Note to self: Travel with AzTravels the World

I have mentioned this in other posts, but I have received one upgrade this last year and two the previous year. Last year (2004) I stayed 100+ nights at *wood - this year - 50 although I travelled more this year. When weighing your decision I would ask the following:

What cities do you most visit e.g., the great thing about *wood is that you can usually find a property in just about every city in the world and usually you have a choice of more than one property. Hyatt, although I love the Grand Hyatt, are difficult to find.

Where do you spend your vacation? I find that with all of my Marriott, Hyatt, Priority Gold, and Hilton points I have yet to be able to use them. With *wood - they have a room, you have points, and voila. You may have to pay premiums at time, but you do get a room. Last February I called the day that I had decided to go to L'anai and I was able to get a room for 3 days on points.

Service - what do you look for service wise? I find Hyatt beats *wood service wise consistently. I am pretty low maintenance at a hotel but it irritates me when a pleasant greeting can't be found, I'm "nickel and dimed to death" and the hassle factor is high. I find that Hyatt seems to go out of their way on the service front. *wood is inconsistent e.g., the staff at the Westin Michigan Avenue and W in San Francisco are stellar on a consistent basis. The staff at the Port Douglas Australia and at the Aladdin in Las Vegas are, shall we say, in need of some coaching . I personally have not found the Platinum Concierge line all that great - there was one exception in the last two years and then he left the company. It is better than Marriott's line for elites however.

All in all I think that only you can make your own decision but what it comes down to is what is important to you? There are things I love about *wood - the beds really are great for the most part, their innovation - they seem to be "first" in so many ways in the hotel industry, the ease of finding a *wood in the cities I travel to, the ability to actually use my points.

Then there are things such as their "you must be loyal to our website" policy, the no diet coke in the lounge in the morning policy, the lack of upgrades, the "hassle" factor at many properties, lack of promotions, lack of appreciation to their loyal members, and few upgrades, that has now made me "spread the wealth" with my travel.

I hope this helps. I think this is a personal decision and no matter what any of us say it will come down to you deciding what will work for you. I hope you'll report back on your decision.