Best way to maximise earning across multiple hotel programs
 

Hi all,
New member here, just joined and this is my first post so I hope this is the right place for this question.

Currently I am on a 10 week long work trip to the US from Australia. So I figured I should try and get some points under my belt to help with the pain of being away for so long (got to make it up to the wife later). :D

I must admit in the past I have been some what negligent with my hotel award programs. Whenever I did travel I just stayed at whichever hotel was convenient at the time never favoring one brand over another.

As a result I know have the following memberships:
Hyatt Gold Passport - Platinum status
Marriott Rewards - Silver status
IHG Priority - Club status
Accor Club - basic level, don't use it much

I am planning to primarily be in the MSP area for the duration of my stay in the US, but will also be traveling to NYC, Portland and maybe LA or San Fran for short periods of time in between.
For this trip I don't want to redeem any points. We are planning a family vacation in Asia early next year that I want to save my points for.

What would you recommend is my best course of action out of the following:
Get to Hyatt Diamond Status in this trip?
Get to top tier in either Marriott or IHG? If so which one is better?
Sign up for Hilton (I can get to Gold quickly due to a corporate deal) and stay only at their properties?

Currently I am staying at a Crowne Plaze for the first two weeks of my trip, but happy to move around hotels if it means earning more points. - As I mentioned I need to make it up to the wife so am hoping I will get some decent points now for a few free nights and/or an upgraded room on our vacation next year.

Thank you for reading my rather long post and ANY help is greatly appreciated.

Welcome to FlyerTalk, Hitechuno.

First of all, keep in mind that getting more points and getting to the right tier may or may not involve the same strategies.

I'm not very familiar with Hyatt (I avoid them because of their "small footprint", ie not that many hotels outside of very major cities).

You don't need top tier in Marriott. There's very little difference between middle tier Gold and top tier Platinum at Marriott. So if you're going to shoot for a tier at Marriott, it can be mid-tier.

Top tier at IHG doesn't get you much more than no tier at IHG! So don't waste your time shooting for a tier there.

Hilton Gold can be gotten, as you already say, with fairly little work.


Now, as to points:

The way to maximize points is to follow the promos. (With good promos, you may earn much more from the promo than from the normal stay points.)

Have you signed up for the Marriott Getaway promo? If so, which version? If you can get the 25 nights = 45k bonus points (with 35k bonus points if you only get to 20 nights) version, it sounds like you may be able to complete that within August (that promo ends Aug 31). And there are no hotels that opt-out of Marriott promos.

Neither IHG nor Hilton has a comparable promo right now. Hilton has double/triple promos with lots of hotels opting out, IHG has nothing untargeted really. And like I said I don't follow Hyatt so I don't know about that.

Still, not every hotel has properties everywhere, so you may want to think about where you want to use these points, which brands are in those locations, and whether it makes more sense to get the most points in one program or to divide it up between programs. (It won't help you even if you have a million points in some hotel program if you want to stay someplace where that hotel program has no properties!) And statistics are not that useful about how many hotels each program has, because it varies so much by location. So only you can figure out where you want to go and where you would want to say and thus which points and how many of them you might need.

I earn my status by stays, and look for the promo deals and credit cards to maximize my points.
If you don't already have the brands credit cards - sign up now and get them. I am SPG and HIlton Platinum and Diamond. I use each cc for the wherever I'm staying to maximize points.
Hiltons are currently running some double point stays

I also check into a different hotel each night when on business trips, so if I'm in Dallas I for 4 nights, each night I am in a different hotel - let's you see different areas and different hotels within the chain. Also you get your "choice reward" upon check-in each time which depending on the hotel is 250 - 1,000 bonus points. You will earn Platinum status at SPG hotels with 25 stays (vs 50 nights) or 30 stays (vs 60 nights) will get you Diamond at Hilton.

It may be a bit of an inconvenience to pack up your stuff every day, but (for me) it's paid off immensely when I travel for pleasure - free upgrades, lounge access, early check-in, late check-out, etc. and the extra bonus points pay for most if not all of my hotel needs while on vacation.

Hope the info helps

Enjoy your travels throughout the US

Thanks sdsearch and QDDawg for your replies.

