Originally Posted by
Rommie2k6
I travel a little for work, and I am both Marriott Platinum and Hilton Diamond.
I'm now wondering if hotel-wise there is any point in Marriott Platinum.
At every level, I don't see how Marriott Platinum is better than Hilton Diamond. Here are my gripes:
- HGI and Embassy Suites offers hot cooked-to-order breakfast, which I consider to be the top-tier breakfast. Marriott has no such offerings.
- Courtyard doesn't give breakfast, and Residence Inn only earn half points. So whenever I search for Marriott properties I excluded these two, and there are much less options out there.
- Springhill Suites breakfast is hit or miss in my opinion. The consistency at Embassy Suites is way better.
- Marriott concierge lounge breakfast is honestly quite bad. It's only one step above Hampton/Fairfield with only 2 hot dishes. In contrast, at DoubleTree and Hiltons (quite frequently), as a Diamond I get a full buffet breakfast.
Are you only concerned with quantity and not quality???
Hampton and Fairefield use powdreded eggs for the hot eggs. (If you want "real" eggs you have to get the cold hardboiled eggs.)
Many (though not all
) FS Marriott lounges cook real scrambled eggs in the restaurant kitchen and bring them into the lounge.
To me, that's far superior that Hampton/Fairfield in quality, even if not in quantity (of variety).
And I've seen a number of FS Marriott lounges that have 3 or 4 or more hot dishes (typically eggs of at least one kind, potatoes of at least one kind, and one or two types of breakfast meat).
I agree, however, that Hilton provides a free breakfast to Gold/Diamond at all brands, and Marriott only provides it at a fraction of its brands to Gold/Platinum. So in that sense Hilton elite status benefits are superior if you want to be able to stay at any brand.
However, your picking on Residence Inn makes no sense to me. Hilton does the same thing with its Home2 Suites. See here:
http://hiltonhonors3.hilton.com/en/s...faq/index.html
Earn by staying at our hotels and resorts
After you complete an eligible stay at a hotel or resort within the Hilton Portfolio, you earn 10 Hilton Honors Base Points for every US dollar spent on your room rate and other eligible room charges, including telephone calls and room service.
Some exceptions apply: At Hampton Inn™ or Homewood Suites by Hilton™ hotels, earn 10 Base Points for every US dollar spent on your room rate only. At Home2 Suites by Hilton™ and Tru by Hilton™ hotels, earn 5 Base Points for every US dollar spent on your room rate. See below for more information on what qualifies as a hotel stay.
The only difference is that there are way more Residence Inn locatons AFAIK than Home2 Suites locations. But my point is that if you're careful, you can end up at a Hilton rand that earns half just as much as you can end up at a Marriott brand that earns half.