Marriott to Hilton: What To Expect
 

Please move this to the correct thread if there is already one.

I am a Marriott Ambassador and IHG Spire Member already for this year. Now that I have reached Marriott Ambassador for the year the Q4 promo for Hilton and IHG will gain me more points then the Q4 Promo for Marriott.

I just sent in my status Match for Diamond and hoping to get that approved soon.

Are there similarities from the Marriott highest level to Diamond?

1. I have silver right now. Will Diamond give me bigger discounted rates?
2. I read through the terms and conditions- What time is late checkout?
3. What hotel brands normally have executive lounges/concierge lounges?
4. Complimentary breakfast-What brands offer this in their actual restaurant?
5. Embassy Suites and Homewood Suites: Gives you free drinks during reception. Any other brands per take in this?
6. Does Diamond really guarantee you upgrades like Platinum Premier Elite/Ambassador gives you with Marriott?
7. Marriott and IHG now give you a gift for reaching their highest levels. Does Hilton do this?

I see a option to pay more money to get 2x the amount of points for a stay. If I am signed up for double your points promotion as well would this be accurate.

Base Rate $200=2,000 bonus points
X2= 4,000 bonus points

Hilton double your points promotion = 8,000 points

I appreciate everyone insight and if anyone has any other things I haven't thought about it!

A whole lot of optimism that will soon come back to reality.

Promos only apply to base points. Not extra points from "screw your employer and keep the points" rates or status bonuses.

"Everyone" is Diamond because you can get it with a credit card. You won't notice the upgrades (executive floor is nearly indistinguishable from regular rooms) unless you travel to Asia.

Late check-out is 2pm at best. If you beg...

I can understand the desire to avoid Marriott until they sort out their issues. IHG elite benefits are a joke. So it's worth trying Hilton if it works for your stay patterns. But it's a large chain that doesn't particularly care about retaining your business, even if they will thow around status challenges to try and grab some of it.

No.

If the hotel is busy, the same time as normal check out.

I believe most Conrads and maybe half of Hiltons have them. A few DTs have them.

HGI. Most hotels outside the US. Some with lounges will say lounge only, but lounge is usually on par with the restaurant.

If no lounge you usually get a drink coupon.

No, Diamond doesn't guarantee upgrades.

Yes, you get some headphones when you reach the highest level.

I don't think any of the US Conrads have lounges (at least the three I have been to have not). Regarding Breakfast, I would think that if you happened to be one of the Marriott elite that spent a ton of time in Courtyards, you would really appreciate HGIs. There are some Doubletrees that give full breakfast to Diamonds in their restaurant and I have come across a much higher percentage of Doubletrees that do that than Hiltons.

This is not meant to be snarky, but I (and I am sure many US based HHonor Diamonds) got a big chuckle from the questions being asked.

Barely see much difference in the US. Travel internationally to get the most from Diamond (many suite upgrades in Asia).

As stated before, double points is only on the base points earned.

A new FT handle :D.

The Conrad opening in DC early next year has a lounge - termed the "Sakura Club" purports to offer "complimentary breakfast, afternoon tea, snacks and evening cocktails while also providing concierge service, private space for small meetings and a range of business services"

Marriott: late check-out of a 4 p.m. is the norm, with some properties claiming they are busy so will offer you slightly less. All promos are for paid stays only.

Hilton: 2 p.m. is the norm, with some properties refusing even that. Late check-out with Hilton is not one of its stronger features. However, most promotions do consider award stays as eligible. If you book a cash and points rate using a combination of both, the cash component counts as base points just as it would for an actual paid stay.

A Diamond guest booking a $100 room at a double points rate during a double points promotion would earn:

1000 base + 1000 2x rate + 1000 double promo + 1000 Diamond bonus for a minimum yield of 4000 points. As with Marriott, there are also amenity points ranging from 100 to 1000 per brand. HGI forces a choice between breakfast or points, while the "lesser" ones with breakfast (such that it is) included give a choice between (not many) points or a "snack" (pre-selected by them usually water or soda plus cookies of chips). No points on incidental spending at Homewood, Hampton or H2S; the last one earns only half points like Residence Inn and Towne Place.

I'm a Marriott Platinum Premier and a Hilton Diamond. I use both programs quite a bit...they each have their strengths and weaknesses.

1 - Discounted rates. Not because of elite status, but then again I wasn't seeing many Gold/Plat discounts at Marriott either. The M12 / E0G / E0P codes of the Marriott of yesteryear haven't been useful to me in quite some time. Hilton has MVP rates that sometimes beat AAA by a little bit - just google them here. Available to the public, status not required.

