I’m trying to decide which hotel program to pursue for 2010. My GF and I make about 10 stays a year, mostly 1 or 2 days.

I’d like to earn enough points ASAP to spend a week or so in Europe.

Some status would also be nice, to get upgrades and build points faster. I realize we’ll never get significant status or points on stays alone, so I’m looking at credit cards. I’ve narrowed it down to the Hilton Surpass Amex and the PC Visa. Either would give me status (Hilton Gold, PC Plat) reasonably fast.

Can anyone advise me about whether HHonors Gold or PC Plat is better for accumulating points and upgrades? (HH Diamond is out of reach.)

I know lots of people swear by the SPG Amex, but I’ve ruled it out because of (1) little/no Starwood presence in several areas we visit and (2) the 50% haircut on transfers to UA.

PC Platinum? What program is that?

In terms of Hilton, with only 10 stays per year at 1.5 days per stay, you're not looking at a week in Europe. That should get you something like 25k miles. Once you get an elite level, there will be a bonus, but they don't just hand you a week in Europe for nothing. You will likely be a good few years before you get a week anywhere really nice. I think the 25k miles will get you a free night. It really isn't that easy to just get free hotel nights. Getting flight benefits is much easier.

Disclaimer: I don't know anything about the Priority Club program so my opinion will be skewed to Hilton.

The thing to do is look at where you want to spend your points. If both programs have hotels in the areas then look at what the hotel options are.

Hilton has a variety of types of hotels, Conrads, Hilton's, Hampton's, etc. Hilton also has elite level rewards known as GLOP and AXON. The AXON is tied to the American Express card.

You need to get an idea of how much you will be spending on the credit card. If you pay everything possible on the credit card (whichever program you choose) will it give you enough points for the week stay you want?

If you pick Hilton, make sure and set your earning preferences to points and points. This will help get free hotel stays sooner.

I'm PC Platinum ambassador right now. I like accumulating the points for future trips (about 240K), but the benefits of upgrades, concierge rooms, etc. are not that great imho. The PC properties don't often have that much to offer. I will enjoy the airport Crowne Plaza this week in St. Louis and at least there is a place for snacks and drinks there, but this doesn't happen very often.

Hilton has given us much more in terms of upgrades, use of points, etc. So my own experience would certainly lean toward Hilton.

I am Hilton Gold and a PC Plt. Neither gives that much. With PC Plt I am upgraded all the time. However, there is not much differences between the rooms I booked and the "upgraded" rooms. Once in a while, I stay at a PC property with a Club floor. Then the upgrade is worth something. With Hilton Gold, there just the extra bonus points and that's it. I have never been upgraded as a Hilton Gold.

Also, I like PC because number of promotions and the point break rewards (although I have never used one, the concept is wonderful.)

If you are flexible on where to stay on your award you can get great value on PC through point breaks (Like last time they had available IC DUS, Geneva and Cleveland). However if you want to go to Paris and it's not on the list (it's published like once in 3 month and some hotels might be off the list the same day they become available) then you need to spent too much points, IMO.
On the earning side, you can follow this thread http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/inter...ad-2009-a.html to earn sometimes for the whole week of point breaks on one stay

Reg. Hilton, it seems that their program is more dull then PC - no way to earn 20k points on 1 night stay, as you can sometimes with PC.

I'm HH Diamond and PC Platinum, but there's not much difference between HH Gold and Diamond - just that I get 50% bonus points with Diamond and you would only get 25% bonus points with Gold. PC Platinum gives you 50% bonus points, but you have to stay 50 or more nights or earn 60,000 points to get to PC Platinum. You reach HH Gold with 16 stays, 36 nights or 60,000 base points. 60K points with PC properties are easier to get than 60K base points with Hilton. Obviously 36 nights with HH is easier to get than 50 nights for PC Platinum. I realize you're getting to this status level more quickly by getting the hotel's credit card so excuse that tangent.

With HH Gold you get complimentary breakfast and internet. There is no such guarantee with PC Platinum and Marriott which is the main reason I don't like Marriotts as much as Hiltons. I do like the Holiday Inn Express properties where you get an edible breakfast and free high speed internet.

If you stay at full service hotels, Hiltons are better if only for the fact that you can be upgraded to stay on the Executive Level with access to Executive Lounge which is like the Concierge Suite at Marriotts. Full service Holiday Inns can be old and outdated. You might get a nice upgrade, but don't expect to get anything else.

I like Hilton best, but this is very much a matter of personal taste. That's why the free cook-to-order breakfasts at most Hilton's win me over more than any other hotel chain.

I would base it on where you want to spend your points. Making and maintaining gold on ten stays of a day or two each means you will probably be dropping some significant cash for the room to do it on points alone. You may be better off saving that money by staying at lower cost properties and use it to buy your hotels in Europe, it's probably a much better bang for the buck.

I'm getting the BA Visa, so I'll put off getting more CCs for now and just sample the hotel chains to see what works best. Thanks to all who posted!

I'll throw in my 2 cents since I've been HH Diamond for 9 years and PC Platinum also for several years and have used both HH and PC points for hotels in Europe. I would recommend HH Gold overall, since HH status carries more weight in Europe than PC. As a diamond, I was treated like a king at Hiltons in Lyons, Paris, Athens, Stockholm, London. Intercontinental used a separate program from PC until a few years ago - Ambassador, so if you just want cheap digs for less points in Europe, PC points will also work for both HI and HIExpress there. I've stayed in Intercontinentals (Barcelona, Rome), but HH points in Europe - my humble opinion: seems to be more for 5-star type hotels.

As a frame of reference, anyone can pay $50 and get PC Gold status. I talked to a PC staffer who told me there are a lot more PC Platinums than Golds, so it doesn't appear to be an exclusive club.

Also I recently got the Barclay's BA card too. Don't count as an automatic the 100,000 miles as two tickets to Europe. I already have 100,000 BA miles and they don't seem to be worth as much as any American-based carrier's 100,000 miles, although I haven't seriously tried to redeem any yet.

YMMV
-outoftown