When is it time to diversify hotel reward programs? SPG and ...?
 

I'm a frequent traveler and have been ridiculously loyal to Starwood over the past few years and am now closing in at around 300k banked SPG points. I got to the point last week that I drove an extra 30 min in Philly to stay at the Westin downtown rather than a Marriott out by where I was working. It really has been starting to get out of control with the free weekend night promotion even...

Was wondering at what point people have started diversifying. I just used up my last Marriott points today and am realizing that it may be best to build up points in another program for when I need to book non-Starwood hotels for personal stays.

Any suggestions on a good secondary program?

I'd take a look at the places that you travel to mainly and see what hotels are in the area that you might like and are convenient, and then focus on that brand.

I branch out after making sure that I have my Starwood Platinum status renewed for next year. That doesn't mean that I don't stay anywhere else until I have my nights/stays for Starwood, but I at least make sure that I have those nights/stays coming and then branch out to my backup (Hilton).

It's definitely good to have a backup. Starwood hotels just aren't as numerous as other chains are, especially in the lower end hotels and in smaller cities/towns. That having been said, I don't think I would branch out if you are just barely making SPG platinum.

Good point, I cleared the platinum mark a few weeks back (at 64 nights for the year) and so now is probably the right time to look around.

Hilton is my "fall back program" I typically always stay at Starwood even if I have cleared my Plat status. Reason being: the notorious question around here is always "how do they determine who to upgrade?" If you notice, some members here have a very high rate of success while others do not. Who would you give the upgrade to first? Someone who has 25 stays or someone who has 40? So, while it's certainly good to have a secondary program and achieve status with someone else, the more you stay with one, the more perks you are more likely to receive!

But I agree with treznor: check out the cities you usually travel and see who has the strongest presence. I also think it's a personal preference too...I prefer Hilton over Marriott, so I use Hilton as a back up. Just adding my 2 cents!

I have been Starwood loyal for years but am now finding myself switching a lot of business to Hyatt. Although Hyatt has a lot fewer properties than Starwood; I find that even as a mid-tier status (Plat with Starwood) I am treated exceptionally well. It is never the "big" things; but rather the small things that make a difference to me.

I don't feel that Hyatt nickels and dimes me to death as Starwood has started to do and every Hyatt I have visited the staff has been absolutely superb in terms of friendliness and professionalism. As of late it seems that I hear a "yes" more often at Hyatt than the "nos" that I continue to hear so often from Starwood staff these days.

This is not to say that I won't continue to be *wood loyal, I love the program quite a bit, but I have moved business (20 stays so far) to Hyatt. BTW - I am a leisure traveller only this year.

This is an excellent thread for MilesBuzz, since it focuses outside Starwood. I'm going to move it along there.

SanDiego1K
Starwood Moderator

There are many ways you can earn hotel points without staying with them except Hyatt. You can build a rich stack of hotel points through credit card for example. It makes sense to have hotel points from different programs if not just for a greater coverage of available hotels since they are not all represented equally in every city or destination.

In terms of hotel stays, if you are more or less indifferent between two competing hotels in a same city/area, then the tie breaker should come down to their points and promos. In my opinion, SPG is a program that requires a heavier dose of promos in order to remain competitive against other hotel loyalty programs because in terms of relative valuation, the earning/spending power of SPG points earned through stays is quite a bit weaker than others.

See this thread here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starw...r-value-2.html

And specifically, my analysis here:

SPG vs. Hilton & Marriott

I started my diversification last summer. I reluctantly find that I have moved away from Marriott to Hyatt. While I have not found an Executive Club at a Hyatt that I felt was worth squat, the rooms have been nice, the hotels well located, and they have been significantly less expensive.

I seem to accumulate Hyatt points faster than Marriott, probably due to the bonus point incentives they like to offer.

Starting from scratch, I'd probably diversify to HH. For one, with their Surpass card, you're Gold out of the chute and if you're willing to stop using your SPG Amex for a bit, you could hit Diamond on card spend alone ($40k per calendar year).

The big benefit to Marriott comes when you hit the Travel Package level - giving you a 1-week stay plus the best "convert-out" option in the industry. But to do that, you'd have to actually make it your primary stay chain and do a year or two worth of Plat-level stays. There aren't many good "convert in" options to Marriott, whereas HH has a very good one from AA.

(In other words, if you choose, your Marriott Travel Package can become 1 Marriott week plus 1 Hilton week plus some AA miles leftover... :))

So it all depends on how much real stay activity you want to move. If you want to stay mainly Starwood but quickly build a balance and a midtier status for backup purposes, just switch spending to the new HH Amex. (There are "good value" HH redemptions in the 4-night AXON award, so if you like shorter stays this is an advantage over Marriott.) If you really want to switch primary stay behavior, call Marriott for a status challenge, get their newest MR Visa product, and start working your way towards your Travel Package.

As others have noted, it depends on your travel patterns. Having said that, I'm happy with HH as my back-up. Hilton has lots of properties all over the country and the world, including some very nice ones abroad (more nice ones abroad than Marriott, though I would still give Starwood the clear edge in terms of deluxe properties overseas).

If you go that route, as pinniped suggested you should get the HH Surpass Amex card because it gets you Gold status at HH (at least for your first years--after that, to retain Gold you need to spend $20K/year and to get to Diamond $40K/year), which in turn gets you free breakfasts at most Hilton properties and a 40K point sign-up bonus. It's worth the $75 annual fee. (Make sure the bonus is included if you do get the card, however.) 40K HH points isn't worthy nearly as much as Starwood points, given the different redemption values for the two companies, but it's still good for a free night at a top property and more at the lower-tier ones. Another advantage of the card is that you can accrue lots of points for purchases at grocery stores, drug stores, gas stations, etc.

Having about a week's worth of banked Hilton points and Hyatt points has saved us thousands of dollars several times traveling last minute and especially overseas and during peak holiday times.

Have never had an issue redeeming, even when our account hasn't quite reached the right level of points (Hyatt) they hold the room, knowing we'd accummulate them by the date of stay. This is in contrast to * wood that will only hold a points "pending" reservation for 7 days, not trusting loyal customers to make good on the points, even with months and months of lead time.

Wow thanks for putting the time in for your analysis. I can appreciate that difference that Hilton seems to give over MR and SPG. I was hoping SPG would be better as I live overseas and like their hotels over Marriott and Hilton. But as someone who loves to accumulate and optimize my points and redemptions I can't ignore Hilton.

For someone like myself, who won't be traveling much for business in the near future, what is considered the best program for credit card spend? I'm also looking to diversify from SPG to give me a few more options. It sounds as if Hilton might be the way to go. As far as I understand, Hyatt doesn't offer any back door point earning opportunities.

The two good general-spend CC choices are SPG and HH.

If you don't plan enough business travel to hit a meaningful elite status the "hard" way, I'd recommend HH since HH Gold has more value than SPG Gold.

Marriott's Visa card is very rewarding when used at the hotels (5 pts/$), but comparatively weak as a general-spend card. It can still be worthwhile if you ever need a standalone free night: each time you pay the $65(?) annual fee, you receive one free night certificate valid up to Category 5. That category covers most mainline Renaissance/Marriotts outside of high-cost cities like NYC, London, etc. I recently used mine for a Washington D.C. night that would have otherwise cost about $120 via Priceline or $250 via Marriott.com.

Thanks for the info. I'll check out the HH cards as I'd like to put some spend towards a different program. SPG is great, but for destinations where they don't have much of a presence it would be nice to have another option.