Hilton HHonors is far and away the biggest program for airline partnerships. That can be a major factor for a frequent guest earning miles from hotel stays in a frequent flyer program where there might be few opportunities to earn miles other than flying.

• Hilton HHonors = 57 airline partners
• IHG Priority Club = 43 airline partners
• Marriott Rewards = 36 airline partners
• Hyatt Gold Passport = 35 airline partners
• Starwood Preferred Guest = 34 airline partners

There are 8 airlines that only partner with one of these ten programs.

[click on image to see full-size in new window]

I will follow up this post with comments and details on airline miles differences in earning rates between different programs.

This seemed like a useful table to create as I work on my series of hotel points-to-miles exchange rates across loyalty programs for a selection of major airlines.

Loyalty Traveler – Airline Tables for Hotel Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates

United Mileage Plus hotel points-to-miles rates favor Marriott, Club Carlson, Wyndham(Feb 8, 2012)

Delta SkyMiles hotel points-to-miles rates in 9 hotel programs(Feb 7, 2012)

AAdvantage Miles for Hotel Elites with Credit Cards: SPG, Club Carlson, Wyndham and HHonors lead the pack(Feb 6, 2012)

American Airlines Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates Compared for 9 Hotel Programs (Feb 5, 2012)

Marriott Rewards elite member can only buy back one level of elite membership that matches your 2011 membership tier.

• Platinum Buy Back cost – 40,000 points
• Gold Buy Back cost – 25,000 points
• Silver elite Buy Back cost – 7,500 points

Marriott Rewards Elite Buy Back offer is available through April 2, 2012.

Members can buy up to 50,000 points in a calendar year from Marriott Rewards at the rate of $12.50 per 1,000 points.

How to Do It: Two Ways to Buy Back Your Elite Status

1. Simply call Guest Services at 1-800-321-7396 (toll-free in the U.S. and Canada),
   or
2. Email us at Marriott Rewards with your information.

• If emailing us, include your name and Rewards number, then copy (or cut-and-paste) one of the three options below:
• Switch my Elite status from Gold to Platinum status for 40,000 points
  or
• Switch my Elite status from Silver to Gold status for 25,000 points
  or
• Switch my Elite status from Basic to Silver status for 7,500 points

Delta Skymiles members have an advantage over members of the other major U.S. airlines in that eight of nine major hotel loyalty programs allow points-to-miles transfers at each program’s best exchange rate.

Hilton HHonors members have a lower points-to-miles transfer rate at only 1,000 Skymiles for 10,000 points compared to American Airlines AAdvantage at 10,000 points = 1,500 miles. You are likely better off keeping the HHonors points for hotel stays rather than use points-to-miles exchanges for Delta Skymiles.

Most hotel stays earn only hotel points or only frequent flyer miles with the exception of Hilton HHonors ‘Double Dipping’ policy that allows members to earn both miles and points on the same hotel stay.

In general, earning points with hotel loyalty programs and transferring points-to-miles results in more miles compared to earning miles directly from a hotel stay.  Many hotel brands allow a member to earn 250 or 500 miles per hotel stay. Hilton HHonors is the exception to this general rule due to its low points-to-miles exchange rates. HHonors Points & Miles earners earn miles at a higher rate and HHonors runs regular bonus miles promotions to improve the rate of earning miles from hotel stays.

The methodology used to compare points-to-miles exchange rates in different hotel loyalty programs:

I have created three tables to compare points earned at set levels of hotel spend for three types of hotel loyalty members:

• hotel loyalty member has no elite status or hotel program co-branded credit card.
• hotel loyalty member has top-tier elite status, but no hotel program co-branded credit card.
• hotel loyalty member has top-tier elite status and the highest earning hotel program co-branded credit card.

TABLE 1 – Hotel program comparison of points-to-miles exchange rates for Delta Airlines using base points earning rate.

TABLE 2 – Hotel Top Tier Elite earner hotel program points-to-miles comparison for Delta Airlines.

TABLE 3 – Hotel Top Tier Elite Earner and Co-branded Credit Card member hotel program points-to-miles comparison for Delta Airlines.

Commentary:

Tables are set up in columns to show how many points are earned at set levels of spend for $1,000; $2,000; $3,000; $5,000; $7,000; $10,000 and $13,000 in hotel stays counting only points earned from hotel spend base points, top-tier elite bonus points and highest earning credit card bonus points for each program.

The hotel spend amount is not the important number in these tables. The dollar amounts are simply a way to align different hotel programs to make a comparison of points-to-miles rates.

When I show $10,000 earns 50,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points, that is the maximum spend needed to earn 50,000 points. Actual spend to earn 50,000 Hyatt points will likely be far less than $10,000. I have shown in a recent post how a Hyatt Gold Passport member can earn over 50,000 points from real travel for under $1,250.

The hotel spend needed to earn points depends on the types of hotel promotions available, welcome amenity points, and other points earning offers and partner activity.

Observations on Table 1:

• Wyndham Rewards, Club Carlson and Marriott Rewards have the best points-to-miles exchange rates.
• Wyndham Rewards has the highest earning fixed rate for hotel points-to-miles exchange. $800 in hotel spend at Wyndham Rewards earns 3,200 Delta SkyMiles.
• At $1,000 in hotel spend the different programs are remarkably similar in points-to-miles exchange rates. Differentiation between programs comes at higher levels of spend. Most programs have a fixed points-to-miles exchange rate regardless of the number of points being transferred to miles.
• Variable points-to-miles exchange rates with Marriott Rewards and Club Carlson give a higher rate of miles at higher levels of points transfer. Starwood Preferred Guest (20,000 points) and Hyatt Gold Passport (50,000 points) both give 25% more miles at the specific transfer level shown here.
• Starwood Preferred Guest does not have a points-to-miles advantage to other programs based on its points-to-miles exchange rate giving a 25% bonus when transferring a block of 20,000 Starpoints. Wyndham, Marriott and Club Carlson have better points-to-miles exchange rates than SPG. The competitive advantage to SPG for miles earners is the 50% bonus for mid-tier Gold elite (10 stays or 25 nights in a calendar year) is the highest elite bonus for the lowest level of hotel stays. SPG American Express credit card spend at Starwood Hotels earns 100% base points. Even more impressive is the high rate of earning points for everyday spend at $1 = 1 point = 1 mile in many frequent flyer programs. This rate exceeds all other hotel loyalty credit cards for miles earning rate, although Wyndham Rewards Visa is close to SPG with $1 = 2 points = 0.8 miles. Wyndham Rewards has fewer airline partners than SPG, but Visa is accepted in places where American Express will leave you stranded.

What about Residence Inn and Staybridge Suites and hotel brands that earn fewer base points per dollar?

Marriott Rewards is probably the program most impacted by lower points earn rates at Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites where stays earn only 5 base points/$1 compared to 10 base points/$1 used in table. The miles shown in these tables will be reduced by the proportion of hotel spend at lower earning hotel brands. About 25% of all Marriott hotels are Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites.

Marriott Rewards – Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites earn 5 points/$1.

IHG Priority Club – Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites earn 5 points/$1.

Choice Privileges – Rodeway Inn, EconoLodge, Mainstay Suites, Staybridge Suites earn 5 points/$1. Other brands earn 10 points/$1.

Wyndham Rewards – Hawthorn Suites earn 5 points/$1.

The tables do not consider promotion bonus points. The idea is to keep these tables simple and evergreen (until the next program change). Hotel loyalty promotions are constantly changing.

Table 2: Commentary: Elite Status

Club Carlson, Marriott Rewards and now Starwood Preferred Guest have a 75-night top-tier elite. The points earned are high rates, but the loyalty required to reach that level of membership is a small portion of hotel travelers.

Club Carlson Concierge at 75% bonus points sets that program apart for miles earners. The advantage Club Carlson has over Marriott Rewards is a standard points earn rate across all its hotel brands. The miles shown for Marriott Rewards will drop with hotel stays at Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites earning a lower rate of base points.

Wyndham Rewards does not have elite tiers or elite bonus points and drops in ranking when elite bonus points are a factor. Most hotel programs offer 50% bonus points for top tier elite members. These elite bonus points increase the earning rate of hotel points and make other programs more attractive than Wyndham Rewards for points-to-miles exchanges as an elite member with loads of points. Still, it is nice to know that the budget traveler can pull in miles at rates comparable to the best elite programs even while sleeping at Days Inn.

Hyatt Gold Passport drops noticeably in rank compared to SPG when top-tier elite status is factored. Hyatt and Best Western only offer 30% bonus points for top tier elite hotel spend. SPG offers 50% bonus points for Gold and Platinum and 100% for Platinum-75 members as of March 1, 2012.

The elite tables do not factor welcome amenity points for top-tier elites typically earned on hotel stays.

Why are there no tables for low-tier and mid-tier hotel elite levels?

I have not created tables for mid-tier and low-tier elites due to the difficulty of comparing these elite levels across different programs. Are SPG Gold and Hyatt Gold Passport Platinum comparable elite levels?

These tables only show top-tier elite to allow a comparison of programs for the most frequent guests and highest earning members in each program.

I will likely add tables comparing credit card members and the associated elite status since most credit cards give some elite level of membership as a cardmember.

Table 3: The Credit Card Factor

One tip to share is my observation that rates for earning credit card bonus points are generally equivalent to the rate of earning bonus points as a top tier elite member.

Hyatt Gold Passport Visa, Hilton HHonors American Express Surpass, SPG American Express and Best Western MasterCard earn bonus points at an even higher rate per dollar than hotel stays as a top-tier hotel loyalty program member earning bonus points. In terms of earning points, members in these programs are better off having a cobranded credit card than being a top-tier elite member.

