Originally Posted by
KRSW
Platinum is still the sweet spot, which is all I bother to shoot for. 4pm late checkout is worth the most to me, breakfast (elusive as it is these days) is appreciated.
As far as dollar amount:
Bonus points: TPG $360, and I'll concur, about $360.
4pm Late Checkout: TPG: $120, I'll say $150 given some Hilton properties will offer this for ~$40-$80, and it is a benefit I do use quite often.
Dedicated Phone Support: TPG: $20, I'll give it $0. I'm still on hold for 20+ minutes to change a reservation because Marriott's IT department is so incompetent.
Enhanced Internet: TPG: $60. Me: $0. Most hotels I stay at these days no longer have the captive portal/sign-in screens and everyone gets the same thing.
Upgrades: TPG: $1,200. Me: $400. Just looking over how rarely I get a true upgrade and the delta between what I paid and what the upgrade would have been.
Lounge Access: TPG: $150. Me: $30. I'm not paying for lounge access. My $30 is whatever I'd probably spend at a nearby bodega over the course of a year.
Welcome Gift (breakfast): TPG: $360. Me: $120. Similar to the above, even if a client is paying for the trip, I'm not going to pay for an overpriced hotel breakfast. And most of my stays are at the lower-end of the spectrum where a passable breakfast is included in the room rate.
SNAs: TPG: $200. Me: $30. I like the idea, but they often expire before I can use them, with many of the hotels I'm staying at not having any true upgrades. One of the Westins I stay at doesn't even have a suite in the entire hotel.
So: TPG: $2,475. Me: $1,090.
I love the breakdown, my calculus would be based on what I would pay in cash to have these perks
- Upgrades - at least $500. I am almost always upgraded to a suite. And I'm the person that will ask for exactly which suite I want. Last summer, I stayed week stay at the Westin Mission Hills at a stupidly discounted rate of $119. I then talked my way into the Chairman's Suite, the best suite on the resort for about $1,110/nt. That upgrade alone would have been worth $500, maybe even $1,000
- Lounge Access - Most of my properties don't have lounges, but having access to coffee/tea and snacks is worth about $5-10 per stay.
- Breakfast - This is my favorite perk next to upgrades. I'm a breakfast guy and I almost always spend $25 on breakfast when traveling. Pre-pandemic this perk was worth no less than $500 to me. It would be higher, but my travel varies widely and I don't know if I'll be staying at a Four Points Hotel (breakfast = $10) or a higher end Westin (breakfast = $30)
- SNA: $500. I usually use all of them.