I posted this is a few different hotel foums since I am an active member of several.

Since belonging to several hotel programs, I have not yet figured out which one gives the most points per dollar spent (or per stay) and, more importantly, which one has the most generous redemption awards.

Any advice would be most appreciated.

Marriott!

Ditto---Marriott

I generally like staying at Marriott properties and have around 150 nights this year. I have also been staying at Intercontinental properties from time to time and they really give the most points. I have done 33 nights this year and earned 150,000 points. They are also quite easy to redeem and I was even able to get the Intercontinental Barclay in NYC for New Years Eve for 30,000 points just last month.

I like Marriott for conisitency and quality, but I often check tripadvisor.com for Intercontinental properties that have great reviews in an area and book them if they seem good.

I would not say Marriott is better than SPG, what is important to me is where I redeem my reward; we are fans of the Caribbean and Marriott rules there. This is the reason I stay with Marriott.^

Marriott is the best because of BBs and PPs, huge savings

Well, having recently discovered that "stay anytime" means "Only if we feel like letting you" I am a little less in love with Marriott.

However, I am probably taking my elite business to Hilton next year. The reason, I am working in one city for the first three months of the year. I like to just do the extended stay deal. My options an OLD Residence Inn with exterior access (and where a girl was attacked a few weeks ago by a drunk from the resturant next door) or a practically new Homewood. Which would you take? (Me I am going for new LOL!)

I checked into the Homewood last week after two months at the RI. The first question I asked myself was "why have I been staying in the slums?" IMHO, the RI is fast becoming the "weak" link for Marriott!

[QUOTE=CarolDisney1;6783429]My options an OLD Residence Inn with exterior access (and where a girl was attacked a few weeks ago by a drunk from the resturant next door) or a practically new Homewood. Which would you take? (Me I am going for new LOL!) I checked into the Homewood last week after two months at the RI. The first question I asked myself was "why have I been staying in the slums?" ]

I spent two years almost living in the Renaissance Meadowlands NJ, where i earned Marriott Platinum status.

Then changed client and have stayed in a Homewood Suites in Cranford, NJ over three years.

Renaissance and Homewood in these specific instances are fine options because both properties are in good shape. Furthermore, both MR and HHONORS are excellent programs.

Bottom line--just stay at the property that is in good shape!

Hopefully you meant Residence Inns. If you actually did mean Renaissance, then they are in a league way above either the Homewood or RI. Renaissance are full service, which means they have room service, proper restaurant(s) available for breakfast, lunch or dinner, concierge lounge, MUCH better beds, bathrooms and amenities, and in the case of the Renaissance Meadowlands they also provide free HSIA so not a differentiating factor in this case.

It really depends who is picking up the bill and where are you planning to stay because not all the chains have equal coverage around the globe.

This year I will end up ~130 Marriott nights, ~70 Hyatt nights, ~50 InterContinental nights, and ~25 Hilton nights.

I get most bang for the buck during non promotional periods by staying at Marriott's and using EEO's and PP's/BB's. What comes to the actual awards the Marriott's program is the weakest of all these four.

On average I earn one free InterContinental stay for every five IC stays. I average around 6K points per stay and the free IC night is 30K points.

During this Hyatt FFN period in addition of earning a FFN for every two stays I earn 1500 UA miles for every stay (until the end of December) + 2500 to 3000 Hyatt GP (G1, G2, G3, 1W, and W5 bonuses mixed) points per stay.

I typically stay at Hilton's only when they have promotions running i.e. 1/2/3 free nights after 3/5/7 stays of 80K bonus points for 8 stays.

However, I have noticed that a lot of Residence Inn's are getting "tired" Homewood is a newer chain and doesn't seem as "tired" overall.

Marriott is generally pretty good about making franchises stay up to par, but IMHO they aren't as on top of the Residence Inn situation. That's what I meant about "weak link". For example, near me several Fairfields have been
removed from the Marriott brand, but none of the Residence Inns have been removed and none of them are doing much to upgrade the facilities.

I'm not sure if I would completely agree here. It seems that every RI I have stayed at this year is being renovated. In fact, the last one I stayed at, Rochester, NY, they are in the process of building a whole new multifloor building. I bet once they finish it, they will start removing the older building "pods" and build another new multifloor building.

I meant Renaissance--and agree they CAN be in a league of their own. I was just illustrating how I got to elite in Marriott and Hilton, respectively. Based on my limited experiences with Residence Inns (maybe two or three to date)--they are not in the same league as Homewood Suites. They just miss the mark....

I understand.

Based on my limited experience I have been very impressed with RI. But then again the only one I have stayed at is the RI in Whistler, BC which is probably not indicative of most RIs as it has a pool, 2 hot tubs, ski shop, keyed indoor parking, and is slope side. Hard to beat even by the full service hotels. I have never stayed at HS so can't compare.

Also an associate stayed at the RI Phoenix airport which is brand new and looked very nice. I think it might depend on the perticular property.

My RI experiences are La Jolla and Westside Los Angeles (Pico at Beverly). Breakfasts not as comprehensive as HS, seemed crowded in La Jolla, with poor replenishment of cereals etc. One queen bed was only option in Los Angeles vs. HS offering two queens or one king. I wrote a letter expressing disappointment to La Jolla, and got some vague response, inviting me to return (which was the last thing I want to do).