Best hotel chain for meetings (points)
 

I am considering a position where (as a very small part of my employment) I will be responsible for scheduling business meetings at various locations in a three state region - possibly 25+ single night events for members and sponsors annually.

What chain is best for hosting meetings in terms of points that I can put into my loyalty account?

All other things being equal of course...

TIA,

Sam

depending on location i might start with starwood and see if theyd give me multiple points per dollar for the whole amount.

always get the points included in the contract with everything else.

I'm a little uncertain of this, but I believe Starwood's standard deal is something like either 1 point per $3 or 1 point per $5. Don't know if you can do better by negotiating, but I think the default is nowhere near "multiple points per dollar."

any other suggestions? obviously i could call each and ask, but i assumed that someone on FT would have experience with meeting planning and could instill some insight as opposed to me conquering the learning curve and making the inevitable mistakes.

our last event cost $3300, so i am looking at an annual expense of $50k - $75k. put in context, that's more than 10x what i will spend on hotels for 2008.

Hyatt's Meeting Dividends Program

Planner will receive one point per dollar spent for catering/banqueting beginning before 5 p.m. and two points per dollar spent for catering/banqueting beginning at or after 5 p.m.

I am unsure if "catering/banqueting" includes the cost of the actual meeting space or just the catering/banqueting, but the discrepancy in points is clear since regular stays at Hyatt accumulate points 5 per $.

Marriott
 

Marriott - 3 points for every $
regular stays - 10 points for every $

Book and hold meeting ($2,500 min) by February 29, 2008 and get 25,000 bonus points.

Also, double points on select days.

Hilton
 

HHonors members who hold qualifying events at participating Hilton Family hotels can earn one HHonors bonus point and one airline mile for every eligible U.S. dollar spent on guest rooms and meeting room rental.*

For example, if you had US $5,000 in eligible charges, you would earn 5,000 HHonors points and 5,000 airline miles with your choice of any one of our participating airline partner programs. You'll be on your way to free travel in no time!

Available in the U.S. & Canada, the Hilton HHonors Event Planner program is the only hotel event planner program that lets you earn both HHonors points and airline miles for the same qualifying event.

Hotel Stays = 10+5 points/$ or 10 points + 1 mile

Starwood
 

Confirming Starwood Preferred Planner:

"On the average, a property may offer one Starpoint for every eligible $3.00 USD spent, up to a total of 20,000 Starpoints."

hotel stays = 2 points / $1

I've done meetings at Hilton's before & they told me that they wouldn't give me points for the meeting (even though its their policy to do so - this was at the Hilton in Arlington, VA - Ballston area). Marriott gives points & depending on what region your doing your meetings (DFW? try: http://www.gowestmarriott.com/eventplanning.aspx) there are often bonuses...Starwood doesn't seem to have as much regional bonuses, though some individual hotels may offer something...

As someone who's done a bit of meeting planning before - don't focus on the points (yeah, as an FT'er, I shouldn't say that!) - focus on the service provided. I've been to meetings at the Sheraton Premiere in Tysons Corner, VA, where the A/V was having serious issues & we couldn't get a good internet signal. It really delayed the meeting & didn't leave a good impression on the attendees.

Be sure to shop the site as well - make sure ample parking exists for non-overnight guests (and is comped or do they have to pay?); how's the food & beverage at the hotel - what kinds of food & beverage offerings do they have? Limited coffee breaks or full breakfast/catered lunches, etc...Will they allow late checkout for all 25 or so attendees? Are their meeting rooms adequate for your event? Are they charging high attrition rates? What's the cut-off date for the group reservations? Do they charge to accept packages delivered (some hotels charge a receiving fee, others don't)...those are all more important, IMHO, than the points you'll receive as the planner - look at the points as an added bonus.

Great Advice!

Thanks.

I agree. FWIW - the criteria you laid out should be the basis for a decision.

Of course with all things being equal, Hilton and Marriott have the best return on my company's money in terms of miles for me (converted from points) with Hyatt a close-enough third.

Calculating $62,500 annually (and assuming that the property gives points as stated on the chain's website):

Marriott - 75,000 miles
Hilton - 74,500 miles
Hyatt - 62,000 miles

These are approximate. Anyway, choosing from Marriott/Hilton I should be able to select a good venue and use Hyatt when necessary.

A couple of other things to consider based on what you've said above...

Hyatt points, while valuable, have less in terms of redemption options (not a lot of locations - but great hotels where they are located - Hyatt Place, the new brand, is a pretty decent hotel). Hilton points are good points because you get the miles as well, however, it costs a lot more to cash out a roomnight in terms of number of points...I recently thought about cashing out points for a stay at an HGI in NC & the cost was 30,000 points for 1 night versus a 129.00 paid rate. For that same category level hotel at the Marriott, it was 20,000 points at a CY.

Lastly, you said you were doing 25+ rooms for a 1-nighter...here's a tip, if you can plan your meetings so the overnight occurs on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, you may be able to get more points as those are non-peak nights for business travel & meeting room rental and they are more likely to give you a better rate & you can potentially earn points. At Marriott, if you actualize 10+ rooms on Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, you get 3k points per night (regardless of meeting room and F/B revenue) and if you actualize those on Fri, Sat, Sun night, you get 10K points per night (regardless of meeting room and F/B revenue) - so if you can give them the business when they need it, you may be able to hook yourself up at the same time. One challenge you may face if you use a smaller hotel (say a 100 room select service hotel) is that they may not want to give you a 25 room block for 1 night as it may not make good business sense for them on a Tue/Wed peak night, but they may be more likely to give it you if you need it Sun/Mon/Thu/Fri/Sat nights as it makes better business sense to them.

my bad - 25+ events, each one evening with 0 hotel rooms - meeting room only

however, i do agree that there are better deals at different times. marriott offers double points on different days, searchable through a different finder here: https://www.marriott.com/meetings/gr...l-discounts.mi

to your other point, thanks for discussing redemption. i converting all points to AA miles to compare, but your assessment is valid.