martinplas

UA-NYC

I'm sure Marriott loyals will stick w/Marriott - they made out like bandits in the acquisition benefit-wise! So that's most of them at least.

CIT85

As Bonvoy LTT (former SPG LTP), I also have the luxury of choosing the program that I find gives me the best value, which is Hyatt. I jumped on Hyatt status match when Marriott acquired SPG, and to me surprise, I have been able to requalify for Diamond/Globalist each year since. The new WoH Visa makes it even easier, I already earned 9 elite qualifying nights through the Visa this year.

No program is perfect in every way. The name of the game is to maximize your return on investment. We can complain all we want about how each program had deteriorated over the years, but it won't matter. Hilton used to have great redemption values many years ago, 170K points for 5 nights at any top Hilton and Diamond force even for award stays, and is now terrible with dynamic pricing. We just have to move on and make the best of the current situation. Bonvoy still have a great redemption value for new Cat 8 hotels before Mar. 5 which I'm taking advantage of, for Gritti Palace in Venice and St. Regis Florence.

uppereastsider

This is hard to quantify and YMMV, but I feel being a globalist (based on experience) means you should expect (and receive) proper treatment at almost all Hyatts. Expect to be proactively offered 4pm late check out, expect to be told they upgraded you to a suite or an explanation why no suite upgrades are available. Expect your concierge to help you out with complex transactions and make getting a TSU as easy as sending an email. Expect for them to be extra generous with breakfast and explain your benefit, vs being told about up charge or being given a 10 dollar credit for the "to go" market. Expect all your resort and parking fees to be removed w/o issue. It's just easy.

I'm trying to not do any MR/SPG stays, but I do have a few planned and already had a few. As a titanum elite, I've received my base room on each stay (0 upgrade), had to ask for a late check out and had to ask for the breakfast benefit on my last 3 stays (without it being offered as a choice at check in). Sure, I'm entitled to these benefits, but I feel like I have to ask MR/SPG for them, while Hyatt is trained to inform and give you all your benefits - without any issue or attitude.

I think @boolean64 really hit the nail on the head... but what Hyatt Globalist feels like to me is when SPG Platinum was the best... free breakfast w/o any restriction (with plenty of examples of places being extremely generous, ie uncapped # of people/cost, while SPG/MR today add upcharges and "continental breakfast definitions"), generally no issue getting a suite when it's available (I generally expect to be upgraded vs not these days, but realize that's very YMMV based on travel and stay patterns) and I still feel that the points earned on stays can be used for aspirational properties relatively easy (earning 25k to 30k points on Hyatt just feels easier than earning 80-90k at MR)

There are plenty of redemption sweet spots that make road warrioring for work favorable, such as the all inclusive Ziva's at 25k, Andaz Amsterdam at 25k, PH Tokyo, Vendome, Zurich at 30k, etc.

Factor in the best (IMHO) renewal bonus for 60/55 nights in a hotel chain: free night anywhere (have gotten tremendous value from it) and 4 guaranteed suite upgrades (have received 1k/night rooms using all my TSUs) plus a concierge (hit or miss, but I've found my concierge to be one of the best), and you feel as if Hyatt truly values your loyalty each year.

Hyatt has also made plenty of positive changes... award nights counting towards status, suite upgrades on award bookings, WOH Visa card with 5 nights + ability to earn via spend (helped me get to 80/nights and earn the incentives at that level... when i was 2 nights away, 5k in WOH spend lead to either 15k points or 5k + TSU, which is a great deal... 3x on normal spend if you take the points), SLH partnership, M life partnership... with the only negative being the C&P devaluation (meh).

And finally, if your work travel brings you to lots of small cities, often your SPG/MR choices are Four Points, Aloft and Courtyards vs Hyatt House or Hyatt Places. Personally, I'd take a HH/HP over almost any Aloft or Four Points. Sure, there are duds (such as the legacy Amerisuites properties), but there are way more great HHs than there are great Alofts/Four Points and all HH/HPs are conducive for work (table set up), extra place to sit and generally a guarantee of a bar or some type of late night food service. Plus, there are tons of HH/HP focused promos (last year was 1k/stay AA miles - earned 10k!) and now there's a 1500/night bonus for HH/HP (will earn ~40k points on the promo alone... which is nearly enough for 2 nights in a Cat 6 or a free night in a Cat 7)

UA-NYC

I would be happy if Marriott switched out every CY w/an Aloft...at least you would know exactly what you are getting consistency-wise, and it would be new. But I always seemed to have found the crappy CYs. Elements are great but are few and far between.

If more HHs were like the one in Evanston I went to a week ago (felt new build, very on trend) I would be happy...the crappy one in Addison TX a couple weeks ago I'm guessing was an Ameriprise.

uppereastsider

One other thing to add - if you have a SO who you want to "show the rewards of top status" while on vacation, you'll have the ability to confirm a suite, while with SPG it was/is a waiting game, 5 days out. In the glory days of SPG, sure, you were generally guaranteed some great recognition and an upgrade on vacation, but it sucked when you didn't. But with Hyatt, you can guarantee it, which, again YMMV on everyone's status, can be a significant win and something to consider.

Now again, standard disclaimer on TSU availability and all that. But if you can plan in advance, it's easy to identify which stays a TSU can be used on and even easier to apply them. Hyatt adding TSU ability for award bookings was a big win.

gengar

I just realized I might hit LTG without getting the 5 brands.

uppereastsider

Wow! What are your 4 (or less?) primary brands. I'm 1/5th of the way there to Lifetime Globalist and I've hit 10 brands with Hyatt

mikeef

I've been SPG/Marriott since 2002 and am switching over to Hyatt this year. I can get Globalist status at Hyatt for 60 nights (55, with the credit card). The same at Marriott would get me the now mid-tier Platinum status. Globalist is also clearly superior to anything that Marriott offers. The credit card spend elite nights are also better than Marriott offers. Looking forward to the suite upgrades and free club access.

I love the easy upgrades with points, although it's a little frustrating that our corporate rate isn't considered a standard one, so I can't use them.

Overall, looking forward to it.

Mike

gengar

Park, Grand, Regency, and Andaz. I've stayed in plenty of HH/HPs, but apparently just not since WoH rolled out (when I first made Diamond in 2010, nearly all my stays were HP). I only came back to Hyatt in mid-2017 when I realized I could make top tier just off my mLife stays by playing some games with comps, then made WoH my main program in 2018 when I realized I could achieve lifetime pretty quickly. I did ~400k base points last year and should hit lifetime later this year or early next.

I have to imagine I've stayed at a Hyatt (plain brand) at some point but don't remember ever doing so, although that could just be because I don't distinguish the Hyatt/Regency/Grand brands in my mind.

uppereastsider

Sounds like you need to add a Ziva or Zilara to that list. There's something really nice about being able to redeem points for an all-inclusive hotel, especially Cancun or the new one in the DR. That's a benefit I didn't have with SPG that I greatly appreciate with Hyatt.

CIT85

I wonder how many former SPG LTP and now Marriott Bonvoy LT Titanium members are focusing on Hyatt as their main program with MB for when Hyatt is not available.

myperks

CIT85

There are die hard TI with Ambassador who will need to requal for Amb first so that takes 100 nights, 85 with cc.

myperks