2 - Late checkout at Hilton is always a used-car haggle with the front desk. I'm Diamond, can I have 2PM? "I have to speak with my manager." DYKWIA? I'm Diamond! "The boss says I can do 1PM." I wish Hilton would formalize this (even if it's just 2PM) the way Marriott/SPG did.

3 - Others have covered the lounge brands: the one thing I'll add is that when Hilton has a lounge, it's *usually* open every day of the week. There is much less weekend closure of lounges than at Marriott. There may be fewer total properties at HH that have a lounge than at Marriott, but when the HH lounge exists I find it to be a little better than what a Marriott lounge would be for that location.

4 - Breakfast at non-lounge hotels. The benefit isn't materially different than Marriott, and *most* hotels either offer a substantial buffet or enough of a credit to order two decent breakfasts from the menu. There's the occasional bad apple that has a lame continental offering, but I haven't run into too many. The only complaint I've had is that there are some Embassies out there that have a vastly area that is vastly too small for the number of guests in the hotel. The only explanation I have for this is that the property was built as something else that didn't offer breakfast for all and converted into an ES. HGI is a sweet spot in the HH lineup - good hotels with pretty good breakfast, a very nice upgrade from Courtyard IMHO.

5 - Some Embassies put real effort into their receptions with hot food, local brews/wine, etc. Others just mail it in with pretzels, Bud Lite, and box wine. Homewoods sometimes have a little more hot food but it's pretty low quality. I like both of these brands but the receptions are not a particularly high-value component. If you run into an ES serving good local beer, consider it a bonus...but don't assume either of these brands are going to serve a culinarily sophisticated offering. :)

6 - Diamond does not guarantee upgrades, but in my experience neither does Marriott Platinum Premier. On the upgrade front, neither are very good in most places. My best Hilton upgrades have been Middle East and Asia. That's also where I've gotten great SPG upgrades, so my guess is that the heritage-Marriott brands are similar. I consider Diamond and Plat Premier pretty equal on this front. In the U.S. and Canada, neither lead to suites for me. They're just insurance against bad rooms.

The other pro-HH thing I'll add is that they've never penalized elites at "resorts". I know Marriott is removing the resort penalty, but until I know for sure they have good offerings, I still prioritze Hilton for resort stays. Award stays at resorts are truly $0.00 - no junk fees.

HH has some partial elite recognition at W=A, a little more than Marriott has at Ritz, although I don't have any 2018 experiences. (I might have read that W=A benefits were improved recently?)

In terms of hotel quality, I've always felt that HH > MR in the low- to mid-range. MR/SPG > HH when you get into luxury/unique properties (mostly thanks to SPG).

Mediocrity that earns decent points that can only be used for mediocrity.
(*some exceptions may apply)

Bright side: you earn 60-70 total pts/$ if you do it right. (Maybe more on a short stay with a fixed-bonus promotion...)
Downside: you gotta spend 'em *fast*, because the program seems to do a full structural devaluation every 15 minutes. :eek:

My first HH redemption ever was 6 nights on the top floor of the Ocean Tower at HWV for 100,000 points.
My most recent redemption, last week, was 95,000 points for 1 night. (Thankfully, a certificate stay...)

5 - Some Embassies put real effort into their receptions with hot food, local brews/wine, etc. Others just mail it in with pretzels, Bud Lite, and box wine.

Extra funny but sadly true!

"Pretzels, Bud Light, and box wine" -- funny and true!

When I started out as a Hilton loyalist many years ago I'd steer my trips toward HS and ES because the evening receptions (read: FREE BOOZE) seemed like such a great thing. It helped that a few of the ES properties I visited periodically had good offerings. But as I gained experience with more properties I found plenty that offered nothing more than stale pretzels, institutional chips with jar salsa, and cheap beer. I decided it didn't matter if it was "free", I had better things to spend my time and calorie allowance on.

Thanks for all the info! I will mainly be doing all of my business in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Savannah.

I have mainly stayed at Hampton Inn and Embassy Suites in the past. I wasn't a big fan of the Hampton inn that I stayed at. I hard a hard time sleeping in the bed. I may be to used to the Marriott Beds.

I loved the embassy suites breakfast. You had the option for cook to order omlets, pancakes, french toast ect. I guess my question is does any of the brands offer free court to order breakfast like embassy suites does?

On reward stays if you have to pay to park will the waive the parking fee? I am assuming not.

This really helped! Do you agree with the promo that Marriott is running and the promo that Hilton I will gain more points via Hilton. I probably have another 60 nights left for the year. I have to stay under $200 when I book with my company so I will make sure that I get the 2x points when I stay with Hilton. So I am thinking about doing 35-45 of those stays with Hilton and do 15-25 with IHG at the 10k bonus points package. I am on pace for 195 nights this year so I am trying to make the most out gaining points for Q4