How valuable points are and which hotel loyalty program is worst is entirely dependent on (1) how you earn points and (2) what types of hotels you want to use points.

If you earn points by staying at the hotels, they all are more or less the same, to be honest. You earn more points for your spend at Hilton and Marriott compared with Starwood and Hyatt, but Starwood and Hyatt require fewer points for their hotel awards.

If you earn points by credit card spend, the Hilton and Marriott awards are ridiculously harder to achieve than the Starwood and Hyatt awards--because the typical 1 point per $1 spend has more value with Starwood and Hyatt because their awards cost less. Marriott and Hilton have top award levels of up to 45,000 or 50,000--but cost up to 70,000 for top tier Ritz Carlton and up to 80,000 for Waldorf Astoria. Compare that to top tier Hyatt and Starwood hotels (including Park Hyatt and St Regis) being 30,000-35,000. If you spend $50,000 on a credit card (with no bonus categories) and get 50,000 points, those points go a LOT farther with Hyatt and Starwood then Marriott or Hilton.

The irony is that Marriott makes it MUCH harder to accumulate the points for awards at its top tier properties than Starwood or Hyatt...even though Starwood and Hyatt both have far more and/or far nicer top tier properties.

If you want awards at the more aspirational higher tier/category hotels, then Hyatt and Starwood clearly are the winners. Hilton and Marriott cost way more...even though Hyatt and Starwood have more aspirational options. Marriott has Ritz Carlton but they cost a lot more than Starwood's St Regis or LuxCollection or W or Park Hyatt/Grand Hyatt/Andaz. Hilton has Waldorf Astoria but there aren't that many of those.

If you want awards at lower tier/category properties, on the other hand, your points might go farther with Marriott or Hilton--since you can accumulate them as fast or faster and they don't cost much more than Hyatt or Starwood. But mid-tier properties still cost a significant amount more for Marriott and Hilton than they do for Starwood and Hyatt.

I agree that Marriott is a bit better than Hilton...but not much better.

Starwood and Hyatt points are far better for anyone wanting awards at more upscale/full service hotels. They are clearly better for anyone wanting awards at the high end of hotels. Of course, Marriott and Hilton have far more properties in far more locations. But for higher end hotels, most of these chains have upscale properties in most major urban centers and the most popular holiday destinations.

Of course, Marriott absorbing Starwood means that only Hyatt offers a real deal. It also means Marriott will have the most aspirational properties by far after its merger.