The thread title says it all. Do you belong to more than one loyalty program and stay where you get the most points for the buck or do you stick with one loyalty program and try to max out the status?

I don't travel for business so I focus on diversifying my hotel points. Of course, elite status never hurts, but it's all points for me.

Both, but probably a slight emphasis on getting to the right status with each program, even if that's not the top-tier status.

If you're doing any meaningful SPG stay activity at all, then you want to be Plat in that program - period. It's really the only "elite" level they have, and it's a very good status in terms of both total rewards and room upgrades.

Marriott is a pretty decent program at Gold level, which you can get with approximately 33 or so actual butt-in-bed nights. (Maybe less if you actually use their credit card for all of your everyday spending, but I wouldn't really recommend that.) Plat adds 2 points per dollar but not much else.

I mostly dropped out of HH when they had their 2009 devaluation, but I can always get back in via the Surpass card and extend Gold status pretty much instantly although with a path to Diamond if I use the CC. I've been HH Gold since 2001 and haven't done more than one or two paid stays per year with them, but my award stays as a Gold have always been pretty decent. No major suites or anything but else a good room and some sort of breakfast option.

Don't really know about Hyatt but from reading the boards here it sounds like you really want to be Diamond there if you're going to do many stays. The confirmable suites seem like an attractive perk...

It sounds like with IHG you really have to buy that paid Ambassador status. I'm the basic Platinum with them basic I earned a bunch of "Crack the Case" points but it doesn't seem that that gets me much... With that program, I'm just happy to have the points - they seem to be a good option in Manhattan where none of the hotels (SPG, HH, MR) treat their elites well to begin with.

If you are doing weekend stays, SPG is pretty nice at Gold.

If you travel for work, elite status is worth it for the lounge benefits, room upgrades, free breakfast, etc. If you travel for leisure, it is all about the points.

I find it's the unpublished benefits that make elite status worthwhile. Just this week, in a completely boneheaded mistake, I no-showed a reservation. I was completely in the wrong, yet the hotel still refunded the fee to me.

I've had my fair share of bending cancellation deadlines, suite upgrades, emergency cash, etc.

It's not that these things are impossible without status, just much easier to negotiate.

IMO, both are important.

Having Diamond status in Hyatt has made me MUCH more loyal to them these last few years. And even though in 2012, I'll only be a Platinum, I'll still be spending most of my stays with them, and trying to re-hit Diamond.

But the points, and ability to redeem them with relative ease (looking at you Hilton!) is also important, I love free nights

For me, both. I love getting a free night at, for example, the Park Hyatt Vendome or Milan and love the free breakfasts there that I receive as a Diamond.

I"m going to say both are nice but the status is a lot more important.

Having status gives me something nice with every night: upgrades, free drinks, breakfast and other small perks.

The free nights are nice, but I'm probably only going to get a week or so free a year and usually at only standard rooms. And at least at IHG hotels the stays are treated different on rewards.

At the end of the day having a lot of really nice stays is better than having one free week of just good stays.

To me, the status is more important:

I am a Royal Ambassador member at IHG / IC and many properties do not grant you any RA benefits when using points. Therefore, I actually rather pay for my stay using a non-qualifying rate (e.g. F&F) and receive all the benefits including suite/club-floor upgrades, free movie & minibar etc. if I will actually be able to enjoy them.

If I'm checking in at 11pm and out at 7am, then I wouldn't care and spend my points. However, the latter situation is a quiet rare event so actually and therefore I actually have to spend money rather than points for my stays which makes those points more or less useless to me...

For my wife and me, it is the actual hotel stays which matter. With small children in daycare and student loan debt (expenses which combined exceed a couple grand each month), our current expenses are not reflective of what our expenses will be in a few years. Consequently, right now, we are most interested in doing the most travel possible for the least hit to our bottom line. With regular trips to Disneyland and Disney World, we care far more about our final cost for each trip than whether or not we are getting the best cents/mile or cents/point value. We participate in both HHonors and SPG. SPG has 2 Sheratons near Disneyland, the Swan and Dolphin at WDW, and several other resorts near WDW. The Hilton brands offer several hotels near Disneyland, a couple at Downtown Disney in WDW, and several more near WDW.

As far as status goes, we just do not care at this point. Ease, comfort, etc. matter most. I wouldn't dream of staying at a different SPG property each night when traveling to WDW with toddlers and babies. Ask me in 5-10 years, and I perhaps will feel differently.

For me, it's about the points. I tend to stay at lower-end hotels where internet and breakfast are already included (like a Fairfield Inn rather than Marriott), so the perks of status are less important to me.

I tend to focus on IHG and as such have platinum status, but that's less because of the "perks" and more from the coincidence that IHG hotels tend to be in the locations I want at the prices I want When IHG won't work for a particular stay, I have no hesitations booking with a different hotel.

In the meantime, I love cashing in my Priority Club points for free stays, but also have some Hilton & Marriott points banked.

Mostly points. Sure, lounge access, a nicer room, etc., are fine, but when traveling on business I have pretty simple needs. But being able to take my family on a couple weeks of vacation every year to very nice resorts around the world at no cost - that's the real benefit.

Points for sure. I also have pretty modest needs when I'm traveling for business, which is most of my travel. So when I have vacation time I like to redeem for luxury properties.

I go for points with either HH or Marriott and have Gold with both just used a week in Europe while on vacation