Hotel Rewards Programs

[csharpwv]

I am a frequent business traveler - and have used the Hilton Family of hotels for the last three years - but I had a few really bad stays last year
and as I get ready to books dozens of nights in hotels over the next few months - I am wondering about my loyalty to Hilton Hotels.

As organizations are tightening their belts across the country - I am wondering how to get the maximum 'life' out of the money spent on business travel.

Anyone a "HUGE FAN" of other rewards programs that are out there?

Curious to hear what folks have to say!

 

[sdjen]

I too travel for business - although less now than I used to.

I really like the Priority Club program with Holiday Inn. You can stay at Holiday Inns, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites and Crowne Plaza. There may be one other "brand" too but I cannot remember. I have had good luck with these hotels and can get fairly decent points saved up too. I also applied for their VISA card and got 20 or 30K points. If you use that card to pay for the hotel stays you get extra points. I just use that card for business trips and pay it off with my expense account reimbursements. Works pretty well.

One of the things that is really nice is that sometimes you can find free nights for as little as 5,000 points. In fact, i just used 5k points to book a free night (last Friday) at a Crowne Plaze for my brother and his family.

That is just my experience - hope it helps!

 

[alyssa810]

I've been a Starwood Preferred Guest since about 2003, and I get most of my points through their AMEX. Our wedding was at a Sheraton, and I was able to use the credit card to pay for all our expenses there which helped build our points. We've used our points to stay 5 nights free at the Maui Westin, and several nights at the Sheraton Safari to save our weekend DVC points. The SPG program has been good to us!

 

[dis-happy]

My dh is a road warrior and has been platinum with Marriott during years of travel. He loves them all, knows what he's going to get when he gets there (Marriott seems to do a good job keeping high standards for their corporate name), won't even let me book anywhere else anymore.

If you get the Marriott VISA you get a bunch of perks (extra points, etc) plus credit for 15 night stays right off the bat.

Across the board Marriott takes very good care of its elite members----he's upgraded frequently, gets access to club lounges to hotels that have them, free coupon for breakfast at Courtyard, etc. At the platinum level he's also gurananteed a room reservation at 24 hours (ie. even if the hotel is "sold out" he can get a room if calls 24 hrs. in advance).

In the meantime, I happily spend the points he earns...we take trips and stay for free as a family. Except for the Courtyards the rest have a free breakfast (Res. Inn, Springhill Suites, Fairfield) which is also very convenient and saves us a bunch of money when we're travelling. It's super easy to go online and make a reservation using points too.

No regrets from this Marriott Perks family!

 

[Free4Life11]

Absolutely, positively, 100% PRIORITY CLUB!

Their brands include Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigio, and Intercontinental.

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/pc/1/en/home

I've been with them for years and really think they are the best; they always have a lot of promotions to earn extra points. This summer they had an amazing promo: starting with your second weekend stay (Friday or Saturday night) recieve points AND a $50 gift card (gift card was for many retailers, include Target.) I racked up $250 in gift cards + points, but the kicker was I never paid more than $75 a night for any of the hotels.

 

[IloveDisney77]

I travel almost every week and have for the past 15 years. Over the years I've had Platinum status with Marriott for many many years (still have over 500,000 points yet to use), Diamond with Hilton (on an off for a few years) and Platinum with SPG.

My ranking of the high-end programs are:
SPG, Marriott, Hyatt (just not enough of them around) and then Hilton

IMHO, SPG points wins hands down. Really, having used all 4 of those programs to the fullest, SPG really is that much better.


-A few examples, if you want to use points with SPG, no blackout days and it has been that way for a while. Marriott only recently went to that option.

-SPG has a fantastic option called points/dollars. Instead of using say 10K points for a Category 4 hotel (ie, high-end Sheraton or most Westin Properties), you can use 4000 Points and $60 per night...This is a great way to extend use of points and get a huge bang for your buck.

-One important thing for us business travelers...upgrades. Marriott's idea of an upgrade is typically an upgrade to club floor; on occasion they will provide an upgrade to a better room (ie suite). SPG on the other hand (for Platinum members), will almost always upgrade you to a suite. Many of us use our points on family travel so this perk alone is a HUGE benefit. It is so nice to have large accomdations/better views (ie oceanfront suites) when traveling with family. Over the years of being Marriott Platinum would have to call before hand and beg for a decent upgrade...with SPG they do it automatically. Case in point...just this past weekend we stayed at the Swan (Westin Property) and used free weekend vouchers earned from their Summer Promotion. I checked in periodically over the past couple of weeks at SPG.com and kept seeing my room change..it went from a standard room, to deluxe room w/balcony, to deluxe room w/balcony and theme park view, to a deluxe alcove w/ resort/park view to my actually checking in and getting deluxe alcove w/balcony and a park view...essentially received 4 levels of upgrades...I can tell you now that ain't happening with Marriott (for full disclosure on special trips where we were staying in Marriotts, ie, birthdays, anniversay, if you call the hotel your staying at and speak to a manager and ask nicely, they will almost universally go out of their way to give you a true upgraded room.)

