Hilton vs Marriott top tier
 

I'm looking at more hotel nights next year due to an increase in travel. I have 8 stays booked in Jan/Feb and am looking to do a fast-track or challenge to either Marriott Plat or Hilton Diamond.

Looks like both get 50% bonus on points, comp internet.

Does Marriott Plat get lounge access even if not on Exec floor like HH Diamond does?

Main perk for status for me is room upgrades & exec lounges, with some looking towards redemption values. My travel is primarily to Europe although I'll have a bit of personal travel to Buenos Aires and possibly to Thailand or Bali coming up in the next year or two.

Not looking to do any credit card bonus deals, needing to keep my inquiries at 0 for a while for an upcoming refi application.

And, should I be looking at Starwood too? I'm currently Gold via Amex card but haven't had much value from it so far (I realize everyone and their dog is gold at SPG though :) )

Thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions!

Both Marriott plats and golds get exec lounge benefits regardless of room floor.

Marriott upgrades are generally modest. Policy is for better view/ larger room upgrades but no suites. On occasion I'll get a suite. Got one last night at the Algonquin.

Marriott plats also get an arrival amenity. You can pick points or from a list of food and beverage items. I generally go for the Split of Chardonnay and cheese plate. It's become a ritual of mine.

If you do a lot of travel in Europe, the Marriott lounges also provide free alcohol.

You will also get free alcohol at Hilton lounges in Europe. If you do a lot of 1 night stays Hilton's 28 stays for Diamond is pretty handy. Diamonds get around 20 points per $ if you choose points/points plus they are always running some quarterly bonus promotion. Also if you choose Hilton get an AX, points redemption's will be reduced by around 25% with an AXON, all the info is on the Hilton thread.

I would check both Marriott and Hilton's websites to see what hotels they have at European destinations you will be travelling to. Upgrades at both programs are subject to availability even with top tier elite status, so don't expect upgrades when the hotel you are staying at are always close to 100%occupancy.

One thing to look into: At many Marriott properties that have lounges, they are closed on weekends (and btw for stays in the USA Platinums get no compensation for this when they run into it, ie, no alternate benefit like breakfast in the restaurant). I haven't heard of this much with Hilton HHonors. You may want to (in the Marriott forum) look into whether this issue affects where you'll be traveling (if your travel will include weekend nights).

Marriott Plats get 15 points/$ at full service properties plus an additional 5/$ with the Chase Marriott Premier card. Marriott's promotions are okay.

Marriott's point transfer to airlines is far better than Hilton's redemption rate. If you save up through the vacation packages, Marriott's redemptions are pretty amazing.

No go on the Hilton Amex card. Not looking to do anything that will do a credit hit so no new cards for me.

28 stays seems interesting as most of my stays are 3 days max, many just 1-2 days.

Well, in comparing the bookings that I have just in Jan/Feb it looks like my Marriott stays would cost me ~$2k (+$250 if an expected Corp rate does not come through) vs a min of $2700 for Hilton properties for same dates/cities.

Based on this, I'm tempted to go for Marriott status. Unless there is something someone knows to make HH a min of $2k better ($500 for 2 months, I figure at least $2k for a year).

Hmm, Hilton would end up with ~40k pts if I did points + points vs Marriott only having ~20k. Maybe it is worth $500 more for 20k points since Hilton & Marriott redemptions seem pretty close. Seems like buying Marriott points is only $250 though for 20k points so I guess Marriott is still the better choice.

re
 

My wife did marriott plat challange last Jan-Feb, but you need way more than 8 nights...I was able to give her a referral for joining the program, and we each earned an extra 2000 points for the first 5 stays. She did 21 days for business, and made Plat...she loved it because she got instant status when starting the challange. she got lounge access and the hotel also threw a Plat Party every Tues with cocktails and good food. We did a week during spring where we alternated nights and got 4 stays each earning megabonus cat 1-4 passes (2 each). I like the megabonus vs HH incentives of triple points or whatever they do. We are using those 4 nights for a free long weekend in tahoe....she got the ritz carlton card which is the same points program...it gives lots of points and good benefits, and she can still sign up for the marriott card and get more points (i think both cards give points for first spend). Hilton is easy to get points with multiple CC partners and AXON awards are the only thing that helps with the high point cost for redemption.

I would suggest finding the "dream redemption" for each chain in your favorite vacation spots and compare them....then decide.

PM me if you need a referral for Marriott...start a new account and we both get 2k extra for your first 5 stays

one more thing, or two
 

Marriott points are worth more, with HH being so easy to get, it seems HH redemptions cost more points (expecially if you dont have the CC that allows AXON awards)...even though stays at Hilton earn 6+ ppd, Marriott stays competitive by giving plats 500 points as a welcome gift each stay (pass on the fruit) and their low end redemptions (expecially discounted pointsaver awards) are great value.

The only thing I don't like is until most of the cat 1-4 certs expire, they inflated some cat 4 hotels to cat 5. We all hope they will get them back in order after the megabonus certs are done.

Marriott, hands down, no contest, for several reasons:

1.) Their are Marriott hotels nearly EVERYWHERE, name a city, and there are 2-3 different brands compared to Hilton, Starwood, etc.

2.) Marriott points take a smackdown on Hilton. Example, I am staying in IAD for a quick layover, the cheapest Hilton is 30,000 points for the night. A nice suite at Towne & Suites Marriott is 7,500 points. VALUE????


Marriott hands down!!!!!

I agree. Marriott is obviously a good choice. I hate some hotel chain have the best benefit with some specific credit card like hilton AXON. I like the flexibilty to use all kind of cards. And marriott air package is one of the best redemption in mile and point world. You can achieve the value of your marriott point to 1.5 cents per point.

I stayed in over 20 marriott property worldwide, most of them are amazing.

Aslo if you buy some marriott gift cards, you will get 10% more discount. You can check this inofrmation in marriott forum about recent gift card offer.

Not when you are in rural area close to National parks or state parks.

I agree Marriott is nicer than Hilton. The only thing I like about Hilton is free breakfast 7 days a week.

Looks like it's Marriott for me. I already have 40k MR points so this will just add on.

As for the 8 nights mention above, I am not looking at nights but stays as the MR Plat Challenge appears to be 9 stays within 90 days. I'll have that easily and with the fronting of Plat (if it happens) I should enjoy all my early trips as well as plenty upcoming.

I was Marriot Gold for CY '11 and enjoyed the lounges and access for my trips. In '12 they soft-landed me to Silver. I do hope that they'll allow a challenge to Plat staring on Dec 30th. They also did have easy & reasonably priced availability for the locations I was visiting. Now it all comes down to the Challenge.