Based off this, 2009 I will have to decide to be Marriott Plat or Hilton Diamond.

Hilton is looking like the clear winner.

Agreed.

And if you aren't a plat, the decision is even clearer to NOT go with marriott.

I ave been HH Diamond for 10 years and just got a comp to Gold with MR. Based on the announcement I just read there is absolutely no doubt that HH wins hands down. I earn 100% bonus with no black-out dates...too bad this happened just as I was looking forward to giving them (MR) a try.

I'm so glad I read this thread! I made diamond back in June but I never ONCE thought to do points + points for a 100% point bonus. I'm such a newbie. Thank you Flyertalk! I've been getting the sad 500 mile bonus per stay. I have also thought about switching to Marriott next year just to check out the program. After reading this thread, it sounds like both have their merits. Hilton does do a fast track for status too. I'll try to get a status match with Marriott next year.

But I do have to say, the points accumulation on HHonors has been impressive in my short experience. I only stayed in HGIs and Hiltons this year and hit diamond so quickly from blue in December to Diamond in June and with the double points promotion in DC for the entire summer, despite not doing points + points, I hit 500k points this month (total of 10 months of travel). Hilton's GLONP rewards are a great value for using your points at top category hotels. I plan to do 10 days at the Conrad Hong Kong next year on a GLONP for 300k points. I also love that the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan is in the Hilton family and will be putting my parents up there when they come visit me over the holidays.

Once you make diamond, which you will see is not that difficult: about 4 nights for $1000 = 10000 base + 5000 bonus + 5000 bonus (no miles) + 6000 (citicard 6 pts x $1 at Hilton). That's 26000 points a stay. With double and triple points promos that DO frequently come up despite what others say (NYC is having a triple points promo now, and Florida properties for the last 5 months, just gotta find them), it racks up quickly.

As for losing your points, I have read lots of other threads that say they don’t expire.

It's looking like points required for the room awards are getting pretty similar between HH and MR, in which case HH is better because you can rack up points faster.

But the cruise redemptions are vastly different. A 7-day Caribbean cruise on HH (in season) requires 885k. On MR it's only 165k. It looks to me that maybe the HH offer includes taxes and fuel charges, but I'm not sure. But even if so, that's still WAY too many points compared to MR. Especially since HH is Carnival while MR is Holland American

Am I missing something?

I take the 100% only. I guess I got spoiled with HH because even though I am at 130k with MR it is slooooowwww going to get there. HH had a Quad point deal at the Scottsdale resort earlier this year. I stayed 4 nights and racked up 123,000 points. I have not given up yet on MR. I have nights booked in Las Vegas, London, Amsterdam, and again in Amsterdam on the way back from Germany. I will go for the MB and then re-assess. One thing is clear though...I will not lose my HH Diamond status over MR now.

It all depends on where you are staying, how long, promos, etc even for Marriott. One of my stays in London last year netted me more than 100K Marriott points as well. So large amounts of Marriott points can be had as well. So if we get to pick and choose the best Hilton point opportunities, lets do the same with Marriott as well.

Something else... The Hilton Amex card is really good too (as is the current 62500 points for applying)
https://www143.americanexpress.com/a...7mB3hAtQ%3D%3D

I think its better than the Marriott "black" visa card. I'm averaging 10,000 hilton points/month with the card. (you get 3 points per dollar spent vs 1 on marriott; and you get double points on "Everyday" purchases so that is 6 vs 2)...

Your link isn't complete. Here is the correct link: https://www143.americanexpress.com/a...7mB3hAtQ%3D%3D

Definitely not true.

Just finished a 21-day swing of Europe, 16 of the nights were in Marriotts.

I'm a plat, wife and daughter zilch. Was automatically granted lounge access/breakfast for all of us with having to ask.

Admittedly, the lounges were only in Amsterdam (2 nights) and London(7 nights), but breakfast in all locations was very good.

At cap d'Ail (Monaco), they volunteered that, "...since we don't have a Concierge Lounge, feel free to use the mini-bar to your heart's content." And we did. And when we ran out, my daughter called down and it was re-stocked.

