but platinum doesn't really mean much at pc....hilton diamond is one of the best levels to have across all programs....

That is not my experience. I do make a point of contacting the front desk in advance to ask for an upgrade, and it's paid off. You can get great rooms or even suites, plus appetizers or breakfast quite often. Great value at Crowne Plaza.

At the higher end, if Hyatts or SPG hotels are around, they usually beat the Hilton properties.

Of course they can't be compared as the earn/burn rates are different.

What you need to do is compare like with like. Let's try $ value:

• A Diamond� HHonors member with a $200 stay at a Hilton family hotel can earn:
  • at least 3000 HHonors points - worth $15 @�� per point or
  • at least 2500 HHonors points and 500* airline miles - worth $12.50 @�� per point + miles value.

• A Platinum or Gold SPG member with a $200 stay at an SPG property can earn at least 600 Starpoints - worth $12 at 2� per point.

� A HHonors Gold would earn either 2750 HHonors or 2250 HHonors and 500 miles*- value $13.75/$11.25.

*Miles vary with programme.

Another indirect benefit of the HHonors devaluation has been the ICH PC promotions. The "slice-it" one earned me 21K PC points which I burned on a points break and a HIX stay at cities with no HH properties

Subsequently I received a 149,600 "Crack the Case" offer, which effectively earns 15K+ PC points per stay...

choice, best western, accor, and shame on me I forget the 2-3 others that were just mentioned a couple weeks ago at the Chicago Seminar Do
I was shocked that 'my' chains were so low on total number of properties scale.

I am really new to PC, but as far as I can tell, Platinum isn't worth much. I will achieve it with two nights and a bunch of promos (biggest loser, crack the case, challenge, ...). But I'd rather have HHonors Gold (which I won't renew this year unless I upgrade my Amex).

That said, I'd be happy to be positively surprised when I go burn my newly acquired stash of PC points in the future.

Even ignoring the relative value, I find it interesting to learn about and dive into the intricacies of a new program. This year it was Hyatt for me. Maybe next year it's PC (certainly need eight more stays to complete my Crack-The-Case).

Wyndham... 6900 according to Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyndham_Worldwide

calling in advance & getting results is not the same as getting benefits due to elite status....i have called ahead & got some great results when i was hilton silver & spg gold....that doesn't mean that those 2 levels are great....my calling did the trick....

there are over a dozen people in my firm that are ihg plat....they all tell me that they get no suite upgrades or any other real benefits....

Interesting mentality. I was originally only loyal to one, Hilton where I first earned elite some 6 years ago. Since then, I've learned to maintain Diamond with Hilton and for the past 3 years built up status at PC. Now these days I've become a PC Plat RA and I've shifted more and more business away from Hilton to PC.

Well, sadly one of the reasons for shifting my business is my current location, Hilton has really no coverage here. Further, even if they did their rates are ridiculously high compared to what I can get at PC properties, including IC.

I know there is many debates about this in the IHG forum, but I just wanted to state here that I disagree. I've had equal if not better treatment as a PC Plat compared to HH Diamond. However, HH guaranteeing lounge access, free internet, and the Dia force do make it more valuable than PC Plat for sure, but regards to "real upgrades" I've done just as well at PC.

We have come to the conclusion we really don't care about status. Not having status means you are never disappointed when you check in and get the room you paid for. We don't care if we don't get free breakfast as we have no interest in eating at the hotel. We don't care if we don't have internet for free as who needs to check the net when you are on vacation.

However, even taking the tact that we stay at the hotel we want to, we have Hyatt Platinum, Hilton Gold and we will get Gold at Priority Club after 1 stay this year.

The other method to our madness is we look at where we can redeem. We have specific locations as our goal so we know what hotels we want to stay at in the next 2 years so we are ensuring we have sufficient points in the appropriate chains. Hilton has far better coverage in Europe than Hyatt does. Also why pay more for a specific chain when you can bank the difference and pay for the room that you want?

i guess i'll know soon....my 30k points from the pc credit card enrollment will hit anytime now & that will push me to plat....

I'm looking at the possibilities for the summertime break, and one place we're considering is Malta. I can't believe that they are currently showing rates "from 96,484 points" as the rate for our dates. Didn't we used to have a top rate for the top places at 50,000? Or am I missing something?
Looking around other places, it seems to be the same story. Is the "point in my pocket" now really worth less than half what it was just a couple of months ago?

All the more surprising since the daily cash rate at the Hilton Malta shows as 183 Euros in July (same time as the ~100,000 point/night rate).

100,000 points for a $260/nt is NOT a good value.

It appears they show only "Deluxe Plus", or Executive level/Suites available (no 'standard" rooms), and have a 96-113K point requirement for these rooms. Bad news for all I fear. As a Diamond, this would effectively eliminate the Diamond force as a benefit for getting awards at a high occupancy location. If they just make awards available to all room categories at outrageous rates, the 50K award stay will start to disappear. This is equivalent to the elusive 25K airline award seat. If this starts to grow, re-assessing programs is the next step for me.

This is too confusing... I just pulled a random date (Sept. 19 - Sept. 20, 2011), it shows the "Deluxe Plus" room with 45627 points (or 178 Euro). Sounds this hotel is Category 6.5.

I don't know how they determine the "value" and it is really bad if this is up to the hotel to adjust.

Any idea what's the "formula" here?