Originally Posted by
stant
Only worth $50/night at aspirational properties? I've been at properties where the breakfast for two is worth more than $50/night and that's before you consider the value of booking a $200/night room and getting a $3000/night suite.
I know it's fun to price out our award travel and flex about getting $x.xx/point/mile, but that $3000/night suite upgrade is only worth $3000/night if you'd actually pay that much to stay there. Likewise for international F/J redemptions. When I book J on QF North America to Australia via AS/AA, it may be "worth" $6k on paper, but that's only if I was already willing to pay full sticker for QF J. And I'm not. Same for hotels - I'm never spending $3k/night on a hotel room. My ceiling for a very special occasion (like, honeymoon) is $1k/night.
Originally Posted by
Adelphos
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
Good advice. I also think your choice of airline factors into it too. If you have status with and fly American a lot, lean Hyatt due to their partnership and reciprocal earning. If you're a United person, Marriott is better once you reach Titanium for the Silver status. Another advantage with Hilton is the ease at which you can earn the sign-up bonuses. When I just got into this game back in 2018 it took me less than a year to accumulate 1 million Hilton points with fairly modest spend and stays for work. And they don't have a 24-month rule for earning sign-up bonuses like with the Marriott cards. As long as you're under Amex' (relatively lax) limits on new cards you're golden. Need 380k points for your aspirational WA award stay? You can get there just on sign-up bonuses between the business and three personal cards.