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Best hotel loyalty program

Best hotel loyalty program

Old Nov 3, 2012, 8:55 pm
  #1  
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Best hotel loyalty program

In your opinion what is the best hotel loyalty program? The programs I am interested in are: SPG, Marriott, Hyatt, and Hilton’s. There are pros/cons for each but hopefully folks can shed some light on their experiences with these loyalty programs. Some factors that I consider important in choosing the right program are as follows:

- Racking up the highest number of points per $ spent (and it just so happens that the hotels in the area are not that expensive)
- Most generous rewards relative to the points gained
- Keeping the status for longer (not sure how long I will travel after I achieve elite status)
- The breadth of hotel options across the world
- Quality of the hotels in the network
- Versatility of point redemption program
- Perks of top tier status
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Old Nov 3, 2012, 9:46 pm
  #2  
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Welcome to Flyertalk!

While answering all your question in depth would come close to a dissertation, here are just a few pointers:

- have a look at the hotels you´d be most interested in and compare how much money you´d have to spend to earn enough points for a reward night
- Are you aiming at the highest status level? What perks are important to you? E.g. I would probably say the best top tier status of the programs you mentioned is Hyatt Diamond status due to a generous free breakfast policy and 4 confirmed suite upgrade certs (each valid for up to 7 nights), however the number of high-end Hyatts is limited
- each of the hotel chains has a very diverse hotel portfolio ranging from very simple 1* Staybridge hotels to excellent 5* Park Hyatts, Ritz Carltons etc., so discussing quality is a pretty moot point. THe more interesting question is: What hotels are there in your personal price range?

A few sources that may help getting you started:

- the various FAQ threads in the respective hotel forums
- The Loyalty Traveller blog (which has some excellent comparison charts of the various programs)
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Old Nov 4, 2012, 6:05 am
  #3  
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Another consideration is what chain has properties is locations where you'd be most likely doing your paid stays. For example, I'd love to target my travel at SPG, but travel to small towns all over the country means I often only have Hampton Inn and HGIs at my disposal.
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Old Dec 3, 2012, 10:23 pm
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As others have said there is no surefire best hotel loyalty program. Your first consideration should be where you typically travel and what kinds of hotels are available. For me personally, Hyatt is the best choice. Here's why.

-I LOVE their hotels. Even their lower end Hyatt Place is spectacular! Maybe Hilton would give me more frequent reward nights because their Hampton Inns and Garden Inns are in just about every town, but I'd much rather earn stays in a Hyatt than in a Hilton.

-Great Credit Card. The Chase Hyatt card has no foreign transaction fee, comes with two nights in ANY Hyatt as a welcome gift and gives me a free night every year I renew the card. I also get immediate Platinum Status by holding the credit card.

Like I said though, the tradeoff with Hyatt is that they are less prevalent. The Hyatt places are still only found in medium to large cities. So it really comes down to your travel needs. If you are frequently in small towns then Hilton or Marriott may be your best bet.
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Old Dec 3, 2012, 11:55 pm
  #5  
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All sorts of excellent advice above. If I had to pick just one program, it would be Starwood, with the many reasons including the quality of its properties across the globe, the cash plus points options for hotel stays, and the Platinum (top tier) benefits. But as emphasized above, it really hinges on your own travel patterns and preferences; there are many more Hiltons, Marriotts and I believe Priority Club properties across the USA than there are Starwoods, for instanc.

You mentioned retaining status as a factor. Some hotel-affiliated credit cards, such as Hyatt, automatically come with a certain level of status. Others grant you status with certain levels of spending, such as $30K per year getting you Gold via the Starwood Amex card and $40K per year getting you Diamond (top level status) via the Hilton Amex Surpass and Visa Reserve cards.
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Old Dec 4, 2012, 2:26 am
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As others have said there is no surefire best hotel loyalty program.
I would disagree with that. Unless you're traveling at very high end hotels, Hilton is really the best choice. Marriott has really high requirements for qualifying. Starwood? They have a good program but a lot of benefits aren't available for gold level and their hotels nickle and dime you. Neither of them allow you to download your folios off of the web.

Hilton wins for having properties everywhere, having everything from low to high end properties, having staff that really take care of you and a program that just works. You also have properties everywhere where you can redeem miles.

That said, status at hotels? Who cares. You get a small points bonus, but you really don't get much in the way of rewards at hotels. As a top tier member on an airline, you'd have enough miles to buy a $15k first class international ticket. At a hotel chain, you might get 3 nights out of it. Less if you stay somewhere nice. Car elite status is nice for the car upgrades. At the end of the day, no matter how nice your room is, you do the same things in it. You just have more dead space.

Whatever benefits people get from different credit cards really isn't applicable to the choice here.
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Old Dec 4, 2012, 8:12 am
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Sorry...I'm going to respectfully disagree with almost everything that 99luftballoons said. This is likely the first time anyone in the history of Flyertalk has said that hotel statuses don't matter but rental car elite status rocks.