That is the sad state of the hotel industry that bank loyalty is more rewarding in hotel point bonuses than hotel stay loyalty. Of course most programs offer hotel stay benefits for their top-tier guests that are the primary value-added component for hotel loyalty members besides points.

Perhaps I’ll have to start promoting hotel loyalty program credit cards and pick up some referral cash. Or not.

Why Hilton HHonors is difficult to compare with other programs

The tables show the number of points earned based on hotel spend and then the miles earned from a points-to-miles transfer. Hilton HHonors is the exception since members can earn both points & miles for hotel stays.

Most hotel loyalty programs will earn more miles overall when the member earns points for a hotel stay and then makes a points-to-miles exchange into the frequent flyer program. Hilton HHonors has a low points-to-miles exchange rate compared to other hotel programs and the HHonors member will likely earn more miles choosing HHonors Points & Fixed Miles for hotel stays when the hotel spend is under $500 per stay.

I provide an estimate of miles earned for HHonors Points & Fixed Miles earner. This is a rough estimate based on an average hotel stay costing $200 and earning 500 miles.

Hilton HHonors Points & Variable miles is a more precise comparison of miles earning to other hotel programs, however, the member staying at Hilton brands other than Home2 Suites, Homewood Suites and Hampton Inn will earn more miles choosing Fixed Miles for any hotel stay under $500.

The miles shown for HHonors Points & Fixed Miles is likely at the high end of a typical traveler’s earning pattern since it excludes any stays at Hampton Inns. Also a person with an average stay rate over $200 will have a lower miles earning rate.

The precise miles earned for a Hilton HHonors member is likely between the Variable Miles earning rate at the low end and the Fixed Miles rate near the high end in these tables.

Related Posts:

American Airlines American Airlines Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates Compared for 9 Hotel Programs (Feb 5, 2012)

American Airlines AAdvantage Miles for Hotel Elites with Credit Cards: SPG, Club Carlson, Wyndham and HHonors lead the pack (Feb 6, 2012)

The next post in this series will look at United Airlines Mileage Plus miles earning rates across these nine hotel loyalty programs.

My Loyalty traveler series on hotel points-to-miles exchange rates for frequent flyer miles continues with a look at 9 major hotel loyalty programs and points-to-miles exchange rates. These tables look at the miles earned at set levels of hotel spend. Top-tier elite hotel status and the best earning hotel cobranded credit card for hotel stay payment are additional factors in the miles calculations.

Table 1: Comparing Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates in 9 major hotel loyalty programs for American Airlines AAdvantage miles.

This table shows the actual exchange rate based on hotel spend for hotel stays. Credit cards and elite status are not considered.

Table 2: Top-tier elite membership factor when comparing Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates in 9 major hotel loyalty programs for American Airlines AAdvantage miles.

This table shows how top-tier elite membership earning rate alters the total number of points earned at each level of hotel spend.

Table 3: Co-Branded Hotel Credit Card with hotel loyalty top-tier elite membership when comparing Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates in 9 major hotel loyalty programs for American Airlines AAdvantage miles.

This table shows the influence of top tier elite and credit card spend.

Basic Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates Compared to Rate Points Earned from Hotel Spend without consideration of:

• Elite Status
• Cobranded Credit Card

Table 1: Comparing Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates in 9 major hotel loyalty programs for American Airlines AAdvantage miles.

This table was discussed in my Loyalty traveler post yesterday.

The main point I’d like readers to see is Wyndham Rewards is a great program for earning small levels of points for points-to-miles exchange. Wyndham Rewards has a high rate of exchange at 10 points = 4 miles. The minimum transfer is 8,000 Wyndham Rewards points = 3,200 miles. This is $800 in hotel spend at Wyndham Hotels.

Most programs take $1,000 in hotel spend to earn the minimum number of base points for a points-to-miles transfer.

Club Carlson is the minimum hotel spend leader for its ability of a base member (no elite status) to earn 2,000 points for the minimum points-to-miles transfer at 2,000 points = 250 miles after just $100 in hotel spend.

SPG Platinum members have no minimum exchange rate and even 1 Starpoint can be exchanged into 1 mile in several programs. This is useful for some promotion offers where partner activity earns a bonus and 1 Starpoint can be transferred into a frequent flyer program for that partner activity.

Table 2: Top-tier elite membership factor when comparing Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates in 9 major hotel loyalty programs for American Airlines AAdvantage miles.

Table 2: Discussion

The numbers here do not factor additional points for online booking bonus (Club Carlson) or Welcome Amenity points earned per hotel stay in many of the programs.

Club Carlson is one of the top three highest standard points-to-miles exchange rates among the 9 leading hotel loyalty programs. Club Carlson has the second highest top tier elite bonus at 75% base points earning rate.

SPG Platinum-75 (sounds radioactive) earns 100% elite bonus points as of March 1, 2012 and moves up in ranking for this AAdvantage miles comparison.

SPG asterisk * in the $13,000 column for SPG Platinum/Gold elite is due to using $13,334 since this small $334 incremental hotel spend raises the points earned from 39,000 to 40,000 points and increases miles earned by 5,000 miles.

Hilton HHonors has so many earning variables that predicting how many AAdvantage miles you will earn after $5,000 in hotel spend is mind-boggling. But guaranteed Hilton is better than Marriott Rewards for earning AAdvantage miles. Marriott Rewards and American Airlines cut their ties in 2010 so you can’t earn any Advantage miles through Marriott hotel stays.

Choice Privileges and IHG Priority Club sit in the middle of the pack, but pale in comparison to the Club Carlson miles earner.

Hyatt Gold Passport and Best Western Rewards top-tier elites both suffer from the lowest elite bonus points percentage at just 30% when most programs are 50% and Club Carlson at 75% and SPG at 100% leap-frog ahead in points-earning ability.

Table 3: Co-Branded Hotel Credit Card with hotel loyalty top-tier elite membership when comparing Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates in 9 major hotel loyalty programs for American Airlines AAdvantage miles.

Here is a comparison of major hotel loyalty programs for the fastest earning AAdvantage Miles from hotel stays for the high elite frequent guest using a hotel co-branded credit card to pay for hotel stays.

Non-hotel spend on the cobranded hotel credit card is not considered in this analysis. It is far easier to compare earning for non-hotel spend in isolation from hotel stays.

SPG jumps to the top for American Airlines AAdvantage miles when the credit card is added to the mix. Earning 2 points/$1 for Starwood Hotels spend is a 100% base points bonus and no other hotel program offers that high a proportion of base points as a credit card bonus for hotel spend.

Hilton HHonors American Express Surpass is close at 90% base points. Hyatt Visa is 60% base points. The other chains are 50% bonus for credit card spend at hotels.

Club Carlson is the only program without a co-branded credit card. Supposedly a credit card deal is in the works for 2012 and that will push Club Carlson higher in the ranking. Club Carlson still fares well against SPG considering the Club Carlson program does not even have a cobranded credit card to help its position in this race.

Concluding comments:

These tables tell me that American Airlines AAdvantage members seeking miles from hotel stays are in one of the best frequent flyer programs for maximizing miles earning.  Hilton HHonors looks impressive in this matchup, but lower points-to-miles transfer rates will lower its ranking for most other airlines. Marriott Rewards will take a top rank place for several other airline frequent flyer programs with its high points-to-miles exchange rates.

American Airlines AAdvantage miles can be earned at a high rate from hotel stays regardless of your market segment with Wyndham Rewards, Club Carlson and Starwood Preferred Guest all offering high points-to-miles rates.

This series will continue with a look at Delta Airlines SkyMiles. This is a program where the rankings will change as Marriott Rewards shows its competitive edge and Hilton HHonors reveals its poor points-to-miles exchange rate for most frequent flier programs.

P.S. There is a load of data here. Hopefully no math errors. Please leave a comment if something doesn’t look correct.

Feel free to ask questions and carry on a discussion in the comments.

Prior posts have discussed the earning rate for hotel points with stays in each of the hotel brands (links to other posts in this series are at end of this post). The rate points are earned is only one factor for earning loyalty points. Limited time promotions for earning bonus points and bonus points for partner activities are other factors on the earning side of the equation.

The cost of hotel rewards in each of the three hotel loyalty programs must be compared to the rate of earning to determine if any program has a competitive advantage in one way or another for Hilton HHonors, Marriott Rewards and IHG Priority Club.

Paris, France Hotel Reward Search for March 16-20, 2012

Assume the dates are set in stone for a four night Paris trip. Here are the options in the big chains of Hilton, IHG and Marriott where you can burn your points.

Hilton (2 hotels)

• Hilton Arc de Triomphe is 285EUR prepaid (US$371) or 330EUR BAR (US$430) or 59,695 points per night as Premium Room Reward. Redemption rate is $6.21 to $7.20 per 1,000 points for two queen beds. HHonors category 7 = 50,000 points per night. Tripadvisor.com hotel rank = #107 of 1,848 hotels.
• Hilton Paris La Defense  is 475EUR prepaid (US$619) or 535EUR BAR (US$697) or 96,778 points per night for the 750 sq. ft. Presidential Suite on a Premium Room Reward. Redemption rate is $6.38 to $7.19 per 1,000 points. This is a decent redemption rate for HHonors points. HHonors category 6 = 40,000 points per night.

This is an example of the impact Premium Room Rewards have had on the value of Hilton HHonors points. These two hotels have no rooms available as standard rewards at 50,000 points for a Category-7 hotel and Hilton La Defense is more than double the 40,000 points per night rate as a Premium Room Reward. But staying in a Presidential Suite does sound nice – if you have 400,000 points.

Hilton HHonors offers elite members a 15% discount with 4-night extended stay rewards. Rather than 200,000 points for a four night stay, the VIP reward rate is 170,000 points for Hilton Arc de Triomphe – if there were standard room reward availability. As it is, this stay will cost 240,000 points for four nights.

