Looking for some advice. This past year i stayed around 220 nights across Marriott and IHG hotels. I am platinum in both programs. I like having status in both programs because pretty much no matter where i am, i can find a hotel with either brand. I am thinking of working Hilton into the mix> i havent been flying much over the past year so i'm finding myself rich in hotel points but poor in miles. Hilton would allow me to earn points and miles for the same stay which is appealing. I got a status match with Hilton and will probably stay enough nights to maintain top tier status with all 3 next year but i dont know if this is the best play. is 3 programs too many? should i focus on 2 and let my status with the 3rd fall off? what would you do if you were in my shoes?

I wouldn't normally suggest these three programs unless you consider them all really special. My argument is that they all have big footprints, so I would instead throw Hyatt or SPG into the mix for more aspirational properties in places where their locations work for you. Alternatively, aim for Plat Premier with Marriott or lifetime status. (Are you close?)

Since you can get top status (Platinum) in Priority Club just by holding the Chase Priority Club Select Visa card ($49 annual fee offset for most people by the unrestricted annual free night cert; no minimum spend requierd for that top status):

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/inter...um-status.html

and since top status in Priority Club still doesn't guarantee you anything (while Gold status in Hilton HHonors guarantees you free breakfast and free internet every day of the week worldwide at all brands, though sometimes it's "outsourced" at a few properties in the US, at Priority Club it's up to the individual hotel what, if anything, they give you for your Platinum status), I would suggest not "dropping out' but "scaling back" on Priority Club, to where Marriott and Hilton would be your main two and Priority Club would just be a backup (for when it's got better rates or better availability or whatever).

With that credit card, it will no longer matter to your Priority Club status whether you stay 100 nights in a given year or just one (the free night certificate night), and the status benefits at Priority Club pale compared to the status benefits at Marriott and Hilton. (But Priority Club sometimes has the best redemptions, including 5k PointsBreaks, which is why I don't suggest giving up on it entirely.)

I might suggest you look at the Marriott Travel Package awards. In most cases, it is by far the best way to get a large number of airline miles from hotel stays.

BTW, I tend to agree with MSPeconomist in terms of picking a secondary or tertiary program. I tend to look at Hilton and Marriott as very similar to each other and thus you won't get as much "diversification" by holding status in both of these programs (versus holding say Hyatt or SPG elite status.) With the number of nights you have, you should easily be able to keep Plat with Marriott plus top tier with Starwood or Hyatt. (And note, I keep PC Plat basically just as sdsearch suggests. Even with less than 6 nights in a PC hotel this year, I have had PC Plat wrapped up since March.)

I maintain Diamond at Hyatt due to full breakfast 7 days a week no matter the property class and the 4 suite upgrades per year. Both are tangible and guaranteed, which make a huge impact on our vacation plans.

The main difficulty is limited locations - but if you can overcome that hurdle, it could be a good option for you.

Another benefit of having top status in multiple programs is you can take advantage of whichever chain is having the best promotion at the the time. This winter Hilton's promotion was bunk so most of my stays went to Marriott and Hyatt, for Q1 I'll wait to see which has the best promotion and focus there.

I'll also second the notion to go for something other than Hilton as it is so similar to Marriott. The treatment I get as a Diamond at Hyatt's is far better than at Hilton's and I've heard similar things about SPG.

Where exactly in the world is Hyatt going to help you as a secondary program to Marriott that you want to use just when there's no Marriott property around or when there's no availability at the Marriott properties? (I guess if you need an overnight at DFW and don't want to waste to time on leaving the airport. Anywhere else?) Don't you need a program with a bigger "footprint" than Hyatt for a secondary program to Marriott???

Meanwihile, on SPG, it depends what you mean by "top tier" and what you mean by "treatment". SPG has "splintered" their top tier. It used to be that top tier was Platinum, reachable by either 25 stays or 50 nights, and you got the same benefits both ways. Now if you get it via 25 stays, you're just Plat lite some say. You have to do the 50 night route (even though it's not called a different tier officially) to quality for suite upgrades. Anyhow, I'm just a regular (stay-based) Plat, and my gripe with SPG isn't lack of upgrades (I don't care that much), it's that I've found the luunge at a typical Sherton to be downright wimpy compared to the lounge at a typical Hilton or at a typical FS Marriott. I've also found the internet to often be in disrepair at Sheratons (where they often don't have wifi in the rooms and yet have problems aplenty with the wired internet connectors), which I never seem to have at Marriotts or Hiltons.

