Which is the best hotel frequent-stay plan for you?

[straitman]

Hotels' frequent-stay plans gain steam as airlines grow stingier.

Hotels' frequent-stay plans gain steam as airlines grow stingier - USATODAY.com

 

[Evan]

Interesting

I would have to agree the easiest to obtain true elite status is IC priority club, and once there the advantages are nice.... double room upgrade, free mini bar, free pay movies, priority booking / guaranteed stays, late 4pm check out and early 9am check in, bonus points... and generally just looked after very well.

Wondering if i should make a poitn to use a lot of my points soon in case anybody things of de-valueing them in a hurry !

E

 

[straitman]

It's actually interesting in Oz also. It's not all that hard to make/maintain PC Platinum and most places look after you quite well with that.

Up until now there has not been much value within Oz in going above that level.

 

[Mal]

Nah, IC doesn't excite me too much. Hotels are far between and rates too high for my (leisure travel) liking.

PriorityClub (PC) is great. Easy to get top tier, but rewards are minimal in-hotel.

Hilton is ok. Better rewards than PC, but not easy to retain in Australia.

Sheraton is a bit of a joke in Australia. Very few hotels left. Once you get Top tier there though, there are some very nice hotels around the world that will look after you.

 

[oz_mark]

Interesting

I would have to agree the easiest to obtain true elite status is IC priority club, and once there the advantages are nice.... double room upgrade, free mini bar, free pay movies, priority booking / guaranteed stays, late 4pm check out and early 9am check in, bonus points... and generally just looked after very well.

Wondering if i should make a poitn to use a lot of my points soon in case anybody things of de-valueing them in a hurry !

E

Some of those benefits are (Royal) Ambassador, so not really Priority Club. But PC does have the easiest path to Platinum. However, PC Platinum itself is not worth a whole lot. The point frenzy that goes with PC is good though.

Of the main chains, I do hold mid tier in Hilton and Hyatt, mainly as sometimes these hotels are cheaper than the PC group hotels.

I do have memberships in some seemingnly not so popular programs around here Choice Hotels, and Best Western, which is useful for when touring country towns!

A-club could be a good program but will have to give it time to see how it really goes

 

[Keith009]

I reckon SPG properties as a whole are nicer than IC Group ones. ICs are nice but there are so few of them around. And HIs/CPs/HIXs etc are pretty umm... ho hum, to put it politely (apart from CP KUL ).

Hilton and Marriott properties are boring, as there's just no differentiation in their brands. Though it'd be interesting to watch Marriott's new Edition project.

With SPG there's something for everyone, from sexy Ws to grand Luxury Collection or St Regis properties. And in between you have v high quality upper upscale Westins, generally solid Sheratons and good value Four Points and aLofts. The room rates are generally higher but I'd be most willing to pay more for a nice hotel.

I get v well taken care of as SPG PLT, and as I don't travel that much within Australia/NZ their weak coverage here isn't an issue for me.

I'd admit that my choice isn't rationally arrived at based on the perceived value of each programs. Frequent stay programs are unlike frequent flyer programs. I can enjoy the generosity of AAdvantage or Miles and More or Diamond Club without actually flying the carriers that run these programs; I can't do the same with hotel programs. So my decision to go with SPG is based more on the fact that I like SPG brand hotels over other brands.

There are of course exceptions which is why I think it's so important to have a secondary program, eg in Tokyo I'd go with Hilton because of the better location to the SPGs, and in Bali I'd go with the design boutique villas in Seminyak (though there'd soon be a W in Seminyak ). And HH Gold beats SPG Gold any time of the day for sure, but SPG PLT still gets more luxurious treats than HH Diamonds.

 

[straitman]

I get v well taken care of as SPG PLT, and as I don't travel that much within Australia/NZ their weak coverage here isn't an issue for me.

The lack of SPG coverage in Aust/NZ is an issue to many though.