IHG Priority Club

The advantage of Priority Club is the large number of hotels in central Paris including two InterContinental Hotels, one Crowne Plaza, and ten more Holiday Inn properties within three miles of city center.

A check of TripAdvisor.com, FlyerTalk and MilePoint to read hotel reviews gives better insight to hotels after checking rates and reward options. Great redemption rate offers little comfort if crowdsourced reviews are generally unfavorable to the hotel.

There are 1,848 hotels listed for Paris on TripAdvisor.com. I listed the TripAdvisor.com hotel ratings beside each of the properties. The closer the rank is to #1, the better. The highest ranked IHG hotel is the Holiday Inn Express at #251 closely followed by InterContinental Le Grand at #269.

Those results make checking FlyerTalk reviews imperative for more information.

IHG in Paris

Points & Cash reward nights are available at every Priority Club hotel offering standard reward nights.

The redemption value for points is abbreviated as RV and based on 1,000 points. Points & Cash rewards sell Priority Club points at rate of $6.00 per 1,000 points.

• InterContinental Paris Le Grand – 305 EUR = $US397 or 50,000 points or 40,000 points + US$60. TripAdvisor Rank #269.
• (This hotel is actually still available for booking at 40,000 points until March 18, but I use the new rates for this analysis to compare the published rates for each hotel program).
• 305Euro = US$397/night. Redemption value = $7.94 per 1,000 points. The redemption rate is over $6 per 1,000 points. This makes the Points & Cash option an opportunity to buy points for $6/1,000 and redeem for over $8/1,000 points. This is a good stay to use a Cash & Points reward for $8.43 redemption value.
• InterContinental Paris – Avenue Marceau – 306.50 EUR = US$399 or 50,000 points (RV = $8.00/1,000 points) or 40,000 + $60 (RV=$8.48). TripAdvisor Rank #424.
• Crowne Plaza Paris Republique – 154.25 EUR = US$201 or 35,000 points (RV = $5.74) = or 25,000 points + $60 (RV = $5.64). TripAdvisor Rank #552. This hotel increased 40% in reward cost with the change from 25 to 35K. The reward redemption value is low at 35,000 points standard reward cost for this $200 room rate.
• Holiday Inn Paris – Notre Dame 180EUR = US$234. No Reward Rooms Available (25,000 points).
• Holiday Inn Paris Opera – Grands Boulevard 122 EUR = US$159. No Reward Rooms Available (25,000 points). TripAdvisor Rank #943.
• Holiday Inn Paris Gare de l’Est 111.50 EUR = US$145 or 25,000 points (RV = $5.80) or 15,000 points + $60 (RV=$5.67). TripAdvisor Rank #630.
• Holiday Inn St. Germain des Pres – 141.25 EUR = US$184 or 25,000 points (RV = $7.36) or 15,000 points + $60 (RV=$8.27). TripAdvisor Rank #427.
• Holiday Inn Paris Bastille – 137 EUR = US$178 or 25,000 points (RV=$7.12) or 15,000 points + $60 (RV=$7.87). TripAdvisor Rank #310.
• Holiday Inn Paris Elysees – 186.75 EUR = US$243 or 25,000 points (RV = $9.72) or 15,000 points + $60 (RV=$12.20). TripAdvisor Rank #773.
• Holiday Inn Paris Montmartre – 120 EUR = US$156 or 25,000 points (RV=$6.24) or 15,000 points + $60 (RV=$6.40). TripAdvisor Rank #1,129.
• Holiday Inn Paris Gare Montparnasse – 147.38 EUR = US$191.75 or 25,000 points (RV=$7.67) or 15,000 points + $60 (RV=$8.78).
• Holiday Inn Paris Montpernasse Pasteur – 94.12 EUR = US$122 or 25,000 points (RV=$4.88) or 15,000 points + $60 (RV=$4.13). TripAdvisor Rank #1,114.
• Holiday Inn Express Paris Canal de la Villette – 121.50 EUR = US$158 or 25,000 points (RV=$6.32) or 15,000 points + $60 (RV=$6.53). TripAdvisor Rank #251.

All the Holiday Inn hotels are already in the 25,000 points top tier reward for Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express brands. Priority Club reward night tiers are 10K, 15K, 20K and 25K points for these two brands that comprise the majority of IHG hotels worldwide The January 18, 2012 Priority Club Rewards changes added the 20K tier for Holiday Inn and HI Express.

Points & Cash Rewards – The $6 rule.

TIP: Do not buy Priority Club Points & Cash Reward when standard redemption rate is less than $6.00 per 1,000 points.

The basic rule with Priority Club Points & Cash Rewards is look for the redemption rate of a standard reward over $6.00 per 1,000 points which is the rate a member can buy 10,000 points when booking a Points & Cash Reward night. The Points & Cash Reward will have an even higher redemption rate than the standard reward.

The flip side is any hotel with a standard redemption rate less than $6.00 per 1,000 points ($6 redemption value means $150 room rate is 25,000 points reward) will have an even lower redemption value with Points & Cash.

The Holiday Inn Paris Elysees has the highest redemption value of $12.20 per 1,000 points on the Points & Cash Reward. Buying 10,000 points for $60 to save $122 is a good deal.

IHG has numerous options for Paris. Priority Club is a good program for a free night, but the quality of these hotels appears to be less than aspirational based on the low ratings in TripAdvisor.com.

Marriott Rewards

Marriott has good standard award availability in the Paris area for several hotels during the March 16-20 dates. A four-night stay is an unfortunate length of time for Marriott Rewards since the 5th night free reward is the same cost as a 4-night stay reward.

Starwood and Hilton also have 5th night free rewards. IHG does not offer any discount for extended stay rewards. Hilton is only program to have a discount on four night stays (15%). Hilton HHonors also has the best discount for stays of 6 or more nights at 25% off standard rates.

• Renaissance Paris Vendome  309 EUR = US$402 or Marriott Rewards category 8 hotel = 160,000 points for 4 nights. Redemption Value = $10.05 per 1,000 points. TripAdvisor rank = #154
• Marriott Paris Rive Gauche Hotel & Conference Center 194 EUR  = US$253 or Marriott Rewards category 6 hotel = 120,000 points for 4 nights. RV= $8.43. TripAdvisor rank = #301
• Marriott Paris Champs Elysees 399 EUR = US$519 or Marriott Rewards category 8 hotel = 160,000 points for 4 nights. Redemption Value = $12.98 per 1,000 points. TripAdvisor rank = #148.
• Renaissance Paris Arc de Triomphe 279 EUR = US$363 or Marriott Rewards category 7 hotel = 140,000 points for 4 nights. Redemption Value = $10.37 per 1,000 points. TripAdvisor rank = #14.
• Renaissance Paris Le Parc Trocadero  269 EUR = US$350 or Marriott Rewards category 7 hotel = 140,000 points for 4 nights. Redemption Value = $10.00 per 1,000 points. TripAdvisor rank = #249.
• Courtyard Paris Arcueil 139 EUR = US$181 or Marriott Rewards category 5 hotel = 100,000 points for 4 nights. Redemption Value = $7.24 per 1,000 points. TripAdvisor rank = na. This hotel is outside the city center district. There are three Courtyard Hotels about five miles outside city center at category 5 rewards. Marriott Rewards Premier Visa credit card members receive annual free night voucher good for up to category 5 hotels.

Marriott Rewards wins the hotel reward redemption value comparison based on the ease of finding reward nights at a variety of hotels and the high quality of the hotels as rated in TripAdvisor.com in hundreds of reviews for each hotel. Renaissance Paris Arc de Triomphe is ranked #14 out of 1,848 hotels in Paris and the redemption value is over $10 per 1,000 points. The redemption would be even better if staying five nights for the same number of points.

Conclusion:

IHG Priority Club and Marriott Rewards both have plenty of hotel options. Hilton has only two central Paris properties and both were limited to Premium Room Rewards. Hilton does not fare well in this comparison of hotel rewards.

The room rates at Marriott and Hilton brand hotels is rather high compared to Priority Club locations with the numerous Holiday Day Inn options. This also reflects the different market segments of the hotels. Holiday Inn is the place for lower rates.

The question is how does one compare 240,000 points ($1,484 room rate) for the Hilton Arc de Triomphe to 160,000 Priority Club points + $240 for a 4-night stay at the InterContinental Paris Le Grand on a Points & Cash reward ($1,588 room rate – $240 = $1,348 savings) to 140,000 points for the Renaissance Paris Arc de Triomphe ($1,452 room rate).

Hotel base spend required to earn points for 4-night Paris stay in respective loyalty programs:

• $14,000 Marriott Rewards (no elite status), as long as few Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites stays.
• $16,000 Hilton HHonors Points & Points earner (no elite status).
• $16,000 Priority Club (no elite status).
• $14,546 Priority Club (Gold elite status 10% bonus points).
• $13,913 Hilton HHonors Points & Points earner (Silver elite 20% bonus points).
• $12,800 Hilton HHonors Points & Points earner (Gold elite 25% bonus points).
• $11,667 Marriott Rewards (Silver elite 20% bonus points).
• $11,200 Marriott Rewards (Gold elite 25% bonus points).
• $10,667 Hilton HHonors Points & Points earner (Diamond elite 50% bonus points).
• $10,667 Priority Club (Platinum elite 50% bonus points).
• $9,334   Marriott Rewards (Platinum elite 50% bonus points).

The hotel spend needed for these reward redemptions are virtually identical amounts across the three programs if Marriott Champs-Elysees at 160,000 points for a 4-night stay is used in this same comparison.

Promotion Bonus Points Really Matter

The difference between the rate members earn points in these three programs really comes down to the program that offers more opportunities to earn promotion bonus points.

