Yes, I know. There's not a clear winner here...I will likely have 25-35 stays, maybe 50-65 nights total. Some of the consensus opinions so far:

- Marriott is hardest to qualify for top tier with short stays. I am assuming I would make Gold, not Plat on Marriott.

- Free breakfast is of low value to me, since I am traveling on business almost all the time and wouldn't pay for it anyway...this eliminates one point in favor of Hyatt and Marriott (for me at least).

- Upgrades *are* important, and the consensus seems to be that Hyatt is most generous with the upgrades, followed by SPG then Marriott at the levels I'm talking about.

- Free travel accumulated is also important, as is the ability to use it in places where I'd want to go on vacation. It seems easiest to earn on Marriott and Hyatt, easiest to use on Starwood (no blackout dates or capacity controls, and lots of nice high-end properties at fairly reasonable point levels).

- Ability to get a guaranteed room when sold out is also an issue (I stay often in SF, where conventions cause everything to be booked on a regular basis, maybe one week a month). Marriott loses here because I wouldn't get the benefit as a Gold, but would get it with Starwood and Hyatt.

But probably the most important consideration is the quality of the properties I'd be staying in (hence my original question about Renaissance), and there's definitely no clear winner there. It seems like there's a lot of variation across all of them.

I guess the good news here is that I won't make a "wrong" choice, since they're all so close. It sure would be nice, though, if it were clearer what the "right" choice is.