Qualitative issues aside, for the moment, with nearly all Hampton Inns that I'd want to stay at requiring 30,000 HHonors points - the realistic base for an HHonors free night - although I seldom fly AA, I'll take the flights.

I couldn't agree more. Although I must say I havent even looked at a Hyatt since ACA.

wow....this is great....may have to look at a few hyatt properties now....

I had never stayed at a Hyatt Place before, and since that's what these promotions are designed to do, it succeeded in getting me to try the product.

I would rate it a notch below a Hilton Garden Inn in some ways, better in others. The bathroom was too small, but the room had a divider and a nice sofa and a good desk, wetbar and fridge.

HGIs often tries to have a nice restaurant. Sometimes it falls woefully short. Most HGI bars have as their main goal to be completely closed by 10 p.m. It really makes me question management when I see a bartender chase away 15 or so eager customers so he can be sure to have the last drink poured and the cabinets locked at 10 p.m.

HP is set up so that the front desk staff also serves as bartenders and if need be food preparers. The menu is quite simple, mainly sandwiches, nachos, quesidillas and so forth, along with some nice deserts, ordered from a touch-screen kiosk. Most important, the bar and food service is open until midnight. For breakfast HP offered a free continental breakfast, although one could put in an order for a cooked breakfast.

Given a choice between the two, I'd be inclined to pick HP based almost totally on the bar service. While the HP service is far less "formal," it actually works better, and its there until midnight. Since I rarely check in until late, that's important to me. I wish HGI would take notice.

Following the devaluation, I am cashing out all my points at top-of-the-line properties (think Venice, Dubrovnik, Prague, Moorea). Then I am done with Hilton--adios!

Has it been confirmed that you can add all 3 promos together?

Kind of OT, but is there a way to see multiple days prices on Hyatt's site (similar to Hilton)? I can't seem to find it.

The fact that Hilton has properties in Venice, Dubrovnik and Prague, while also having Hamptons in virtually every Podunk town in America is part of what makes the program valuable to me. I just drove almost 500 miles and would have loved to have spent the night at a Hyatt because of the promotion. I simply couldn't because there wasn't one available anywhere. I probably passed by 15 or 20 Hampton Inns.

I'm not saying that Hilton doesn't have some problems which need to be addressed, but I think the hostility towards the program os a bit overblown.

OP this is a great post/thread.
Even assuming one wants only AA miles, I looked at properties around me and they cost 59$ + tax = 70$
with the Costco coupons, I get them for 60$ total x 5 = 300$. For 25k AA miles, this is not bad! Thanks

Lifetime AA Platinum status for $24,000 :)

Also the one great feature that all Hyatt Place properties has is a 42" HD TV. I would rate the best common feature at HGI as the Great American breakfast. It's not spectacular, but it's reasonably consistent and it beats HP's free breakfast (continental only, even for Diamonds).

The strangest feature at HP (either good or bad depending on personal opinion I guess), is how completely, uniformly alike the rooms are all the properties, no matter where they are. Starwood's Aloft by W is kind of like that too.

Be careful y'all... it's easy to get hooked on Hyatt! :D

Rebelyell
I think you address it well. I travel to the Houston are often and usually prefer Hobby as my airport. I can stay at more HH properties close to Hobby than Hyatt has in all of Houston. The fourth largesrt US city has a total of 4 Hyatt's!
Hyatt has to have a better program because they are second (or third) tier players. I think the Omni Hotel program is great, but only for those who can fit them into their schedules.
So this Hyatt program looks interesting, but IMHO the "little guys" have to try harder.

Too late! I am hooked when they start the promo.

If bar service is the most important criteria for you, then I understand your choice.

While I have stayed at quite a few HP's simply because they are affiliated with Hyatt Gold Passport, I really dislike them for many reasons:

1) Terrible breakfast (even if you buy the stuff they sell);
2) Bad bathrooms (even in new build properties);
3) Inability to watch tv from desk in most HP rooms (Some new build properties have a handful of rooms you can turn and see the TV from the desk. The HP concept photos I saw when they were first announced showed a small (13" or so) LCD tv on the desk to address this, so they obviously recognized it was an issue, but this part of the concept did not become reality in any of the HP's I've ever been in.);
4) General incompetence of HP staff in crediting miles and/or Diamond amenities to Gold Passport account properly;
5) Crappy HVAC systems in many of the properties I've stayed at (HGI's have wall mounted thermostats, HP's have them on the unit and they don't seem to work worth a crap in many of the HP's I've been in);
6) Nice 42" HD TV that more often than not has a terrible picture;
7) Lotion is not provided as a bathroom amenity (even Hampton Inn provides this on the Hilton side); and
8) To get down to brass tacks, the small closet door most properties have is inconvenient.

HP is a good concept but poorly implemented in my opinion. While HP is aimed at the same market as HGI, they are miles apart in my opinion.

^

And, unlike Intercontinental, you can earn for the higher properties (W-A, properties in expensive cities with a bad USD exchange rate like London) through stays in Podunk.

I like SPG, but they have maybe a dozen properties in my entire state. Hilton has over 100. That's a pretty impressive differential.

Also, I get a lot of points through CC spend - as a Gold Hilton member with MyWay set to Points & Points, and a Surpass cardholder, I earn a mindboggling 26:1 on spend at Hilton properties (and this is before promos, like the 500 points for booking online, 2500 for 1st 8 stays with Surpass, Q2 promo stay-4-get-one-free, etc.) With SPG, the point spread I earn from spend is going to top out at 2:1 - period, amen. There are no point multipliers on gas/grocery and no online spending mall, both of which Hilton has.

Can't believe how many people look only at the redemption chart without exploring the disparity in point-earn availability. I understand people feel the need to always compare their programs to see if there's something better out there, but I confess I often don't bother to read the constant Hilton-bashing posts or threads with groaning about the devaluation.