Dear BoSoxFan:

Congrats on the "new lawyer". I was once a new lawyer. Not that I'm an "old lawyer" now... just more experienced http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I am both SPG Platinum and HH Gold, although this "bout" of HH Gold has been comped. A lot of what I found lacking with HH has been "improved" such as point accrual on various rate types, etc, but I have never received any appreciably upgraded room or other special service as a HH Gold, and I have been one during 2 different time periods.
HH, however, is a good "back up" to SPG and at least they will keep you as a silver in your low activity years (or should anyway)


SPG on the other hand seems to have the best customer service around. Even though I can't receive additional miles with stays (as I could under the old Westin program), and had to live through a myriad of bugs in the new program last year, their customer service dept has always tried to remedy problems, including having a special dept. to work out "issues" after disastrous hotel stays. Although my "suite upgrade" rate seems to be below average when listening to some of the other Starwood posts, I do usually receive some sort of upgraded accomodation. Finally, with your travels, you should make SPG platinum and then you will get a "concierge" who you can call, even if a corp travel dept makes your reservations, who can contact your hotel prior to arrival with any special needs, upgrade request if available, and so on.

I am also a member of Holiday Inn (Priority Club), who refused to comp me even their lowest level of status. However, as they have decent affordable accomodations in a few places I go, I just let the points trickle in. Eventually I will have a free night in a motel somewhere.

You will also find soon enough that other hotel chains may comp you some status because of your CO.

#1 Location. Where are you going does that hotel chain have a property in that city you are in? Quantity speaks a lot. Sheraton is huge in Africa and Europe. Total hotels in 6 chains 700 Hotels, Marriott 7 chains/brands 2,000 hotels and the largest is Hilton with over 2000 hotels in 6 brands.
#2 What do need or want upgrades,suites, free breakfast concierge floor etc.
#3 Redemption levels, where will you be using your free nights and how many points does your chain require. Study the program books and search which one you thinks gives maximum value. Beleive me point accumulation is a game, play it right and hello free nights. Some chains also offer off peak for lower levels a great deal at times.

With the recent changes in their program, I have to give the nod to Marriott.

Starwood is great if you are staying in locations whose population is 50,000 or more. They will almost always have properties there (in the US). However, if you are going to be staying out in the hinterlands, then you should go with Hilton or Marriott. They have far more properties and will give you 'status credit' for staying at any of their lesser properties.

Marriott will comp you to Silver for getting their VISA card. Also, Gold level in Marriott's new program gets you access to all their concierge lounges (free breakfast and sometimes free drinks). Note that 'status credit' at Marriott is given for nights, not stays. That way you can earn more credit for longer stays like vacations.

Points accumulation are similar for both programs, but I think that Marriott has better rewards. Six free nights at the best Hilton properties will cost 195,000 points. For 200,000 points at Marriott, you get 7 nights at any of their properties worldwide (including some timeshares), 2 free airline tickets to get there and a rental car for 3-4 days. Quite a difference!

Lastly, for me, the quality and consistency of the properties and service within Marriott (especially the Marriott and Renaissance brands) are the best part. I don't like checking in at 11pm and dealing with a snarly desk clerk and then ending up with a crummy room when I am a regular customer with a chain. I'm not saying Marriott is perfect, but I have had far fewer bad experiences with them than others. Perhaps when Starwood and Hilton have a few years to meld in all their new brands and do training for the new brands, they will increase their consistency and quality. For me now, Marriott gets a big 'thumbs up' in consistency of service and product.

[This message has been edited by BillMorrow (edited 06-07-2000).]

I appreciate everyone's attention to this topic.
FYI- regarding the poster who wanted to knwo how to transfer unused airline miles- HHonors lets you transfer 1 airline mile for 2 HHonors points.

Regarding where I travel for Business- it is 95% domestic, and all over the country. The cases I am working on now require me to go to Chicago, St. Louis, and San Francisco.

When I vacation, I would like to go to NYC, Boston, the Carribean, Skiing, and maybe Europe.

I am interested in 2 things. First, I want a comfortable, clean, nice, pleasant, convenient place to stay when I travel for business. When I travel, I want to be treated like a human being, and with courtesy. Upgrades would be wonderful. Staying in a room for a week gets a bit tiresome, so the nicer your surroundings, the better. Free vacation travel would also be great.

Anyway, I'm not a pro at this. My goals as a traveller are to travel is as much comfort as possible all the time without paying exorbinant prices, and earning a free trip for myself and my wife each year to someplace nice. That would be a nice fringe benefit.

Stay at all three after 6 months figure out which one has given you the most in quality and points. An advantage of some are good to only what you want. Currently Sheraton has a nice promotion stay 5 nights get a free Friday. Marriott is giving double if you use their Visa. Hilton has a poor promotion now which is 2000 points for every 2000 you spend. Like I said study their programs.

