Marriott vs. Hilton
 

Hi all,
What program do you think is better - Marriott Rewards vs. Hilton Honnors? I want to consider all possible aspects:
- points cost (earned per dollar/spent per free night);
- points earned per stay (only X points/dollar or additional promotions);
- points earned from affiliated credit cards (paying for staying in the hotel and for regular payments outside);
- availability of rooms for award points;
- upgrades and occasional promotions;

did I forget something?

I'm a dimond in Hilton but this year will have to stay a lot in Waldorf (Germany) where there is no Hilton. So I have no other choice but to use Marriot at least for those nights. The question is should I switch to Marriot completelly or not. It's hard to collect in two banks:-)

I did cross-post it in the Hilton forum to ask their opinions but if moderators decide it can be managed differently please fix it as needed.

I am a member of both programs, but I tend to favor Marriott. I haven't kept up with Hilton's promotions too much. Marriott and Hilton have the same base point earnings (10 points per eligible U.S. $).

You can get MR points for up to 3 rooms. Per my Hilton manual, they give you credit for up to 2 rooms.

Marriott annually has the Megabonus Promotion in which you can earn thousands of points (varies among Silver, Gold, Platinum) for having a certain amount of stays.

They currently have the Double Points promotion in which you earn double points after your 2nd paid Visa stay at any Marriott brand which expires January 31st.

You can sign up for a Marriott Reward (MR) Visa Card and earn 15,000 points upon your 1st purchase. You earn 3 pts per $ spent at Marriott hotels and 1 pt. per $ spent elsewhere.

Does Hilton offer promotions like this?

Hilton HHonors beats Marriott Rewards and Hyatt Gold Passport beats Hilton Honors. It really depend what you are looking for and your ability to switch properties every night to maximize the benefits.

Hilton has offered once or twice a year promotion where you can choose between multiple options i.e. free nights, double/triple points, or double/triple airline miles. Also on Hilton you can have both the points and the airline miles.

The reasons why I have stays with Marriott are the EEO's and the ability to use Bonus Bucks/Premium Pounds. You can have very reasonable priced stays when you combine these.

BTW I am just waiting for my Platinum confirmation from Marriott. Then I would have the top status with Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, and InterContinental chains.

The most important thing > I just made 1K on FT too.

Oh yes, the Bonus Bucks (BBs) are a major plus. The rules indicate that you must use one $50 or $100 BB per 2 day stay. In my experience, depending on the hotel, you could probably use many BBs in one stay. For instance, I have used 3 BBs on a 2-day stay (you could probably use more), which will maximize your hotel savings.

Do tell.
I've never seen anyone indicate that they have used more than one BB per 2 nights stay.

Oh, and welcome to FlyerTalk.
:)

One good thing about the Marriott programme is that the number of points per night reduces for multiple night stays.

With Hilton, unless you book a 6 night stay and use an elite award, it can get very expensive to spend 4 or 5 nights in a property. Marriott is much better in that respect.

I am a member of both, but take the radical step of decding which one to use by selecting the best hotel for the location I'm in.

I'm top level in both programs.

* Harder to get to top elite in Marriott
* Points go farther with Marriott, especially multiple-night awards
* Hilton's promos seem (to me) to provide much more bang for my buck
* Marriott appears to have a more consistent product across the board.

Love the Marriott properties in UK (I spend my awards in Europe); Hilton's generally suck there.

Hilton properties in Rome + Paris are very nice!

The Hilton Diamond Desk can make things happen -- essentially no blackouts as a Diamond. With Marriott, you're down in the pack with everybody else. However, I have heard reports that the folks at SLC can be very accomodating.

I base my hotel choices on cost -- I pay for every one of my stays (~150 nights/year), so I wind up negotiating a rate -- Fairfield Inns have been very accomodating and the properties are basic (and sometimes more so) but provide all that I need. Hilton/Hamptons are very good, but in the long term they'd bust my budget. I got to Diamond "accidentally" and have just stayed there because of the dynamite awards.

If there's an upgrade available, I usually get it with Hilton; certainly on award stays, so far. I have no experience with Marriott awards, but others have indicated that Marriott is pretty good with the upgrades for Plats, too.

Marriott Visa is useful for very little besides paying for Marriott stays -- sometimes you need a Visa card to qualify for a promotion.

Other than that I use the Hilton AMEX almost exclusively. 3 HH points/$ on everyday stuff, 5 pts/$ on groceries, gas, drugs, cell phones and, of course, Hiltons. :) Put 20K on the card/year and you get Hilton Gold. The card alone has been good for about 80K-100K in 2005

Yes, I agree with most of what's been said above.

Marriott, in general, is a better choice, at least for me.

The Hilton point devaluation, and a few other issues has keep me from obtaining HHonors higher level elite status, and everyone, or nearly so is an HHonors Gold. At Marriott, that's not so.

And, of course, this is the Mariott forum! :D

Mark

And, of course, if you skip over to the Hilton forum, the exact same discussion is going on. Might even be the same thread title. :)

ICH beats Hyatt Gold Passport, but I agree with that order otherwise.

I am an IC RA too. My 53 nights at IC hotels group last year earned me 13 free nights at the InterContinental's after I registered all the possible promotions.

My 50 nights/stays at the Hyatt's, however, earned me 22 FFN's that can be used at any Hyatt property and and more than 100K Hyatt points. See how I am using my FFN's http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...2&postcount=15. Hyatt GP is far superior to any program especially during the FFN's time.

Although this is the Marriott forum, I think that one should be objective. There are so many aspects to any loyalty program that something that might fit me doesn't fir you at all.

IMHO Marriott's program has its strenghts and weaknesses.

I have had front desk employees accept 2 $50 Bonus Bucks for a 2 day stay before. I would submit one at check-in, and then submit one later in your stay, particluarly to front desk employees on a different shift. That's one way to maximize your hotel savings.

This could work also with the $100 BBs. Usually the $100 BBs that I've had are for the regular Marriott and Renaissance hotels.

Refer to threads "Marriott Bonus Bucks - Any Experiences?" and "Bonus Bucks Questions... good for any rate? for other forums."

Top tier in both programs and generally prefer Marriott. Their problem when compared to Hilton though is they have no counterpart to the Hilton Diamond Desk.

Top level with both...
 

I like the MR program better for a number of reasons. I tend to use my hotel points for benefits other than hotel stays, as my company is paying for the hotel room. I prefer to stay home or with family when on personal travel. Although the value is diminished as mentioned on other threads I like the "merchandise" options and the EEO for 40,000 pts/$250 spa cert. has been turned in a few times :D

Although Hilton does offer an occasional bonus, I find that the Marriott bonuses add up quicker and tend to last longer.

Finally as mentioned above the almighty bonus buck. I always turn them in at checkout so that I have a receipt that doesn't reflect the BB to turn in for expense purposes...