I gotta get back there. :)

MY hotel BCS Rankings 1. Hyatt 2. SPG 3. MR 4. Hilton
 

i disagree on the Hilton being a superior program to Marriott

Hilton was the first program for me to be elite in and dropping Hh was not an easy decision but it was the one that made the most sense to me after an objective look at why I should stay vs why I should go

I was top tier at MR, Hh, SPG, and Hyatt

I was getting annoyed with Hh, the redemption rates they were charging for short term stays, their recent increase in redemption rates, the lack of lounge access int'l if not on a club floor as a diamond, the lack of promo's (compared to the other majors), top tier recognition, service, and benefits..

once I looked at this, I just felt I was treated the worst of the big four at Hh. I dumped Hh, put those 28 stays a year into GP+ (yeah I know, but with them there are a few select benefits that can really pay off) and back into MR, SPG, and Hyatt.. MR as much as they have pi$$ed me off this year; are still better than hilton.. they (MR) have just fallen further behind Hyatt and SPG respectively however if I have to compare them to Hh, then I find MR the better deal.

the only reason I might select hh is if I could only do 28 stays which is obviously much easier.. even in that case, if possible I'd go to Hyatt then SPG before Hh

I like Marriott properties a little bit better, but Hilton properties tend to have a few of the things I like to see when traveling business. personally I like staying at Embassy Suites hotels by Hilton. They always have a free FULL breakfast including omelets, and they also have a complimentery happy hour which includes soft drinks, wine, mixed drinks and snacks. Yes you can get these options at Marriot lounges but usually only after you have reached a status that will give you lounge access. you ill get this just by staying at the Embassy. In addition Hampton inn, and Homewood suites also have free breakfast and homewood even serves free dinner. Lastly I typically find the Hilton properties to be about 10-20% less then comparable marriot properties.

This is not an accurate reflection as obviously Marriott wants you to think you will get their rewards quicker. on the tab for hilton it says you need 280 thousand points for a 7 night stay at a CAT6. That is not true....if you are a hilton silver, gold, or diamond you can get a 7 night for 155,000 points. and when you choose double points as a earnings style you are actually getting up to 20 points per dollar using hilton vs 5 per dollar with marriott so 155,000 points could actually be as cheap as $7,750 which is 50% cheaper then a marriot stay are the property they compared with.

Depends
 

It depends on your earning and redeeming circumstances. If your stays are mostly short ones, then HH is a faster program as you get the bonus miles per STAY, not per night. But if you tend to have longer stay, go for MR.

In terms of redeeming points, Hilton has a better value for award of 6 or more nights (GLONP2). MR does much better on award of fewer nights stay though.

Both have merits in different ways. You should join/keep both programs. But if you are to choose only one, look at your situation and preference.

You are absolutely correct. And actually it is not an accurate reflection for even more reasons including the new Marriott redemption levels, promos at each hotel chain, etc. The only reason I posted that was it was info provided by Marriott pertinent to the OP's question. SPG has a similar comparison on their web site. Hilton, TTBOMK does not.

When deciding what program to choose, the following should be done IMO:

1) See what hotel chain is present in locations you frequent or wish to frequent. The hotels may be nice, but if that chain doesn't have hotels where you want to be then what's the point. 5 weeks a year in Vail is one major reason I stay with Marriott.

2) Try each hotel chains' properties in locations you frequent and get a feeling of the quality, service, lounge, etc. and decide which one works best for you.

3) Everyone should get out their calculator and/or spreadsheet and do the math when evaluating what programs they are considering. If you are, or plan on being, top tier then use the 25 points per dollar for Hilton, 20 points per dollar for Marriott, and 5 points per dollar for SPG (all include CC points); adjust accordingly for lower elite levels. Take into account bonus promotions. From what I understand SPG has a lot of promos and it makes sense due to their significantly lower pre-promo earn/burn rates, Marriott has seasonal promos, and from what I have ascertained from isolated posts in this forum Hilton has few promos (sorry, if I am wrong but I rarely do Hilton). For redemption (burn rates) use the best redemption at each hotel chain like book 4 get 1 free at Marriott and SPG, and the GLON6 (or something like that) at Hilton. Take into account special package like Travel Packages at Marriott, and similar things at SPG and Hilton (this will probably entail some investigating). The most difficult aspect of this is quantifying the promo affect. I know there have been numerous posts about SPG's great promos here in the Marriott forum, but few details to quantify those proms in magnitude or frequency. When doing a thorough analysis, one would probably need to go do a search in the SPG forum to determine and quantify those promos to each ones particular travel patterns. I only use SPG promos as an example as that has been mentioned frequently lately. Needless to say this would need to be done for Hilton and Marriott, and also other aspects of each program.

The reason you do it yourself is that quite often there are disagreements on each others analysis. My philosophy is that if you want to have an intelligent conversation, talk to yourself. ;)

BTW, where did you came up with the 5 points per dollar for Marriott? :confused: