Hotel Rewards Programs & Deals Thread

[salisboss]

I cant answer that. The only thing I would say and I say this about both Marriott and Hilton now. Unless i have the credit card to backup the points with spend, I would not be a part of their rewards programs. Just personal opinion however.

I am also a Hyatt member (got a ton of points from them by having our wedding room block and morning after brunch) and like the product a lot but there are just less of them where I travel. So many decisions.

 

[Erky]

I cant answer that. The only thing I would say and I say this about both Marriott and Hilton now. Unless i have the credit card to backup the points with spend, I would not be a part of their rewards programs. Just personal opinion however.

I have Hyatt, Marriott and Delta credit cards. I don't even bother with Hilton.

 

[JB]

Pretty nice bonus from Hyatt that I qualified for after this trip.

20k points is nice.

 

[JB]

Thank you Hyatt Regency Club

 

[tahoebum]

My wife has a lot of stays in Hiltons for work and is also Diamond Elite on Delta. Our hotel and airfare to Hawaii for spring break last week was all on points and we get upgraded to first class about 40% of the time. It's a nice perk but of course she is gone a lot for work so I will not miss the points when she retires in a year or two.

 

[Trout Bum]

Thank you Hyatt Regency Club

I need to start staying at Hyatt properties, Hilton is nice but the last few I've stayed at have been less than what I've come to expect from them. In the last 90 days 50 have been in a Hilton property.

 

[JB]

I need to start staying at Hyatt properties, Hilton is nice but the last few I've stayed at have been less than what I've come to expect from them. In the last 90 days 50 have been in a Hilton property.

Hopefully you are using HiltonHonors to garner some points.
The HiltonHonors credit card is a great way to maximize earning towards free nights, status, etc.

 

[Trout Bum]

Hopefully you are using HiltonHonors to garner some points.
The HiltonHonors credit card is a great way to maximize earning towards free nights, status, etc.

I'm definitely hh, but have a corporate card for expenses. I can stay where I want but everyone seems to stay at Hilton properties so I figured I would. I may go back to starwood too, they've always been good to me too.

 

[JB]

I'm definitely hh, but have a corporate card for expenses. I can stay where I want but everyone seems to stay at Hilton properties so I figured I would. I may go back to starwood too, they've always been good to me too.

I like Starwood also. Plus you get stay credits on point redemptions which is nice. I still prefer Hyatt to all of them, because I think the lower end properties (where I stay a lot of the time on the road) are the best of the bunch (Hyatt Place).

 

[MPlefty]

I am using mariott a lot lately, its my 7th week away in 2015. I just registered the mariott program last week, is it any good, should I have registered earlier?

 

[JB]

I am using mariott a lot lately, its my 7th week away in 2015. I just registered the mariott program last week, is it any good, should I have registered earlier?

Yes, you should have registered earlier, but all you can do now is earn from here on out. My rule is I will never stay at a property, without signing up. It takes 5 minutes and each stay (that you would be doing anyway) earns points towards free nights, upgrades, status, etc.

While I am not a huge fan of the Marriott program (takes too much to get status), many love it and they have some fine establishments.

 

[MPlefty]

Yes, you should have registered earlier, but all you can do now is earn from here on out. My rule is I will never stay at a property, without signing up. It takes 5 minutes and each stay (that you would be doing anyway) earns points towards free nights, upgrades, status, etc.

While I am not a huge fan of the Marriott program (takes too much to get status), many love it and they have some fine establishments.

yeah, everyone of my stays here was supposed to be my last one so I didn't register at first, live and learn I guess

 

[Billygoat]

Not sure if this was mentioned already as I don't have it in me to read through the 50 pages of posts, but Marriott also has a best rate guarantee where they'll beat any rate you find online (for their hotels) by 25%. My wife has got us some crazy deals on Marriott rooms this way. Just a week or so ago, she found the room we were looking for on hotels.com for quite a bit cheaper than the Marriott site. She submitted a request for the price beat and sure enough they beat it by 25%. Our room in a new, highly rated hotel in NY ended up being $1,800 for 8 nights. Pretty incredible if you're familiar with Manhattan hotel room prices...