I am fond of saying on Loyalty Traveler:

Promotions make all the difference in earning points in a hotel loyalty program.

Renaissance Paris Arc de Triomphe ranks #14 hotel on TripAdvisor.com

The next article in this series comparing the mega-chain hotel loyalty programs of Hilton HHonors, IHG Priority Club and Marriott Rewards will look at recent promotions and points earning opportunities in these loyalty programs.

Loyalty Traveler series: Comparison of Hilton HHonors, Marriott Rewards and IHG Priority Club hotel loyalty programs

1. Hilton, Marriott and IHG Hotel Brand Market Segments(Jan 15, 2012) – this post lists the different hotel brands, number of hotels in the brand, percentage of hotels in each brand and brand’s hotel market segment.

2. Hilton, IHG Marriott: Earning Base Points and Miles(Jan 17, 2012).

3. Making Elite with Marriott, IHG, Hilton(Jan 18, 2012) – Discussion of elite qualification requirements, elite status challenges and status matches.

4. Hotel Rewards Comparison: IHG, Marriott and Hilton (Jan 21, 2012)

Comparing hotel rewards is one of the most technical aspects of hotel loyalty programs. The rate of earning points is different in each hotel loyalty program with Hilton members earning as many as 15 points per dollar for hotel spend while Marriott and IHG Priority Club earn as few as 5 points per dollar for certain hotel brands. Promotions offering bonus points also affect the rate of earning points in each program.

And even if the hotel loyalty member earns 10 points per dollar in each program, then is a 25,000 point hotel reward comparable in each program? How does one compare a Marriott Rewards category 5 reward night (25,000 points), Priority Club Crowne Plaza reward night (25,000 points) and a Hilton HHonors category 3 reward night (25,000 points)?

The logical way to compare hotel rewards across programs is to compare the published rate for the hotel night to the reward night cost in points. The problem is the reward cost is a fixed cost while the room rate fluctuates and might be $150 tonight and $250 tomorrow night for the same 25,000 points free night. The other variable is a 25,000 points hotel reward might save $100 at one Marriott Rewards category 5 hotel and save $250 at a different Marriott hotel.

The bottom line is hotel reward redemption value is dynamic and fluctuates depending on date and hotel. The best a member can do is try to use points in a way that maximizes their redemption value.

I have tackled this issue before and found Marriott Rewards to be the highest value points compared to the other two programs. This means 25,000 Marriott Rewards points tended to save more money than 25,000 points in Priority Club or Hilton HHonors. But I did not do many of these analyses in 2011.

Standard Hotel Rewards

IHG Priority Club

Priority Club changed its reward structure this week for the first time in several years. New tiers were added to each of the seven IHG hotel brands. Priority Club is different than other hotel loyalty programs by setting reward levels based on brand rather than categories where hotels in every brand are distributed based on average daily rate, reward demand and hotel occupancy. A Courtyard by Marriott property in New York City will be in a higher category reward level and cost more points than a Courtyard in Greenville, South Carolina. Priority Club had the problem that a Crowne Plaza in New York City with an average daily rate close to $300 was the same 25,000 points reward cost as the Crowne Plaza in Greenville, South Carolina with a much lower average room rate.

Rather than switching to hotel reward categories similar to other hotel loyalty programs where hotels are placed in categories typically based on average daily rates, Priority Club chose to add new tiers to each of the hotel brand rewards.

Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express formerly had three tiers for reward nights at 10,000 points, 15,000 points and 25,000 points. A new fourth tier was added at 20,000 points to fill in the gap. Regrettably, Priority Club chose to be intransparent regarding the new hotel reward tiers. They will not publish the changes of 2,000 or so hotels in new reward tiers as of this week, even though they state that you can request the lower tier reward level for bookings through March 18, 2012. You have to call Priority Club to find out if the hotel you are booking required fewer points prior to January 18 changes.

Each of the other five IHG brands added new higher reward tiers with Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites adding a tier at 5,000 more points and InterContinental Hotels, Crowne Plaza and Hotel Indigo adding a new tier at 10,000 more points. Hotels in the new higher tiers are 25% to 40% more points.

Priority Club has three reward types providing discounts to the standard reward rates shown in the table: PointBreaks, Points & Cash, Last Minute Reward Nights.

Priority Club PointBreaks

Undoubtedly the lowest cost hotel reward nights of any hotel loyalty program are Priority Club PointBreaks for 5,000 points per night. Even if you do not currently have any Priority Club points, members can purchase up to 50,000 points in a rolling 12-month period. The cost is $67.50 to buy 5,000 points and the rate drops to $11.50 per 1,000 points with a 20,000 points purchase reducing the cost of a PointBreaks reward night to $57.50.

Priority Club PointBreaks typically are a list of about 100 hotels among the 4,500 IHG hotels globally. PointBreaks hotels only offer these low reward rates for about two months from the time the list is published. PointBreaks hotels drop off the list once the capacity controlled rooms are booked. PointBreaks are a great value, but limited to those who are in the right places at the right time to take advantage of these bargain reward nights.

The current PointBreaks list was posted around November 22 and is valid for hotel stays through January 31, 2012. A new PointBreaks list will likely post sometime during the next four days.

Priority Club Points & Cash Rewards

One of the best features of Priority Club Rewards is the availability of Points & Cash Reward Nights as a potential discount on standard reward nights. Points & Cash Rewards allow the Priority Club member to buy 5,000 or 10,000 points at the time of booking a reward night.

• 5,000 points = $40 or
• 10,000 points = $60.

A Crowne Plaza Points & Cash hotel reward night at 25,000 points standard reward level can be purchased for:

• 15,000 points + $60 or
• 20,000 points + $40.

Points & Cash Rewards saves points in your account balance while allowing the member to buy points at the discount rate of $6.00/1,000 points when buying 10,000 points for a reward. This is nearly 50% off the standard purchase rate ($11.50 to $13.50 per 1,000 points) and the 50,000 points annual purchase limit for Priority Club points does not apply to points bought for Points & Cash rewards. A member is limited to buying $240 in Points & Cash Reward points per day (40,000 points when buying 10,000 points on 4 reward stays).

Cheap Trick Cancellation

Points & Cash Reward stays require the member to buy 5,000 or 10,000 points during the reward stay booking process. When I book a Points & Cash Reward stay at a Crowne Plaza for a 25,000 points reward, my $60 buys 10,000 points instantly and only 15,000 points are removed from my account balance.

If I subsequently cancel the reward reservation, the entire 25,000 points are deposited back into my account. Basically, the cheap trick is a member can book a Points & Cash reward stays as a way to buy Priority Club points for $6 per 1,000 points. But you do not want to abuse this cheap trick or you may find your account flagged. Priority Club certainly knows members use this workaround to buy cheaper points, but no attempt has been made to change the rules in the past two years since Points & Cash Rewards were added to Priority Club. The primary changes to occur are the cost for 5,000 points increased from $30 to $40 and there is a $240 per day limit in purchase points through Points & Cash rewards.

One other thing to know about Points & Cash Rewards is the points purchased for these rewards are the only Priority Club points I know about that do not count as elite qualification points. All other points earned from hotel stays, partner activities and other promotion bonuses count for elite status with Gold elite at 20,000 points in a calendar year or Platinum elite for 60,000 points in a calendar year. Elite qualification on points is quite easy with Priority Club which is one reason why there are limited defined benefits with Priority Club elite status compared to Hilton and Marriott.

Priority Club Last Minute Reward Nights

This 50% points discount reward has turned out to be probably the most useless hotel reward option in hotel loyalty programs since they debuted in May 2011. Hotels participating in Last Minute Reward Nights are only valid for stays during the first full weekend of the month for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There is supposed to be an email sent out on Monday before the Friday weekend, but I have never seen a Last Minute Reward Nights email.

Here is a Loyalty Traveler post with the January 2012 Last Minute Reward Nights list of 50% off InterContinental Hotels.  Normally I try to list all the hotels available each month. I wrote about Last Minute Reward hotels on Wednesday, January 4 when I first saw the list. These rewards were only available for the nights of Friday, January 6 to Sunday, January 8. That was a great deal if you happened to be in Frankfurt and got the InterContinental for 15,000 points. It will be 40,000 points per night after March 18. Seriously, how many people took advantage of InterContinental Moorea in the deep South Pacific at 50% off with just three days notice?

Bottom line: Jackpot if you are somewhere with a 50% off Last Minute Reward hotel available.  I have not used this Last Minute Reward yet due to limited locations. The January 2012 list was my best opportunity with two San Francisco Holiday Inn hotels available, but it was just too gorgeous to leave Monterey that weekend for city life.

Marriott Rewards

Marriott Rewards unquestionably had the best hotel rewards value until the program went to a 5th night free reward table in 2009. Prior to the changes hotel rewards were lower in cost for each additional night stayed. The discount was as high as 40% off reward nights for 7-night hotel stays. The trade-off for an across the board increase in all extended stay rewards other than 5 night stays was balanced by Marriott’s new “No Blackouts” policy for rewards.

Since 2009 Marriott spun off Ritz Carlton Rewards and tiered the hotel brand into five levels of hotel rewards from 30,000 points to 70,000 points per night with the 5th night free option.

Marriott Rewards competitive advantage over Hilton HHonors is a higher distribution of hotels in the Marriott Rewards lower hotel categories 1-4 in its eight category hotel reward structure.

