True, I could stop at HH Gold, but I'm looking at about 20 "extra" stays to park at either Marriott or Hilton. If I do it at Marriott, I'm Plat. If I do it at Hilton, I'm Diamond. So for me the comparison really is between those two levels - which would be more advantageous. Leaning towards HH based on the feedback so far.

Credit cards - had the Surpass card for years but since all of my stays go on my corporate AMEX it was hardly worth it. Recently looked into reactivating one of my AMEXes as a HH card but the offers now all disqualify those who previously had the card, and I'd rather credit my spend to the MR Visa which has better benefits - I earn about 25 nights/year on the card.

From a lifetime perspective, neither my lifetime points nor lifetime nights are anything to write home about - I was a Hilton guy through and through until the program devalued enough to move to Marriott. Since that was only last year, I have many years to go before lifetime would be at a meaningful level.

I think that all of your ideas could readily apply to someone whose circumstances were slightly different from mine - who is closer to Lifetime status, or would be open to a Hilton branded card. And as I mentioned earlier today, if I wanted UA Silver it would really be a no-brainer to just go for MR Platinum. But none of those things really apply to my situation.

Thanks,

Dave

In general, platinum is worthless. This is coming from someone with just about 700 nights in the program. I logged 500+ of those before I really opened my eyes to the other chains. I'm platinum this year, but I'm not staying at Marriotts this year. I'm just going to hold onto the credit card for a few years (15 elite night credits per year) until it pushes me over the limit for lifetime platinum, and then I'll dump it.

I have nothing against Marriott properties. There are lots of them, and I like most of them. I just haven't had too many great upgrades / experiences due to my being platinum. Marriott lounges are great - but for now, you get them w/ gold too.

I've had good hits at Grosvenor House as both a Gold and Plat...love places with lots of suites in inventory! For the most part, Marriott Gold and Plat are pretty similar with the one exception being if you need this as your backdoor to Star Silver.

I miss the welcome amenity from my Plat years - it was nice to have wine and cheese brought to the room. Ten bucks at the bar? Meh...that's less exciting. Glad to hear some international properties are still doing a decent amenity: I've stayed at a few European Marriotts that brought a full bottle of a somewhat decent local wine.

If you decide to chase HH status, pick up their credit card so at least you start at Gold. You could go all the way to Diamond just on credit card spend, but you have enough stays/nights planned that this route is probably unnecessary.

HH, like MR, gets a lot better outside the U.S. and Canada. I've had great Gold/Diamond upgrades at far-flung Hiltons.

No. The main difference is the points. Having platinum vs. gold status theoretically makes a difference in the likelihood of getting an upgrade, but my experience is that U.S. properties tend not to give upgrades unless asked, while foreign properties (I've stayed at a lot in Asia) treat Golds and Platinums equally well. Either way, I've gotten no upgrades as a Platinum that my colleagues who were Gold didn't also get.

No. No.

Been HH Diamond, didn't get a lot of extra love.

As MR Platinum, stay mostly at FF and CYs, and I get a lot of suite upgrades. Being a regular at some of those properties help. It's useful, but I think the sweet spot with the program is Gold.

Most properties, you get 400 points, which I estimate as being worth $4, but maybe less now. One of my favorite properties, a Fairfield in the 626, was a Cat 1 last year, it's now a Cat 3, where it belongs to be, but the value of staying there is diminished.

Finally, you do get UA Silver with the Platinum. I'm 300K miles from lifetime UA Gold, I might start working on that again soon but I was longtime CO Platinum and got tired of Jeff Smisek doing a great Frank Lorenzo impression.

How about just considering which chain's hotels you enjoy staying at more? Since you're going to mid-tier in both programs then just topping one off to the top tier, would you rather spend those extra stays in Marriotts or Hiltons?

I wouldn't bet too much on HH Diamond. I look at the long-term plans and it is apparently taking me to Starwood and Marriott with their LT program. I could easily get HH Gold from CCs or other programs, but the fact that you go back to kettle after a year of inactivity is just too difficult to swallow.

Interesting. If the hotel is sold out, how do you find a lower rate to match with?

A lot of times when a hotel is sold out marriott pulls the room instantly, and prices it absurdly for platinum members (I've seen $600+ for $200 rooms, just due to them being so full). There's a lag time though, between when Marriott does this price change and before 3rd party sites are able to pull the room. ^

So it goes like this: wait for hotel to fill, watching prices carefully>when they realize they will need to have guaranteed availability, they will bump up the price by a huge amount> book this absurd pricing asap and find a 3rd party site who hasn't made the price jump or pulled the room yet.

This year, probably Hiltons only because the HGI next to work is nicer than the Fairfield. When travelling more broadly, I've come to prefer Marriotts particularly at the "low end".

Dave

We've always found the plat over ride rates to be really reasonable.

I get LNF on 90% of my says though, so even if it's "reasonable" if it jumps a bit, it's usually a good opportunity to save 25%

My understanding is that for a FS Marriott hotel, the overide rate is the hotel's general Corporate discounted rate. And the times I've actually recognized I was using the Plat overide, the rate was very reasonable.

Now Starwood, OTOH, offers a hotel's Rack rate for their Plat overide and that is usually much higher than their general corporate rate.

I realize that you were asking about Marriott vs Hilton, but here's another point of reference as I made a decision about Marriott vs. Starwood. Last year I was Platinum in both programs, but because of reduced travel, I knew that I would have to make a choice as to which one to qualify for in 2014. Decision was super-easy because quite frankly, Platinum in Marriott was pretty useless (I travel mainly in North America). Starwood gives me room upgrades very often, free breakfast and free wifi. Plus I always get a welcome amenity (sometimes just 500 bonus points, but occasionally something nicer). AND nine times out of ten, they acknowledge me as a Plat when I get to a Starwood property. I was lucky if they seemed to even care at a Marriott property.