I'm top level in both programs.

* Harder to get to top elite in Marriott
* Points go farther with Marriott, especially multiple-night awards
* Hilton's promos seem (to me) to provide much more bang for my buck
* Marriott appears to have a more consistent product across the board.

Love the Marriott properties in UK (I spend my awards in Europe); Hilton's generally suck there.

Hilton properties in Rome + Paris are very nice!

The Hilton Diamond Desk can make things happen -- essentially no blackouts as a Diamond. With Marriott, you're down in the pack with everybody else. However, I have heard reports that the folks at SLC can be very accomodating.

I base my hotel choices on cost -- I pay for every one of my stays (~150 nights/year), so I wind up negotiating a rate -- Fairfield Inns have been very accomodating and the properties are basic (and sometimes more so) but provide all that I need. Hilton/Hamptons are very good, but in the long term they'd bust my budget. I got to Diamond "accidentally" and have just stayed there because of the dynamite awards.

If there's an upgrade available, I usually get it with Hilton; certainly on award stays, so far. I have no experience with Marriott awards, but others have indicated that Marriott is pretty good with the upgrades for Plats, too.

Marriott Visa is useful for very little besides paying for Marriott stays -- sometimes you need a Visa card to qualify for a promotion.

Other than that I use the Hilton AMEX almost exclusively. 3 HH points/$ on everyday stuff, 5 pts/$ on groceries, gas, drugs, cell phones and, of course, Hiltons. Put 20K on the card/year and you get Hilton Gold. The card alone has been good for about 80K-100K in 2005