NJUPINTHEAIR - I will respond to a couple of your points.

First off, like you I travel completely on my own dime and hop around to maximize stays and attain status. I am diamond with Hilton and Starwood Platinum, so I am most familiar with their programs and the type of promotions they have run over the past five years. My analysis is skewed towards earning points from multiple one night stays and burning points for extended stays on my vacations.

With regard to online booking bonuses or stay bonuses - All five of the hotel brands periodically offer stay or booking bonuses throughout the year. I have studied this enough to know that over the course of the year there is in all likelihood a bonus going to be offered for stays that I adjusted to 1,000 points/stay (500 for Starwood) to account for this substantial earning opportunity within any of the five hotel programs. Currently Hilton is offering me 4,000 points for 4 stays. Starwood gave me 2,000 points for three stays in the final months of 2003. Hilton offered my wife 50,000 points for 4 stays a few months ago. As you point out Hyatt has 2,000 point bonuses for many of their properties. Priority Club is currently offering 3,000 points for 3 stays. Marriott has a 10,000 point bonus for 7 nights.

Over the course of the year there will be numerous online and stay bonus points earned by a member loyal to any of the five hotel brands. While at any one time there won't be an assured bonus, I think it is a fair assumption to calculate a bonus per stay when comparing programs because of its frequent occurence. Since it is a significant number of points earned over the course of the year, it would be a relatively inaccurate comparison to not include any online/stay bonus.

Bonuses are the major equalizer for Starwood when comparing with other programs. I haven't gone back to read my posts, but I think I made the point that Platinum status is the equalizing factor for the Starwood program. The 500 points/stay is a huge bonus for platinum members. I recently received an offer from the W in Newark, CA for a $69 weekend rate until Labor Day. I can earn 207 points for my paid stay points (Starwood Gold and Platinum members get 3 starpoints per $1), but the 500 point platinum amenity bonus per stay is the real earning power. I earn 2.5 times more points in bonuses than for the paid rate. Currently there isn't an online booking bonus or stay promotion for Starwood being offered to me (many of the bonuses are targeted), but I am pretty confident there will be another offer before next September and then I will increase my stay frequency and likely earn an extra 1000 Starpoints per stay (assuming 500 points platinum amenity and a 500 point stay bonus) in addition to the small number of points I will earn for the hotel charges.

I also thought I stated that if you are not platinum, then Starwood is not as good a program compared to others in terms of earning capability, but the redemption opportunities are still the best of any program.

Regarding your statement about Hilton - I find it confusing. A diamond or non-diamond member is going to spend 150,000 or 175,000 points for a GLON2 or GLON2P. There is no discount for diamonds. A diamond member has to pay 40,000 points/night for 6 non consecutive nights at a Premium resort.

While I like Priceline and I have used it on many occasions I find it isn't always my cheapest option. Recently Amsterdam has been well over $100 per night on Priceline and that makes my last GLON award pretty valuable for me since I am saving that amount of money and it only cost me $200 in airline miles I transferred into points to get the GLON last May.

I agree that Hyatt is a great program if their hotels are in the places you travel. I wish they had a property in Amsterdam. The majority of my hotel stays are international and the properties, service, and upgrades for my international stays with Hilton and Starwood far exceeds the quality of my stays in US properties. I view my US stays as points runs like when I fly economy flights for miles.

My overall position is that if you travel frequently and you can reach top status in any hotel program, then go for it. I did the Priceline route for a couple of years and I find the extra money for the amenities of top status greatly enhances my travel holidays.