Are hotel loyalty programs more practical than FFPs?

[_TheTraveller_]

I wasn't sure if this was the right place to post this but I was researching for new FFPs with the changes to BAEC and I was reading a post by Lucky/Ben from OMAAT on his strategy for this year. He posted the comment below:

16-year-old me would be so disappointed to hear this, but I generally don’t think it’s worth going out of your way to attain airline elite status anymore. I tend to think there’s huge value in seeking out elite status with hotels, given how useful the perks are, and also given that status can in many cases be easy to earn. I can’t say the same about airlines, though.

Having played the game for 10 years as a fascinating hobby, the potential health impacts of frequent flying and cost has crossed my mind. This made me question whether the benefits outweigh the costs in chasing FF points/status anymore. I have QF WP and LTG so am I better off diversifying and play the hotel status game? I think one program that I've seen that has had universal praise was Hyatt. Is the cost of mattress runs going to offset the potential benefits?

What are everyone's thoughts in comparing the two type of loyalty programs? Are on ground benefits more beneficial for a leisure traveller verses FFP benefits? I would imagine that road warriors to enjoy the FFP benefits more than the hotel benefits.

Post for reference: My Airline Elite Status Strategy For 2025: I'm Nearly A Free Agent

 

[RooFlyer]

I would hold the opposite view from Ben. With hotel loyalty programs there seems so many inconsistencies and places that opt out and simple failure to deliver benefits (which need to be delivered straight away or it’s not recoverable, such as a room upgrade) that hotel status is very questionable and inless maybe you hold the very top tier.

I never bothered with hotel status until very recently when Accor made it quite easy to get Plat and I was planning to stay at a lot of Accor places anyway. So far I’ve been disappointed in the benefits.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I think chasing status in either is essentially a waste of time and effort.

The top tier perks can be bought with $$$$ in both.
Flying J/F
Booking Impresario/ STARS/ Privé etc

 

[Forg]

I think chasing status in either is essentially a waste of time and effort.

The top tier perks can be bought with $$$$ in both.
Flying J/F
Booking Impresario/ STARS/ Privé etc

I guess it depends on who's paying ... if it's an employer, they're obviously happy to be sending you all over the joint at their accepted level of comfort/luxury and repeat-business at a lower level buys you the perks the employer would probably balk at paying-for directly. So if your employer's happy for you to fly any number of airlines or stay at any number of hotels, choosing the right one might get you something (for the same cost to your employer) you wouldn't get at another.

If you're paying for all this stuff yourself, the equation changes quite a lot & IMHO few people are in the position to be travelling frequently enough to see anything particularly useful out of frequent-usage statuses. Of course if you're in the minority it's not the same equation for you as it is for the majority ...

Also, maybe the inconsistencies @RooFlyer mentioned are less of a problem if your travel is to the same places repeatedly? So you get to know the standards at the small number of places you regularly stay at? That sorta thing is probably more common when travelling for work than for holidays.

 

[levelnine]

The reason Americans tend to think hotel status is superior to airline status is that hotel status confers tangible benefits (free breakfast, free parking, etc) while airline status does not (no lounge access with American programs, can get free bags with a credit card, etc).

 

[muppet]

Early December I knew I’d be 4 nights short of HH Diamond renewal. I was sitting in the phenomenally lame Club offering at Next Curio Melbourne and thought, why bother with a mattress run to top up my nights, this is cough.

So saved myself about $1k and will drop to HH Gold on 1 April. Yes I probably will no longer get lounge access, but I rarely use the lounge anyway because I usually have plans. Only on longer trips overseas, where I’m tired at the end of the day, do I ever get any value out of club lounges. So if I want, on those trips I can spend the extra to get those benefits.

I anticipate using the discounts on offer from Accor Plus or via aggregators now I’m no longer cuffed to Hilton.

WP for Qantas I’m much more reluctant to let slide, even though the ability to request the release of Classic Rewards has been curtailed lately, I do worry about the value of my points if I was trying to access inventory as LTG.

 

[Buzzard]

For quite a few year's I have held Black status with Priority Guest Rewards, now EVT Stays. It has worked well for me in Australia and New Zealand especially with the 50% dining and drinks discount.
Maybe I should have taken that $1,200 bottle of Grange for $600?
The program recently changed though and top tier is now by invitation, you can't earn it with a definite number of stays.
Luckily I was invited for an additional 12 month's when the changes to the program were made but I doubt I'll be invited again.
Enhancements.....

 

[Tiki]

I have IHG Platinum from the Chase IHG card (USA) and it's been good value with free upgrades, welcome gifts and the free annual night that technically costs $49 USD but I redeem for $200+.

Otherwise it depends on the hotel chain's footprint. Do they have hotels in places you plan to visit? Luckily IHG is pretty widespread. Hyatt has a great program but few hotels worldwide. And you also need to consider if you stay in ecolodges, campgrounds, AirBnbs, anything else that wouldn't be accessible in a chain loyalty program.

 

[_TheTraveller_]

I have IHG Platinum from the Chase IHG card (USA) and it's been good value with free upgrades, welcome gifts and the free annual night that technically costs $49 USD but I redeem for $200+.

