Originally Posted by
CIT85
Hotel and airline program benefits award higher elite levels, so spreading your stays amongst multiple programs dilutes any potential gains. Hilton Gold is in a sweet spot with free breakfast, which you have. Marriott Gold is relatively worthless, Platinum is where real benefits start. Hyatt has the best benefits for Globalists which may be very difficult for you to achieve with normal qualifications.
The real deciding factor is what kinds of hotels do you expect to stay in 2022. If you have nice full service hotels planned, then having status that gives real benefits is worth going after. 2021 is the best year for Hyatt with reduced requirements, but you still need to reach 20 nights for Club Access milestone award, which are useful at full service hotels with Club Lounges.
If you ever want to experience benefits of higher level elite status and determine your own value, 2021 is the year to do so. But, spreading your nights and flights amongst multiple programs will guarantee no tangible benefits. I suggest evaluating your travel pattern and decide if you should consolidate.
It's unlikely I will consolidate my stays, especially at Hyatt, given Marriott, and to a lesser degree, Hilton, have a footprint in the US that works much better for me (I do a mix of stays from limited service to higher end luxury). My confirmed bookings over the next couple of months include independent (Wynn in Las Vegas), Hilton (Waldorf Beverly Hills), Marriott, and Hyatt.
However all of this debate on splitting stays has almost no bearing on my original question - is going for Explorist with a modest 4 night requirement through the rest of the year worth the effort, assuming I will get Explorist benefits at the Hyatt properties I do stay at through Feburary 2023. What everyone seems to be saying is no
EDIT - Also, my view is that if you choose a suboptimal hotel or plane routing because of elite status/card benefits/other inducements, you are diluting the value of having status as well, so I try to attain the highest level status possible in the most programs to maximize choice. But it sounds like moving up from Discoverist to Explorist isn't that meaningful