divaof travel -- Thanks for starting this discussion! Very interesting reading, great points being made by pinniped, NJUPINTHEAIR, satori, Rut Dog, MileKing, Bourne, Patron and many others.

You named this thread "Hotel program objective comparisons" (bolding is mine). IMHO, such thing is very elusive (if it exists at all). One can not make a meaningful comparison without taking into account personal travel paterns, both in earning and spending points.

Availability of desirable properties in locations where you need and/or want to travel is critical. One other thing, is how you feel at those properties. As an example, if you are accustomed to Park Hyatts, Four Points or DoubleTree would not match your style. And under no circumstances (OK, almost no circumstances) one should stay at a place he/she feels uncomfortable just because of points (I know, I know, this goes against the grain for some die-hard points/miles collectors). After all, points and miles are not the goal, they are means to achieve that goal of wonderful travel experiences, right?

Earning abilites in many loyalty programs these days (and hotel programs are no exception by any means) are not really determined by a simple "points-per-$-spent" ratio. Numerous promotions (some as spectacular as 50,000 points for 4 stays at HH properties, in various reincarnations repeated just about yearly for the last few years), co-branded credit card earnings, special elite bonus points (e.g., SPG Platinum Amenity 500 points) are truly making the difference in earning power. Many people earn the bulk of their points through such bonuses, thus greatly decreasing the $$ needed to be spent per an award day. One thing is clear that you can not predict whether such promotions will continue in the future and which program will be the most generous in the coming year. One can only make an educated guess and hope his/her assumptions are the right one, and if not, re-evaluate that choice for the next year.

With some programs the real difference becomes apparent only when you reach the highest tier (e.g., HHonors Diamond). As was properly noted earlier in this thread, HH Diamond Award Desk beats otherwise excellent SPG Platinum Concierge when it comes to oversold situations. As an example, being SPG Platinum last year (since then dropped to Gold) did not help getting an award room at the Sheraton Suites KC when their standard room inventory became exhausted (that's the only room type that is guaranteed to be available for awards if it is available for sale. Never mind they had plenty of higher class rooms available for purchase, yet SPG Platinum Concierge was not helpful in getting an inventory override, so I had to reschedule my stay there. In a similar situation, when I needed an award stay at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and there was no inventory for an award at an extremely busy time, HH Diamond Award Desk made a special arangement with the peoperty, paid them their going revenue rate (so for the hotel it was a regular paid
reservation at a pretty high rate) and simply deducted an appropriate amount of points from my HH account. Excellent upgrade followed as well.

Such personal experience made me conclude that for me it makes sense to keep my HH Diamond status as being anything but would not have helped me much in case of a complete sellout. SPG, on the other hand, is a very good program for just about any level member, and while being Platinum helps getting nicer upgrades and Platinum Amenity points, I feel pretty content being Gold, as I'm treated pretty well at that level too.

Another issue is getting upgrades to suites. While it may be important to others, it is not much of an issue for me (the most spectacular upgrades I ever had were at the Westins in Kansas City and Washington, DC, multi-room Presidential-level suites, but I was traveling on business, alone and did not have to impress anyone or even enjoy it myself because of late arrival and early departure).

Please do not take the above as an endorsement of one program over another! I'm just giving another point of reference, describing experiences based on my personal travel patterns and interests. Other people have different travel patterns and therefore, likely different experiences.

Bottom line: if you are about to make a decision on which brand to patronize for the foreseeable future, do not make such a decision without carefully analyzing your personal travel patterns, priorities, tastes, and yes, earning and redemption opportunities. Shifting some of the "auxilliary" earning means (e.g., credit cards) may be in order to maximize the effect.

Whatever choices you make, remember to enjoy your travel and stay safe!