I went back and looked more closely at my spreadsheet. There is a difference in value earned for a Marriott Platinum and a Starwood Platinum (same room rate and number of days). The Marriott Platinum will earn more, but perhaps not so much more as to offset the advantage Starwood provides with no capacity controls.

However, there is a huge difference between Marriott Gold and Starwood Gold. In fact, by my calculations Marriott Gold earns twice the value of Starwood Gold on any given stay. Thus, even if you always had to pay 50% more points to claim an award at Marriott you would still be ahead.

Starwood Basic (2 pts/$) is, of course, much worse. It seems clear that Starwood can afford to offer no capacity controls because the earning potential is so much smaller than the other programs. When comparing Marriott and Starwood, my conclusion is that lack of capacity controls only really benefits Starwood Platinums.

Another thing to note is that status on Marriott is much more difficult to obtain. At SPG, it takes only 10 stays / 25 nights for gold, about 1/2 to 1/5 the number for Marriott. Platinum can be had in 25 stays / 50 nights, where it is 75 nights with Marriott. Marriott also has qualification only by number of nights, which makes it very difficult for some.

For those of you who heap praise on any program please remember this famous quote “those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it”. Let me tell you what history has taught me.

Five or maybe six years ago as a loyal Marriott patron I drove sometimes as much as twenty miles out of my way in order to acquire points in the program. I was such a fan of Marriott Rewards, I even bought JW Marriott’s book “The spirit to serve”. My loyalty to them was rewarded. I saved for only one award and it was Marriott award code 713 which cost 200,000 points: this award included two airline tickets anywhere on earth, seven days of premium car rental, and seven nights in any Marriott hotel in the world. You could use the airline tickets to one location the hotel somewhere else and the car in another city if you pleased. In the beginning we were able to go to India and Africa, but by the third award those destinations were no longer available. Still we were able to go to Asia, Australia, and Europe and it was a good deal. Stayed in the County Hall in London and JW in Hong Kong and a great hotel in Rome. My fourth award no longer included the car rental, I think it was replaced by some coupons, and my fifth award I had to scramble to get enough points before the program change drastically to what it resembles today.

I remember these boards were full of accolades from people who used the 713 award and I think Marriott got the message as they devalued the award.

Angry at Marriott for taking away my beloved 713 I changed my loyalty to Hilton and with the expansion the Honors program developed a new loyalty. I discovered bonus after bonus and quickly attained in excess of two million points. Again I found an award I loved with Hilton: the GLO9 included two airline tickets and six nights hotel. Was given a couple of either 20 or 50 thousand point off coupons for VIP awards each year and I was finding it easy to attain these awards as well. Took the wife and kids to Australia and South Africa. But in December of last year with absolutely no warning Hilton discontinued these awards. Many times I spent more money than I should for Hilton stays so I could qualify for the awards only to have the carpet pulled out from under me with absolutely no warning.

The point I am trying to make and tried to make in my first post is none of these programs is any better than the other unless you can use the award immediately. What they are offering today will not be what they are offering tomorrow. If you begin praising one program over another or one sticks out as being the best be prepared for them to change.

I will finish with a cliché. “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me…… fool me a third time.... well like the Who said “We won’t get fooled again”. or at least I won't!

This is excellent advice for any air or hotel award program!

This link allows you to compare any two hotel, airlline and credit card loyalty program. The reviews (pros and cons) were written by various FT members. It is easier to use than reading through many many posts.

http://www.webflyer.com/programs/head2head/

John

As you correctly note with your examples, all of the programs change at one time or another, mostly for the worse. Yes, we should be prepared for the changes, but I don't agree that "...none of these programs is any better than the other unless you can use the award immediately".

The Starwood Preferred Guest program has won the Freddie for best hotel program for the last 3 or 4 years. I disagree with that assessment, but a lot of someones out there think it has consistently been the best over that time period, point devaluation and all.

You are right that we can't predict what a particular award with a particular program will cost years down the road. But you have to choose your hotel program now and the best (only?) way to do that is to look at what is offered now and choose what provides you the most value. This can be done on an annual basis or on every single stay. It is really no different than deciding if you should redeem an award as opposed to paying cash for a particular stay, and that is a decision people are making everyday.

There ARE differences between the programs now, both in terms of what you earn and what you can redeem for. There are also the more qualitative factors (upgrades, customer service, etc.) that distinguish them. Opinions, informed and otherwise, abound as to which program is best/better.

MileKing - you forget that Priceline may be a superior alternative.

