Allegiance to one hotel chain?

[cubby1223]

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.

Every other week I stay at an Embassy Suites for 4 nights. Total invoice is $661.20, and I currently earn 26,204 points each week. Later this year when I reach higher status, it'll be 28,230 points each week. Most recent point redemption I got 0.59 cents per point on the hotel room I booked.

28230 * 0.59 / 66120 = 25.2%

Tack on that while each stay at the Embassy Suites, I could stay a 5th night there absolutely free. I don't because I'd rather get back home. But I could.

 

[K1052]

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)

My experience at Fairmonts, except for a couple stays, have all been firmly in the forgettable range.

On preferring a Hyatt-SPG merger over Marriott we firmly agree. I like Hyatt in general but they often don't have properties or more than one where I'm headed limiting options.

 

[manlymatt83]

This is all very helpful!

 

[Banana]

Whoa, Exterous is my hotel twin. I pretty much have the same strategy as him. Right now, both Hyatt and Hilton have good bonus point promos that don't require you to have their credit cards.

Generally speaking, if you're staying at low- to mid-priced hotels, look for the newer properties for a more pleasant stay. Cheap construction and furnishings are great for a couple of years, and then quickly deteriorate.