Looks like the Hilton double points promo is finishing up end of July so I won't be able to take advantage of that anymore.

sdsearch - I looked at the cities where we will be traveling next year and most of them were covered by either Hyatt or Hilton/Marriott. Given I already have enough points in Hyatt Gold passport I might hedge my bet by taking advantage of the Marriott points offer. That way I can use one or the other program everywhere we travel. I checked my account and the promotion I've been targeted for is Double Points starting with your 2rd stay, up to 25K.

QDDawg - thanks for your tip about maximizing stays over nights - I did not think of that. I'll also look at cc's when I get back home, all my business travel is done using a corporate card so I can't take advantage of a hotel tie in CC for that.

Just to confirm so a stay can be just one night correct? I can check into a different hotel in the same chain each night and it will count as a separate stay?

Yes. As long as they are different hotels. Just hotel hop. Do not try to book separate reservations for sequential nights at the same hotel because they will be combined by the systems into one stay. For example, I did a 4 points one night and the Sheraton the next in OKC one weekend to get two stay credits (and a nice targeted bonus) from Starwood once. Same chain is fine. Same property is not.

it can be a little tiring to keep packing and moving but I think most of us have done it from time to time to meet stay requirements.

Yes, check into a different hotel each night and get the stay and bonus check in points.

As others said, booking the same hotel under seperate reservations will not work.

If you're going with Marriott, say in MSP you can stay one night at a Marriott, the next at a Fairfield and then go back to the Marriott if you like, just has to be seperated by 24 hours.

As for the credit card, Marriott is doing a promo for something like 70K points for signing up and a free night stay at a 1 - 4 tier hotel, with a minimum spend - it's on here somewhere - I believe under the Frugal Guy info - but you can use the search button to find it - or probably go to Mariott.com:)

Enjoy

Hyatt diamond seems to have the best perks and Hyatt has better Aspirational rewards

Hilton has a new double points promo starting August 1. There is almost always an active Hilton promo, they tend to run for three months at a time.

See this thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...-7-2014-a.html

You very well may be able to get switched over to the 25 nights for 45k bonus points promo if you call (by this Thursday?) and ask. (I know registration ends this Thursday, I don't know if requests to change the type of promo end at the same time or not).

Marriott does not count stays!!!

While many other programs do allow you to quality for elite status with fewer stays than nights, Marriott does not. So there's little advantage to hotel hopping with Marriott (except when they have a stay-based promo, which this summer they do not).

Yes you can!

At least for elite status help, you can.

The Chase Marriott Premier Visa gets you a boost of 15 toward your elite night status count. That means if you get that card you need 15 fewer nights at Marriott to get to Gold (only 35 instead of 50). And because it puts those 15 nights into your Marriott account, that works whether you use the Marriott card to pay for your stays or not.

There are two cards which give you Hilton Gold status immediately: The Amex Hilton Surpass card for $75 annual fee, and the Citi Hilton Reserve card for $95 annual fee. Again, both these cards do that even if you never use them to pay for your Hilton stays.


However, since you mentioned a work requirement for how to pay for hotels, I just want to double check: How do you book your work hotel stays? Can you book them through the hotel program website yourself? Do you use a corporate booking service?

Where is your business in the MSP area? Do you have a rental car? I'm surprised by the Crowne Plaza choice as MSP has a good collection of Starwoods and two good downtown Hyatt properties: a Hyatt Regency which was recently renovated and has a wonderful club lounge and a brand new Hyatt Place (free breakfast for all) that is larger than most and has a bunch of suites. Our Hilton is rather bad (IIRC no real restaurant in the hotel since the Carvery closed) but there is a downtown DoubleTree Suites with a residential feel (and we're getting a Conrad in the future).

If you're going for points, follow the promos but if you want the benefits of elite status too, strive for a high tier in at least one program. Like airline FF programs, you don't get much if you scatter your stays across brands.

How many nights/stays do you have credited in each program so far this year? For all but Marriott, you can qualify based on nights or stays, so think about that in planning strategy. However, note that if you'll qualify for higher status during a long stay, the new status will not impact that stay at all and will only be effective for check ins several days after your check out from the qualifying stay.

If the purpose of your trip is business, try to make your stays more comfortable and productive. Don't try to change hotels every night just to maximize your stay count or points unless you don't care about your job..