zombietooth

Booking.com is not a "chain", it is nothing but a search engine with inventory access roughly equivalent to Kayak. In addition, I very rarely find the best price on a particular property on their website-in fact, I can only remember one instance where I found the best price on their site.

hailstorm

The point is that even the largest hotel chains are but a drop in the ocean of worldwide hotel inventory.

You may not find a lower priced Hilton room in Waikiki via Booking.com than via Hilton.com, but you will find a cheaper hotel room.

zombietooth

One of the major reasons that a frequent traveler has for being loyal to a particular brand is the expectation of consistency of quality and experience.
So, booking.com, et al, do not compete in the same space since they offer neither.

Traveler reviews are gamed on these sites and cannot be trusted, even on sites such as Tripadvisor. I trust reviews here on FT at a much higher level than any OTA or search engine. So, unless a traveler knows the property, they are really gambling searching for the lowest price on one of these sites.

If you found a property in Waikiki with 5-star reviews for $40- per night, would you book it?

dannybhoy

For an expensive place like Waikiki where the beachfront has so many chain hotels, means SFA if I can't find a room at a hotel from a programme that I'm member of.

Point being, I think we on FT are generally interested only in hotel chains that we are members of or want to be members in.

OsakaWino

Exactly. Strange that so many are reluctant to realize this.

The "world's largest hotel chains" are only the largest in the world because they are the largest in just one country, the US.

They are certainly small players in many key markets, take for example Rome and Kyoto, 2 of the world's top leisure destinations.

For that reason alone I find it quite liberating to be losing Glob status from Mar 2018. Now I'll be able to go places that I would not have been able to go before due to the need to maintain status and maximize "benefits".

Being a slave to the "loyalty" (a misnomer if there every was one) programs has definite drawbacks.

sfozrhfco

This misses the point completely. Yes with Hyatt, that may be true due to their limited footprint. If somebody is looking to go on the trip of a lifetime to a Park Hyatt in Rome, a Grand Hyatt in Madrid, or at a Hyatt in Nairobi, they are in for a rude awakening. Starriott on the other hand, has the world covered very well and thus rewards loyalty on a far broader scope.

Being a slave to the WRONG loyalty program is not smart. I would not join Alaska Airlines MileagePlan if I were primarily flying within Africa. That would be dumb. The same applies here. If the right loyalty program that matches one's travel patterns is chosen, the rewards can be great indeed. I have had many experiences I never would have had without loyalty programs. It is also nice to know you will have consistently good experiences all around the world or to know how to work out any problems that may arise. Yes you could stay in random places every night but that can be a crapshoot. You may find nobody speaks the same language you do or the place is a flea bag motel.

I have changed my loyalty to airline programs many times due to mergers, bankruptcies, changes in partnerships, devaluations of the programs, or changes in travel patterns. The same can be said for hotel programs. If a hotel in a particular chain does not meet my needs, I can search for something else. It is a lot easier though, to go to one (or 2 sites in the case of Starriott) and know that wherever I go, I will be treated well and get benefits which provide me with great value for the money I am spending.

That said, if a program is devalued and no longer meets one's needs, move onto something else that does. Diamond status with Hyatt provided a lot of benefits and was relatively easy to achieve. The new program is a devaluation for most people. That is the time to re-evaluate and either stick it out or choose something better but I can assure you that using a booking aggregator like kayak or booking.com is nowhere close to providing the consistency and benefits you would get as a top tier member of most any chain.

Pat89339

Yes. It was one of the questions I asked Jeff Zidell after the announcement. His answer was: "Unfortunately, the Resort Fee benefit does not extend to MGM MLife."

edgewood49

Had to get up and on the road too damn early this morning but was pleased to see a series of really solid posts starting with "zombietooth". And I give thumbs up to all.
"sfozrhfco" is also spot on regarding all the various programs. If it doesn't fit you move on. I thought about it but at the end of the day the end result for the next few years Hyatt fits me, especially international. But I am fortunate to already have Life Time on Marriott.

As far as MLife goes I am in Vegas next week and will more than likely have to endure the resort fees, but people those are a fact of life in LV.

With respect to Italy other than Milan there is nothing and I wish there was as Osaka wrote. But once again hard to have it your way all the time .

shakim

Very well put! Most of my work travel is within the US, by most, i mean 98% of it. I'm only able to take 1 or 2 overseas leisure trips in a year, so if there isn't a Hyatt there, that's fine... The other leisure trips are within NA so Hyatt comes in handy as they do have great benefits. HH Gold (even Diamond) is very easy to have. And who here doesn't have HH gold/*wood Gold/Marriott gold?

I'll be able to reach the 60 nights with Hyatt his year, may have to do a few nights mattress running, but that's OK.

iflyjetz

LOL! Booking.com?

Um, OK. That's like saying that flying Allegiant is the same as flying a major carrier. To some, that may be how they perceive travel and hotels. In that case, there's no need for hotel loyalty programs.

Booking.com? LOL!

edgewood49

^

LINDEGR

Just to be clear, I was mocking the idea from Hyatt management that those two are small players. Hyatt is the proverbial drop in the ocean! For its management to belittle Marriott/SPG and Hilton is beyond rich irony.....

notquiteaff

The physics of flying Allegiant and United/Delta/American are the same. Just like the various hotels on Booking.com all have walls and a roof (hopefully not leaking). There are plenty of nice, solid, high quality non (major) chain hotels out there. But just because booking.com can offer me a cheaper place than the Hilton I am staying at right now here in Waikiki doesn't mean it isn't a dump.

OsakaWino

Anyone who is convinced that any of these chains, or even all of them together, "cover most of the world" has already limited their own world to that small part covered by the chains.

beachmouse

Allegiant just decided to make VPS its summer focus city, so it suddenly becomes a lot more relevant in my neck of the swamp- 11 cities for non-stop service including some actually useful destinations like Austin, Newark, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. I know a lot of people who are willing to put up with the Allegiant experience not over pricing but because it won't involve another damn connection in Atlanta, Charlotte, or Texas.

Footprint does matter, and often matters a lot a lot once you get into tertiary markets. (I'm currently leaning on Tripadvisor and booking.com to find something decent in rural northern Wales where the chains don't really do) And with Hyatt, footprint is spotty even in secondary markets.