I made the move from Marriott Plat to SPG Plat and I've been very happy.

There's around 10 SPG properties in the immediate DC area that are fairly nice. Upgrades have been much better than Marriott, and include the more basic suites. It's not uncommon to get bumped to the specialty suites either. SPG Plat is amazing in Europe, and there have been some nice promos as of late (Any 2 stays = 1 free weekend night at any Cat 6 or below)

Hyatt Diamond is another possibility to consider, they just don't have enough properties where I travel.

Best bets are Hyatt and SPG -

Here's the Hyatt side:

4 guaranteed suite upgrades for up to 7 nights each per year will save you a bundle. free breakfast and internet, decent to very good lounges at Regency, Grand and Park Hyatt locations. Kauai property for Hawaii is wonderful in a suite (buy-in at AAA rate of $200-300/night in shoulder season and use upgrade). Edge in Paris to Park Hyatt Place Vendome over either the Westin Paris or Prince de Galles. Hyatt tends to have the best promotions program of any major chain, and there are some real bargains to be had on their awards chart (No changes since '03). Hyatt Vacation properties are also bookable with points. No credit card means no competition for award rooms from straight spenders. As stated above, fewer locations can be an issue.

The DC area is good for Hyatt. You have 3 suburban FS properties in Fairfax County and another two in Arlington and Crystal City. I am well known by a couple of the guys at the Fair Lakes Hyatt, and I have a better than 50 % chance of getting suite upgrades (without using the suite certificates) for one night stays. Hyatt has also been expanding the number of SS and HP properties in the area (mainly HP). Room rates are fairly good for Hyatt Dulles and Hyatt Fair Lakes, usually under $190 on weekdays and under $80 on weekends with AAA code. Hyatt Fair Lakes is sometimes as low as $58.65 with AAA on the weekend.

Hyatt and SPG FS properties have stricter cancellation policies than Marriott FS properties. You cannot cancel day of arrival, although some FTers have found ways around this.

Hawaii awards are better with Hyatt versus Marriott b/c you get breakfast and internet included (although some Marriott properties will include a refrigerator for free which Hyatt does not). Marriott has a larger presence in Europe than Hyatt, but Hyatt has a few gems in Europe: PH Hamburg, PH Paris, and the Churchill in London. Hyatt is strongest in Asia for international properties: you can find a property in Taiwan and New Zealand where Marriott is absent.

The current FFN promotion with Hyatt is quite nice since it includes stays that count double towards elite status and runs through the end of January 2010. If I were you, I would fax Hyatt a copy of your stays with Marriott ASAP. With this promo, you could easily keep top status with Hyatt, Marriott, and SPG.

Hyatt awards mainly come from FFN/bonus point promotions, diamond welcome gifts for points in North America (1,000 points at FS properties add up quick when the top award is 18,000/night), G & A bonuses for Hyatt points and airline miles, respectively, and occasional airline mile promos like the recently ending one this quarter with several airlines where you get an extra 2,500 miles for every 2 stays credited to an airline. Hyatt does most of its airline promos with United, and the upcoming one will run through Jan 31, 2011 and gives United elite members an extra 2,000 miles for each stay over the 500 base miles. You cannot collect a G bonus if you take miles for a stay, but you can take a diamond welcome gift and take miles (although you will have to call to get the diamond gift to post properly).

Hi guys,

I'm wonderig if someone has recently be able to get a Status Match using your A|Club status with an other Hotel Programm.

Since I'm a Platinum member for the 3rd year in row I would be greatful having the same or a similar status match with IHG, Hilton, Radisson or Mariott.

Can someone inform about their experiences and how to proceed?
Thank you all.

Very interesting. And Hyatt provides this info?
Also, if I'm matched after March 1, I'll be PL till Feb 2012, right?
One more thing. I have earned PC PL. Will SPG match it? Hyatt did easily.

status match AA to hotel
 

Anybody knows if there is any possibility of a status match from AA plat. to HHONORS , SPG or PRIORITY CLUB hotels ?
Thanks for any info.
Michael

Best Western is offering a Status Match
 

Just off-hand, where (apart from Best Western) do I have a chance of getting my SPG-Gold status matched before it expires?

Also, does the Radisson ever status match anyone?

You can get Radisson Silver with the XING promo, without having status elsewhere. It takes about 3 days for your account to update.

A discussion of matching status can be found here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/radis...tus-match.html

I'm wondering if anyone has recently been able to get a Status Match using your A|Club Platinum status with an other Hotel Program.

