wbl-mn-flyer

I certainly enjoy Hyatt (Grand Hyatt) when I stay there from time to time. But for me, they don't seem like much of an option. Marriott and Hilton are the options that seem most reasonable to me - I go lots of different places, not just to the central city of the biggest cities in the country. I do a lot of business stays at Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood, Embassy or Hilton/Doubletree Guest Suites, etc... and then burn points for leisure at Hilton (usually) resorts in Hawaii, etc.

I am aware that Starwood is considered the best in terms of getting upgraded to suites. But I don't believe they nor Hyatt would give me the staying opportunities that are near my clients here, there, and everywhere.

Thanks for adding your perspective. I do try to keep my status match or otherwise earned status with both the Starwood and Hyatt programs, and tend to stay at each a few times during the year.

Firewind

I hold with many here and on other threads who believe there isn't much value-added for attaining Diamond over Gold. If one takes the short view, then attaining Gold, and then diversifying, makes some sense.

But if one takes the longer "investment" (my term) view, one advantage of Diamond that I haven't seen mentioned here is the "soft landing" if one doesn't sustain Diamond status. In the past, when I did not stay enough to keep Diamond up, I have been offered a promo to at least get "discounted" (my term) Gold status retention if I would stay a certain number of stays within a certain period (e.g., put it all into the Hilton family for two or three months -- I don't remember the exact offer). This was before the rolling tier, when it may have been easier for HH to track a member, but I don't see why this would be a problem now.

Anyone else receive a "soft landing" offer in similar circumstances -- especially recently?

I never received such offers from Hyatt or Marriott when I fell from grace...

waywired

I am currently Hilton Diamond and with a couple of stays in early 08 I will be good through 4/2010.

Due to the fact that I never get any promos, I have decided to take advantage of the SPG Plat match and move my majority of my business there. Since I generally only travel in the Pacific NW and to Anaheim, I can jump back and forth between the chains and be earning max points based on level.

I have 600K Hilton points right now and even booking a GLON for London in late Jan, I'm going to be earning points at a good clip. SPG offers some great properties and transfer options that I would like to explore.

MIKESILV

Great deal of rationalization here but since I am HH Diamond and SPG Plat and able to maintain both I suppose really dont have to favour one chain over the other as they complement each other.
Anyone here who says there is not much difference between HH Gold and Diamond obviously have not been staying in International Hotels where in just about every stay I have had great upgrades and very good treatment.

If I want to stay in Prague, Lima, Barbados etc there are no SPG properties.
Added to the above much less International properties have Club Floors when compared with Hiltons when you stay shelling out 30euro a pop for breakfast and with a family thats become a lot of money.

I have an up coming SA trip and my bookings are as follows
Punta Del Este - stay at Conrad by Diamond force - no SPG properties in that city.
Montevideo - stay to Sheraton - no HH properties in that city.
Buenos Aires - stay Hilton - great hotel one of Hilton best anywhere.
Santiago de Chile - stay at San Christobal Tower - no Hilton properties in that country.
Lima - stay at Doubletree Lima - no HH properties in that country.
Basically I will be able to enjoy just about the best hotel available on each stay.

Seems though that some here dont much care where they stay that ...just so it involves some sort of "promo" but thats not me.

I put it you that the large number of SPG promos being run are just to off-set the massive catagory increases of earlier this year AND THE ONE COMING IN 2008 ( just read between the lines of a few of William the Starwood Lurkers postings)

mike

OkieFlyer

I have to agree with Mike. I feel the programs compliment each other and there is a big difference when traveling internationally. I'm HH Diamond, SPG Platinum, PC Platinum, and Marriott Gold and I spread my business around to maintain that status. I'm primarly focused on HH and SPG though and if for some reason my travels didn't allow me to maintain top tier in both of those, I would probably still go for top tier in one, and achieve gold in the other one via AMEX charging. I've also found the Diamond force to be extremely helpful in getting a room at the HWV and the Cavalieri in Rome when I wouldn't have been able to get the dates I wanted as a Gold.

