Originally Posted by
ajf87
If you're a points/miles virgin and have the ability to choose your lodging then I highly recommend Hilton. You can instantly attain Diamond with the Aspire card and get 34x (minimum, Hilton runs 2-3x points promotions way more often than Marriott) on all of your Hilton spend, plus 7x on restaurants, airfare, and rental cars. The $450 annual fee seems steep but with the free night certificate, airline fee credit, and resort property credit, it's very easy to come out ahead. And they actually have standard award availability, including over some major holidays (I'm using free nights and points over Memorial Day weekend at LXR in Vegas, cash rates are over $600/night after taxes and fees). And free nights are actually free, they waive resort fees on award stays. You also get milestone bonuses every 10 nights starting at 40 (30?) and these continue past the 60 nights it takes to earn Diamond the hard way. Contrast that with Marriott which offers essentially no incentive for more stays once you've hit Titanium. And if you have the Aspire, it doesn't matter how many nights you hit, your Diamond status is good no matter what.
EDIT: And then there are the free nights from credit card spend. Hilton has 2 $100 AF cards that offer uncapped free night certificates after just $15k in spend, plus a second one after $60k. Marriott as far as I know has just one card (the Amex biz) that offers a free night for spend. You get a paltry 35k free night at $60k spend.
The "one neat trick" about your Hilton advice is that it requires absolutely no "loyalty" (in terms of nights stayed) to reap any of the benefits you describe. I don't disagree with your general point - it's just that whether you stay at Hilton once a year, or 100 times a year, the loyalty recognition is the same with that program for Aspire holders.
IMO the way to go is to
1) Hold a Hilton Aspire
2) If the footprint works for you, try to get Hyatt globalist
3) If Marriott footprint works for you (more likely), get whatever status you would get natrually
4) Lean into boutique and independent hotels, programs like Virtuoso and Amex FHR, etc