Can someone inform about their experiences and how to proceed?

Thank you.

Hilton Honors Gold to Accor Status Match?
 

Is is possible to get Accor Gold based on Hilton Honors Gold? Where shall I send my request? Thanks for your help

Any report of Accor match based on MR PLT & *wood PLT?

Does anyone have experience with Kempinski matching status??

I'm RA right now and have some possible upcoming Kempinski nights. Does Kempinski match RA's???

Any thoughts are welcome.

Markus

Accor Gold may even still be available for free, so no need to go for a match. If having an existing account, Accor will merge the accounts and the retained account will have Gold status and retain the points.

Is PC Status match once in a lifetime?

I'm a platinum member at a very small local hotel chain. I wrote an e-mail to Marriott and they gave me a Platinum challenge (18 nights in 90 days) and Platinum status while I work the challenge. I had planned to use my platinum status in Beijing but all of my co-workers switched to Hilton at last minute.

Has anyone had any luck trying to get Hilton to match status with Marriott Platinum? Or at least give Gold? Would be great if I could get Hilton to match my Marriott conditional status. I called and they gave me a gold challenge, but that doesn't help much for this trip next week. Any tips for getting a conditional Gold status immediately instead of working through the challenge?

Thanks.

Frugal Travel Guy
 

Lucky you ... I was only given a MR Gold challange. IMHO the Marriott Platinum is much more valuable than the Hilton Gold, however, the Frugal Travel Guy seems very happy with his HH status on his recent European trip, see his June 15th report: http://frugaltravelguy.blogspot.com/...romotions.html

still available:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/accor...embership.html

I just got Starwood to match my Hyatt Diamond with their Platinum.

Congrats. How long is your new SPG Platinum status valid?

Starwood match my Hilton Diamond status all the way to the end of 2011!!! Thanks SPG!

I will be Hyatt Diamond soon and was going to try to get SPG Platinum in time for an upcoming stay. However that stay is in my wife's name via points from her SPG account, could we still get elite perks if I have status but the room is not in my name?

When did you request the status match?

Wife got a SPG Platinum status match from her Hyatt Diamond.

Note: email said it could take up to 30 days before the status will be reflected. (that was 14 days ago, and her status has still not been updated yet) I hope it doesn't take too many more days as we have a reservation at the W Barcelona in a week...

You should call or email them informing about your stay. Maybe they will do it quicker as a special case.

Does Kempinski have it's own program? I know they are part of the Global Hotel Alliance. Anyone have luck matching with that program?

Any recent info on Hyatt matching Diamond? I'm SPG Platinum, the last report on this thread was a negative in Oct 09.

If you are refering to my post, please be advised that although I spent 64 hotel nights at different chains before the status match request, I was NOT in an elite status with any of them then. The info posted by the OP gleff still remains in effect.

Sorry for the confussion.

i enquired about this last year & hyatt said all i had to do was either mail or fax them proof of my plat status with spg & they would go ahead with the status match....

Anyone tried to get status match from A-Club Platinum?

Yes, but not possible :-(

Sent a scan of my HH Diamond Card to Hyatt, they sent me back this:
I asked (a supervisor) if they could still match since I was only a day late from the cutoff and they said for me to send in my most recent HH activity, which I did.

A few hours later:

Better hurry...and Good Luck!

Just did this...EASY as pie...just sent in a copy of my HH Diamond card...matched to BW Diamond within 24 hours!

I'm confused...is Hyatt no longer allowing status matching?? Or has the procedure simply changed for getting a status match?

I just tried to status match with Hyatt from Priority Club platinum--they said they are not doing status matches anymore.

i don't believe they ever status matched with priority club....

They did once, my Royal Ambassador.

They are now providing a challenge-type arrangement. Stay X amount of times within Y period of time and get regular Diamond status.

I wouldn't be surprised if this change has something to do with the Hyatt credit card sign-up benefit for Diamond members (two free nights in suites).

So this is confusing. I talked to them on the phone and they said no more status matching as of 9/16. Then yesterday i get an email matching me to platinum until nov 30 and if i stay 6 nights between now and then I will get platinum until feb 2012.

Good thing i had 6 nights already reserved before i got that email!

I sent an email to [email protected] with a scan of the front and back of my Hilton Honors Diamond card and a screen capture of my Hilton stay history. An hour later I received a reply that SPG had upgraded my SPG Gold to SPG Platinum through 2011.
The only thing that could make me happier is if Planet Hollywood in Vegas and the Resort at Singer Island in FL were still Starwood properties.