clokwise

I realize this is a hard question for some, but I welcome your opinions.

My fiance and I are looking to travel around the states some using as many points we can. I am using portals for flight points, she is using them for hotel points. Aside from credit card churning, which is a whole other ballgame I realize. But I am looking to sign up, brand new, to a hotel loyalty program and earn points mostly through online shopping portals. We are currently doing some work on our home so it will be a good opportunity to earn a few points. I have only found a couple programs that have shopping portals , Choice, Marriott, Hyatt (if there are more pleas let me know!) I don't feel like Hyatt is a good fit so that leaves me with Marriott vs Choice.

We don't necessarily need a super nice 5 star stay. We just want to be safe and comfortable and get the most value from our points. What shall you fine folks say between the two?

Thanks!

sdsearch

Well, for starters, what't the earning rate at the Choice portal versus the Marriott portal? In the same location, most of the time, Marriott hotels tend to require more in Marriott points per night than Choice hotels require in Choice points. Therefore if both portals earn you the same number of points, those points will go further with Choice than with Marriott.

OTOH, Marriott properties tend to be a bit more consistent. (But with both programs, I would recommend checking reviews of individual properties, because some Fairfield Inns aren't up to snuff just like some Quality Inns aren't up to snuff.)

If you travel to small towns (say, right outside National Parks), very often you'll only find Choice (and other budget programs), not Marriott (or any of the major programs). OTOH, in some big cities, Marriott may give you more of a selection.

So you may not want to focus entirely on one or the other, but use some of the above info to figure out a good balance for you.

Big4Flyer

sdsearch has some great thoughts. I'll just add to that by saying that to me Choice points are good for road trip type stays and Marriott points are good for staying in the same place. Choice has some great value redemptions, I think they often give a better value than Marriott, but the quality isn't as consistent as it is for Marriott.

Its also worth mentioning that the current choice website makes it extremely difficult or impossible for many people, me included, to book hotels using points. Hopefully they fix it soon, but for now its something to keep in mind.

I like sdsearch's idea to have a few of both. That way you can tour around, with 1 night stays in Choice hotels around the country, and then stay for 2-3 nights at a Marriott in a city you want to experience.

clokwise

thanks guys. One thing that did push me a little more towards Choice, but not entirely, was the fact they had better shopping options on the portal.

eltex

I think you know this already, but make sure you shop around when buying online. A lot of times, things are cheaper from stores that aren't on the portals. Don't spend extra cash just to score some points. Best of luck!

Josh1992

That really is a matter of opinion as someone already stated Marriott you will find more often In city areas. Whereas Choice Hotels are everywhere though the Choice brand is not held to a high standard as the Marriott is so it depends to on are you wanting to stay in class all the time or mind to pay a little less for a not as nice room but save some money. Note I'm not implying choice hotels all are that way cause that's just not true but even with choice when staying at places like comfort suites in some areas will be more than Marriott and viva versa. Personally I like the Marriott system as far as usability choice is buggy and seems to go down often but that said I do like there point system less points seem to go further with choice. So it's a tough decision.

sdsearch

But don't price shop at the same store you're going to use through portal in the same browser that you'll use for the portal (or else use private/incognito browsing to keep them separate). Some portal shopping gets confused (to the point of not earning anything) if you go to store X without the portal, then turn around go to store X through the portal, because the store remembers your cookies from the non-portal visit and applies them to the portal visit.

synergistic

This - if you're gonna get heavy into portal shopping, definitely consider using a totally different browser (like Firefox if you use Chrome usually) or incognito mode. I've had very good results using incognito mode