Help with hotel rewards
 

I'm looking for advice on a hotel loyalty program to join. I'm between SPG, Marriott, and Hlton. I travel 5-6x year for pleasure and typically don't stay at one brand of hotel (try to find good value and location).

I like the idea of SPG, but not sure how Marriott is going to handle that post-merger. As far as Hilton/Marriott, what is the easiest program to book nights with points at a lower end property (courtyard or garden inn)?

Thanks!

what do you want from a loyalty program? what hotels are near where you typically stay or want to stay?

I'm looking for something that is easy to earn points, and points that are easily used for stays. I am usually in major metro areas when I travel, so Starwood, Marriott, and Hiltons are abundant. I am considering the SPG card, but think that it is pretty hard to earn SPG points.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

What about IHG (InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, and Holiday Inn brands)?

It may seem that something like hotels.com's stay 10 nights get 1 free program would work better for you. They average the per night stay rate of 10 nights and give you a credit applicable towards a stay. The upside to this is that it isn't locked into 1 chain.

Yes, they may be abundant, but they also tend to have the highest redemption prices in major metro areas!

Points in those programs are mostly easily used for stays in the suburbs or in smaller cities, not in the middle of a major metro areas. In major metro areas, in those programs (especially Hilton), hotels may charge a extraordinarily high number of points for each night.

Can you do 1-night stays (changing hotels each night if needed)? If so, the very fastest way to earn free nights is in the WyndhamRewards and Choice programs, not the ones you mentioned. In the WyndhamRewards program, any hotel, even a super cheap one in the suburbs, earns you a minimum of 1000 points per stay, and every hotel in the whole program is 15000 points per night for redemption. In the Choice program, there are often promos to earn 8000 points total for two separate stays. If those are both 1 night-stays, that means you're earning 8000 points for 2 nights, and a free nigh in a major city can often be as little as 24000 points, so that means 6 1-night stays can mean a free night. You can't come close to that in SPG, Marriott, or Hilton.