-One last thing you only need 50 nights to achieve Platinum status with SPG, Marriott is 75, and Hilton for Diamond is 60 (I do like the way Hilton does the timeframe though on a rolling basis as opposed to all others on a straight calendar year perspective).

-Beds, SPG has the Sweet Sleeper Bed...the other's don't...reason enough right there

Just my thoughts...

 

[minniebeth]

My DH travels frequently and uses Marriott most of the time because it is the brand that is most accessible to him in the area that he travels. He likes the Marriott properties themselves, but the reward program, eh.

I just want to point out that IloveDisney77 stated that Marriott recently went to no blackout days...that's technically true, but not really. What they now do is say there are XX amount of rooms available on points for these nights and wow? guess what? they are all usually "sold out" of these rooms at peak times, peak resorts. My opinion is, if there are rooms available, points should be allowed to be used. So please be aware of this.

We do love Marriott properties, but if you can't use the points when you want to, or need to, it doesn't convey loyalty to the customers who are using their brand 150 nights out of the year.

 

[dis-happy]

My DH travels frequently and uses Marriott most of the time because it is the brand that is most accessible to him in the area that he travels. He likes the Marriott properties themselves, but the reward program, eh.

I just want to point out that IloveDisney77 stated that Marriott recently went to no blackout days...that's technically true, but not really. What they now do is say there are XX amount of rooms available on points for these nights and wow? guess what? they are all usually "sold out" of these rooms at peak times, peak resorts. My opinion is, if there are rooms available, points should be allowed to be used. So please be aware of this.

We do love Marriott properties, but if you can't use the points when you want to, or need to, it doesn't convey loyalty to the customers who are using their brand 150 nights out of the year.

I just want to add that we always have a bank of 500,000 points (which I am constantly using and get replenished) and honestly, I've not had a problem getting points stays. ****

We took a 3 week cross country drive over the holidays (December into Jan) last year and stayed at Marriotts the whole way, including Flagstaff before and after our trip to the Grand Canyon, by Disneyland on Dec. 30th, plus lots of hotels in between NC and San Diego. I never had a problem get a stay in a city/area that we wanted on points, and this was during the heavy travel season. And I only booked everything 1-2 weeks out.

All the Springhill Suites we stayed in were either new or re-done---the new decor and layout is very nice (the way the sofa bed opens there is room for another person to sleep on the L-shaped extension---nice for our family of 5 and a baby). At Residence Inn at Disneyland we had to option of paying a bit on top of the points to upgrade to a larger room, which we did (it was minimal, like $25.) and then they waived the fee upon check-in. More times than not, my dh is by himself in the 2 b/r suites w/ fireplace at Residence Inn due to surprise upgrades. It has also happened for us on points stay--but usually I try to just book the room size I need so I'm not having to count on the upgrade.

If you get the Marriott VISA you only need 50 stays to hit platinum level, since they credit you 15 stays upfront.

My only complaint is that often the points in the Orlando area are high and sometimes the cash rate is so reasonable I go that route. Also, most of the Marriotts in that area have double beds, not queens.

Finally, a lot depends on where you travel. My dh does a lot/most of his work in the DC area and with the number of Marriotts there, they are usually the most convenient to the places he has to be (ie. walking distance even though he always gets a rental car). Same with where he goes in Los Angeles.

Good luck deciding! If the Marriott hotels don't work out as well for my dh's locations, I'll tell him to check out the SPG program, courtesy of the DIS!!!



****wanted to add when booking points stays, sometimes you have to clear out your cookies to get a full look at everything. Not sure why this happens but I have run into it while using the website, especially if going back and forth a lot or over a few days trying to decide on something.

 

[jgates]

Marriott/Fairfield/Springhill & Holiday Inn Express are about my favorites. I do enjoy a good Hampton Inn also, although it seems their point redemption cost is pretty high now. .

One nice thing about Holiday Inn right now is they sometimes offer a points plus a $$ for a stay. You use less points & just pay a lower fee for the room. It can be a nice way to get a room without burning all of your points or all of your money.

I won't use any of my Marriott points in Orlando as mentioned above. I get a better value using it somewhere else for the free room & paying cash in Orlando.

I consider all 3 of these hotel chains to have good quality standards so you know you are going to be in a consistent room.