 

[Keith009]

The lack of SPG coverage in Aust/NZ is an issue to many though.

I've never actually considered frequent stay programs (blasphemous i know) prior to discovering the Ws. I prefer staying in un-affiliated boutique design hotels otherwise.

Outside the Ws, Dream Hotel NYC, SoHo Grand NYC or the Mondrian in LA are some of my favourites.

 

[Evan]

QF009, I would agree about SPG haveing better hotels, but seem that they are always a good deal more expensive than IC. I still stay at Shangri-la and others as well, but no status.

oz_mark, yes i was refering to Royal Ambassador, simply a platinum does not mean a lot but the point bonuses combined with the 5000 points breaks if they suit you are a good deal.

Some of the best hotels i have stayed at are the 'design hotels' group (although not really a group as such)... they are all smaller independant hotels with shall we say generally good design and sometimes not so crazy prices.
Design Hotels (TM) - book individual and boutique hotels online

E

 

[Keith009]

Some of the best hotels i have stayed at are the 'design hotels' group (although not really a group as such)... they are all smaller independant hotels with shall we say generally good design and sometimes not so crazy prices.
Design Hotels (TM) - book individual and boutique hotels online

And they also have a loyalty program now. Design Hotels Club. Though it's more a loyalty recognition program than rewards program.
You get free brekky, late check out and free internet i think - though a lot of these are already included in the rate of the properties I've stayed at (New Majestic, Singapore for instance).

 

[drron]

Up until now I have enjoyed the benefits of Hilton hhonors as a lot of my travel has been in the US and they give very good coverage there.i have used the points in Paris,Venice and Fiji-ie the dearer hotels.However they are inconsistent in recognition of status and in 6 years not one targeted promotion.So this year I status matched with SPG.
I have to say status recognition is more consistent.Some of the upgrades have been incredible.And there have been several very useful promotions which to me make the earn rate very comparable to hhonors.
So next year I will endeavour to continue plat in SPG and let hhonors slip to gold-fortunately I stay gold even if no stays in the year.
For back up I also belong to I prefer-nothing to join-get upgrades,free wifi and a local promotion.In NYC they have the dream,Kitano,Alonquin and even the Waldorf-Astoria!They have several levels and what the heck its free,and the perks come without status.

 

[simongr]

I've never actually considered frequent stay programs (blasphemous i know) prior to discovering the Ws. I prefer staying in un-affiliated boutique design hotels otherwise.

Outside the Ws, Dream Hotel NYC, SoHo Grand NYC or the Mondrian in LA are some of my favourites.

The problem I have with SPG is the horrid earn rate with a similar burn rate to Hilton.

I chose Hilton as I had three weeks in London and that got me to Diamond status. Also I like the HHonors program as it is revenue based. I dont do lots of short stays but stay in fairly expensive places so HHonors works for me. The benefits are not amazing but the fact that I have racked up 600K+ HHonors points in 18 months is pretty sweet...

 

[JohnK]

PriorityClub (PC) is great. Easy to get top tier, but rewards are minimal in-hotel.

Hilton is ok. Better rewards than PC, but not easy to retain in Australia.

I would have to agree that PC is great especially being able to earn PC points through all the promotions. It is a shame that very little is offered for top tier status but not that important.

I am very disappointed with HHonors. It would be great in the USA but very difficult for us in Australia to reach and maintain status. The benefits once reaching mid-tier status and higher are great.

I will concentrate on PC as much as possible and where it is not feasible I will be staying in a hotel that offers QFF points....

 

[drron]

The problem I have with SPG is the horrid earn rate with a similar burn rate to Hilton.

I chose Hilton as I had three weeks in London and that got me to Diamond status. Also I like the HHonors program as it is revenue based. I dont do lots of short stays but stay in fairly expensive places so HHonors works for me. The benefits are not amazing but the fact that I have racked up 600K+ HHonors points in 18 months is pretty sweet...

