Allegiance to one hotel chain?

[manlymatt83]

I've always used Hotwire for car and hotel bookings. Jetblue is my airline of choice so I usually hit status on them every year, but Hotwire really cuts down on the costs associated with hotels and car rentals so I never really thought twice about it.

However, this year I'm traveling almost every other week for work. I have still been using Hotwire, which saves my clients money (sometimes 50%!) and I can tell they notice. However, I'm wondering if there would be a benefit to instead begin booking through Starwood or Marriott hotels directly and therefore earning hotel loyalty status and rewards like I already do with Jetblue. Same with car. Is it worth being loyal to one company, like Avis, over the savings you get with third party booking sites?

Does anyone have any advice on this? What do you do for work and are concerns about saving your clients money relevant?

 

[cubby1223]

How many days do you stay per week? Hilton's chains if you stay 4 nights you get the 5th night free, and their rewards program combined with their branded credit card, gives you 20-25% back in rewards. Company I began working for has their own corporate rate with Hilton, as long as I'm making use of it, they're fine, and I keep the rewards points for myself

The Citi Prestige credit card pays you back the full price of the 4th night of any 4+ night hotel stay, you just have to book through Citi's Concierge service, which I've heard is comparable to expedia/hotels.com prices. Only reason I don't have it is because their concierge service cannot book using corporate codes.

 

[manlymatt83]

Good info! Most of my stays are three nights unfortunately.

 

[olds]

If you travel a lot, yes.

 

[Ns1]

Marriot bro. Esp if the client is paying for it. Esp since they just merged with Starwood.


I've gotten many free nights and if you get the Marriott card you will get a ton of nights.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

If you think those stupid sites for hotels actually help... Try going directly to the hotel websites. You will be surprised how many times it's just the exact same price from the hotel themselves.

Now personally, I tend to stick with Marriott due to status and points. They have cheap ones and they have expensive ones... Now with the merger of SPG that will help me even more because I LOVE Starwood hotels. They are always damn nice. But I also get discounts from insider knowledge and having an employer that gets discount.

fake edit: What Ns1 said.

 

[IronWing]

Motel 6 is my go to hotel unless there is a America's Best Value (the poor man's Motel 6) available.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Motel 6 is my go to hotel unless there is a America's Best Value (the poor man's Motel 6) available.

I go to a motel 6 if I feel like living on the edge and want to try to take a bullet






Read: Never

 

[brianmanahan]

i love the hampton inns, and if there's a hampton at my destination i will always stay at that.

hamptons are consistently good without being super expensive (usually 110$-150$), the beds are all the same and super comfortable, and the breakfast is free, hot and delicious.

i used to get whatever was cheapest (motel 6/super 8/hojo/etc), but after like the 20th* bad experience at one of those places, i was like: "screw this, i can afford to spend a little more for a lot better".

[size=-2]* the final bad experience involved some 70$ hotel in jacksonville putting me in a smoking section of the building when i requested nonsmoking, and this smoking section being home to a filthy homeless-looking guy asking me for cigarettes when i was trying to get into my room when the keycard wasn't working.[/size]

 

[JulesMaximus]

I have no allegiance to any hotel chains but I'd rather spend a little more for a nicer place/better room/view.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Location, cleanliness and, cost are the only factors I'm interested in. I don't care about views, amenities, entertainment, restaurants or, wifi. OTOH, $5 bottles of water, mini bars and paid parking are pretty annoying.

 

[ControlD]

I'll stay anywhere that doesn't have recent entries in the bed bug registry.

 

[Exterous]

However, I'm wondering if there would be a benefit to instead begin booking through Starwood or Marriott hotels directly and therefore earning hotel loyalty status and rewards like I already do with Jetblue.

Many are now offering perks only when you book directly through them. Marriott only guarantees free wifi on bookings through their website. Hilton is often (guaranteed to be?) 5% less through their website than through an OTA. Often elite perks (room upgrade, free breakfast etc) will be withheld when booking through an OTA but that largely depends on the property

I've stayed and had a variety of statuses across all the major brands. My personal preference is always Hyatt if it makes reasonable monetary sense. They are, by far, the most consistent property. Even in the areas of shitty airport hotels (*cough* LAX *cough*) they always manage to maintain their standards when others like IHG, Hilton, Marriott and even Starwood falter. Their loyalty rewards are middle of the road.

Unfortunately they have a small footprint so Hilton is usually my next go to as their rewards earning structure is strong and hotels are reasonably consistent. Sure their redemptions cost a lot but when you can manage 40+ points per/$ those aren't out of reach. Lots of people like to rag on them but, if done properly, their loyalty rewards can be the best in the business.

Then IHG. Their hotels vary a lot in terms of quality but they do a pretty good job recognizing status and they have a lot of bonus programs that hand out free nights and points. I've also run across a number of great hotels that are surprisingly cheap

I don't like staying at Marriotts but mainly for their abysmal points earning, bonuses and redemptions. Doesn't mean I won't stay there, just that I try and stay somewhere else first. Seems to be a fairly common thought trend as well if you look at the travel blogs and flyertalk

Edit: here's a pretty good breakdown comparing how much you would need to spend at each property for a free night. Starwood and Marriott don't do all that well in the rankings:
http://www.travelcodex.com/2014/04/credit-cards-affect-cost-free-night/

Same with car. Is it worth being loyal to one company, like Avis, over the savings you get with third party booking sites?

I'm less tied to cars. National first as they are absurdly easy to deal with (although they can be notably more expensive) then the next preference is whatever the cheapest, convenient location that offers counter bypass is.

Marriot bro. Esp if the client is paying for it. Esp since they just merged with Starwood.