Marriott Rewards hotel reward levels

• Category 1 = 7,500 points
• Category 2 = 10,000 points
• Category 3 = 15,000 points
• Category 4 = 20,000 points
• Category 5 = 25,000 points
• Category 6 = 30,000 points
• Category 7 = 35,000 points
• Category 8 = 40,000 points
• Ritz-Carlton Tier 1 = 30,000 points
• Ritz-Carlton Tier 2 = 40,000 points
• Ritz-Carlton Tier 3 = 50,000 points
• Ritz-Carlton Tier 4 = 60,000 points
• Ritz-Carlton Tier 5 = 70,000 points

All Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Standard and PointSavers Reward stays offer the fifth night free. Stay 5 nights and pay the points for four nights. Fifth night free stays may be combined.  A ten night stay gets two free nights. There are no discounts for extended stays of other lengths. A 9-night stay only gets one free night.

Marriott Rewards PointSavers

PointSavers are discount rewards reducing the hotel reward night cost at the participating hotel by one category level.

For example, a Category-6 PointSavers hotel reward is 25,000 points per night. PointSavers for Category-1 hotels are a 20% discount at 6,000 points.

The Marriott Rewards PointSavers list was updated in the past month with dozens of hotels offering PointSavers rates with dates primarily in January through March 2012.

Ritz-Carlton PointSavers offer 10,000 points per night savings. Since 2009 I have seen few PointSavers at Ritz-Carlton hotels posted on the website. Members are directed to phone reservations to request PointSavers.

Marriott Travel Packages (Hotel + Air)

These are high-priced, high-value rewards starting at 200,000 points that offer a 7-night hotel stay available at any hotel category level and from 35,000 miles, up to 120,000 miles. The cost of these rewards ranges from 200,000 to 540,000 points. I will discuss Marriott Travel Package rewards further when comparing points-to-miles exchanges in these hotel loyalty programs in a future post.

Hilton HHonors Rewards

Hilton HHonors restructured its reward chart at the beginning of 2010 when it added Category 7 hotel rewards at 50,000 points, eliminated Opportunity Hotels, and shifted the cost of Category 1 and category 2 hotels down. Bottom line is more than 80% of the hotels worldwide increased in cost for a reward night.

Hilton HHonors Standard Reward Levels

• Category 1 = 7,500 points
• Category 2 = 12,500 points
• Category 3 = 25,000 points
• Category 4 = 30,000 points
• Category 5 = 35,000 points
• Category 6 = 40,000 points
• Category 7 = 50,000 points
• Waldorf Astoria Hotels = 50,000 to 80,000 points

One of the tasks I see I need to update is a hotel rewards distribution comparison for Hilton and Marriott to backup my claim that Marriott has more hotels in the lower categories. I did not do this analysis in 2011, so here is a comparison from tables I created two years ago.  Once the 2012 hotel category shifts are published I will update the distribution of hotels in each reward category for Hilton and Marriott with 2011 and 2012 data.

The table shows that fewer than 15% of Marriott brand hotel rewards were more than 20,000 points in 2010 compared to nearly 60% of Hilton brand hotels being more than 30,000 points in 2010. Hilton HHonors charges far more on average for hotel rewards, even considering Hilton Points & Points earners earn 15 points per dollar compared to 10 points per dollar for Marriott stays. The extra points needed for Hilton hotel rewards negates the extra points earned from Hilton hotel stays. In Hilton’s favor is the easier route to HHonors Diamond elite and 50% bonus points compared to Marriott Rewards Platinum elite for 50% bonus points.

HHonors Extended Stay Discounts

The competitive advantage for Hilton HHonors is the best discount for extended stays using points at hotels in Category 3 to Category 7. HHonors provides a discount on reward stays four nights or longer for members with at least HHonors Silver elite status (4 stays or 10 nights in a calendar year or HHonors credit card member).

HHonors VIP Elite Extended Stay Reward Discounts

• 4-night VIP Reward = 15% discount off standard reward rate.
• 5-night VIP Reward = 20% discount off standard reward rate. This matches the Marriott Rewards 5th Night free discount. Five nights at a category-4 hotel normally 30,000 points per night is 120,000 points.
• 6-night or longer = 25% discount off standard reward rate. This exceeds the discount offered by any other hotel loyalty program. A category 7 hotel reward for six nights at 50,000 points per night is only 225,000 points rather than 300,000 points.
• Amazingly, Hilton HHonors VIP reward chart has not been updated to separate the category 3 rewards from category 4. Category 3 hotels receive the same 15% to 25% discount shown below for other category hotels, but the HHonors reward chart does not display the discount rates for Category 3 hotels. FlyerTalk member Beltway created the table below showing the discount rate for VIP Rewards.

The chart shown above is from Post #3 on this FlyerTalk thread providing a comprehensive list of Hilton HHonors rewards.

AXON 4-Night Rewards

AXON rewards are available to HHonors American Express cardmembers for a discount on 4-night stays that is even greater than the VIP 15% reward discount.

• Category 6: 125,000 points  (VIP Reward = 136,000 points)
• Category 7: 145,000 points  (VIP Reward = 170,000 points)

Points & Money Rewards

• Category 1: not applicable
• Category 2: 6,250 points + US$30
• Category 3: 12,250 points + US$40
• Category 4: 15,000 points + US$50
• Category 5: 17,500 points + US$60
• Category 6: 20,000 points + US$70
• Category 7: 25,000 points + US$85
• Waldorf-Astoria: 30,000 points + US$100
• The data shown here was removed from the Hilton website soon after I published the table in my analysis of Points & Money Rewards on Loyalty Traveler in October 2011. These amounts are currently the amounts still used for Points & Money Rewards, however, Hilton has left open the possibility to change these levels at anytime with this wording in the Hilton HHonors FAQ.

What are Points & Money Rewards™?
If you don’t have enough Hilton HHonors™ points to book a room using Standard Room Rewards, or simply if you prefer to use fewer points, you can combine points with money to book a standard room. This is a great option if you need just a few hundred more points to achieve a reward stay. Availability of Points & Money Rewards varies by participating hotels and stay dates at the time of booking. The number of points required to redeem Points & Money Rewards varies by room, hotel, and booking date.

 

In 2011 Hilton HHonors introduced Points & Money Rewards offering hotel rewards for 50% points and a cash supplement. This new reward option replaces PointStretcher Rewards that have been eliminated for 2012. PointStretcher Rewards offered a 40% discount off standard reward points at select hotels on select dates. Points & Money offer a greater points discount, but also require cash.

I think Points & Money will be a better program feature as long as this reward choice is commonly available at hotels in many places. There were few hotels and very restricted date availability for PointStretcher Rewards over the past several years. Paying a cash supplement and 50% points is a good hotel reward option for HHonors members. The Points & Money Rewards option is still too new and too scarce to determine if this is a better replacement to PointStretchers.

HHonors Premium Room Rewards will be discussed in a separate post on suite upgrades.

The follow-up post to this “Hotel Rewards Comparison” will be to show a couple of locations and compare the reward cost in Hilton HHonors, IHG Priority Club and Marriott Rewards hotel stay rewards and calculate the point value in each program based on the room rates for hotels in the same location and similar market segment.

Loyalty Traveler series: Comparison of Hilton HHonors, Marriott Rewards and IHG Priority Club hotel loyalty programs

1. Hilton, Marriott and IHG Hotel Brand Market Segments(Jan 15, 2012) – this post lists the different hotel brands, number of hotels in the brand, percentage of hotels in each brand and brand’s hotel market segment.

2. Hilton, IHG Marriott: Earning Base Points and Miles(Jan 17, 2012).

3. Making Elite with Marriott, IHG, Hilton(Jan 18, 2012) – Discussion of elite qualification requirements, elite status challenges and status matches.

4. Hotel Rewards Comparison: IHG, Marriott and Hilton (Jan 21, 2012)

Hilton HHonors and Marriott Rewards have a high bar for reaching top elite status. Most frequent guest travelers will only spend sufficient nights in a hotel to earn either Hilton HHonors Diamond (28 stays or 60 nights) or Marriott Rewards Platinum (75 nights).

Elite Membership Tiers

Marriott Rewards (Marriott Rewards membership levels link)

• Silver = 10 nights (20% elite bonus points).
• Gold = 50 nights (25% elite bonus points).
• Platinum = 75 nights (50% elite bonus points).
• Marriott offers elite rollover nights for 2012 hotel stays to make 2013 qualification easier.

Hilton HHonors (HHonors membership levels link)

• Silver = 4 stays or 10 nights (15% elite bonus points).
• Gold = 16 stays or 36 nights or earn 60,000 base points in a calendar year (25% elite bonus points).
• Diamond = 28 stays or 60 nights or earn 100,000 base points in a calendar year (50% elite bonus points).
• Award stays and nights count for elite credit. “The number of Reward Stays and the number of nights during a Reward Stay will count towards the number of stays and/or nights required for Elite tier qualification.” – HHonors T&C.
• 60,000 and 100,000 base points are equivalent to $6,000 and $10,000 in hotel spend at 10 base points/$1.

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club Rewards (Priority Club membership levels link)

• Gold = 15 nights or purchase for $50 or earn 20,000 qualifying points in a calendar year (10% elite bonus points).
• Platinum = 50 nights or earn 60,000 qualifying points in a calendar year (50% elite bonus points).
• InterContinental Ambassador = $200 membership fee or32,000 Priority Club points. InterContinental Ambassador benefits apply only to stays at InterContinental Hotels.(Ambassador FAQ)
• InterContinental Royal Ambassador = by invitation only for select Ambassador members (top 1%) based on factors of total number of nights stayed and revenue. Unpublished qualification criteria estimated to be around 60 hotel nights in IHG properties with stays in several InterContinental Hotels.  FlyerTalk has a thread where members attempt to determine the criteria for Royal Ambassador membership.

Elite Qualification Routes Compared

There are differences in the way each hotel loyalty program qualifies elite members. This post will compare the routes to elite membership in Hilton HHonors, IHG Priority Club and Marriott Rewards. The specific benefits an elite member receives at different membership levels in each hotel program will be discussed in separate Loyalty Traveler posts.

