I'm Hilton Diamond and Marriott Gold right now (have been Plat before).

In my experience, Marriotts are more consistent (service, what I expect hotel property wise and lounges). Hilton was very inconsistent and their upgrades were non-existent (for me).

The only negative for me on Marriott is Plat requires 75 nights. For now, I'm sticking with Hilton and Marriott Gold status. I don't see the advantage to getting Plat or Diamond (unlike Starwood where their Top tier means something).

Unfortunately I can't stay at a Starwood (too pricey for us and not as many options where I travel). So, I'm stuck at Hilton or Marriott.

Ambassador costs something like $200. Then to get Royal Ambassador you have to stay a bunch of nights (i.e. 50 or more) at ICs. But from what I hear and read in the IC forum, the benefits can be very nice.

The thread lost me on Club Carlson. I didn't even know what it was but after Googling and seeing that's Raddison... you lost me there. Oy vey! I wouldn't care if they matched my plat, gave me upgrades, free rooms, whatever.

Having stayed at few Club Carlson properties, although all outside of the United States, I would say that they are in the same level as aLoft/Four Points etc. If you think lower quality Hyatt Regency or Sheraton, they are probably comparable to Radisson Blu.

In order to be a RA you can either stay a bunch of nights or get a referral from a RA. Some people are willing to pay around USD 500 for a RA referral certs. I also saw some FTers trading their RA Referral certs for miles.

Ambassador doesn't give you much, RA is the best.

Even then as far as I know IHG hotels are NOT obliged to give you RA perks if you are on award stay.

That makes Marriott stands out because they don't discriminate between paid and award stay for elite perks.

For Club Carlson - I don't think their properties are that great (based on my stays at Radisson Blu in Scandinavia and Park inn in Hamburg). Radisson Blu is like a in between CY and a FS since they don't seem to have CL. Park Inn is like a in between CY and FI.

The only awesome thing is that CC has a lot of promo for throwing points at you - they had triple points promo back in Jan, and in May they had the big night giveaway promo. If you can find a low tier hotel you'd like to stay, that would be super awesome. Otherwise a night at CC property in Scandinavia costs you 44k a night.

For 44k at Marriott, it's a at least Cat. 6 hotel for a night, and I think a Cat 6 will beat any Radisson Blu in Scandinavia.

Priority Club does this too. In early '11, I had to do a short string of suburban stays where all of the properties across all chains were the limited-service brands and a couple barebones full-service properties. It was "Crack the Case" time with PC, so I decided to throw them 10 nights. HI, HIX, and Crowne Plaza. Netted a little over 200,000 total points for it between Crack the Case and about a dozen other smaller stackable promotions. That was 200k *without* signing up for their credit card - all points from the hotel stays and the final promotion bonus.

The irony: the quality of the properties was inverse to their positioning within the group. The HIX was new and clean, the HI was not bad...older building but well maintained, and the Crowne Plaza was an utter dump.

I've since used 25,000 points for a Holiday Inn for a college football weekend. Props to PC for that: the local Fairfield Inn had gamed their system to prevent award usage. HI allowed the award, even with rooms selling for $250+ per night. So I'm sitting on 175k...probably will use for future college football weekends... People talk about these sweet pointstretcher deals at international IH's, but I'm never in the right place at the right time for one.

Spot on. The top 4 have clearly defined benefits; most other programs have very few defined benefits other than point bonuses and late checkout 'if available'.

If you want consistency no matter where you are in the world, Marriott is number one. I haven't had enough Hyatt nights to say the same but so far I haven't stayed at a 'dive' Hyatt property to date. There's ony been one or two questionable Marriott properties and neither of those were full service.

I don't have any complaints to date about Hilton properties but I've found Starwood to be very inconsistent in the quality of properties.

Excellent assessment of Club Carlson; I couldn't have said it better.


Since returning to work, I've found myself spending ~21 nights/month in hotels. ~14 paid by my employer and ~7 paid out of my pocket. For my personal stays, I'm somewhat price sensitive but I'm not willing to stay in a dive just to save a couple of bucks. I also look at overall value that I receive for my paid nights - that includes elite perks.

As an example of overall value, I had an offer from Marriott to get 5000 bonus points for two stays at Fairfield Inns - I value the points at $50. In addition, I get one free cat 1- 4 night for two every two stays. I'll save the free night for the night where room rates are high and use it at a full service Marriott with a lounge. So my two stays at Fairfield Inn netted me 5000 bonus points plus a free cat 1-4 cert.

When deciding which hotel I will stay at on my own dime, I look at multiple discounts which I'm eligible for, the bottom line price at each hotel, and how many more nights I need to qualify for top elite next year. At the moment, I'm willing to spend a few extra bucks a night in order to lock in Diamond/Platinum for the next year because those perks (free breakfast, internet, bonus points) have value to me. I've already qualified for HHonors Diamond next year and am concentrating on Hyatt and Starwood ... I don't mind dropping to Marriott Gold because that still gives me lounge access and almost all of the perks of Plat.


