Marriott or SPG?
 

Hey folks,

I know this might be a bit of a religious question, but if you were given the choice between Marriott and SPG, which would you choose?
I'm trying to juggle ease of use of getting top tier status, benefits of top tier and usefulness of associated credit card to determine which is my #1 and which is my #2.

So far I'm thinking:

Credit Cards: Winner Marriott
Amex Plat gives automatic SPG Gold status, and the SPG Amex will give 5 nights towards elite. Which means just 45 stays to Plat. SPG Amex offers up to 5 points per night for SPG stays (at 2.5c per point that's 12.5c a dollar) with Plat status

However, Marriott Visa gives 15 nights towards elite status and a free night a year to make up for the annual fee. It also offers no foreign transaction fee, a night towards elite stay every $3K spent and up to 20 points per dollar at Marriott (~20c a dollar at 1c a point) with Plat status. It does have slightly more nights to Plat (60 with the credit card, but if you spend $45K a year it nets to 45 stays required for Plat.

Upgrades: Winner SPG
Here I'm going mostly on research others have done. With the 10 free suite nights, more abundance of suites and generally nicer perks I think SPG wins on upgrades.

Location of Hotels: Winner Marriott
With 3,700 properties to SPG's 1,100 you're much more likely to find a Marriott near where you need to be.

What I can't comment on is treatment as an elite member. I've heard quite a few stories of people who were elite on Marriott and treated badly (I've only had great experiences w/ Marriott even as a lowly Silver).

So, which would you recommend?
I'm strongly leaning towards Marriott based on each of getting status and location, but I wonder - am I doing all this to only get treated a little better?

Personal preferrence--SPG. Tend to be nicer, upgrades, etc. I'm pissed at Marriott because I asked for a late checkout once (one of the few benefits of Silver) and was quoted $80. E-mailed CR about it and was basically told that properties can still choose to charge for it... so.... what's the benefit, exactly?

SPG I've found to be much more standardized.

Hmm... interesting.
I had a pretty good experience after Marriott treated me badly (weird I know). I called them about the plat challenge, and they were extremely rude to me on the phone (weird, but ok...). I then complained on twitter about my treatment and they were very apologetic and comp'd me 5K points.

My experience staying in Marriott has been great almost every time (though I'm going to test it next year with a trip around the country...)

I've never been treated *badly* by Marriott. Even in the case in question I was allowed a slightly late checkout for free (which was all I needed). I was just annoyed at the program on the whole that they misleadingly advertise "priority late checkout" which really means "you get first dibs on paying a lot of money for an extra few hours in the hotel". I don't think I'm the only one who misinterpreted that benefit.

Also, Marriott redemption runs from 5,000 for category 1 to 45,000 for category 9 (or so). By contrast, SPG points are worth a lot more. Cat 3 was 7,000 and Cat 4 was 10,000 I think. Yet the Marriott credit card and the SPG credit card both earn 1 points per $1 spend, so SPG is a big winner there.

Unless, of course, I'm missing something.

At Marriott you earn 10 points per dollar, up to 15 points w/ Plat
SPG you earn 2 points per dollar, up to 4 points (Plat Premier)
The SPG Amex gets you one additional point.
I believe the Marriott Rewards gets you 5 additional points.

So if you stay at hotels a lot, the Marriott Rewards nets 20 points per dollar vs SPG Amex of 5 points.

You're right that for just spending on other categories SPG Amex is more valuable, because even though both offer 1 point, the SPG points are about 2.5x as valuable.

Marriott CC also earns nights towards elite status.

Sorry, I should give full info:

I have AMEX Platinum, so I have SPG Gold. I get Marriott Silver through the Marriott Visa. So the nights towards status are less meaningful because I don't really hope to ever beat those by pure stays alone (I travel on business a dozen times a year at best and I spread my stays over multiple properties).

I didn't consider spending on the hotel with the CC. I do know that SPG Amex gives 5 points per $1 on SPG spend, and I think that's in addition to the 3 points I get otherwise as a Gold, so 8 points/$1 on SPG spend. I'm not sure on those numbers.

You seem to have done your homework so you should have a good feel for value. On the whole I don't hate Marriott--I'm miffed at them over inconsistencies and lack of true benefits. If they work better for you, I don't wish to discourage you from using them.

On SPG I've experienced 2 or 3 upgrades out of maybe 6 stays. Marriott, 0. But I also realize that SPG Gold is higher equivalence than Marriott Silver.

One difference which might come into play depending on your travel patterns: SPG allows one to reach status through stays and not just days whereas Marriott only allows status through days.

SPG AMEX gives 2 stays and 5 nights credit towarsa elte status. Therefore you will need 45 nights OR 23 stays to reach Platinum. Not 45 stays.

I'd amend it to say Credit Card Winner: Both.

Seriously: get both cards. SPG Amex is the best domestic general-spend credit card out there, IMHO. I try to redeem SPG in the 3-4 cents per point range, occasionally even higher.

Marriott Visa is useless as a general spend card but very useful at the hotels with the 5 points per dollar.

In years where I stayed at Marriotts exclusively, I used SPG Amex everywhere else. That way I had MR Plat and SPG Gold, along with a decent stash of redeemable points in both programs.