Priority Club Elite

Priority Club is one of the easiest hotel loyalty programs to qualify for high elite Platinum status despite showing the qualification level as 50 nights. And these are 50 paid nights not counting reward stays using points or Points & Cash stays. Only Hilton HHonors, Starwood Preferred Guest and Choice Privileges credit reward stays for annual elite tier qualification.

60,000 qualifying Priority Club points is an easy to reach threshold for guests staying far fewer than 50 nights in a calendar year at IHG hotels. Priority Club counts almost any point earned in your account as an elite qualifying point. About the only Priority Club points that do not count as elite qualifying are points purchased for Points & Cash stays when paying $40 for 5,000 points or $60 for 10,000 points as part of a Points & Cash reward booking. Qualifying points include base points and bonus points earned from hotel stays, bonus points earned from promotions and points earned from partner activities.

Example of earning 60,000 points for Priority Club Platinum elite membership

• Purchase 20,000 Priority Club points for $230 = 20,000 points.
• Hotel stays = 20 nights at Holiday Inn and HI Express @$100/night rate = 20,000 base points.
• Priority Club Double Points Promotion (Jan 23-Apr 30, 2012)  = 20,000 bonus points.
• Gold elite 10% bonus points = 5 nights at $100/night rate = 500 points.
• Total = 60,500 qualifying Priority Club points with 20 hotel nights to earn Platinum elite.

These two activities of buying points and hotel stays during the Priority Club Double Points promotion qualify the Priority Club member for Platinum elite after only 20 hotel nights rather than 50 nights. This is just one example of how easy it is to reach Priority Club Platinum and start earning 50% bonus points.

InterContinental Ambassador lets you buy your way to elite

InterContinental Ambassador is a $200 initial membership ($100 renewal) annually paid program if you are looking for complimentary luxury hotel benefits to supplement those $300 per night stays at InterContinental Hotels. There are many InterContinental Hotels with rates below $150 night many nights of the year, yet there are other IC properties where $300 per night would be quite a discount rate at any time of the year.

InterContinental Royal Ambassador members receive a certificate in their membership packet to gift membership to one other.

Marriott Rewards Elite

Marriott Rewards is consistently voted the best hotel loyalty program in business surveys and even the Freddie Awards in recent years. Marriott Rewards has maintained the toughest elite qualification criteria of any major hotel loyalty program for many years. Mid-tier Gold elite at 50 nights and high-tier Platinum elite at 75 nights far exceed other programs. Hilton, Starwood and Hyatt have hotel stays as an alternative route to elite membership. Stays are a far more favorable qualification route for guests who typically stay one night at a time.

Hilton HHonors Diamond requires 60 nights and Marriott Rewards at 75 nights is 25% more nights than HHonors.  And HHonors counts hotel nights on rewards.

Hilton HHonors takes only 28 stays for HHonors Diamond elite as a different elite qualification route. This means a member can earn HHonors Diamond elite with as few as 28 one-night stays and some of those stays can even be reward stays using points.

Marriott Rewards Elite Rollover Nights is a competitive edge

Elite Rollover Nights appeared in 2009 when the hotel industry was severely impacted by a sudden cutback in global travel.  Marriott Rewards did not alter its stringent elite qualification criteria, but instead lowered the elite qualification threshold in one way, while providing incentive to continue staying with Marriott even after attaining elite status for the calendar year.

Elite Rollover Nights carry any nights in excess of the elite level for the current year to the next calendar year. In 2012 a member who stays 33 nights in Marriott brand hotels earns Silver elite for 2013 after 10 nights, but fails to reach 50 nights for Gold elite. This member starts 2013 as Silver elite and the 23 nights stayed in 2012 above the Silver elite qualification level rollover to 2013 elite qualifying nights. The member starts 2013 with 23 elite qualifying nights and only needs 27 nights in 2013 to reach Gold elite rather than 50 nights. The member will earn Gold elite after 27 nights in 2013.

Elite rollover nights are a powerful incentive for staying with Marriott Rewards as a Silver elite, even if Gold elite is not achievable in 2012.

Marriott Rewards offers Elite Rollover Nights as a promotional benefit to members. 2012 will be the fourth year this benefit has been offered, however, the announcement to extend elite rollover nights did not come until late December 2011. Hotel nights in 2012 will automatically rollover to 2013. There is no guarantee the elite rollover nights benefit will be repeated again for hotel nights stayed in 2013.

Club Carlson set elite rollover nights as a standard program benefit when the new hotel loyalty program launched April 2011. This is the only other hotel loyalty program to offer elite rollover nights.

Hilton HHonors Elite

Hilton has several routes to high elite Diamond status.

• 28 stays can be as few as 28 one-night stays in a year and reward stays count too.
• 60 nights including reward stays.
• 100,000 base points = $10,000 in spend. That might be one wedding or company party.
• HHonors Surpass American Express gives cardmember Diamond elite after $40,000 annual spend.

The multiple routes to reach elite are a competitive advantage of Hilton HHonors over Marriott Rewards.

In my opinion Hilton HHonors Gold (16 stays or 36 nights) is one of the best mid-tier elite levels to have for any hotel loyalty program. HHonors Gold elite is frequently offered in fast-track promotions for as few as four stays in 90 days. A new or returning HHonors member can receive benefits of free internet and free breakfast on hotel stays through 2013 after just four stays.

Elite Status Promotion: Hilton HHonors Gold elite fast-track for Carlson Wagonlit Travel customers. Earn HHonors Gold elite after four stays within 90 days of promotion registration.  Loyalty Traveler post Sep 6.

Elite Status Promotion: HHonors Gold VIP elite after 4 stays or 9 nights in 90 days at U.S. hotels with Hilton HHonors MVP. Promotion registration required.

HHonors Reward Stays are Elite Qualifying Stays and Nights

Hilton HHonors was also a pioneer in elite status qualification when it became the first hotel loyalty program to count reward nights and stays several years ago. Choice Privileges and Starwood Preferred Guest are two other hotel loyalty programs that changed in the past couple of years to count reward stays for elite status.

The introduction of HHonors Points & Money Rewards in 2011 means counting reward stays for elite qualification is even more rewarding. Points & Money rewards require only 50% standard reward points. A member with 100,000 points can buy two category-7 standard reward nights at 50,000 points each.  Points & Money rewards allow the same 100,000 points to buy four separate category-7 reward nights with a cash supplement ($85/night) and earn up to 4 elite qualifying stays and 4 nights.

HHonors Points & Money are a 2011 reward enhancement, even though the program also introduced HHonors Premium Rewards that seems to have negatively impacted Diamond level members with decreased access to room rewards at the standard rate.

Elite Challenges

Marriott offers a Gold Challenge for 12 nights in 90 days or Platinum Challenge with 18 nights in 90 days. You receive gold or Platinum elite level for 90 days and drop back to earned status if challenge not successful. You must be enrolled in either Gold or Platinum Challenge. You do not earn Gold elite if you fall 3 nights short on a Platinum Challenge with only 15 nights even though that would have been sufficient for the Gold Challenge.

Elite level membership after completing the challenge is maintained at Gold or Platinum elite through February 2013, unless you requalify for the same or higher tier. So you need to have 50 or 75 nights in 2012 to retain elite level through 2013. Challenges starting in July 2012 may last through Feb 2014. FlyerTalk thread on Marriott Platinum and Gold Challenges from last six months and Dec 2011 thread.

Hilton offers Diamond Challenge for 19 to 21 nights in a 90 day period. FlyerTalk thread.

HHonors status match discussed in this FlyerTalk thread. Remember that status match is generally a once-in-a-lifetime match when granted by a hotel loyalty program. Challenges can be periodically repeated. Do not waste a status match unless you plan to use it. You may regret it a couple of years from now when you could really use the instant elite status and that long expired top elite member card is sitting in your drawer.

Marriott elite status match FlyerTalk thread.

You can generally get a status match if you truly have the potential of a high-revenue guest with frequent hotel stays. The people getting instant status through a hotel loyalty promotion and no record of frequent stays might find it more difficult to get a hotel loyalty status match.

The Credit Card Route to Elite

Marriott, Hilton and IHG Priority Club offer an easy route to low tier elite simply by enrolling as a credit card member with Hilton HHonors Visa or American Express, Marriott Rewards Visa or Priority Club Visa.  Hilton HHonors is the winner for credit card benefits.

• All HHonors credit cards confer complimentary HHonors Silver elite. HHonors Diamond membership is achievable through HHonors Surpass American Express after $40,000 annual card spend.
• Marriott Rewards Visa gives either 10 or 15 elite nights annually for instant Silver elite status.
• Priority Club Visa gives complimentary Gold elite.
• This Loyalty Traveler post from March 2011 is still fairly accurate on the elite benefits available through hotel points credit cards.
• Disclosure: I do not partner affiliate with any credit card providers. The links in my posts where I discuss credit cards are not affiliate marketing links for my Loyalty Traveler business.

Loyalty Traveler series: Comparison of Hilton HHonors, Marriott Rewards and IHG Priority Club hotel loyalty programs

1. Hilton, Marriott and IHG Hotel Brand Market Segments (Jan 15, 2012) – this post lists the different hotel brands, number of hotels in the brand, percentage of hotels in each brand and brand’s hotel market segment.

2. Hilton, IHG Marriott: Earning Base Points and Miles (Jan 17, 2012).

3. Making Elite with Marriott, IHG, Hilton (Jan 18, 2012) – Discussion of elite qualification requirements, elite status challenges and status matches.

This series will continue with a look at the redemption options using points and comparative analysis of these three programs.

