Hotel Points! Who are you?

1. The miles converter. You convert every single stay into miles and wait for your next Y ticket or upgrade to C/F no matter how miserable the exchange regardless of the small print. *With the exception of days and/or weeks that are prime numbers. Must be employed by the airline and/or secret status carrier. Maybe but never from a hub.

2. The vacation scourerer. You stay loyal to your brand and eat at bland hotel restaurants every single time. 175,000 points for the next Haiwaii vacation need to come together somehow.

3. The promo jumper. You have no loyality. The next point promotion lurks like a gold coin in the morning sun. Hilton 4 stay/25k and Gold to boot, 6c promo 860x mistake, SPG AAA, fish hooks, YOU know who you are.

4. The status snatcher. You stand out from the great unwashed. You long for the upgrade. A sweet suite is on your mind, just paying for it never crosses it.

5. The immediate redeemer. Your fingers tremble as you have achieved the next category 1 award level. The Saturday night stay at the Foxton Inn in Tulasa. Yes! Score!

Who are you?

option 2

I try to stay in Marriott, Starwood, or Priority Club properties whenever possible. If a property even treats me very well upon arrival, the possibility is very high that I also eat there. My aim is to get travel packages or convert the points to miles.

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Pictures from hotel stays
Basic Hotel stays/nights/points calculator
Short overview: KLM FD, LH M&M

Option 1.

So far I'm happy with AAdvantage, so I use Hiltons for short stays (one or two nights) & Crowne Plazas for longer stays. This maximises my miles while giving me a decent chance of always finding a hotel where I've got status.

Option 4, followed by option 2.

4

I'm definitely a 3.

I have a bit of loyalty to a couple of chains because I like the hotels, but when it comes to participating in the hotel programs (e.g., paying a higher-than-Priceline rate specifically in order to accrue hotel points), I go after the promotions.

Option 4

Looks like 2 and 4. Still a Hilton Diamond, loved the free stay in Paris. Company was paying.

Now I'm paying my own way, can't work a deal with the Hampton guy, worked a lovely deal with Fairfield Inn (Marriott) - so, there I go. Up to 150+ nights/year, you bet I'm going for the vacation rewards! And I'm going to ask to be comped elite status, too.

4, and then 2...

--Grog--

I'm so in between several and partly outside all that I nominate a sixth to fit me:

6. The math-doer. I figure out which chains provide good miles for the airlines I collect to (and which airlines I can collect to most fruitfully from hotel stays, as it varies a lot by airline), and when I can make the combo work I put that in my possibilities pile. Then I keep up on what promos any of these hotels are running, plus keep tabs on which airline programs I need vs don't particularly need the mileage in now, plus keep tabs on whether I need/want to maintain any status with any chain, and balance those out. I collect either points or miles (or both!) depending on which works better during a given promo (I might change from promo to promo). As some chains give wildly different miles at different subbrands, I might even change airlines (or miles vs points) from stay to stay in some cases.

I consider 1000 miles (or 1.0 credits on Southwest) to be an excellent return on a one-night stay. I consider a free night for every 2 to 10 stays to be a reasonable return for points, but one night in 10 stays is not worth as much as one unrestrictted domestic flight in 16 stays, so I don't keep the points for free nights except in cases where they're clearly better than either earning mileage directly or converting to mileage. (I notice that converting often gives a much different return than earning mileage directly, and that it can vary not only from chain to chain but from one promo to the next. I adapt to the promos.)

I mix redeeming and saving. At Southwest, you have to redeem in 12 months or you lose it (but otherwise it's far and above the best domestic free ticket value), so obviously there I redeem. With other airlines I may redeem if I don't expect to get a lot more miles anytime soon, but with airlines I can keep on earning miles (through partners) at above-average rates and where I can envision better-class flights later if I save, I may save a long time. With hotel points, I tend to save for when I can make best use of them (which can vary a lot by chain).

I will always change my behavior when doing a little math shows that new behavior will work better. I never assume that the same behavior will work best in all cases for all time.

Option 4

I seem to be a mix of 2, 3 and 4. Push every dollar onto the room for max points. Make use of good promos in about 3 or 4 programs. But remain loyal to the main two (Hilton and Starwood) to maximize points for big vacation awards.

Djlawman