Hilton Diamond thinking of making the switch
 

Looking for some insight here from people in the 'know'.

I am a long time Hilton Diamond member. I currently have 31 stays and 62 nights completed this year. I have over 1,000,000 points in my account.

I like to stay loyal to maximize my point earnings/spending potential. For example, for an average $140/night, 2 night stay, I currently get the following points:

2400 base rate
1200 double dip
1200 diamond bonus
500 AMEX online booking bonus
500 to 1000 "myway" bonus points (let's just say on avg 750)
Total = 5050 points + any other "promos" going on, such as right now I would get an additional 2400 points bringing the grand total to 7450.

I like to spend my points in Hawaii, but to be honest am a bit bored of the Hilton hotels. The Grand Wailea (Waldorf Astoria) is real nice and I'd like to go back, but the amount of points you need to use is rediculous. Here is how many points it takes to stay in Hawaii at the better resorts for 7 nights (including VIP discounts):

Hilton Hawaiin Village 262,500 (Oahu)
Hilton Waikoloa Village 262,500 (Big Island)
Grand Wailea 420,000 (Maui)

Another nugget of info is that I get about 200K points per year using my Hilton AMEX (not the surpass card) and would gladly switch to Marriot if they had something similar.

So, what I here hoping to find a Marriot "expert' that could tell me how my experience with Marriot would compare with both point earnings and redemption. How are the Hawaii properties in comparison? I would really like to go back to Maui and have never stayed in Kaui (Hilton doesn't have a property there). Also, with Hilton rewad redemptions, I don't have to pay anytaxes or resort charges. Room upgrades have been mediocre.

Ex HHDia here. SO happy I made the switch. I put 150-175 nts at MI, 50 at SPG, 25 at Hyatt now.

A couple of thoughts:
1-giftcards. Routinely at 10% off, plus 5% booking on MrR (if you can pay w/gc's and book yourself) I spend $1K++++/wk, pocket $100 now! ^ When you buy them, they count as xtra points on card!

2-travelpackages. I always run short of miles, so i get 120K miles and a week in a hotel.

3-giftcards for points. Good rate for plat's. Can use them for weeks where it makes sense - ie, rate is >= ~$150/nt. Or use for extras

Not a fan of Hawaii, as I get there for work. Can not rate the hotels...will leave that for others.

I am in a similar situation. I am currently HH Diamond and SPG Plat. I just completed a challenge to obtain Marriott Plat. So far I am very pleased with the promotions and the upgrades with MR. Also I'm finding that Marriott has some great AAA rates, which also helps. The promotions seem way better than the ones from Hilton. I especially despise the redemption rate from Hilton. Plus they've had some pretty sorry promos for the last two years in my opinion. I think the Hilton promos in 2010 were far better only because the economy was weak and they had just completed the major devaluation, which probably cost them a lot of customers. Anyway, I also got the Marriott cc, and I'm pleased with that as well- but I don't put near as much on that as it sounds like you do. But I'm splitting up my travel costs between the MR cc and the SWA cc.

For Marriott you get 10 points/$, Plats get 50% bonus.

If you'd like to max out your points, then you might considering getting a Marriott Credit Card. I think in general you need fewer points to redeem a MI property over HH, however you also earn fewer points per stay.

From what you quoted for points required to stay in Hawaii, for Marriott 40k a night is a Cat 8 hotel and I don't think all Hawaiian properties are Cat. 8. You can pretty much get anything for 40k points/night, except the Ritz. Also one awesome thing about point redemption for Marriott: book 4 award nights and get the fifth free.

Room upgrades with Marriott has been a hit and miss I think - if you check the threads here at FT.

In order to really enjoy Marriott's perks for elites you need to stay at FS hotels, for lower end hotels like Courtyard - there is no free breakfast as a default for anyone - regardless of your status.

About redeeming your holiday in Hawaii - I read previously here at FT that in Hawaii - a lot the guests in Marriott hotels are Plats and are celebrating something. I think this is just a norm in Hawaii regardless of which chain.

Hope this helps.

I made the switch from many years of HH Diamond to MR Plat several years ago and I'm happy I did. The major factors in switching were the HH devaluation that happened in that timeframe, the lack of a lifetime elite program with HH, and limited HH properties in places I like to travel.

My calculus for MR points earnings on a two night $140 per nite stay is:

Base Points: 2800
Platinum 50% bonus points: 1400
Platinum Arrival Bonus: 500 (may vary depending on property type)
MR Visa points earnings: 1400

Total is 6100 points, however, with MR promotions I average roughly 1500 points per night extra earnings so the real tally is about 9100 points.

IMO one HH point is worth about 0.7 cents while one MR point is worth about 1.2 cents so comparing point earning abilities between the programs doesn't give you the complete picture. You can always do better than those metrics depending on the season and the property but those are my averages. With elite bonuses and promos factored in my take is that the return on paid stays is better overall with Marriott than with Hilton.

My strategy has not been a total break from HH. I have an HH Amex so I get gold status and continue to slowly earn points for occasional stays at HH properties that I like. I also have the MR visa and that helps with MR elite nights.

I love vacationing in Hawaii but stay away from Oahu.

For the big island you've got the Hilton Waikoloa and the Marriott Waikoloa next door. Both very nice properties but I'd give the edge to HWV. There's also a CY in Kona.

