Hilton or Marriott points?

[MAJPLO]

Anyone know the fastest way to earn either Hilton or Marriott points? We are looking at several hotels and more than one of our top choices are these brands. Wondering what kind of deal I can find maybe earning some points to use there.

 

[Pooh2]

The Marriott credit card gives 50,000 pts after spending $1,000 within 3 months.

 

[MAJPLO]

The Marriott credit card gives 50,000 pts after spending $1,000 within 3 months.

Great tip, thank you. Is there an annual fee for this card? I don't seem to be able to check the point value of the rooms we are looking at. Is there a special members' site I would need a rewards # for?

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

I actually think they're doing a limited time 70,000 sign up bonus.

You'll want to sign up at Marriott.com for an account. I think they have a few tiers of cards with fees ranging. The high level is $99 waived for the first year.

The do the redemption by hotel tier. A tier one is 10,000 points and a tier 7 is 35,000. I don't remember all the in-betweens.

If you sign up for an account you can search hotel and tick the "use points" box

 

[MAJPLO]

I actually think they're doing a limited time 70,000 sign up bonus.

You'll want to sign up at Marriott.com for an account. I think they have a few tiers of cards with fees ranging. The high level is $99 waived for the first year.

The do the redemption by hotel tier. A tier one is 10,000 points and a tier 7 is 35,000. I don't remember all the in-betweens.

If you sign up for an account you can search hotel and tick the "use points" box

I don't see 70,000 but I see either a 50,000 for $1000 spent in three months or $100 statement credit and 40,000 points for $1000 spent in three months. That's about one night free where we are looking plus either extra points or $100. Hmmm.

 

[Pooh2]

The annual fee is waived the first year. After that, an $89/year fee is charged but you get a certificate for a category 5 night.
You do not need the credit card to sign up for Marriotts.com account. After signing up for the rewards account, you can see the members best price in points or cash or combo on their website.

 

[Marionnette]

Anyone know the fastest way to earn either Hilton or Marriott points? We are looking at several hotels and more than one of our top choices are these brands. Wondering what kind of deal I can find maybe earning some points to use there.

There are two Hilton credit cards, each one offers a 40K point bonus. You could apply for both and have 80K+ in points after meeting the spending threshold. It's not too hard to do, especially if you stagger your applications so that you don't get the second card until you have met the requirement for the first card.

The first card is the HHonors Amex. No annual fee. Spend $750 in the first 3 months that you have the card. Automatic HHonors Silver status when you get the card. What I like about this card is that they also offer 5 bonus rewards points on restaurants, gas and groceries. So even if I'm not using it for a hotel stay, I can still earn bonus points for everyday purchases.

The other is the Citi Hilton HHonors Visa. No annual fee. Must spend $1K in the first 4 months of having the card. Automatic Silver status when you get the card and upgrade to Gold if you have 4 paid stays in the first 90 days of having the card.

Depending on the hotel category, 80K could be worth up to 16 nights of free stays. However, my experience has been that the minimum number of points required for one night is closer to 20K, not 5K. There are 10 tiers of hotel categories with the most expensive ones costing as much as 95K in points for one night.

I just wanted to throw those out there so that you have an idea of what you can get through Hilton, since most posters have covered Marriott.

 

[MAJPLO]

There are two Hilton credit cards, each one offers a 40K point bonus. You could apply for both and have 80K+ in points after meeting the spending threshold. It's not too hard to do, especially if you stagger your applications so that you don't get the second card until you have met the requirement for the first card.

The first card is the HHonors Amex. No annual fee. Spend $750 in the first 3 months that you have the card. Automatic HHonors Silver status when you get the card. What I like about this card is that they also offer 5 bonus rewards points on restaurants, gas and groceries. So even if I'm not using it for a hotel stay, I can still earn bonus points for everyday purchases.

The other is the Citi Hilton HHonors Visa. No annual fee. Must spend $1K in the first 4 months of having the card. Automatic Silver status when you get the card and upgrade to Gold if you have 4 paid stays in the first 90 days of having the card.

Depending on the hotel category, 80K could be worth up to 16 nights of free stays. However, my experience has been that the minimum number of points required for one night is closer to 20K, not 5K. There are 10 tiers of hotel categories with the most expensive ones costing as much as 95K in points for one night.

I just wanted to throw those out there so that you have an idea of what you can get through Hilton, since most posters have covered Marriott.

Excellent. Thank you the comparison will be very helpful in looking at our room choices.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

There are two Hilton credit cards, each one offers a 40K point bonus. You could apply for both and have 80K+ in points after meeting the spending threshold. It's not too hard to do, especially if you stagger your applications so that you don't get the second card until you have met the requirement for the first card. The first card is the HHonors Amex. No annual fee. Spend $750 in the first 3 months that you have the card. Automatic HHonors Silver status when you get the card. What I like about this card is that they also offer 5 bonus rewards points on restaurants, gas and groceries. So even if I'm not using it for a hotel stay, I can still earn bonus points for everyday purchases. The other is the Citi Hilton HHonors Visa. No annual fee. Must spend $1K in the first 4 months of having the card. Automatic Silver status when you get the card and upgrade to Gold if you have 4 paid stays in the first 90 days of having the card. Depending on the hotel category, 80K could be worth up to 16 nights of free stays. However, my experience has been that the minimum number of points required for one night is closer to 20K, not 5K. There are 10 tiers of hotel categories with the most expensive ones costing as much as 95K in points for one night. I just wanted to throw those out there so that you have an idea of what you can get through Hilton, since most posters have covered Marriott.

We don't have a Hilton credit card, but DH travels a ton for work and he does Hiltons. Their rewards program has worked very well for us. We never pay for a hotel for leisure travel. I am always able to get a room that we want in a hotel that we want on a reasonable amount of points. Most are 30-40k/night some more, such as the full service Hiltons. I have read good things about their credit cards on blogs but we get enough hotel points by him traveling so we use a southwest visa for spending so we can get free flights too.

 

[elgerber]

The Marriott we use our points at is a tier 4 and it's 20000 points. So I think it's 5000 per tier not 10000. I got my card last fall with 60000 bonus and the free night so I got 4 nights total. I just got one for my husband but it's only 50000 and a free night now so 3 more free nights for us.

 

[MAJPLO]

Do either the Marriott or Hilton points expire? I have a Holiday Inn points account and these never expire. At least they haven't yet and it's been a few years since I started with them. Same for Marriott and Hilton?

I guess at this point I may as well start exploring Sheraton also. Lol. Makes me want to kick myself for years of hotel stays paid through work and not racking up points. What was I thinking??? ::

 

[jsmith]

I have a job that involves extended stays away from home-I do Hilton points and since I spend as much as 6 weeks at a stretch in a hotel, Homewood Suites and Hilton Garden Inns suite me nicely. Last time we went to Europe we stayed three nights in the Hilton Milano Stucky in Venice and three nights in the Rome Cavalliari which is a Waldorf Astoria property on points I definitely think the Hilton honors program rocks.