I am a new lawyer who travels a ton in my practice. Continental comped me silver elite status for 2000, even though I didn't fly once on Continental last year. Thus far I'm 8/8 on upgrades. I am on pace to at least earn silver next year, maybe gold.

Because I am a Continental Elite member, I have gotten a "Fast track" offer from Hilton for their VIP status, which I'm certain I can make.

I travel enough so that these points can really rack up. I am curious if other programs might match the "fast track" offer. I tend to think they would. Problem is that I need to pick one to join and then concentrate on that.

So, Veteran Flyertalkers, please help me.
Which Hotel Affinity program is best for me?
I am leaning towards Hilton, because I have about 12,000 miles each on 4 other airlines that I will never fly again (TWA, DELTA, UNITED) that I can reverse into Hilton points. Plus it seems like Hilton has more decent business hotels at which one can earn points now that Embassy Suites and Doubletree are in the loop.

Please help!!!

NNot HHonors!

BoSoxFan45, Congrats on your new status as Lawyer and Silver Elite.....I never was refused an upgrade as Silver and I get upgraded to South America on $600 fares on CO w/out miles and confirmed at the time of booking (few know the secret) so I am a smart traveler I would HIGHLY suggest Starwood Preferred Guest as your Hotel Partner..... For one, I am Platinum and have been for 15 months and already requalified for next year, and they give me automatic suite upgrades at most hotels, even the Hawaii hotels on low,low rates....never paid over 250 for a room with Starwood and I have a balance of 130,000 points (enought for 10 free nights at any St. Regis in Italy which are Expensive places). They have the EXCLUSIVE "W" hotel chain that is, in my opinion, the most outstanding hotel on the market. Also, they have a very generous point program and they only take 10 stays for Gold and 25 for Platinum...STAYS NOT NIGHTS and they have a lot of hotels that are low level hotels that are high in service that take few points for free nights. (A little more to say). Westin and Sheraton have awesome "Club levels" and "Westin guest office rooms" that are private,offer a nice lounge with good food, and private floor access. At Starwood they have your preferences on profile and the hotel LOOKS at them ACTUALLY and handle u with the respect a person deserves. So, basically,( if u don't know already), I think Starwood is the best on the market so u got my opionion,probably more than u wanted though. Happy hunting and Don't u love CO first class service? NW first sucks but I am MEM based and they are more convenient. Ciao

[This message has been edited by NW,CO,TW only (edited 06-05-2000).]

Thanks for the help.
I agree that CO is the best. I am MSP based, so I use NW more often, but not if I can help it.

Is there a possibility Starwood would match a "fast-track" offer?

Any advice from anyone else?



[This message has been edited by BoSoxFan45 (edited 06-06-2000).]

Can't hurt to call the SPG toll-free CS number and ask if they will match it. I agree that SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest) is a better program.

Never say never, especially if you're travelling a lot! You could get bumped to one of those airlines with a cancellation, or you may find down the road that some fares just may be cheaper on them. You should also have a back-up just in case your preferred carrier has a problem.

Three choices:
1. Starwood
2. Starwood
3. Starwood

You can get comped to Gold simply by getting the Sheraton Optima card which is free and the best credit card on the market (transfer to any airline and 5000-mile bonus every 20K points.

After 25 stays or 50 nights you will become Platinum which is truly sublime.

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Transfer to any airline? Really? I current use American Express Memebership Rewards and you can transfer to most airlines, but not necessarily all. I assume that the points from the CC go into the Starwood program, and from there you can transfer them to most airlines.

How is the transfer rate? Generally I think hotel points are worth much more than when they are transferred to airline miles, since you often lose a lot in the transfer. With Amex I get a one-to-one transfer ratio wiht most airlines.

(BTW, sorry for the off-topic remarks).

And I agree Starwood is great. I've also been pleased with Hyatt but find their number of locations lacking. I'm a Marriott Silver (bottom-level) and have never received any special recognition from Marriotts.

Not any airline but any of Starwood's 26 airline partners. I think Diners Card has more airline partners.

Check out ValueConsumer.com for more info and link.


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"It is not doing the things we like to do, but liking the things we have to do, that makes life blessed." - Goethe

Thanks for the advice. Starwood made this choice easier for me. I called to ask if they would match the Hilton challenge, and they said that they couldn't for Platinum, but that they would just comp me Gold then and there, which they did

So far I am very happy with Starwood.

Thanks for your help.

Regarding the above comment:

"I current use American Express Memebership Rewards and you can transfer to most airlines, but not necessarily all. I assume that the points from the CC go into the Starwood program, and from there you can transfer them to most airlines."

It's actually not that simple and MR is NOT Starpoints, which allows 20k pts to 25k miles!

See related threads using "search" under Amex:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forumcgi/fo...r=69&SUBMIT=Go

Never is a very long time. I would wait on transferring my mileage out of those other airlines. Monitor expiration so you do not loose them, but you would be surprised how things in life change. Travel patterns, mergers, moving, job changes, program changes, etc all are very real events.

Choice of hotel programs is not to be taken lightly, but again, you can consentrate on one but do forget the value of a back up. Also the one you get your points in is the one you "must" spend them in.

Miles on the three airlines he mentioned (TWA, Delta, and United) never expire, ranles!

I agree that you shouldn't transfer them out.

Re. transferring miles out of an airline that you no longer like or no longer can utilize- how do you transfer these miles? I was not aware that miles could be transferred from an airline's FF program.

Hold on a second - I think you're all making a mistake on the advice. When someone wants to know which is the best program - be it airline or hotel - the next question is to ask what are the benefits that person is looking for the most and the fastest. If miles, there's certainly a best choice of programs, if awards, what type of awards. Yes, Starwodd is an excellent program, but if you are seeking a free hotel stay in Hawaii, you may find other programs are better ROI. In fact, there are programs that are better for small single and two-night stays here in the U.S., better programs for "vacation" use and yet others better for a variety of hotel service benefits. Again, Starwood is a very good program, but like all programs it has it's weaknesses, the question is - what do you want out of the program, then I may be able to give you some additional advice.....

True, true.