Which hotel chain has the best rewards program?
I've been a member of Priority Club rewards (Holiday Inn, etc.) for a while but have been disappointed in the Holiday Inn Express that I've been staying at regularly. So, I've just joined Hilton HHoners and am going to try out their hotels for a while. Are there any chains worth staying at based solely on their rewards programs?
by
misuhsipee
asked 6 months ago
Kimpton In Touch program is pretty nice. They don't have hotels in that many places, but they are in most major cites.
I have been staying with both Hilton and Marriott for the past 15 years, primarily because there's always one or the other where I'm working. I've been both Diamond w/HHonors and Platinum with Marriott Rewards for most of those years.
A couple of years ago, Hilton cut the value of their points by about 30%. I haven't stayed as much with them since, even though they do offer "double dipping" which means getting both Hilton points and points towards another loyalty program with which they participate (my choice has been United Airlines).
Recently my colleagues have suggested SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest). Though I've been a member with them for a couple of years, I only stayed at an Aloft, Sheraton or Westin when they were closer to my customer's site than M or H.
There's a good discussion of the various programs here. It's a good read with links to other resources.
Another great traveler resource is flyertalk.com.
@90mcg112: I just checked out Kimpton, and there aren't any in the areas I usually visit (the southeast) unfortunately. Thanks for the suggestion though. I'll have to check them out if I can ever make it to civilization.
@tryzub: Thanks, I'll have to check out that link. I forgot all about Marriott. There are plenty of those around.
Starwood Preferred Guest, no question for me. There's some peculiarities with the program compared to Marriott, where SPG is based on stays whereas Marriott is based on nights. Depending on how you travel, this can make it harder to get elite status on SPG. However, SPG runs a number of promotions throughout the year, such that you can rack up the points quickly. That said, I know former consulting colleagues that still like Marriott because for its vacation deals with their points.
With SPG and Marriott, you've got a very large number of brands across major cities and smaller towns, so I would factor that into consideration, too.
@mistamoose: Two of my colleagues took advantage of the promo SPG ran this past fall that allowed you to stay in ANY of their hotels around the world with the points your racked up during the promo. They would stay in a different hotel every night of the week...hilarious. One guy racked up enough to take his family on a 10-day vacation overseas. The only catch: he had to take the vacation by the end of the this year.
@tryzub: I totally understand. When I used to travel a lot, I'd sometimes switch from the Westin on Monday night, Sheraton on Tuesday night, and back to the Westin on Wednesday night for a SPG bonus points promotion. It sounds dumb and not for everyone, but it can make a lot of sense with the right deal. I used the points to stay 5 nights in Paris.
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