I can understand someone switching between the top 4 hotel programs because they're dissatisfied with an aspect of a loyalty program. However, if anyone switches from the top 4 to a loyalty program outside of the top 4 (Priority Club, Wyndham Rewards, Club Carlson, Best Western, Choice, etc) and thinks that they're going to get a richer loyalty program is in for a huge disappointment.

Tons of people here at FT love PC - their PB and BRG are the reason I stay at their hotels. Their CS is definitely not good, and their site is down or malfunction at times (sounds like Hilton). Mr. Nacho got a lot more upgrades as PC Plat than Marriott Gold, we also got free breakfast at a hotel that we don't have lounge access as PC Plat.

I'd like to try Hyatt too - I stayed at a Hyatt Place once in Texas and I like the hotel (except their white ginger toiletries). The other Hyatts simply too expensive - especially for us who are not living in the US.

Again, the problem with PC is lack of defined benefits. As a Platinum elite, your defined benefits above gold are 1) complimentary room upgrades Subject to availability, and 2) guaranteed room availability.*
*Requires 72 hours advance notice. Platinum Elite members are guaranteed one guest room for personal use for reservations made at least 72 hours prior to the date of arrival, except during special events that result in extraordinary room demand, as determined solely by the hotel. Guaranteed room availability is not valid for Reward Nights. These reservations are to be made at the hotels directly or through the Priority Club Service Center.

So as you can see, no PC Plat benefits are really guaranteed - they're subject to availability.

http://www.priorityclub.com/hotels/u...ip-levels.html

I understand your attraction to PointsBreaks and BestRateGuarantee but those are things that indicate a high level of price sensitivity rather than an emphasis on elite benefits.

No PC level guarantees:
1) Free wifi
2) Free breakfast
3) Complimentary lounge access
4) Guaranteed late checkout
5) Even free local phone calls are not a guaranteed elite benefit.

Don't get me wrong - I've stayed at two different Holiday Inns this last month and thought that the rooms were good value for the money. One hotel gave me a complimentary breakfast since I'm a PC Plat but the other did not. As a PC Plat, do I have any recourse against the hotel that didn't give me a complimentary breakfast? No because it's not a defined benefit.

No loyalty program is going to be perfect for everyone; that's why I stated that my rank order of loyalty programs was based on my personal preferences.
There's currently a thread on the HHonors board where a person is complaining about not having a bathrobe in his room. I haven't worn a bathrobe in many months - probably close to a year so bathrobes aren't something that I'd change loyalty programs for. However, it was a hot button issue for him - his preferences are different than mine.


For Hyatt, I find that the Hyatt AAA rate tends to be very competitive with other hotel chains. In fact, I joined AAA solely for the Hyatt discount.

That's true (even though I don't make local call). The upgrade possibilities for Marriott is similar to IHG IMO. I can't recall the IHG properties I stayed outside the US provides free Internet.

I'm in the middle of my first ever stay at a HGI. I have normally been staying at the CY next door to the HGI but given I was just promoted to Hilton Gold status through work, I thought I'd give the HGI a try and see what all the noterity is about. ;)

My first impression is it is similar to the CY in a lot of respects. Though the restaurant here states it is open for lunch and dinner, I haven't seen anyone manning or eating there after breakfast. So I may need to ask if they are "really" open throughout the day. The room is really very similar to the CY rooms but with a few differences. The in-room TV is smaller than the CYs and there is only one phone in the room and it is next to the bed. There isn't a 2nd one on the desk, which makes taking business calls from the desk a bit of an issue. I do like the towels better in the HGI though. And as far as I can tell, there isn't much difference between the beds. I sleep pretty well at the CY and haven't had any issues so far at the HGI.

I was not given any type of upgrade that I can tell at the HGI. Where the CY next door has consistently upgraded me to a suite room all year. (Note I am a Plat with Marriott and only a Gold with HGI though.) Though I was put into the room closest to the elevators which are literally on the other side of the wall from my room.

I was given coupons for free breakfast every day of my stay which is nice. (Though at the CY my corp rate includes breakfast.) In general, breakfast seems to be very similar between the two. The bacon was definitely better at the HGI (i.e much thicker and not the super-thin paper looking bacon at the CY.) Unfortunately, they won't put any meat other than Ham in their omlettes at the HGI even though they have already cooked bacon and sausage. At the CY, they definitely have more options for what you can get in your omlette. So overall, I'd say the two are fairly comperable at least for their breakfast offerings. Now once this CY converts to the new "Bistro" concept (which should be Feb next year), I might give the edge to the HGI at that time.

I do like how the CY puts out free coffee and hot water (for tea or hot chocolate) throughout the morning. The HGI has that only during the breakfast hours and only for those eating in the restaurant.

The workout rooms and the pools seem to be very similar between the two.

So basically, I'm not really seeing much of a "real" difference between the two at least in this case.

I would say there is a HUGE difference. You get breakfast for free vs. Not. Your company has negotiated that in the rate and that is great, but for 99% of the Marriott Gold's and Plat's that is not a perk they get.

So everything is equal, but one gives free breakfast. Wonder which one offers more?!?