 

[JB]

Not sure if this was mentioned already as I don't have it in me to read through the 50 pages of posts, but Marriott also has a best rate guarantee where they'll beat any rate you find online (for their hotels) by 25%. My wife has got us some crazy deals on Marriott rooms this way. Just a week or so ago, she found the room we were looking for on hotels.com for quite a bit cheaper than the Marriott site. She submitted a request for the price beat and sure enough they beat it by 25%. Our room in a new, highly rated hotel in NY ended up being $1,800 for 8 nights. Pretty incredible if you're familiar with Manhattan hotel room prices...

I think most of the chains have that now. It has worked out great with both Hyatt and SPG for us.

 

[JB]

This whole SPG thing is pretty crazy right now. No CEO and the talk of M&A heating up. Serious talk between IHG merger which would be incredibly interesting, although I think a Wyndham merger might be closer to reality. Very interesting.

 

[mikeg_74]

SPG is Starwood right?

 

[CAA_Beat]

This whole SPG thing is pretty crazy right now. No CEO and the talk of M&A heating up. Serious talk between IHG merger which would be incredibly interesting, although I think a Wyndham merger might be closer to reality. Very interesting.

We haven't had a good merger in the hotel industry in a while

I've been so out of the loop the past two weeks I haven't heard those talks. Need to catch up on my industry newsletters.


SaA

 

[JB]

SPG is Starwood right?

Correct.
Westin, W, Sheraton, Four Points among others.

We haven't had a good merger in the hotel industry in a while

I've been so out of the loop the past two weeks I haven't heard those talks. Need to catch up on my industry newsletters.


SaA

I think the IHG and Kimpton one will work out rather well.

 

[mikeg_74]

Correct.
Westin, W, Sheraton, Four Points among others..

Interesting to see how this impacts my Amex perks.

 

[JB]

Interesting to see how this impacts my Amex perks.

Mine too as an SPG Amex holder. They are mostly our backup to Hyatt, but love the points transfer options to AA. If they do get a solid merger, it would make me consider them as primary.

 

[CAA_Beat]

Hotel Rewards Programs & Deals Thread

Hotel Rewards Programs & Deals Thread

Correct.
Westin, W, Sheraton, Four Points among others.



I think the IHG and Kimpton one will work out rather well.

Yeah it could open up a whole new line of hotels for IHG that it doesn't have. And IHG's distribution system would open a lot of doors for Kimpton.

While not a merger this same type of relationship has worked well for Choice and The Ascend Collection.

 

[JB]

Just got an email from Hyatt that I have stayed in 25 different hotels in their chain and for doing so they gave me 5000 bonus points (1 night free or close to it at Hyatt Place). They do things like that for 25, 50 and 75 and its a nice little touch. SPG does something similar although its a gift normally and is a bit harder to get.

To think of all of the Hiltons and Marriotts I have stayed in and never got something like this.

 

[JB]

Starwood and Amex just announced a new TOS in which they are raising the annual fee from $65 to $95 and outside of adding FTF (which are available on cards that cost less), they are giving virtually nothing for it.

I contacted Amex to transfer out of this card into a different product, but of course they do not allow that without filling out another application. Might be time to dump Amex, which is a shame because I liked their service in the past. Today was difficult, as I was transferred to 3 different people, all telling me the wrong things and the irony in "American Express" is that all of them were very hard to understand language wise.

Either way, I enjoyed the card for what it was, but the program just does not compete with Hyatt right now for our needs (or most based on redemptions and earning) and with this TOS change and the possible sale of SPG overall, its the right time to move on.

 

[#troy]

this is off topic, more of a credit card question, but what is Visa Signature rewards?


Complimentary Round for Visa Signature[SUP]®[/SUP] Cardholders

Receive a free round of golf at Pebble Beach Golf Links, courtesy of Visa Signature, with a minimum two-night prevailing rate stay at The Lodge, The Inn or Casa Palmero.
Stay two nights at

• The Lodge at Pebble Beach (view gallery), or
• The Inn at Spanish Bay (view gallery), or
• Casa Palmero (view gallery)

Receive one complimentary round, courtesy of Visa Signature, on

• Pebble Beach Golf Links (view live golf cams)

Offer is limited to one (1) round of golf per Visa Signature package and one (1) Signature package per room reservation. Valid now through December 31, 2015.**







additional info: I have the Quiksilver Capital One card, does this qualify? It shows up on the Visa website under the this link: https://usa.visa.com/visasignature/apply.jsp

 

[JB]

If you have a Visa card, check to see if it says Visa Signature. Many times people overlook it and it offers quite a few perks. Its less about a program and earning potential and more about deals, offers and protections that are awarded to the card holders.