Which hotel program (if any) to move to?
 

Hi all,
I have been a Hilton Diamond member for 11 years, typically staying around 100+ nights a year. To cut to the chase, I am rather hacked off with the uber-devaluation:td: of Hilton points which I use solely for vacations in Southern Europe (properties that are warm, sunny and have an external pool to relax around).


I am strongly considering jumping ship to another chain that enables me to earn enough points to redeem circa 15-20 nights a year in a “top quality hotel” similar to Conrad Maldives, Rome C, and Hilton Malta etc.

I have limited the choice of “alternative” brands to either Holiday Inn or Marriot due to Hotel locations for work and locations/brands available for play (including Ritz Carlton/Inter-continental etc)


To date, I have had no issue with Hilton as they have some outstanding 5* “vacation” properties that over the years I have thoroughly enjoyed. However, this devaluation has put a significant obstacle in the ability to earn enough points to cover the 15-20 nights a year points vacation “goal”.
I travel on vacation with my wife and child, and would really appreciate some feedback on the best choice of program that suits my criteria (even if this is sticking it out with Hilton).

SPG and IHG offer very good redemptions.

Hilton is the worst of the 4 majors IMHO:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...lton-rant.html

I can't speak for Marriott, but IHG points are super easy to accumulate (at least at first) with the numerous offer codes out there and generous promotions like Crack the Case and the Big Win - adding up to cheap redemptions too, especially if your hotels crop up on their last minute 'Point Breaks', at a mere 5000 per night.

However, IHG elite status is not fabulous by a long stretch. No guaranteed lounge access for Platinum and no breakfast either, and the status is, on paper at least, useless in InterContinental hotels, for which there is a separate bolt on program (Ambassador).

When the time comes, status match to IHG using your Hilton elite status and give them a whirl.

In what country are you based? The options vary greatly, but you've neither mentioned where you're based nor put that in your profile.

If based in the USA, it's easy to early hundreds of thousands of extra Hilton HHonors points a year (which should help compensate for any devaluation) with credit card signups, but that solution isn't available for those not based in the USA.

Another note on IHG- base earning on InterContinentals outside of North/Latin America is 2K per STAY rather than a per night calculation, so if your paid stays are going to be, say, average of four days at European ICs, get some further feedback from the folks in the IHG forum to see if you'd rack up enough bonus points to get around a big sticking point in the higher end of IHG's family.

IMHO both are very good and the two I use the most. I would say Marriot has slightly better properties over all. The only other one I use is Club Carlson because of the 2 nights free nights for each 2 night stay with points if you have their CC. So stay 2 nights on points and get 4 nights total. They have some very nice properties in Asia not sure about Europe, US is only ok. Starwoods is always nice but pricey compared to others. Good luck I think you'll be happy with either of your choices.

Can you explain this please? I know (or at least I think I know) that if you stay at a Club Carlson hotel on points your last night is free (meaning stay 2 nights, you only pay for 1 night in points).

But you are staying if you 4 nights you get 2 nights free? I always assumed it was pay for 3 nights and get the 4th free on points.

Go read Loyalty Lobby's excellent series that compared major hotel chains back in May. Even after the devaluation, Hilton wasn't terrible. SPG was last, by a country mile, thanks to difficulty in earning miles and obscene redemptions for top tier. Hyatt, when combined with 5x UR was king for top tier (but Hyatt's recent devaluation closes the gap somewhat). Carlson was best for low/mid tier (they don't have true top tier properties). IHG was decent as was Marriott, but not leaders in any category.

Correct for every 2 nights you stay you get 1 free, my mistake. So it should have been 3 nights pay for 2 with points 1 free.

I redeem more than I pay for hotels so only speaking from a redemption standpoint, I find it hard to find a Starwood worth using points for compared to other brands. It's very hard to get more than 2.5 cents per point back on hotels stays and considering how hard it is for me to get points, I find myself using Starwood just to transfer to airline partners. I've redeemed at more Marriott and Hilton properties than anything else although I'm going to use some points at Hyatt before the devaluation kicks in. There are many ways to get a lot of points at the three aforementioned brands and each has very good properties to redeem at and very little transfer value, thus I don't feel like I'm wasting points by redeeming them (a la Starwood).

I don't have much experience with IHG or CC so I can't comment on them.

If someone is interested in "aspirational" redemptions for luxury hotels, be sure to note the (very high) number of Marriott points needed for RitzCarlton properties. RC categories, called tiers IIRC, are completely distinct from Marriott redemption categories. It's a totally different scale and isn't at all obvious unless you know specifically to look for it. IIRC a year or two ago, some RCs were about 70,000 MR points peer night.

Moreover, even Marriott Platinum Premiers don't get upgraded to club level at RC, even when paying rack rates. In fact, we get virtually no elite status benefits at RC properties.

With Marriott you book 4 nights & get the 5th night free on awards. There are some nice JW Marriotts around the world.

Staying within the Marriott family you'd also get the perks of status, such as lounge access, free breakfast, upgrades. Note, however, that Marriott excludes "resorts" from the free breakfast requirement. Some (not all) resorts will offer some bennies to Plats (only), but it's not required.

As MSP notes, you can certainly book RitzCarltons but the club access is restricted to those who pay for it & not given due to status.

Cheers.

Thanks all for your responses some interesting comments to ponder…

To sum up from your responses/plus my research I conclude the following:
IHG=
Pros = Quick to earn points | Reasonable redemption |Lots of Bonus point opportunities | Lots of Hotels around UK |Some nice IC hotels in Spain/ Italy/ Malta that can redeem against
Cons = No Breakfast (poor show) /Limited upgrade opportunities when redeeming (i.e. No upgrades in IC hotels).

Marriot =
Pros = Better redemption/ Collection rates than Hilton, Some nice hotels (and the Ritz is still cheaper points wise than Hilton)
Cons – No breakfast at resort hotels!!!
Thoughts/comments welcome

These are as written in the rules. However, actual experience can vary. I do get breakfast a small but significant portion of the time (20%?). As well, I have almost always been upgraded on reward stays, including at IC hotels (tho not sure I have tried in Europe).

You need to recheck you Hilton vs Marriott conclusions.

You can churn Hilton 6x with the Surpass. Top Tier HH is 95K for Cat 10 (76K if using 5th night free), so $12.67K-$15.83K spend gets you a "free" night.

Top tier (not RC) for Marriott is 45K (40K with Point Savers), so $40-$45K spend for a "free" night as only 1x on Marriott cards (yes, 2x on travel, but that would be a dubious way to earn miles compared to earning potential on other cards).

If using CC at Hilton properties, you get 12x = $6.33K-$7.9K spend for a top tier "free" night. If using Marriott CC, you get 5x = $8K-$9K for a top tier "free" night.

Either way you're better off with HH.

Also Hilton gives Gold status with the Surpass, so wifi and breakfast to boot.