They haven't merged yet. I don't even think they have gotten regulatory approval to merge yet although I don't expect that there will be any resistance

 

[dr150]

Starwood has the most generous program and their elite hotels are great.

 

[ponyo]

Booking direct can be cheaper with better perks and promotions. But if you have American Express Platinum card, check out Fine Hotels and Resorts. For any Visa Signature cards, check out Luxury Hotel Collection. If you have Chase Sapphire Preferred card, check out Chase The Luxury Hotel and Resort Collection.

 

[K1052]

Starwood has the most generous program and their elite hotels are great.

This. Hoping It doesn't get crapped up too much in the merger.

 

[Ns1]

Also it's way easier to cancel reservations when you book direct - it's 2 clicks through the app.

 

[OutHouse]

How many days do you stay per week? Hilton's chains if you stay 4 nights you get the 5th night free, and their rewards program combined with their branded credit card, gives you 20-25% back in rewards. Company I began working for has their own corporate rate with Hilton, as long as I'm making use of it, they're fine, and I keep the rewards points for myself

The Citi Prestige credit card pays you back the full price of the 4th night of any 4+ night hotel stay, you just have to book through Citi's Concierge service, which I've heard is comparable to expedia/hotels.com prices. Only reason I don't have it is because their concierge service cannot book using corporate codes.

20-25%?? i find that hard to believe. When i travel i book at Hilton chains and over the years have aquired a lot of points. but its still not enough points to get a night stay pretty much anywhere.

 

[Exterous]

Starwood has the most generous program and their elite hotels are great.

If you are talking about generous in terms of point/$ earning and redemption options then I would disagree. Elite benefits and top hotels are very good although I prefer Fairmonts compared to Starwood's more common 'top' brandings. That said I've only stayed at one of their 'Luxury Hotel' hotels

20-25%?? i find that hard to believe. When i travel i book at Hilton chains and over the years have aquired a lot of points. but its still not enough points to get a night stay pretty much anywhere.

Base is 10 points/$ + 5 points/$ with Points+Points + 12 points/$ via CC. They frequently run 2x and 3x base point promos so thats another 10 to 20 points/$ and if you have status (as easy as getting a CC) then you can get a 25% bonus on base points for another 2.5 points/$ plus anywhere from 250 - 1k additional points per stay

So 39.5 to 49.5 points/$ of spend. Each point is commonly valued at 0.5 or 0.4 for redemptions so that'll get you 15-25% (15-25 cents per dollar) without considering the additional 250-1k points.

 

[Jadow]

I kind miss travelling for business and crushing the concierge room at Marriotts with my team. the honor system bar was the best. pour 8 oz of maker mark on the rocks, mark me down for 1 more drink dude.

 

[RockinZ28]

If you think those stupid sites for hotels actually help... Try going directly to the hotel websites. You will be surprised how many times it's just the exact same price from the hotel themselves.

Now personally, I tend to stick with Marriott due to status and points. They have cheap ones and they have expensive ones... Now with the merger of SPG that will help me even more because I LOVE Starwood hotels. They are always damn nice. But I also get discounts from insider knowledge and having an employer that gets discount.

fake edit: What Ns1 said.

I've found Priceline's Express Deals and NYOP to be pretty much unbeatable, often for a significant difference. Have never once seen a direct hotel booking even close to their prices. You don't technically know what hotel you'll be staying at, but you can almost always filter it down so you do know. Biggest downside is it's not refundable at all.

 

[zinfamous]

Vacancy

 

[IEC]

Marriot bro. Esp if the client is paying for it. Esp since they just merged with Starwood.

I've gotten many free nights and if you get the Marriott card you will get a ton of nights.

^ I agree. I get a corporate rate with Marriott that is quite nice. Platinum status never hurts either...

 

[K1052]

If you are talking about generous in terms of point/$ earning and redemption options then I would disagree. Elite benefits and top hotels are very good although I prefer Fairmonts compared to Starwood's more common 'top' brandings. That said I've only stayed at one of their 'Luxury Hotel' hotels

Compared to Hilton though SPG properties are vastly better in quality, at least through all my travels. 9 out of 10 here in the us are total doghouses imo. Most of our redemptions are done at Ws, St. Regis, or Luxury Collection properties with a few of the nicer Westins sprinkled in. We've both been top tier via work for a while and use the SPG Amex so points accumulate at a fair clip.

 

[Exterous]

Compared to Hilton though SPG properties are vastly better in quality, at least through all my travels. 9 out of 10 here in the us are total doghouses imo. Most of our redemptions are done at Ws, St. Regis, or Luxury Collection properties with a few of the nicer Westins sprinkled in. We've both been top tier via work for a while and use the SPG Amex so points accumulate at a fair clip.

I think 'vastly' is more than a bit of a stretch unless you are comparing Ws and St Regis hotels with Hampton and Garden Inns and even then those usually satisfy my basic requirements of being clean and well maintained although YTRMV (Your travel requirements may vary). Sure you will find more hotels across the spectrum but that is mainly due to Hilton's significantly larger footprint. There are lots of places where SPG isn't even an option.

Personally Ws, St Regis and Westins have all fallen into the forgettable trip background (unless my stay was terrible *glances at St Regis DC*). I get much more prominent memories out of FHR or Fairmont (damn you Accor hotels!) stays across brands than being loyal to SPG. I still choose to stay enough to maintain SPG gold while other statuses have dropped off so I still like them as a brand but Hyatt and Hilton are still the ones I am most loyal to. I just really wish Hyatt had a bigger footprint (and I think a Hyatt Starwood merger would have been so much better than SPG going to Marriott)