To pile on here. In my opinion, MR is not the worst points program; I personally would nominate HIlton for that title, but as noted there at many variables that impact that. I regularly get very acceptable value from my MR points. So, to answer your question, it must be you.

There are other programs that may be even worse, but the point is, if you travel this rarely (in terms of when you need to stay on points), and you think that one program should work for all destinations equally, then I think perhaps it's your approach that is the problem.

I find places where Marriott works well and places where Marriott works poorly. But then I do mulitple trips a year, and mostly not to typical "aspirational" destinations.

I did do a trip that was 'aspirational" for me (dunno if for anyone else) last month, and used 35k points for a nice SpringHill Suites in Anchorage Alaska (with free parking, which the FS properties wouldn't have had), and on cash the rooms were in the $250-$300/night range in July. So I didn't consider that that bad a value. (Across town, Hilton was charging 60000 points as a minimum, even though the cash rates were no worse. So doesn't that make Hilton worse in that particular comparison?)

I consider Anchorage "aspirational" because I got way more "wow" from side trips -- like watching bears fishing for salmon at Brooks Falls, and kayaking across an iceberg-filled lake and then hiking on Spencer Glacier, and taking a tour boat across another iceberg-filled lake to the face of Portage Glacier -- than I could ever get out any boring-for-me beach lounging. Anchorage was simply the logical base for all these side trips, but the season for doing this kind of stuff around Anchorage is so short that hotels skyrocket in cash prices during that time, and thus the (cash) pricing is kinda "aspirational" too (though it's not much worse than midtown Manhattan NYC most any time).

I am always surprised when people say that Hilton is the worst program. I have moved to Marriott, but I still think that Hilton offered a much better value. While Hilton properties cost much more on a per point basis (not quite double Marriott ) you earn Hilton points MUCH faster. If you take points all the time you get 15 points per dollar at most properties. With the recent promotions make that 25. Marriott gives you 10 per dollar and the promotions stink.... A total of 10,000 for 5 stays. With Hilton credit cards you get 3 points per dollar spent with generous bonus categories offering 5 or 6 per dollar. With Marriott you get 1 per dollar and 2 in much more limited bonus categories. Not to mention Marriott's ridiculous 50 night requirement for a mid tier status. A status that Hilton basically gives away.

.7 cents??...........wow, I want into your world! :) LOL

SPG is the best program out there when it comes to hotels. By a long shot!

Way too broad a statement.

You want to know the best redemption I have seen lately?

Red Roof Inn, downtown Chicago, Saturday of Lollapalooza recently. $299 plus tax for cash vs. 6000 points.

The W was about $500. Most everything else sold out.

Well, it depends in part how much you pay for your paid stays. As you noted, Hilton's promos are almost always per dollar. So they earn less for those staying in cheap suburban hotels.

By contrast, Marriott has lots of promos which give the same amount of bonus no matter what your room rate is. So if you get low rates (either because the hotels are inexpensive normally or because you do successful Look No Further best rate guarantees which lower the third party rate by 25%), Marriott promos may be better, while if you are staying at more expensive properties, Hilton promos may be better.

Meanwhile, on Hilton basically giving away its status: Yeah, that's another reason I stay at Marriott more. I have no need to stay at Hilton to have with Hilton. Meanwhile, I'm just a few years away (if my current stay and Marriott bonus patterns continue) from getting meaningful lifetime Marriott status. While it would be unrealistic for me to get to Hilton lifetime Diamond (and they haven't announced lifetime Gold), as you said, they practically give the status away, so who cares? I keep waiting for the year I'll have to get a HH Surpass or HHReserve card, but first I get two years of HH Gold from the (long gone) Milepoint Premium offer, and now this year I got two years of HH Diamond from their way-too-easy status match (from my Marriott Platinum :D).

...or you just buy a modest amount of points to reset the 2 year timer. Last time I checked, the cheapest amount of points you could buy was $12.

You don't even need to spend $12. Just purchase a song on iTunes through the Marriott Rewards Shopping Portal.

I used 270,000 MRpoints to transfer to United and got 132,000 miles. Booked a one way first class ticket on Lufthansa to from MIA-FRA-HKG in A380F then connected in Thai F to Bangkok and spent 7 nights at the new Marriott Sukuhumvit. Total package worth :
Plane ticket price: $6800
Hotel : 1050

$7900 for 270,000 points = 2.9 cents per point and you earn 3.75 to 1 over SPG as a platinum. Take that Starwood !!:)

I actually think Marriott has a great program and enjoy all platinum benefits

Silly question .... Where do I find these travel packages? Thanks!!!!!

http://www.marriott.com/rewards/usepoints/morepack.mi

Details are here. The miles transfer into your air account, but you still need to ensure the flights are available for award travel. You don't need to use them on the same trip. Once the air miles hit your account, you can use them however you wish.

Biggest drawback (for some people) is the need to stay 7 consecutive nights at the same property. Works great for my travel, though.

No program is perfect for all occasions. All programs have their strength weakness. Judging an entire program on the availability of one night redemption is a very shortsighted approach (as is transferring of UR to Marriott, usually).

With the current state of affairs, it is extremely easy to achieve a meaningful status in most big chains without actually staying there a lot of nights. IHG, Marriott, Hilton, SPG (heaven forbid, even Choice and Carlson) statuses can all be achieved via credit cards. (Hyatt is the only one out of the game, as Platinum status is both easy to achieve by staying and pretty much meaningless).

As an educated consumer, one should not follow blindly one program, but explore the program and use each one for its strengths.

Point wise, in the end, and on average, all the big ones are pretty much the same. When you take into consideration the ease of getting point and the points required for redemption, in toto (while not necessarily true for one particular redemption), they are all very similar.

If there was one program that was significantly better value from the other, people will flock to it, and very soon after they will not be so much better.

So does Hilton.

Not including promos, I easily get ~30 HH points per $ when staying at Hiltons. At an average value of 0.6c, that's a return of ~18%. It doesn't matter if the property is cheap or expensive. Its a rate of return on spend.

What sometimes seems to be lost in these discussions is that there are hotels attached to the programs. The best program is the one with hotels that work for you. The program gives you a (small) discount on your use of their hotels, which is good if the hotels work for you.