For an award stay in a resort area (where MR Plat benefits don't apply), I'd redeem my points for a Starwood hotel. For an award stay in a city hotel (where MR Plat can be quite valuable), I'd redeem Marriott.

And the point the two previous posters make about stays vs. nights can be extremely important. If you get a lot of 1-night business trips, then your path to Plat with Starwood is a lot, lot shorter than it is with Marriott. If you do mostly weeklong stays, you'd still get there a *little* earlier with SPG but it would be close enough that this aspect wouldn't affect my MR/SPG decision. You'd hit Marriott Gold after 32-ish nights (give or take a night or two), gaining lounge access and pretty good treatment overall at the hotels.

Finally, SPG is a much, much stronger program for upgrades. I see little dissent on that around here. :) On the plus side, Marriott makes guarantees to Golds/Plats that they will get the bed/smoke type in their profiles. I don't think they've ever failed to get my room type right as a Gold or above.

SPG also counts free nights/stays and cash and points nights/stays toward elite status.

It's a bit hard to compare levels between the programs, but IMO SPG Plat at 25 stays or 50 nights would be equivalent to MR Gold at 50 nights. With MR, Plat and Plat Premier don't get benefits beyond Gold except possibly for some slight priority in preassigning upgraded rooms.

To me, the key differences are that SPG has the GUARANTEED 4 pm checkout except at resorts and convention properties and the published possibility of upgrades into suites. SPG has more interesting hotels, including some amazing aspirational properties, but Marriott has a much bigger footprint and offers consistency. SPG has awards that give five nights for the price in points of four while Marriott has some award packages, such as seven nights in a single property and a bunch of airline miles. Marriott promos are pretty standard and predictable while SPG has more creative ones, many of which receive mixed reactions and can have long lists of nonparticipating hotels.

There are a bunch of misstatements posted in this thread, so OP should verify before making a decision.

Thanks folks,

I definitely hear you on SPG Amex being more valuable as a general purpose spending card.
Would you value the $3,000 to night toward elite status on Marriott Rewards card? The requires a lot of spending, but I'd put at least $20K a year on it just for business travel, for another 6 points.

And the difference between nights and stays is important (45 nights or 23 stays to plat w/ the credit card, sorry I misspoke in my first email)

How would I tell if an area is a resort area? (I mean, there's the obvious is there a beach nearby, but I'm assuming it's more than just that...)

Do you think it would be a good idea to get plat w/ MR for next year, try it out, then go for Plat in SPG the year after and see the difference? I should have enough travel to do that, and with Amex Plat I'd start out at SPG Gold at least.

I think you also have to think about the cost to get the status. On the average, I find room nights at Starwoods to be more expensive than at Marriotts... more options for lower priced rooms if you are doing a mattress run.

Where will you be travelling the most... and what hotels are available there?

At the end of the day, you will find lovers and haters of each program.... I have actually given up worrying about status... I find that the upgrades are tougher to get... and you have to often beg to get what you earned.

I use Priceline/Hotwire for my hotels for the most part. The money I save more than offsets the rare upgrade.

The way I'd value it is this, using my own valuations for MR and SPG

- 3000 SPG is worth $120
- 3000 Marriott points is worth $37.50

So I'm basically paying $82.50 to get an EQN by using the MR Visa for general spending.

Since I can easily book any number of Marriotts near home for an $80-ish net cost (or less), I never use the MR Visa as a source of EQN through general spending.

MR Visa does have some "bonus" categories for 2x points and it does have lower FX fees than SPG Amex, so if those are the only two cards in your wallet I can see occasions where you might grab the Visa. (I use BA Visa as my international card.)

I've never seen Marriott list a hard definition of a "resort". You can find it by looking at the individual property page. They have some properties that use the tag that *aren't* in an obvious beach or ski area. Overall I like Marriott but this is the one aspect of the program that irritates me most - and it's the one aspect of the program that has driven a lot of my business stays to other brands over the years, knowing that if I want to take the family to a resort area I have to make sure I have plenty of points and status in other brands besides Marriott.

I've been doing this a lot on either solo stays where elite benefits don't matter to me or rural stays where none of the hotels distinguish between elite and non-elite to begin with. Also on stays at the other extreme - five-star bids where the winning hotel is likely to be outside the MR/HH/SPG brands. An informed Priceline user can definitely save a *lot* of money vs. regular rates.

There are very few SPG properties in many states. So if you are going to be visiting the largest city or two in a state SPG is fine; there are likely to be two to a half-dozen SPG properties in the larger cities. If your plans include smaller cities or towns, Marriott is better, and Hilton better still, as there are virtually no SPG properties outside of major cities.

My wife travels a lot and I more or less manage her loyalty club stays. We like to graze the specials. For example, Marriott has Megabonus three times a year, where four stays generally earn two free nights. So I think it is silly for anyone to stay fewer than 12 nights a year with Marriott. She's long ago qualified for Hilton Diamond, so we are also working towards a Priority Club bonus.

She loves the Hilton status, but ultimately we want to get as many free rooms as possible so we can go places with the kids.