IHG Priority Club has major changes taking effect in reward tiers for free nights January 18, 2012. I will compare reward cost for Hilton, Marriott and IHG free nights after the Priority Club changes are published and the new higher rates are in effect.

The first post in this series outlined the number of hotels in each chain’s brands and their brand market segments.

The primary competitive advantage of Marriott, IHG and Hilton in the hotel industry is their size with global geographic coverage as well as extensive coverage of the United States. Starwood, Hyatt and Carlson hotels will be compared in a separate series of posts for these hotel chains with 500 to 1,200 hotels globally. France-based Accor Hotels is another large global hotel chain with over 4,000 hotels worldwide, however, the chain has fewer than 20 hotels in the U.S. participating in the Accor loyalty program and is excluded from this survey.

Earning Points and Miles from Hotel Stays

Two factors differentiate hotel loyalty program stays from stays booked outside hotel loyalty programs on sites like Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity:

• complimentary hotel loyalty benefits received during the hotel stay like free room upgrades, free internet access, hotel executive lounge access, free fitness facilities access, free breakfast and late check-out.
• points and miles earned from hotel stay are a rebate on the purchase price for the hotel stay.

These two factors are the area of competition between the major hotel chain loyalty programs. This post compares points and miles earning in Hilton HHonors, IHG Priority Club and Marriott Rewards. Separate posts will compare the hotel stay benefits of loyalty programs at different elite levels.

Earning Points

The rebate value of hotel loyalty programs is the factor that keeps many of us loyal to specific hotel chains. A good hotel loyalty promotion means the cost of a hotel stay is partially or fully rebated in the form of points earned from the stay.

Priority Club offered a Crack the Case promotion in August 2010 where I earned 102,000 bonus points for 10 paid nights at IHG properties by May 2011. Stackable promotions are the competitive advantage of Priority Club and I earned around 150,000 points with ten paid nights after all the promotion bonuses and regular points. That was enough points for 10 free nights at most Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express hotels where free nights are 15,000 points (at least until January 18, 2012 when new tier categories take effect).

Marriott Rewards MegaBonus offers a free category 1-4 hotel night for every two stays from February 1-April 30, 2012. This is a regularly offered promotion where two one-night stays earns a free night certificate that can easily be more than a 50% rebate on the cost of two paid hotel stays. Two nights at a Category 4 hotel is normally 40,000 points. The Marriott MegaBonus is essentially the opportunity to receive the equivalent of 40,000 points value with as few as two one-night stays.

Comparison of Points Earning Rates

Hilton HHonors members earn 10 base points per dollar at all hotel brands, except the newest Home2 Suites brand only earns 5 points/$1. This is a disappointing change in 2011 when HHonors introduced a lower earning rate for a specific hotel brand. There are currently only 6 hotels in the Home2 Suites brand so the effect is negligible for most members at this time.

Hilton HHonors is unique in the hotel loyalty world in offering members the choice to earn points and miles for the same hotel stay. In the past couple of years there have been several limited time miles promotion offers from Starwood Preferred Guest and Hyatt Gold Passport allowing members to earn both miles and points, but this was not common prior to 2009 and HHonors is the only program to offer points and miles as a standard hotel stay benefit they trademarked as “Double Dipping“.

Hilton HHonors Double Dipping gives members the choice of three earning preferences that can be changed with each hotel stay. Points & Points is the default earning mode unless you have set your HHonors account to earn miles.

1. HHonors Points & Points

Hilton HHonors member earns 10 base points/$1 and a bonus of 5 points/$1 = 15 points per US dollar.

Home2 Suites brand earns 5 base points and a bonus of 2.5 points/$1 = 7.5 points per US dollar.

Elite bonus points and promotion bonus points are additional. Elite members will sometimes see more than half their points earned from elite bonus points combined with promotion bonuses.

2. HHonors Points & Fixed Miles (link to HHonors 59 airline partner earning rates)

• Earn 10 base points per US$1 + 500 miles per stay with most airlines.

Miles Alert: Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites and Home2 Suites earn only 100 miles per stay.

56% of Hilton properties are Hampton Inn or Homewood Suites and these are almost all in the USA. You do not want to ignore your HHonors account earning rate setting and leave it on Points & Fixed Miles when staying at Hampton Inn or Homewood Suites or you may be losing out on a significant points earning opportunity. You earn 5 bonus points per dollar rather than 100 miles per stay by switching to Points & Points earning for stays at Hampton, Homewood and Home2 Suites. Or change from Points & Fixed Miles to Points & Variable Miles earning if your total spend will be over $100.

3. HHonors Points & Variable Miles (link to 44 HHonors Variable Miles Airline Partners)

• Earn 10 base points per US$1 + 1 mile per US dollar with most airlines.

IHG Priority Club Rewards  – Earning Points in Priority Club (Priority Club Earning Points link)

• 10 points per US$1 is the base points earning rate for most IHG brands including Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Hotel Indigo. InterContinental Hotels in the Americas will follow this earning rate as of February 15, 2012.
• 5 base points per dollar for Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites extended stay hotels. These two brands have about 500 hotels or 11% of IHG hotels globally.
• 2,000 base points fixed rate for InterContinental Hotels regardless of total spend. The Feb. 15 change to 10 points per dollar applies only to InterContinental Hotels in the Americas.

The main thing to know about Priority Club is the ability to stack promotions. Frequent guests will run through many of the stackable promotions quickly, but infrequent guests potentially can earn three or more bonuses with stays. Over the past two years  I averaged about 5,000 points per $100 stay, excluding the Crack the Case 102,000 bonus points.

Where to find these stackable Priority Club bonus offers:

• FlyerTalk Priority Club Master Promotion Thread 2012.
• PriorityClubInsider.com

Earning Miles in Priority Club

Priority Club has 15 different earning rates for airlines. This post only shows the two primary earning rates applicable to the majority of U.S. airlines and some international members of major alliances.

2 airline miles per dollar at Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo (and InterContinental Hotels in Americas as of Feb 15, 2012).

1 airline mile per dollar at Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites.

500 miles per stay at InterContinental Hotels (IC Hotels in Americas change to 2 miles/$1 Feb 15, 2012.

• Aeromexico
• Alaska Airlines
• American Airlines
• Continental Airlines
• LAN
• Delta Airlines
• United Airlines
• US Airways

500 Airline Miles per stay at any IHG brand

• Air Canada Aeroplan
• AirBerlin TopBonus
• All Nippon Airways
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• Asiana Airlines
• China Airlines
• Etihad Airways
• EVA Airways
• Emirates
• Gulf Air
• Japan Airlines
• Jet Airways
• Korean Air
• Lufthansa Miles & More
• Saudi Arabian Airlines
• Singapore Airlines
• South African Airways
• TAP Portugal
• Thai Airways

Check the Priority Club miles earning link for other airline partner rates.

The ability to earn 500 miles per stay with several major airline alliance members is an earning opportunity for Priority Club members with frequent low cost stays. You need to spend at least $250 per stay to match 500 miles per stay when you have a major US airline as your earning preference.

Earning Points with Marriott Rewards (Marriott link)

All hotel brands earn 10 base points per dollar, except extended stay brands Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites earn 5 points/$1.

Hilton HHonors has a distinct advantage over Marriott in earning 15 points per dollar or Points and Miles. Priority Club has a similar earning rate to Marriott Rewards with its extended stay brands earning only 5 points per dollar. The difference with Marriott though is the two brands of Residence Inn with 627 hotels and TownePlace Suites at 205 hotels comprise 22% of total Marriott properties globally. Priority Club has only 11% of hotels earning 5 points/$1 and Hilton HHonors is far less than 1% of hotels (only six Home2 Suites hotels currently) with a lower earning rate of base points.

Earning Miles with Marriott Rewards

2 miles per dollar at Marriott Hotels, Renaissance, JW Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, Autograph Collection, Edition and Marriott Vacation Club.

1 mile per dollar at these Marriott brands: Courtyard, Residence Inn, SpringHill Suites, TownePlace Suites, Fairfield Inn, AC Hotels.

Miles earning is less lucrative with Marriott Rewards than Hilton HHonors for low spend stays. Marriott full-service stays at 2 miles per $1 can be a better earning rate than Hilton HHonors for big spenders. Marriott Rewards stays earn a maximum 2 miles per $1.  Several hotel brands earning 10 points/$1 only earn 50% miles at the rate of 1 mile per dollar.

It is even more important to monitor your miles earning setting with Marriott Rewards since points can be more valuable than miles through points-to-miles exchanges. Marriott Rewards allows members to exchange 10,000 points = 2,000 miles for most US airlines or 1,500 miles with many major international airlines. You will likely get more miles overall by earning points at the majority of hotel brands and exchanging points for miles. The rate improves at higher point levels to max out at 125,000 Marriott Rewards points = 50,000 miles for US airlines or 35,000 miles for many international airlines.

Marriott Rewards 34 Airline Partners for earning miles:

• AeroMexico – Club Premier
• Air Berlin – TopBonus
• Air Canada – Aeroplan
• Air China – Phoenix Miles
• Air France/KLM – Flying Blue
• Alaska Airlines – Mileage Plan
• Alitalia – MilleMiglia
• ANA – Mileage Club
• Asiana Airlines – Asiana Club
• Avianca-Taca – LifeMiles
• British Airways – Executive Club
• Cathay Pacific – Asia Miles
• China Eastern Airlines
• China Southern – Sky Pearl Club
• Continental – Mileage Plus
• Delta – SkyMiles
• Frontier Airlines – Early Returns
• Gol/Varig – Smiles
• Hawaiian Airlines – Hawaiian Miles
• Japan Airlines JAL – Mileage bank
• JetBlue – TrueBlue
• Jet Airways – JetPrivilege
• Kingfisher Airlines – King Club
• LAN – LanPass
• Lufthansa – Miles & More (Swiss, Austrian, LOT Polish)
• Qantas – Frequent Flyer
• Qatar – Privilege Club
• Singapore Airlines – KrisFlyer
• Southwest Airlines – Rapid Returns
• TAP Portugal – Victoria
• United Airlines – Mileage Plus
• US Airways -Dividend Miles
• Virgin America – Elevate
• Virgin Atlantic – Flying Club

Comparative advantages for Hilton HHonors, Marriott Rewards and IHG Priority Club:

Hilton HHonors is the best program when it comes to earning points and miles for hotel stays. This program has the best overall earning rate in base points or base miles among the three programs.

