Which TWO Hotel Loyalty Programs?
 

Hi everyone,

long time lurker first time poster. So my travel schedule is the standard consultant calendar ie. M->TR and I don't mind playing the check-in check-out game. I've been able to maintain top tier at SPG and gold status on Hilton. My question is this: If you had an option of maxing out two hotel chains, which two would they be?

I only ask this, because I tried booking a hotel through spg and noticed they seem to have less hotels then Hilton. But I also know that Hilton gets a lot of flack for not having "standard rooms" and thus causing you to book with more points etc. As the year is relatively young, I'm wondering if there's another hotel program I should think about using as a secondary hotel chain (ie. SPG + Marriott/ SPG + Hilton/ Hlton + Marriott) any input would be great, thanks everyone!

I suggest SPG and Hyatt. Although neither of these programs have the number of properties that Hilton or Marriort has, the experience in their upper loyalty program tiers are unmatched.

What do you want, a free continental breakfast and an upgrade or the best redemption rates?

SPG and Hyatt have consistent guaranteed benefits, but their redemption/point earnings aren't as good as IHG across the board.

How would you answer these questions?
1) is consistency important to you? (Marriott)
2) are you staying in mid-tier hotels? (Hilton - Hilton Garden Inn is the best of the mid tiers IMO)
3) Are you happy to be mid tier in multiple programs? (Marriott requires a lot of nights to hit top level, and they do not count stays, only nights)
4) what are your consistent areas of travel? (100% agree that Hyatt is great, but many people find there aren't enough of them to easily make the top tier. And at Hyatt there is a BIG difference between mid and top tier!)
5) is flexibility and suite upgrades important to you? (SPG offers a lot in their program)

Finally - where do you want to be in your OFF time? Ritz Carlton? St Regis? Hyatt Resorts? You want to earn points in a program you will be the happiest spending them!

As you can see - there lots of different things to consider as you develop a strategy - and no one can decide that but you!

FYI - I do Hyatt-Marriott-Hilton.

Good Luck!

My primary is SPG, secondary is Hilton.

A Hilton property is easy to find, whereas SPG can be a bit tougher. IMHO Hyatt can be even more difficult. While many will say Hyatt and SPG, it may be very difficult to find those in any given area.

If I were you, I would go by the hotel chains that works best from your WORK travel perspective (whether your considerations are price, location or availability of upgrades/perks on paid stays).

My personal position has always been that it makes sense to look at the points value at redemption only if you have two hotels otherwise equal from the perspective of your business travel.

For example, when travelling to Amsterdam, on the night before my flight back to the USA I try to stay in one of two hotels located in the security area of the terminal. Though one of these hotels doesn't earn any points while the other one earns points I would likely never use anywhere, I just cannot justify extra 15-30 minutes of travelling from the next closest hotel (which is Sheraton) to the terminal, standing in lines to pass the passport check in the morning peak hour etc. Extra points for the personal use will never outweight convenience of being in the right place for your business travel (and I'm not talking here about inside-the-terminal hotels being EUR80 cheaper than the Sheraton which saves my company money - which I learned to treat as my own - I understand that this might not be the strongest argument for some).

Hi Sophie,
thanks for some insightful points. I have been doing the SPG/Hilton route because it was relatively easy to achieve the mid->top tier with both based on "stays". My train of thought was that I'd use SPG for hopefully more of the top tier (St. Regis) and then using Hilton for some of the mid-tier stays when I can't stay at an SPG property.

For the rest of the flyertalk community:
How would you rate a silver/gold tier Marriott vs a gold tier Hilton? (I know this is probably a pretty specific question BUT it looks like if I do switch my secondary hotel chain, it'd be Marriott) Thanks again everyone!

I used to be a SPG-Marriott guy before I stopped traveling for work, Plat at both and I can tell you Silver at Marriott is pretty much useless. No real benefits except 20% more points until you reach gold. Gold gets you lounge access and I think these days gold also gets you free internet.

I think I got comped Gold at Hilton at one point but I didn't stay there much and can't quite remember what the benefits were.

I've been a M-Th traveler for four years and I've found SPG and Marriott to be a winning combo. I like SPG the best, but sometimes it is either difficult to find SPG properties near the client site or the SPG properties are all sold out. Marriott has properties almost everywhere, even those small little towns where you hate to go. And if you're traveling every week, you can get plat status at both, no problem.

Of the 200+ consultants on my project, most all of them are either SPG or Marriott guys or both.

For me . . .

SPG
Marriott

Having been mid-tier in both Hilton and Marriott - and I think most would agree with me -

If you don't care about free breakfast, Marriott is far better for redemption value than Hilton.

If you decide to switch, you can get a challenge to Platinum that would be easy with your travel patterns.

SPG and then Hilton also is my recommendation.

I've been happiest with the Marriott chains for most consistency across their brands for business travel certainty......and the most options for redemptions---resorts or city hotels for vacations, ResInns for family, and those interstate interchange Fairfields for when you just need a night's sleep on a long holiday drive.

Just like airline programs, think about where you want to go/stay when redeeming......for many years my secondary program was Hyatt, but when relatives moved to another town, it's a HolInn Express that's nearest them, so earning 7 or 8 free nights on the IC/HI system became worthwhile!

Definitely Marriott and SPG. HHonors reward nights cost too much. SPG/ Marriott have the best value in my opinion.

I've maintained PLT at SPG and Marriott for the last 8 years. Marriott because they have properties just about everywhere, unlike Hyatt and others. And SPG because it's been easy to keep PLT with 25-30 nights (after MR's tough 75 night threshold), their previously-unique nearly always available award, and now the enhanced benefits they just announced.

Both now have lifetime status, and added bonus. I'm gold on both and have about 2 more years to hit PLT on both. It's good to have that end-game in sight, even if it's far out on the horizon.

what works for me is spg and marriott. i am plat on both. I have top tier with hilton.

my recommendation would be either hyatt or spg as one of the two and then marriott or hilton for the second.

Hyatt and spg have great benefits but not great coverage. Hilton and marriott have great coverage for those many places where Hyatt and spg don't have coverage

I'm currently Plat in both SPG and Marriott.

I prefer to stay at SPG properties especially for personal travel because they have the nicest resorts consistently in the places I want to go.

For business travel, especially in the midwest, SPG does not have a lot of choices. That is why I tend to use the Marriott properties when travelling for business, or when I want a comfortable, inexpensive room at a non-resort location for personal travel.

Another nice thing about both programs is that they offer lifetime status.

+1
Also, I like to enjoy the benefits of the status rather than switching hotel chain to get status on the next one and so on.

+1 or 2, or 3, who counts:)

SPG points will take you the long way and Hilton points are so easy to earn! Besides, you already have Plat in SPG, and Gold in Hilton (which is nothing to sneeze at), so why dillute a good thing?

i would stay with SPG and Hilton, but you should consider adding the spg amex and hilton surpass amex to your cards, the extra points from the stays really adds up. With the hilton Q2 promo and the surpass cards you can earn upto 36.5 pts/dollar at stays.