It may also be interesting to consider the affinity credit cards if a lot of points would be earned there. While SPG seems to require the most money spent at the hotel itself to get the award, it probably requires the least money to get the award from credit card spending. Consider the points earned with the credit card as a percentage as what one would earn as a base member:

program hotel pts/$ cc pts/$ %
SPG 2 1 50%
HH 10 2/3 20/30%
Marriott 10 1 10%
PriorClub 10 1 10%

(sorry for bad table format - it does not format easily here)

If you are to earn a lot of points via the credit card, SPG would probably do you better than the other programs. Marriott may be better for points earned at the hotel, but the credit card is pretty weak. Same with Priority Club. Not to mention SPG also carries the ability to convert the points to miles at the best rate of hotel programs. If someone could cross this table with the other one that indicates how much you have to spend on the cc to get a comparable room, that would be a better indication.

The bottom line is that it all depends on how a person plans on earning the points and how he plans on using them.

[This message has been edited by quinella66 (edited 07-23-2003).]

[This message has been edited by quinella66 (edited 07-23-2003).]

No, I didn't forget about Priceline. It is certainly a viable alternative and in many cases offers superior value. I didn't mention it since the thread seemed to be focused on comparison of hotel programs.

With regard to credit cards, the use/non-use of a particular card and the value it offers is dependent on the type of charge. This is true now more than ever. For example, HHonors VISA offers 3 pts/$ at HHonors properties and only 2 pts otherwise. HHonors AMEX is 5/3. Marriott VISA offers 3 pts/$ at Marriott properties and only 1 elsewhere. SPG AMEX is only 1 pt/$, with the exception of the current targeted double points promo. The extra earning by the Marriott and HHonors (AMEX) cards would further skew the hotel results away from Starwood if they were considered in the overall equation. The best deal here depends, again, on how you value the points.

The micro objectives comparison for anyone planning a trip to Alaska:

Unlike Marriott, Hilton & Starwood - Priority Club does not inflate point requirements for its Holiday Inn Express hotels in Alaska.

For some reason, Priority Club classifies Alaska Holiday Inn Express as "non special desination."

This allowed me to get a night at Holiday Inn express in Anchorage for the same 10,000 points required for Holiday Inn Express in Tulsa.

Good deal, I think.

[This message has been edited by jmartin (edited 07-23-2003).]

The title of this thread is: "Hotel programs objective comparrisons". I believe Priceline should be included and I can tell you, they have made my decision on which hotel to use for me tonight. As a Diamond and a Platinum I would be entitled to some upgrades, a free breakfast at Hilton more than likely. But tonight I will be paying $35.00 to the same hotel I have paid as much as $125.00 to last year.

I don't have to worry if they will give me a breakfast coupon or not, I know I won't get one. And the 2,000 points I will loose, well I have no idea what they will be worth next year. I do know where the extra money is going and when it will get there!

I think you really have to take a look at what you're looking to do with your membership/status. If you're travelling to the same city week after week, maybe you should pay more attention to forming a relationship with a local hotel, perhaps something with ties worldwide... I'm Hilton Gold, but really only got great treatment after I frequented a hotel a few times. Last month, I received a letter from Sofitel's program offering me a free night's stay (weekend, later this year)after 4 paid nights. Well, I've now earned my free night, but having come to the same hotel 5 times now, I was upgraded to a 'junior' suite last week, and the only reason I know it was junior is because of the suite I was put in this week. Point is: I have no Sofitel status, but they take care of me because I'm here often (and for the record, I only pay the lowest lowest rates). Find a hotel you like, make friends, and go from there--that's my advice.

--bc

To the spreadsheet person that started this thread. If you've become used to Hyatt, my guess is that SPG is where you might be more comfortable.

Cygone, it sounds like you've booked more great free trips than anyone I know. Why the bitterness when the programs up their price? Would you care to share what you spend on hotel rooms during a typical year?

There have been many rapid changes in all sorts of industries the past two years. Why cry about programs increasing the cost of a free room, especially when you were smart enough to use the rewards? I think we're lucky to have the Priceline alternative in 2002/2003. I really don't expect the same deep discounts to be here in 2005.

For the record, I'm SPG Plat, Hyatt & Hilton Diamond. Whenever Holiday Inn began (1982?) Priorty Club, I remember them paying airfare for two and a week in South Africa after maybe 30 stays at their properties. I never complained when they changed their program.

(My first post)
Diva, I just joined Hyatt this year for Faster Free Nights and have made the easy promo to Platinum. How does one acquire Diamond for Life?!


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AA Gold, AWEST HHonors Diamond, Hyatt Platinum, Starwood Gold, Priority Club Gold, Marriot Silver, Hertz President's Club