Well the last 2 years I have racked up 225000 base points with hhonors each year yet still no consistent recognition or promotions.Yes I can get 25 honors points per $us spent as a diamond which seems a lot more than the 3 points for $us I get as plat in SPG.However with the promotions and bonuses it becomes a lot higher.Eg in Florida last month 2 separate nights at $US100 per night netted me 1800 points each night-not far off the HH rate.
As to burn I can book the St.regis Shanghai at the moment where I am virtually guaranteed a suite upgrade and lounge access for 4000 points and $US60 a night compared to 175000 hhonors points for 6 nights at a comparable standard hilton hotel(or 240000 for a Waldorf collection hotel).
Interestingly today I got my first targeted promotion from Hilton.Does it relate to the fact I only have 1 future booking for a Hilton hotel when usually it is about 20?At SPG the more I have stayed the more promotions I get-seems a better way to run a loyalty program to me.

 

[kpc]

The best thing about award hotel stays is that they are just that...free award stays with no additional surcharges, taxes etc like the airlines!

I have to admit I'm a member of many of the major hotel programs with varying balances and tier levels

I have been top tier with SPG (Plat), Hyatt (Diamond) and PC (Plat); I'm currently gold (mid tier) with Hilton, Plat with PC and Gold with SPG.

It is very difficult to maintain high tier levels with any of the programs with the exception of PC, where you can make Plat by earning 60,000 points per year, which is not difficult given all the bonus promotions you can sign up for. However, PC Plat doesn't get you much apart from an occasional room upgrade. The best bit about the PC program is the 5000 points break deals when you can redeem reasonable hotels at bargain rates; otherwise you are looking at 25K at least per room. I find CPs, HIs etc a step down, though.

SPG plat is very difficult to achieve and maintain, but you get great upgrades (eg to suites) at high end hotels as QF009 points out; there are few SPG hotels in Australia but still a few good ones eg Westin Sydney, Melbourne, Sheraton Sydney, Noosa, Port Douglas etc. In Asia, where I like to take my holidays, there are great SPG hotels; eg I have used 22000 SPG points (via Diners transfers) to book a suite (1 of only 6, and going for >AUD$300+/nite) at Sheraton Krabi for 3 nites in Dec; as it is a suite, I get club lounge access so it doesn't really matter that I'm not SPG plat. I'm SPG Gold (due to a loop hole I found on FT), but not much use except 50% bonus earn rate and guaranteed 4pm late checkout, which can come in quite handy!

Hilton Gold (via the 4 stay Hilton Racing promo) gets you a mininum free breakfast, with occasional room upgrades (Getting Hilton Diamond is too hard!). Hilton's burn rate is quite high unless you can score the elusive point stretcher awards. ..but Hiltons or Conrads generally are much nicer than Crowne Plaza's.

Hyatt (altho Diamong status is too difficult to get!) has the best promo regulary: Faster Free Night ((FFN); for every 2 stays paid with a Mastercard during their regular promo, earns 1 free night in any Hyatt world wide (with few exceptions) - can get some very nice hotels for free! Problem is Hyatt award rates normally are high, and earn rates are low (unless you are transferring from a credit card such as Diners/ AMEX). Problem is too few Hyatts in Australia!

Anyway, IMHO, hotel awards are the best bargain / secret out there, are still free, and one really needs to know the ins / outs of a few of the programs to get maximum benefit. Using the info I have gleaned from FT and here, I must have easily got well over 50 hotel free nights (with some very, very nice upgrades) across the programs in the last 5 years or so since I first learnt about hotel stay programs:mrgreen:

PS: one of my first posts on AFF was regarding SPG's stay 5 different brands, earn 50,000 SPG points (remember Lindsay?). I think my parents really enjoyed that promo as I spent a lot of those points for them to stay for 2 weeks at the Westin KL when it first opened in ?2003, and was still a category 1 hotel!