Do you stay with one loyalty program when booking hotels

[DontGetMeStarted]

Hi

We are travelling a fair bit in 2014 and just wondering whether you have any opinions on staying with one hotel program or just going for best value..where I can I would like club access for b/fast and evening drinks but its not essential..

I am currently gold with Hilton but will lose that March 2014 and drop back to Blue - unless I do the $50 sign up through mile point ( just waiting on link) but because of the current Hilton Gold I asked and received
status matched gold now with IHG
status matched gold with Carlson Rendezvous
and I am Platinum with Accor

So have Shanghai in April for 7 nights
London in June for 7 nights
Italy in June for 14 nights
Washington in July for 7 nights
Nashville in July for 4
Los Angeles in July for 9

So any thoughts of staying with any of the above programs - any recommendations would be great, though for the Washington one I have been recommended to stay at the AKA White House self catering apartments

 

[Cynicor]

I generally stay in Hilton chain hotels, moving to SPG or any other hotel when no good HH option presents itself. I do this because of free exec lounge, occasional upgrades, free breakfast an the accumulation of points. With your itinerary it really depends on your overall travel budget, what sort of hotels you like and what you want from the hotels. In some ways, it also is worth knowing what/where you want to do in 2015 as status obtained in 2014 will last until Mar 2016.

With your trip I would stay in all HH hotels and make a killing off the points, likely requal diamond and burn the points on my next niseko ski trip in 2015, while using the benefits of status such a free breakfasts.
If you don't like hotel breakfasts then the value proposition changes. Also, you have hotels in the US and I understand that exec lounges there are no where near the standard of other places in the world.

With your other statuses, IHG gold isn't worth much. I don't know much about Carlson and Accor plat is practically worthless, but they are improving it slightly I believe. HH gold is probably the best of the bunch.

 

[DontGetMeStarted]

Thanks Cynicor had better retain that gold with Hilton then

 

[Daver6]

Hi

I am currently gold with Hilton but will lose that March 2014 and drop back to Blue - unless I do the $50 sign up through mile point ( just waiting on link) but because of the current Hilton Gold I asked and received

Can you elaborate on what the $50 sign up through mile point is in terms of retaining HH gold please?

 

[markis10]

I would have a look at room costs and points earn, each program has its own benefits, for instance with SPG, a best rate guarantee can see you earn 2000 points per night per room for up to three rooms, once you hit 20k you can transfer to AA and get a bonus 5K. Or IHG, their BRG if approved results in a free night, while their points often can be redeemed on points breaks which equate to a $35 night.

If you want to play the game, look at the status benefits but don't lose sight of the opportunities and points, a free breakfast in one chain may see you miss out on points that could contribute to 20% of a J fare to Asia, or a free night, that's an expensive breakfast!

 

[Cynicor]

I would have a look at room costs and points earn, each program has its own benefits, for instance with SPG, a best rate guarantee can see you earn 2000 points per night per room for up to three rooms, once you hit 20k you can transfer to AA and get a bonus 5K. Or IHG, their BRG if approved results in a free night, while their points often can be redeemed on points breaks which equate to a $35 night.

If you want to play the game, look at the status benefits but don't lose sight of the opportunities and points, a free breakfast in one chain may see you miss out on points that could contribute to 20% of a J fare to Asia, or a free night, that's an expensive breakfast!

Very true, and I accidentally posted before I'd made my second point (and then forgot about it), which was that while I would do this, it's because I have a plan with my HH status, ongoing reasons to retain and something on which to spend the points. For those that don't SPG, IHG may be much better for the exact same trip.

 

[DontGetMeStarted]

Can you elaborate on what the $50 sign up through mile point is in terms of retaining HH gold please?

Hi in another forum on here someone mentioned Milepoint selling premium memberships for 49.95 that included HH gold for one year .. I have just signed up and hopefully will be able to activate my gold status when my existing runs out in March 2014. There are other benefits and discounts too not sure on their use for me though. I was happy to pay the $50 though if it keeps me gold for most of 2014. Sorry don't seem to be able to post a link from my ipad but go to milepoint.com and look for premium membership or the site boardingarea.com and there is info there too that I found via Google

 

[drron]

It really depends on what your travel plans are for the future.If this is the big trip and then a relative drought for a few years it is a bit silly chasing status as you wont use it for long.If this is true I would go for the best value ,best location,best experience and forget about the points.
Sacrilege I know coming from a points addict!

 

[nonpop]

For personal ... We determine what the best 3 hotels are ... then do a cost comparison then an overlay with any hotels we have status with (either in the top 3 choice or outside the top 3 list). Looking at things like location, price, room upgrades, lounge access, breakfast, wifi, late checkout etc. So we tend to end up at a mix status and non-status hotels.

For work ... I pick the hotels (from an approved list) that will likely benefit us for status on our next personal international trip/s. So I may not be so keen on a specific hotel locally, but if an extra few nights bumps up status and throws points in the kitty for some free nights that will be useful on a personal trip, then I go down that route.

So we kind of reverse engineer it.

 

[serfty]

I base my decision on guaranteed benefits and how it may affect a particlar stay as well as any requirement to chase status to attain said bennies.

For example a guaranteed status based breakfast is worthless if your flight departs at 7am.

For the last 6 years, my perception has been the HHonors had the better guaranteed bennies overall. I do note that SPG and others are catching (or have caught) up somewhat.

 

[amaroo]

These days almost all of my travel (requiring hotels) are family holidays - the benefits of lounges/breakfast/upgrades are limited when booking connecting rooms for four. If a hotel has a good location and is actually somewhere we want to stay - a loyalty programme might sway me to book.

We have a 28 night holiday in LOTFAP over x-mas/NY and have decided to stay at a loyalty schemed hotel (Hyatt) for 6 of them. The decision to stay at hotels we want to experience outweighs any tidbit that might come our way from any loyalty scheme.

When staying in major cities we prefer to get out and enjoy breakfast at different places everyday - you get better quality, variety and experience the local area. Same for Exec-lounges.....prefer to head out, explore, enjoy a drink and have dinner in a variety of places.

I can see benefits for people on business trips or solo travellers.