mgcho

I am starting to travel weekly throughout US with my new job.
Which brand has better/more return rate per stay frequency?
Hilton Brands or Marriott Brands?
Any of your opinion is appreciated @:-)

aaupgrade

http://www.marriott.com/marriott.mi?page=beherefaster

And that does not take into account using a Marriott Premier Visa which would get you an additional 5 points per dollar spent at Marriott properties, or elite bonus points of 10-30% based on elite level.

etsmyers

How many nights per week?

staying in same property or changing 1-2 times each week?

Marriott will give you a status challenge, Hilton usually does not. If you change properties 1-2 times per week like I do, you can make Diamond quickly 28 stays. Eitherway, you are sortof screwed for 08. If you stay 3 nights per week the rest of year, minus say 2 weeks for holidays, you may end up with about 35 nights. That is midpoint from silver to gold in MR. It is over the gold threshold in HH and if you change properties, it can actually be enough to get you to diamond.

PhillyPhlyer40

I will give my opinion:

Marriott:
+
Travel packages ^ ^
LOUNGES ^^
BREAKFAST at all FS/Ren m-f ^ but not weekend
Megabonus ^^
-
inability to book suites on points
no bfast on weekends
no bfast at resorts

Hyatt:
+
book suites on points ^^
bfast 7 days a week ^^
modern deco ^
-
Hyatt place
not many of them in the US/Europe

Hilton:
+
still struggling on this one
-
in my opinion, DATED properties
Lounges stink
bfast coupon routinely NOT for full bfast
did i say DATED properties?


To sum it up for me-
Marriott is great for a week long stay using travel package, although I am migrating some business to Hyatt due to 1-bfast 7 days a week (worth a few HUNDRED for my wife, son, and I on vacation), and 2-ability to book SUITES with points. This is HUGE to me. Marriott puts 5K points/night for a suite, but I have NEVER been able to use them!

mgcho

Thank you all for your opinions.

I travel 2-3 nights every week (max $240/night stay limit),
want to book easily with points when use them,
and like to get clean facility and good beds + sofa beds to sit on & work.

I find out some of the Country Inns are nice but not widely present everywhere.

I guess I probably have to go with Marriott then.

keeton

Since you are asking about stays in particular, Hilton offers the fastest track to elite level by number of stays. With Marriott, elite level is strictly based on nights, regardless of the number of stays.

I'm a Platinum with Marriott and Gold with Hilton so you can probably tell my preferences. Here's my take on the two chains and programs:

Earning points: Hilton. If you don't double-dip with the airlines and use the Hilton AMEX, you will accumulate points faster.

Burning points: Marriott. The standard award rates, by category, are typically lower with Marriott. Both programs offer package-type specials, but they never seem to suit my travel plans.

Full service properties: Marriott. The Marriott, JW and Renaissance properties are consistently good compared to the variable Hilton and Doubletree brands.

Limited service properties: Hilton. The Fairfield and (especially) Courtyard properties generally pale to the Hampton and Hilton Garden Inn brands.

Edited to note: The rules are changing for 2009, which makes redeeming points with Marriott more expensive and the advantage over Hilton less so.

sophiegirl

If you are SOLELY into point collection - Hilton. As others have stated, they have the fastest point accumulation on a day to day basis.

As it appears you care about where you stay AND points - Marriott. Much larger collection of hotels, over all much nicer hotels, and lots of bonus programs to earn extra points. For $240 a night you will be able to stay in most of the full service properties if you use rate codes consistently.

You did not ask about *wood (Sheraton, 4Points, Westin, W, etc) - but they would be my 2nd choice (rather than) Hilton.

If you are consistently doing 2 - 3 night per week, you could make 1st tier at Marriott and *Wood, as *wood offers double stay promotions at certain points throughout the year. (like now)

Whichever hotel(s) you choose, get the credit card if you can.

littlevoices

I'm a huge fan of the Marriott beds... definately classed as a 'good' bed.

People here haven't mentioned that at the moment there is a Marriott Megabonus (Think free points) going on, they run about 3 times a year. You can sign up here;

https://www.marriott.com/rewards/pro...MGF8&psrc=MRTR

If you haven't already you can ask someone on this board for a 'friend referral' bonus which will be worth 5,000 free points for you too (if you haven't signed up for Marriott rewards yet...