For Maui you've got the Grand Wailea with HH and several Marriott properties. At the high end there's the Ritz which is excellent but pricey points wise. For points value and quality I'll take the Marriott Wailea every time at 140,000 MR points for a 5 night stay (much better redemption value than the GW IMO).

For Kauai there is a FS Marriott in a very nice location, but the property is a bit dated. There are four other MR properties with three being Marriott Vacation Club types. No HH property on Kauai.

Why not the Surpass card? 62 Hilton nights @ $140 = $8680. Using Surpass would give you 26K more HH points with the 9 HH points per dollar vs. 6. Most anyone would say that's worth it already for the annual fee and we are only into August.

I don't know. Just hate paying the fees. 26K points doesn't seem like a lot when you are sitting on over a million points. I suppose it is worth it when you do the math, though.

Thanks for the replies everybody. I look forward to other people's perspective as well.

It is really seeming like Marriott is the much better value as far as point earning vs redemption ratio is concerned, plus seems like there are a lot more properties for me to check out in HI. Looks like I will try it out.

The 5th night free deal on reward stays is really great! Is that a "permanent" promo or just for a limited time?

How many points does it require to stay at Ritz Carlton in hawaii?

Would you recommend I try to get a challenge this year or wait until Jan 1?

"5th night free deal" is permanent.

There is a megabonus promotion starting on Sept 15. Why don't you do the Plat challenge at that time? That way you will either earn 50k pts or 3-free night certificates (based on the offer that is proposed to you).

I believe RC are 70k points a night.

I also like that Marriott are tied to some hotels like the Cosmopolitan in Vegas.

The 5th night free deal is premanent as sorka said, however you cannot stack free certs and points and make up 4 award nights and get the 5th night free.

I just looked again at this thread and your points calculation might be a bit off.

For two nights at $140 per nite your base spend is $280 so your points should be:

2800 base rate
1400 double dip
1400 diamond bonus
500 AMEX online booking bonus
500 to 1000 "myway" bonus points (let's just say on avg 750)
Total = 6850 points

+additional 2800 promo points bringing the grand total to 9650.

Speaking as someone with both diamond and platinum, I think the quality and value of the hotels you stay at are more important than the rewards program. If you wanted the rewards program that gives the most stays, then you would pick neither.
Also, the best choices to stay vary by location and price level. For example, I will almost always pick HGI over CY. I value MR points more than HH points, but not enough to stay in an inferior hotel.
Your cities and budget should probably decide which brand works better.

Yep, you are right. I can't seem to do math, I guess :confused:

Add in my Hilton AMEX points and it actually looks like this for an "average" stay:

2800 base rate
1400 double dip
1400 diamond bonus
500 AMEX online booking bonus
500 to 1000 "myway" bonus points (let's just say on avg 750)
1680 AMEX points (6 points per dollar, calculation doesn't include tax)
Total = 8530 points

+additional 2800 promo points (current promo) bringing the grand total to 11,330.
+additional 840 points if I upgraded to Surpass card (fee) bringing the grand total to 12,170.

So, without the promo, to stay at one of the nicer Hilton's in Hawaii (37,500/nt with VIP discount), I would need aprox 4.4 "average" stays (not including the points from promos and the Surpass card. If I upgraded to the Surpass card, it would take aprox 4 "average" stays".

If I understand Marriott correctly, the points would look like this for a similar "average" stay:

2800 base points
1400 bonus points for Platinum
500 Plat arrival bonus
840 Visa points (free card, doesn't include tax)
Total = 5540

+whatever promos going on
+560 points if I opted for the fee credit card

So, without the promos, to stay at one of the nicer Marriott's in Hawaii (32,000/nt based on 40K per night and 5th night free), I would need aprox 5.8 "average" stays (not including the points from promos and the fee credit card.) If I upgraded to the fee credit card, it would take aprox 5.2 "average" stays".

Am I getting this right? By my calculations, based purely upon points with no promos, Hilton is the better value.

As long as the hotel is the quality of a Hampton or better, I am not too picky when it comes to my everyday hotel choices. Work pays for it and I usually try to find one of the less expensive hotels in the area (loyal to Hilton brand). I'm not a breakfast eater, so the fact that you don't get free breakfast at CY wouldn't matter to me.

I am picky when it comes to my reward stays, though. I bring my wife and like to make sure she has a memorable time. The facilities and amenities (free breakfast) are important to her. I am dissatisfied when I go to hawaii and can't get a comped upgrade to an ocean view. One of the reasons I am set on hawaii is that I can go there for work and have my company pick up the tab for my airfare.

I guess what I am most interested in is getting the most value for my everyday stays to be able to cash them in for very nice accomodations in Hawaii or similar type places. Based on my calculations above, it looks like Hilton is the better value...but i've already been to their properties in HI several times and am bored with them.

Thanks again for everybody's feedback.

Actually, if you look at my post #5 above I calculate about 9100 Marriott points for that two night stay with typical promos.

A nice Hawaii Marriott is generally going to be Category 6 or 7 (there are no cat 8 properties in HI). With the 5th night free feature of Marriott a category 6 averages 24,000 points per night and a cat 7 averages 28,000 per night. So a night at a cat 6 is about 2.6 of your average stays and a cat 7 is about 3.1 stays.