Otherwise it depends on the hotel chain's footprint. Do they have hotels in places you plan to visit? Luckily IHG is pretty widespread. Hyatt has a great program but few hotels worldwide. And you also need to consider if you stay in ecolodges, campgrounds, AirBnbs, anything else that wouldn't be accessible in a chain loyalty program.

Not necessarily wedded to any hotel program right now. I have status with a few hotels by virtue of CCs but Hyatt is an elusive one and I usually stay with them where reasonable.

I asked the question purely to see what people's opinions are on it. I don't think it's ever rationale to spend money chasing status/points but loyalty programs are just a hobby for me. Trying to get "value" out of stays/flights where I otherwise wouldn't have done so with my own cash. I know sometimes you could have just paid upfront but beyond the cost factor there is also the fun factor of it all.

 

[elanshin]

I think the first thing is to separate the points system from the loyalty status system. They're two differnt things.

Hotel loyalty points are generally very simple and theres very little excess value to he had. (Each point= x value) Where as airline points can often have sweet spot redemptions and other good value redemptions.

Airline status vs hotel status gets a bit murkier. Airline status can potentially be easier to generate although that is trending in the hard direction where as most high hotel status tend to need stays with them.

The benefits of higher hotel status tends to be better imho between room upgrades, breakfasts, early check in/ late check out and lounge access. Compare that with airlines which often are just lounge access and extra baggage. Upgrades on airlines are harder to come by these days.

There's value to be had in both, but chances are you won't be paying for the absolute best value as often the answer is a hotel /airline that you don't have status on. But then you won't get a free upgrade to a spectacular view overlooking Niagara falls from your room.

 

[_TheTraveller_]

I think the first thing is to separate the points system from the loyalty status system. They're two differnt things.

Hotel loyalty points are generally very simple and theres very little excess value to he had. (Each point= x value) Where as airline points can often have sweet spot redemptions and other good value redemptions.

Airline status vs hotel status gets a bit murkier. Airline status can potentially be easier to generate although that is trending in the hard direction where as most high hotel status tend to need stays with them.

The benefits of higher hotel status tends to be better imho between room upgrades, breakfasts, early check in/ late check out and lounge access. Compare that with airlines which often are just lounge access and extra baggage. Upgrades on airlines are harder to come by these days.

Yes agreed re the points/status. Just meant more of the category of both as a hobby. I still remember using SPG's BRG with status to generate points. That was incredibly lucrative!

 

[drron]

The most valued I felt was when I became LTP with Starwood. Yes the BRG usage was before I achieved that but after a definite increase in upgrades and significant ones at that.
Plus in 3 hotels the GM would seek us out and give n some extra goodies plus ask us for our thoughts on various aspects of the hotel or program.
That all changed with Bonvoy. So now IHG is our program which suits us and with the IHG rewards gives us better options.

With airlines that became less relevant when we decided that over 4 hours it was J and just bought that. Upgrades are no longer important but awards are. For us it is as LTG much harder for Mrsdrron to get an award than for me as LTP with AA.

A little amusement yesterday getting seats for a Qr F award from AA was bringing up the trip on the QR website and in big letters was the statement there are no available upgrade options.

 

[WilsonM]

I wasn't sure if this was the right place to post this but I was researching for new FFPs with the changes to BAEC and I was reading a post by Lucky/Ben from OMAAT on his strategy for this year. He posted the comment below:



Having played the game for 10 years as a fascinating hobby, the potential health impacts of frequent flying and cost has crossed my mind. This made me question whether the benefits outweigh the costs in chasing FF points/status anymore. I have QF WP and LTG so am I better off diversifying and play the hotel status game? I think one program that I've seen that has had universal praise was Hyatt. Is the cost of mattress runs going to offset the potential benefits?

What are everyone's thoughts in comparing the two type of loyalty programs? Are on ground benefits more beneficial for a leisure traveller verses FFP benefits? I would imagine that road warriors to enjoy the FFP benefits more than the hotel benefits.

Post for reference: My Airline Elite Status Strategy For 2025: I'm Nearly A Free Agent

The US game is a little different in that airline status is all spend based (with a few exceptions), while hotel status is easily acquirable and can be 'segment' (night) based.

I don't think they're really mutually exclusive - if you're flying a lot, chances are you're staying away from home more as well. So if you're already QF WP, you should be trying to maximise potential benefits with your hotel stays anyway.

Hyatt gets near universal praise in the US for its solid loyalty program and award chart - most hotel chains don't bother with those anymore. But Hyatt kinda has to do this, as its footprint is relatively miniscule compared to the other big chains - it needs to make up for the lack of properties with a compelling loyalty program (and generally good service/quality of hotel). Outside the US, maintaining Hyatt status can become expensive/unwieldy, as you may find only 1-2 Hyatts in a city compared to 10+ Marriotts (as an example, see Sydney).

 

[jase05]

Personally I’d love more Hotel programs to have a revenue spend option as for many there is simply no way I’ll get there on stay nights. Marriott is one program in particular that I’ve looked into especially for travels later this year but zero chance of staying 50 nights. Probably spend $20k no problems but that won’t count for much. One of the reasons I do love Accor as we comfortably get Diamond on spend but if Diamond was determined my nights then we probably wouldn’t.