This board is obviously going to give you biased positives of Marriott, might be worth asking on the Hilton board too... but, personally I much prefer Marriott to Hilton. That said, you can probably manage to get to the top level in both programs if you prefer to spread your loyalty and move between hotels during the week.

DKorda

You will rack up points with Hilton. Marriott still has some catching up to do. Being HH Diamond & MR Plat I will give you some insight.

Hilton is basically a 100% Bonus- If you set you prefrences that was.
Marriott is 30% point bonus.

Hilton will ALWAYS offer you and a companion free breakfast. Whether it's a reward stay or paid stay.

Marriott will only offer free breakfast at FS hotels, weekdays only. Marriott will not give your companion free breakfast. Marriott does not honor free breakfast at any hotel with 'RESORT' in their name. That really sucks.

When I stay at FS Hiltons, either on paid stay or reward, I get upgraded just about every time. When I stay at a Hilton resort, it's 95% upgrade success, and they will give out the suites too!

Marriott will sometimes give you a suite, but it states suites are not included.

I think overall Hilton treats me better than MR, it's easier to maintain status with HH. MR requires 75 nights / yr for plat.

MR does have more (and nicer) FS resorts. The no free breakfast at CY & 'RESORTS' is what really burns me about MR.

kymbakitty

I pretty much agree with Dkorda. However, I did not know that my husband will not get free breakfast at a Marriott if he is traveling with me. This seems very odd.....did I read that correctly? Hopefully, if there is a lounge, he would be granted access also...what a waste if that were not the case.

As already mentioned, Diamond status is so much easier to obtain/maintain, mostly due to the fact that they allow stays as well as nights in order to obtain the various levels.

I also stay at RIs mostly and I found out that, for some unknown reason, I only get 50% points for that property--odd, Homewood Suites (very similiar, only a little bit better IMHO) gives full points. I also found out that when I put in my SWA code (thinking I could double dip), I got a lousy .5 points and forfeited my points at the Marriott hotel I was staying! Yikes....good thing that only happened once! I don't bother with SWA because my husband and I don't use those awards for biz travel anyway.

I'm still fighting to keep Diamond Hilton and Gold Marriott for now. I think I'll have much more experience to speak from next year as I start to use more Marriotts than previous years. I do not like the whole lack of breakfast/lounge access in resort properties though....Hilton does not exclude those perks. And when I care about it most, is when I'm traveling OUT of the United States with my husband (which is why I really don't care about the lounges all that much when I'm traveling for my job--in California).

Dawn

sophiegirl

My experience has been different. During the week, my companions ALWAYS receive access to the lounge, which also means they have free breakfast and everything else provided in the lounge. In fact, I have found that when I have booked more than one room, the other ROOM also received access.

On the weekend, it is up to the hotel whether they provide free breakfast. My personal rate of success is about 70% - YMMV, and others certainly report higher & lower percentages. However, when it IS provided via breakfast, breakfast coupons, or a breakfast allowance it always has included my companion.

Resorts are excluded from a lot of Marriott "offers". If you plan to spend a lot of time in one, HH or even Hyatt may be a better option for you.

DKorda

That is good to know.. I don't spend much time at FS, mostly because it's tough to justify $169+ / nt when CY or Fairfield's are $100-$130.

Thanks for your experiences.

sophiegirl

DKorda -

perhaps you have done so, but if you look at this thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=685162 you may find some codes to try which will lower your costs on FS. I have found that I can (usually) bring the rate down with diligent use of these codes.

If you prefer FS, it may be worth a try!

Sprite

One more negative with Hilton - they do really take your points if you have no activity for a year. That scenario may seem hard to imagine at the moment - but if you change programs or travel to locations where you can't/don't use Hilton, when you hit the 12 month mark your points are GONE. (no warning) Happened to me twice - I know that I am responsible for the loss but traveling so much doesn't leave me a lot of time to bother with bothersome details - therefore Marriott stays my favorite. As stated in another thread, I have never heard of them dumping someones points for inactivity.

sophiegirl

Agreed - I lost all of my points also... haven't stayed in HH since.