Hotel Loyalty Programmes - which is best?

[Wests Tigers]

Hi,

Am travelling to Honolulu to thaw out for 5 nights in early November 2014 with my other half, and Accor don't have hotels there (Am platinum), and am Gold with IHG who only have a Holiday Inn :shock:

Am lowly ranked with Starwood, Marriot, Hilton, Hyatt, and am looking for partial ocean view high floor.

Any suggestions? How to best use the status I have, etc....

Any news of status matching by chains with Accor Platinum?

I haven't been to Honolulu for 30 years...interesting to see so many Sheratons still standing...especially the Princess K, which I liked.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

 

[markis10]

Sheraton had a free upgrade with World mastercard to gold status after one stay, I have found it works with any mastercard, might be worth a shot.

 

[Wests Tigers]

Wow Markis10,
Am impressed! Thanks for your speedy post and suggestion...Am on the phone to Sheraton in the morning!

 

[amaroo]

This is a good Q

I've never bothered with hotel schemes - trying to decide the same thing. I've got some skin in Hyatt and Ritz Carlton......

 

[markis10]

Wow Markis10,
Am impressed! Thanks for your speedy post and suggestion...Am on the phone to Sheraton in the morning!

Dont ring, just stay

World MasterCard® | Starwood Preferred Guest®

http://www.spg-asiapacific.com/worldmastercardgold/en/?EM=VTY_SPG_WORLDMASTERCARDGOLD_PROMOTION

 

[RooFlyer]

This is a good Q

I've never bothered with hotel schemes - trying to decide the same thing. I've got some skin in Hyatt and Ritz Carlton......

Agree! I've never been much of a hotel loyalist. I got to Starwood Gold 2 years ago after some intensive work travel / stays in Nth America. Then I got to Accor Gold last year when I travelled with dedicated Accor-ist friends through eastern Europe.

Now I'm planning another burst of 15-odd nights in Europe; logically looking at Accor, but can't see the 'value' in staying in places that aren't ideally placed for what I want to do, and sometimes the quality is either lower or higher than what I want.

At the moment tending to plan NOT to take advantage of Accor Gold in my bookings for this year. I guess if you reach Plat / Diamond etc on any of the schemes the benefits would be material (like Plat on QF) but it seems like a pretty tough treadmill to be on.

 

[GCC]

Great Question. Going through a similar thought process. In 2013 via offers, credit cards etc I had hotel elite status in:

• HH Diamond
• Accor platinum
• SPG Gold
• IHG Gold
• Club Carlson Gold

And in 2014 they'll all pretty much be nothing. I've been pretty loyal to Hilton, as Diamond really did deliver some great benefits, but travel often takes me to places where there is no Hilton, including Canberra.

So I'm essentially starting from scratch and thinking it may be better to just identify 1 -3 preferred hotels in the cities you travel to, and then choose the best deal of the day. There must be a point at which the number of hotel nights mean that chasing status is justified, but it must also be a pretty high number.

 

[dairyfloss]

Sheraton had a free upgrade with World mastercard to gold status after one stay, I have found it works with any mastercard, might be worth a shot.

I registered and got it last year, and I don't even have a MasterCard! Booked corporate rate and paid for with Amex Corporate card.

 

[markis10]

I registered and got it last year, and I don't even have a MasterCard! Booked corporate rate and paid for with Amex Corporate card.

I have a feeling their systems are a bit lacking since I used Visa, have since requalified Gold under my own steam so they have not lost anything!

 

[Wests Tigers]

Thanks all.
I rang Hilton, told them was a Platinum Accor...they said send in proof, and they will look at matching....sounds easy to me.
Ask and ye shall receive, well......that's the theory.....if you don't ask.....
Thanks for your input...love this site

 

[Wests Tigers]

Still waiting for reply from Hilton to my email and supporting documents...how many months? Let me count them...1.2.3....oh I give up, they don't want my business

 

[Cynicor]

To be fair, matching Accor plat is a mugs game. I have 2 different plat accounts with them!

Although, maybe they lost your email as mine have always been replied to within the hour?

 

[boomy]

Still waiting for reply from Hilton to my email and supporting documents...how many months? Let me count them...1.2.3....oh I give up, they don't want my business

SPG has better properties then Hilton in HNL.
You can try status match with them although I doubt if they take Accor platinum seriously.

 

[brideshead]

The travelisfree blog has a handy Best Hotel Rewards Program infographic that compares the major hotel loyalty programmes - Club Carlson comes out as the winner, though it really depends on your style of travel. It's very useful to get an at-a-glance comparison without having to wade through all the details for each programme.

 

[markis10]

The travelisfree blog has a handy Best Hotel Rewards Program infographic that compares the major hotel loyalty programmes - Club Carlson comes out as the winner, though it really depends on your style of travel. It's very useful to get an at-a-glance comparison without having to wade through all the details for each programme.

Problem with such guides is they tend to be US centric. Club Carlson for an Australian is close to a waste of time simply owing to its massive three properties locally in two cities. That blog also has errors, for instance money spent to get a free night for IHG is showing $1000, at ten points per $ you don't need to be a monkey to know its half that, given points breaks is a 5k night.

I also note they are not comparing all program's, Wyndham rewards is missing which happen to have the largest collection of properties in the world at 7500, including a growing collection locally.