gadberry

Don't forget to do a status match if you are switching to a new hotel chain.

rbAA

Like beachmouse said, it's not in the T&C's, but it has worked every year for me since 2016. Renew AMB in December before your Spire expires and when you renew AMB it extends Spire for another year, no matter how many (in my case, how few) nights you've done. It's not much but better than nothing aka PLT.

BaconSF

Went from IHG to Marriott to Hyatt.

IHG and Marriott has been devaluing their points value multiple times per year. Whereas with Hyatt, I am consistently able to get 1.7cpp for the past 3+ years.

2 years ago, I was able to get 0.7cpp with Marriott. Today, it’s more like 0.5cpp

IHG points are worthless as sky pesos. Especially with the overnight devaluation that was implemented last night

jxd

I'd go Hyatt (if you're in the USA), Marriott if you're in other parts if the world.

If you want status with IHG, just get an ambassador membership, you could easily recoup that amount after a stay. I wouldn't bother with IHG points, they're the worst of all the major hotel chains.

sdsearch

Here's something that you might want to keep in mind about Marriott redemption pricing:

Unlike most other programs, Marriott prices their redepemptions based on how popular that hotel is for redemptions, not how popular that hotel is for paid stays.

So in places where few people redeem Marriott points, Marriott redemptions can be priced fairly low compared to cash rates.

On the other hand, in places where tons of people redeem Marriott points, Marriott redemptions can be priced fairly high compared to cash rates.

Once you know this, you can keep it mind for explaining differences in value that you see in different places, and consider "less popular" redemption places.

For example, with about the same cash rates, Marriott program hotels in Memphis proper had high redemption rates during a graduation I went to there a couple years ago, but Marriott program hotels in further away suburbs where the cash rates were still high that weekend had very low redemption rates, presumably since hardly anyone ever thinks to redeem Marriott points for further away suburbs in greater Memphis. If you're renting a car and driving all around anyway, this can save you a lot of points. But if you're relying on public transport or rideshares, it may not be as practical a solution.

Similarly, after Marriott acquired Protea, I found astounding Marriott redemption rates in South Africa, because most people had never redeemed Marriott points in South Africa yet at that stage. (Unfortunately, in the past year, a lot of Protea hotels have apparently closed down.)

davistev

IHG was always good for me for small town America due to their extensive range of HI Express locations. Many of my stays are in the sub $100 range pre night. As an alternative, I recently moved over to ChoiceHotels and it seems to be working out ok as far as promotions and redemption value. Likewise, Wyndham Hotels is another alternative that looks like it has reasonable redemption rates.

jonlombardini

The "Nights and Flights" packages make Marriott my go to. Especially if you have a ton of points. 7 Nights+ 50,000 Miles points transfer to virtually any airline = 255K Marriott points. 7 nights + 100,000 points transfer to any airline = 330,000 Marriott points. This is for category 1-4 hotels, but I've used it in places like downtown Sydney. With transferring points to Alaska I flew business class from NYC>SYD 7 day layover>MLB 7 day layover>AKL 7 day layover>NYC for 110,000 points, plus 7 nights in downtown Sydney. I also recently bought points and did a 10 night stay in Joburg SA for $330. Marriott is the best if you know what you're doing.

Concerto

I often wondered about ChoiceHotels and Wyndham Hotels. I have a Swiss friend who joined Wyndham for his family American road trip and he was delighted with them with maybe one exception (might have been in New York City). But on a road trip I think they are a serious rival to HIX properties. I myself stayed at a couple of the more upmarket ChoiceHotels in California and they were really good. But the one or two I stayed at in England were awful.

I have been more of a hotels.com fan because their program is uncomplicated and easy to use. It doesn't tie you to your preferred chain, in what might be a dump in a bad and inaccessible part of town. I just keep IHG going with a lower level of status and I have Hilton gold with a credit card. But with major cuts at Hilton apparently here to stay, I wonder if I should just get rid of the card. Another chain I really like but which has a small footprint, is the Spanish Meliá Hotels one.

gbdbld

Honestly I am shifting towards priceline express hotels. With the 10-15% coupon, I can often book rooms at over 50% discount. And it's very east to figure out what hotel it is. The money I save far exceeds the cost of breakfasts and other elite benefits. The down side is the rates are nonrefundable.

rbAA

Wyndham may have reasonable redemption rates, but it also has way too many run down properties. One road trip from Berkeley to Sandusky, OH, I had booked Wyndham properties on the way out due to a promo, and each one, especially one in Wyoming, were so bad, I insisted on a full refund due to rundown rooms and filthy beds and baths. Changed to Hyatts on the way back and made sure we didn't miss them: Lisle, IL, Omaha, NE, SLC, UT (which made for a long day's drive.) Same problem with a Days Inn in Ormond Beach, FL where as I drove up to the room, a "neighbor" asked me why I would stay at just a dump. Guess I was dressed too well for that crowd. Looked at the room and I asked myself the same question as I drove away. There are some good ones, not even bordering on great properties, well except maybe the few Wyndham Grands like Chicago, so, I'd steer clear of the group, though I've used a few of them, even a Microtel in Palm Coast, FL that was acceptable.

Concerto

I wondered about this this Wyndham. I think my Swiss friend just got lucky or well and truly researched the individual properties beforehand. They did a roadtrip from Dallas to the West Coast.

rbAA

They always look good in the pictures, and reviews usually aren't that helpful, since too many of the bad ones get deleted.

Concerto

To be honest, I think he was looking at German language reviews from a variety of sources, as far as I remember over the coffee we having when he talked about. Granted those could be Google translations, but there are a lot of blogs and sites with reviews in German only.

ymx

I’m currently Spire, but I’ve never enrolled in the Ambassador program. If I sign up for Ambassador for the first time will that work to trigger this? And should I still wait to sign up in December?

rbAA

Unless you really need it sooner, if you wait until December, you should get your Spire extended for another year. No guarantees but it's always worked for me. I've never tried a mid-year renewal since they changed the expiration of my AMB (previously RA) to a calendar year.