(I don't stay at Hyatt so I can't comment on how it is on these factors. But I don't need to stay at Hyatt to know that its small footprint makes it irrelevant for me, given my travel patterns.)

Breakfast is guaranteed but the suite upgrade is NOT. The latter is based on availability that may or may not materialize.

Hyatt is good for certain areas in Asia where Marriott's presence is not as good. There are also places where Hyatt has better award redemptions than Marriott. Taipei, Taiwan has only Starwood and Hyatt hotels among Western brands. There are no Marriott or Hilton properties. In Tokyo, Marriott's proerties are limited to a CY and a Ritz Carlton. Hyatt has 3 full service properties in Tokyo, with one of them needing only 12,000 points a night. I value a Hyatt point as equal to about 2 Marriott points. The CY goes for 30,000 points a night, so I would argure the Hyatt Regency Tokyo is a better deal.

In Vancouver, BC, the Hyatt Regency needs only 12,000 points for a night while the two Marriott properties in downtown need 30-35,000 points. I prefer the Hyatt at Irvine, CA over the Marriott for weekend stays and award redemptions (8,000 points vs 20,000 points). Hyatt has the best coverage in the Western USA and certain metro areas (DC, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas).

In re-reading my post, I can see that one could misinterpret my comment.
Thank you for the correction, as I have heard that there are availability issues in places like Hawaii, Paris, etc.

I have never experienced this, mine have always worked as intended, and I tend to forget that if I wanted Christmas week in Hawaii I might not get it!

Having said that, I still think the upgrades beat the " we'll give you one if we have it" at other chains, which never seem to materialize without a battle at the front desk.

YMMV.

I make my year for Hyatt in Chicago and DFW - where there certainly are lots of Marriott's...but using Hyatt allows me greater vacation options, especially with regards to resorts.

With re to SPG, I could not agree more, and stay only at a few select properties.

But the OP did not ask the question based upon locations or availability, they wanted opinions re diversity of programs.

Actually, the question was on mileage - so the first couple answers were the most correct!

I prefer LNFing the Marriott Suites in Garden Grove (for my needs, anyway, close enough to Irvine) over paying for the Hyatt in Irvine on weekdays (it's on weekdays that I need hotels in the OC, and it's on weekdays that I earn my Marriott points, and I can LNF that hotel as well as a couple others in OC, though no closer than Garden Grove, any weekday I need to).

And I have several other hotel programs, which is why I didn't notice Tokyo being poor on Marriotts. (There's a nice Comfort Hotel that's typically only 8000 CHoice points a night, so that trumps all other redemptions i've ever heard of in Tokyo, given how easy 8000 points are to earn with two cheap suburban one-night Choice stays in the US much of the year).

Well, there are places in the world (including just about any city in Norway beyond Oslo) where neiher Marriot nor SPG nor Hilton nor Hyatt will help you. In much of (beyond-the-capitals) Scandinavia, you need one or more of: Club Carlson (Radisson, etc), Choice (Clarion, etc), or Best Western. None of the other Western brands have that much of a presence in Scandinavia. Hilton HHonors tried with Scandic, but for whatever reason they parted ways and now Scandic has it own program, pretty useless to anyone who doesn't go to Scandinavia that often.)

I guess the reason I don't miss Hyatt yet is because I've joined most other programs (all the ones that have their own forum on FT except Hyatt, Accor, and Fairmont), and I've been to places where there was only an SPG and absoluteoly nothing else but then I've been to places where there was only a WyndhamRewards and absolutely nothing else, same with Choice, same with Best Western. Beyond DFW airport, I'm not sure though where there's a Hyatt and absolutely nothing else.

So while I would agree form your examples that in the world of only Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt, that sometimes Hyatt might be best. But if you want ot be covered everywhere in the world, you'll need even more programs than just those 3.

(I would suggest, for starters, if someone wants to be covered in smaller cities in the US and elsewhere, that they add at least one "budget" program -- BW, Choice, and/or Wyndham Rewards -- to their list. There's so many small towns in America, and some in key locations, that have only one or more of those and nothing else. And sometimes, due to season or events or such, they can be high on cash but low on points.)

I was referring to the treatment I receive at each chain which as a Diamond at Hyatt is far superior to the treatment I receive as a Diamond at Hilton or as a Gold at Marriott.

Did not intend any comment on the footprint of the chains as I didn't really get the impression that that was the OP's major concern since it was implied that the two chains already involved had sufficient coverage.

And as far as miles goes, if the OP credits his/her stays to Hyatt there's always a chance they'll get a bonus 50k UA miles.