would be unrealistic for me to get to Hilton lifetime Diamond (and they haven't announced lifetime Gold), as you said, they practically give the status away, so who cares? I keep waiting for the year I'll have to get a HH Surpass or HHReserve card, but first I get two years of HH Gold from the (long gone) Milepoint Premium offer, and now this year I got two years of HH Diamond from their way-too-easy status match (from my Marriott Platinum
).