To repeat the upthread mantra: there is no surefire best hotel loyalty program. All four of the ones listed by the OP have unique benefits that the others don't have. All four have their own "sweet spots" - the optimal reward within that program. All of different strengths in terms of their global footprints and breadth of brands offered.

Questions that sappy needs to answer to get the process started:

- Total number of paid nights per year?
- Mix of leisure vs. business? Only reason I ask is that someone who travels 100% leisure may want to consider whether chasing the points and status is worth it, given that booking channels like Priceline can result in lower out-of-pocket costs upfront. If that price difference is enough, it may impact your strategy to some extent.
- U.S.-based, with access to all of the hotel credit cards frequently discussed here? If yes, your total annual credit card spend?
- Types of hotels you'd do a paid stay at. Rural, small city, big city, U.S. vs. international, resort vs. non-resort, extended stay vs. more full service hotel?
- Your ideal award redemption: frequent weekend getaways, weeklong international trips, beach resorts, etc.
- You mention "quality" hotels, but go a bit further with that: are you looking for truly luxury properties (Forbes 4-star or better), unique/interesting properties, or just good clean hotels in as many places as possible?
- You don't mention suite upgrades as important to you. Are frequent upgrades important, or are you generally happy as long as you're in a desirable regular room?

My personal take is that you do want to hold a decent hotel status or two - Marriott Gold, SPG Platinum, HH Gold, or HH Diamond - if you can get it without great expense. I won't try to compare it to airlines or rental cars: just that it's a good thing to have if you are indeed getting involved with one of the big chains. There are ways to get a couple of these fairly quickly, but first you have to figure out which chain is right for you...
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Old Dec 4, 2012, 6:21 pm
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Originally Posted by pinniped
Sorry...I'm going to respectfully disagree with almost everything that 99luftballoons said. This is likely the first time anyone in the history of Flyertalk has said that hotel statuses don't matter but rental car elite status rocks.
^ I'll respectfully second that respectful disagreement. The status and points have come in very handy on all sorts of business and pleasure trips, not least most of my wife's and my overseas vacations for over a decade. We never could have gone to many of the places we've visited without the hotel (and airline) points we accumulated through paid stays and credit card bonuses.
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Old Dec 4, 2012, 9:13 pm
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Originally Posted by Thunderroad
^ I'll respectfully second that respectful disagreement. The status and points have come in very handy on all sorts of business and pleasure trips, not least most of my wife's and my overseas vacations for over a decade. We never could have gone to many of the places we've visited without the hotel (and airline) points we accumulated through paid stays and credit card bonuses.
Agree, 88luftballons is not doing it right.

I've logged 58 nights stayed, plus 23 nights promotion, with Marriott this year and re-qualified for Platinum. Also, with all the megabonus promotions, I have earned enough points to pay for 3 nights in the Providence Marriott Courtyard, 1 night in the Hong Kong JW Marriott, and 2 nights in the Phuket Renaissance Marriott. Also, as a platinum, I will occasionally get upgrades, and overseas you get free internet, access to the club lounge, free welcome gift/points, and free breakfast. DEFINITELY worth it when you're traveling on your own dollar.

Also, I've logged 56 nights in Holiday Inns this year and with all the crazy bonuses, I've managed to accrue 250,000 points this year. That's enough for nearly a month stay at their lowest level hotel. So far I've booked mostly 15-20k a night hotels, but even then I'll get nearly 2 weeks worth of stays for free! Benefits at HI are not as good, but earning points is easy and redemption is good as well.

Car rental benefits may be good in the US, but I found often that car rental chains with partners or locations outside the US don't allow points accrual, so that doesn't do me any good!
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Old Dec 8, 2012, 10:52 pm
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Originally Posted by 99luftballoons
Unless you're traveling at very high end hotels, Hilton is really the best choice.
I disagree with you on this point. I recognize that Hilton's properties are much more abundant than Hyatt's but I choose to chase Hyatt points because I enjoy staying at Hyatt properties much more than the competition's. I'd rather get 3 free nights a year at a hotel I love than 5 somewhere I don't.

Originally Posted by 99luftballoons
Whatever benefits people get from different credit cards really isn't applicable to the choice here.
I think the benefits that come via each hotel's CC is applicable to the choice. People use hotel-branded CCs to supplement their earning and pick up a few perks along the way like bonus free nights. Of course is someone is dead-set on not picking up another CC then you're right... But it depends...
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Old Dec 9, 2012, 12:14 am
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I'm top tier with all of the major rewards programs, and overall I've been favoring Hilton lately, mainly for the benefits associated with status.
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Old Dec 9, 2012, 8:35 am
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your questions can easily be charted on a spread sheet. issues you do not address:
1. are there any XXX hotels in the loctions you plan to use. if most of europe, you are pretty much stuck with best western,
2. in spite of status, etc, what do you really get from the loyalty program. i stayed in a number of high end hotels as a platinum. half time i got a lot. half time, i got squat.
3. does the premium you pay(if on your own nickel) really provide the benefit? we now stay in 4* small boutique hotels. in europe, the rooms are nicer. the service is far superior and much more personalized. and one is not constrained by location.
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