illinifan

I agree about the Hilton Prague and some other international Hiltons. The issue is the minimal difference between Gold and Diamond. I mainly stay at the most convenient hotel. Most of my Hiltons are NA or Europe but my Starwood are in Asia. I am just impressed by the Sheraton's treat me. I am struggling to choose between Marriott and Starwood for second choice after Hilton. Marriotts are more available but disappointed by lack of open dates trying to use points but there are more properties. Wish the hotels allowed qualification on $$$ spent instead of stays.

noirpepper

I would love to add my 0.02. I enjoy *wood platinum benefits over HH diamond benefits. My first preference is *wood, but if there are no *wood properties I prefer to stay at the HH properties. I would diversify my stays in at least SPG and HH, if there is opportunity. Otherwise, Diamond has been pretty good for me so far. Good luck in 2008!

Didi

Could you give me some ideas why it might be worth to join StarWoods? I am currently Hilton diamond and think about becoming in addition to that a StarWood gold. However, I cannot realy see the benefits of the latter program. What makes it superior in your opinion?

xooz

I am HH Diamond and SPG gold, and accrue a large portion of my points with credit cards. If I thought I could do it, I would try to get SPG Plat and HH Gold, as HH Gold gets you most of what you want from a premier tier. But based upon my travel, I don't think I could qualify as SPG Plat, since I barely qualify for HH Diamond each year via stays, and that includes several award stays each year which SPG does not honor as qualifying stays. SPG Gold is more or less worthless in my experience, though others seem to have better luck.

So if you are going to stay at other chains to try to get to a middle tier, that doesn't seem necessary. For HH, you can qualify as Gold simply by charging enough $$ on the HH Amex credit card. There are other ways to get to middle tier without actually staying. I have been pleased having Diamond status and do believe it is worth it. It is important to consider that if you move to another chain with no status, you are unable to enjoy status you have at your existing chain while you are spending your 10 stays at a different chain. If you rarely stay at hotels where upgrades or free breakfast are applicable, then maybe benefits are not as important.

Finally, it seems to me that SPG Plat status would be marginally better than HH as the choice of locations to use rewards is greater in the high end/luxury category. But for me for now, I stick with HH as a Diamond and am SPG gold as a second alternative. Your reasons for acquiring status may be different than my own, but top tier status in one program would be what I would shoot for.

Didi

This seems not to be an advantage of the SPG program because you get always rooms as a Hilton Diamond (at least I did).

Could you Hilton folks maybe give me some inputs about Hilton versus StarWood in this discussion http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=771901

xooz

Just quickly.... I was not commenting on availability of an award, I was commenting on the number of and luxuriousness (is that a word?) of the SPG hotels worldwide compared to HH. SPG seems to have many more nice hotels/resorts to pick from compared to HH. If the primary goal of being in a program is to stay at high class resorts for free, it seems SPG has more to chose from.

SanDiego1K

I agree that there is a wider variation of very interesting high end Starwood properties compared to Hilton, particularly in Europe. And that is why for now, I am juggling top tier in both programs.

The flip is that Hilton has strong low end brands, such as Hampton, HGI, and Doubletree, where I can affordably earn my stay credits. We took a one week trip this fall from Milwaukee across the top of Lake Michigan to Traverse City. We got in 4 Hilton stay credits, each stay under $100. Not only does Hilton have such properties, they have a LOT of these properties.

xooz

Exactly... HH makes it easy to pay at low end (dollar-wise) and stay at high end on reward. SPG does not have low end hotels where I go, so another reason I stick with HH.

Traveling Salesman

That is exactly what I discovered. Being able to earn points and status via Hampton and hgi is an advantage for when you go on vacation and desire a high end property.

OkieFlyer

That is a good point, and SPG has far less properties in the USA especially low end properties. Almost all of my stays are GOVT rate stays so it cost me the same to stay at a Hampton Inn as it does a Hilton or Westin.