At first I thought milesus suggestion was poor because you would miss getting the best tier you could get since the nights would be split between several programs. But maybe not.

Since there are only six months left in the year and I believe every elite hotel program operates on a calender year schedule, you might not make a beneficial level of status with any program, depending on your travel plans. So if you're not going to reach at least mid tier (where IMO you begin to get actual benefits) you could cross your nights between the three big programs and see which hotels you feel are in general are nice.

Marriott is my personal choice because they have a huge number of locations spread everywhere, and things are generally extremely consistent. But the new Silver (formerly gold) tier of their program has given me nothing.

One minor point to add to BillMorrow post is that HH offer a VIP (silver and above) reward of 100K for 6 nights in certain premium hotels worldwide and Hawaii. There is also a offer that includes the air tickets, but I can't remember how many points you need - I think it is a bit more than the marriott however.

Milesrus. HH also has the United points for flying bonus, 4000 points for each four stays in a quarter, and various bonus airline miles deals at the moment, as well as the 2000usd spends bonus.

IMHO With the addition of all the extra Hilton properties, the changes to the earning ability i.e. any rate earns, and the double dipping, I think HH is hard to beat.

The last posts are an excellent idea. I would see which program fits your needs best, and then ring them at the end of the year and say 'if I move all my hotel stays to you, what will you give me?'. If you have some history with the program, you will probably be better received rather than phoning 'cold'.

After checking the HH web site, I realize that my response was only 95% correct – Sorry !

VIP awards are;
100K for 6 nights in Hawaii, 280K with 2 return US air tickets, 340 K with interisland as well.

100K for 6 nights at selected golf resorts, 225K with 2 return US air tickets, 300K with 2 return US-Hawaii air tickets, 350K with 2 return US-Hawaii and interisland.

100K for 6 nights in any Hilton hotel worldwide excluding premium category, 350K with 2 return air tickets from US, 150K for 6 nights in any Premium Hilton worldwide, 400K with 2 return air tickets.

Remember, you can transfer 1 airline mile for 2 HH points, therefore for 250K hilton points (125K airline) you are getting 2 return US to anywhere in the world (coach) tickets.


[This message has been edited by Tim_T (edited 06-08-2000).]

[This message has been edited by emerald (edited 09-20-2000).]

For my travel over the last ten years, Hilton is it. Period.

I cannot comment on other programs, but I can definitely tell you that if you are at the top of the Hilton food chain you will be well taken care of.

Case in point: I was the 10th person to do the Safari on points. 250k. Could do it again tomorrow.

Just my observation.

Over the years Hilton has seemed to work out as my number one and I love the double dipping, points AND miles. Now, with the addition of Promus the choices are even more expansive. The earning ability where all levels of properties are on even par for stays and nights works good and in those off-the-beaten path locations I have been impressed with Hampton properties, breakfast and all.

That is not to say that other properties are not worth staying. I like Hyatt and Marriott as well for the top-notch service.

As for mile to point exchanges, don't jump in because you end up transfering at a premium and lose air miles in the end. Like many have said, never say never. You never know where you will end up. I can remember the Montana days (no AA service) as one example.

If you are also a Hilton Grand Vacation Club owner, there are a lot of great HHonors rewards levels not available to others, such as the greatly reduced 'round the world trip.

For me, the simple fact that Marriott hotels do not have the nonsense about 800 numbers (charging after X minutes) that Hilton does is enough. Of course, everything else people outlined is true too. Consistency and pretty good customer service. I'm a happy Platinum member for three years now. They also have great weekend rates at Marriotts which is great for vacations, etc.

A minor correction to emerold's post. Starwood platinum can also be reached by nights. 50 nights/year get you there.

While I like Marriott's consistancy. Their high end properties do not come close to Starwood in turns of quality and quantity. On award travels with Starwood, it is not uncommon to get a suite at places like Westin St. Frances or the Royal Hawaiian.
With Marriott, you can forget which city you are at. It's always the same.

From what I understand, one major benefit of Starwood that none of the other programs has is their favorable conversion rate to miles on all major airlines. You can convert 20,000 Starpoints to 25,000 miles.

But really it's the suite upgrades that do it for me, along with the excellent Platinum customer service. I'd rather be treated well on all my stays than earn more free crappy stays.

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I agree. Starwood Pereffered Guest is the best so far from any other Hotel Programs.
I am also a member of HHONORS and Marriot.
I was a Sheraton Gold Member for one year before I get converted to SPG Gold when they Merged with Westin, W, and other Hotels.
I stayed in their properties From Dar es Salaam to Stockholm, From Zagreb to San Fransisco, No probelm getting upgraded to Club rooms even when I payed the low rates.

And excellent cutomer service too!
Unlike HHONORs.
I stayed at The Millenium Hilton in New York recently and it took serveral calls to their busy customer service to credit my account


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