Priority Club has a competitive edge in permitting members to stack multiple promotions and earn bonus points from several offers for the same stay. This can result in substantial points bonuses on stays that far exceed the 10 base points per $1. In my experience I have earned 40 to 50 points per dollar on several stays after bonus points post from different promotions.

Marriott Rewards has the highest proportion of hotels earning less than the standard 10 points per dollar with about 1 in 3 hotels in the U.S. earning only 5 points/$1 for stays at Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites. Marriott Rewards has not offered members an opportunity to combine earning miles and points for the same stay in the promotions of recent years. This is Hilton’s competitive edge. Starwood and Hyatt have offered limited time promotional earning opportunities for both miles and points in the past two years.

Base earning rates shown in this post are really only one part of multiple factors to consider when comparing hotel loyalty programs. Every loyalty program has a base earning rate and this rate has been the most stable aspect of hotel loyalty programs over the past decade.

Hotel loyalty promotion offers are another major component to consider when comparing the earning rates in points and miles for hotel stays in different hotel programs. Promotions are variable and some are better earning opportunities than others. Your travel style determines what kind of promotions are most beneficial.

Elite status is the third major factor in your ability to earn more points and miles on hotel stays.

The hotel loyalty program’s burn rate - the cost of hotel reward free nights using points is the other side of the equation when comparing hotel loyalty programs.  Earning rate by itself has no relevance to a consumer until compared to the cost of rewards in the hotel loyalty program.

100,000 points in my hotel loyalty account – whether Hilton HHonors, IHG Priority Club or Marriott Rewards – have no value until I spend them. In the case of Hilton they can be permanently lost if I go one year with no account activity.

The cost of reward nights at hotels and other reward options at the time points are redeemed set a value to hotel loyalty points.

These other hotel loyalty program factors will be compared in Loyalty Traveler posts in this series.

Loyalty Traveler series: Comparison of Hilton HHonors, Marriott Rewards and IHG Priority Club

1. Hilton, Marriott and IHG Hotel Brand Market Segments – this post lists the different hotel brands, number of hotels in the brand, percentage of hotels in each brand and brand’s hotel market segment.

2. Hilton, IHG Marriott: Earning Base Points and Miles.

This series will continue with a look at the redemption options using points and comparative analysis of these three programs.

IHG Priority Club has major changes taking effect in reward tiers for free nights January 18, 2012. I will compare reward cost for Hilton, Marriott and IHG free nights after the Priority Club changes are published and the new higher rates are in effect.

Hotel Chain Scales are used by hotel industry analysts at STR.com to segment hotel brands into luxury, upper-upscale, upscale, upper midscale, midscale and economy categories.

The largest hotel loyalty programs for the US are Hilton, Marriott and IHG in terms of the size and broad range of hotels in different market segments. Wyndham Rewards, Choice Privileges and Best Western Rewards are comparable megachain hotels, but there are far fewer hotels in the upscale to luxury segments in these three brands. Starwood (1,100 hotels) and Hyatt (500 hotels) have a high proportion of upscale to luxury hotel brands in their portfolios, however, the number of hotels are far fewer in these chains and not as useful for travelers needing wide geographic coverage.

Hotel Brands and Market Segments

What is a luxury hotel or an upper-upscale hotel?

Price is generally the defining line between hotel market segments. I do not work in the hotel industry and I am an amateur analyst interpreting numbers from hotel industry data. STRGlobal.com provides industry data reports and I gather statistical data about the hotel industry regularly from the free data provided online.

STR has a list of hotel brands in different chain scale segments based on the average room rate data for thousands of hotels worldwide.

This post uses the 2011 STR US Chain Scales  along with the latest hotel properties data for each brand from the hotel chain’s websites to compare market segments for hotel brands of Hilton, IHG and Marriott.

Basically I want to see how the hotels in Hilton, IHG and Marriott segment out in each chain and compare to each other when looking at the number of luxury, upscale and midscale hotels in each hotel loyalty program.

Hilton Worldwide Hotel Brands with Market Segment and Number of Hotels

• Hilton Worldwide has 3,712 hotels in this list, but this is only an estimate. New hotels open every few days.The percentage of hotels in each brand is listed in ( ).
• Conrad Hotels (luxury) = 18 hotels (<1%).
• Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts (luxury) = 23 hotels (<1%).
• Hilton Hotels and Resorts (upper upscale) = 540 hotels (15%) in 78 countries including 70 Resorts.
• Embassy Suites (upper upscale) = 201 hotels (5%) with 193 in US and 8 international.
• Hilton Grand Vacations (upper upscale) = 50 properties (1%).
• DoubleTree by Hilton (upscale) = 250 hotels (7%) in 17 countries.
• Homewood Suites (upscale – extended stay) = 309 hotels (8%) in North America.
• Hilton Garden Inn (upscale) = 515 hotels (14%) with 130 in development.
• Hampton Inn (upper midscale) = 1,800 hotels (48%) with more than 1,700 in US and growing international expansion recently.
• Home2 Suites (upper midscale – extended stay) = 6 hotels (<1%).

Marriott International Hotel Brands with Market Segment and Number of Hotels

• 3,747 properties in 13 brands in 72 countries. This total does not include Marriott Executive Apartments which earn Marriott Rewards points, but are extended stay contracted properties and not a typical hotel stay.
• Ritz-Carlton (luxury) = 81 hotels (2%).
• JW Marriott (luxury) = 62 hotels (2%).
• Marriott Hotels & Resorts (upper upscale) = 521 hotels (14%).
• Renaissance (upper upscale) = 160 hotels (4%).
• Autograph Collection (upper upscale) = 29 hotels (<1%).
• Marriott Vacation Club (upper upscale) = 59 properties (2%).
• Marriott Conference Centers (upper upscale) = 7 hotels (<1%).
• Courtyard (upscale) = 926 hotels (25%).
• AC Hotels (upscale) = 82 hotels mostly in Spain (2%).
• SpringHill Suites (upscale – extended stay) = 299 hotels (8%).
• Residence Inn (upscale – extended stay) = 627 hotels (17%).
• Fairfield Inn (upper midscale) = 689 hotels (18%).
• TownePlace Suites (upper midscale – extended stay)= 205 hotels (5%).

InterContinental Hotels Group

• 4,452 hotels (as of September 2011)
• InterContinental Hotels (luxury) = 171 hotels (4%).
• Crowne Plaza (upscale) =  401 hotels (9%).
• Hotel Indigo (upscale) =  38 hotels (<1%).
• Staybridge Suites (upscale – extended stay) = 195 hotels (4%).
• Holiday Inn (upper midscale) = 1,238 hotels (28%).
• Holiday Inn Express (upper midscale) = 2,103 hotels (47%) with 1,866 in Americas.
• Candlewood Suites (midscale) = 300 hotels (7%).
• Holiday Inn Club Vacations = 6 properties (<1%).

I have some issue with the broad segmentation of Crowne Plaza and DoubleTree as Upscale rather than Upper Upscale for some locations and Holiday Inn as Upper Midscale for some locations where the Holiday Inn is more upscale.  Keep in mind in the real world of travel there will be some Crowne Plaza and DoubleTree hotels that will be just as nice or better than the nearby Marriott, Hilton or Embassy Suites.

How the hotel chains stack up when brands are compared by market segment.

Luxury market segment

• IHG = 171 hotels (InterContinental)
• Marriott = 143 hotels (Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott)
• Hilton = 41 hotels (Conrad, Waldorf Astoria)

Upper Upscale market segment

• Hilton = 791 hotels (Hilton, Embassy Suites, Hilton Grand Vacations)
• Marriott = 776 hotels (Marriott, Renaissance, Autograph Collection, Marriott Vacation Club)
• IHG = 0 hotels (based on STR chain scale rankings, but in reality many Crowne Plaza hotels are upper upscale).

Upscale market segment

• Marriott = 1,934 hotels (Courtyard, Residence Inn, AC Hotels)
• Hilton = 1,074 (Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood Suites, DoubleTree)
• IHG = 634 hotels (Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Staybridge Suites)

Upper Midscale market segment

• IHG = 3,341 hotels (Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express)
• Hilton = 1,806 (Hampton Inn)
• Marriott = 894 (Fairfield Inn, TownePlace Suites)

Midscale market segment

• IHG = 300 (Candlewood Suites)

The key point here is to consider what market segment you desire for your travels. IHG Priority Club will tend to be lower room rates, but Priority Club does not offer frequent guest elite members the level of defined benefits provided by Hilton HHonors or Marriott Rewards to their md-tier and top-tier elite members.

Another point to add is the practice of placing branded hotels in the same chain adjacent to each other. This is really common with Marriott where Courtyard and Residence Inn are literally adjacent hotels in many places. I have seen three Marriott properties in the same location in places. Geographic coverage is not as extensive as you might think when all the locations with multiple properties are considered. On the other hand, the placement of hotels in the same chain next to each other makes hotel hopping for loyalty promotion stay credit an easy task when you want to earn free Marriott MegaBonus nights.

Comparison of hotel loyalty program benefits across these hotel brands will be discussed in future posts.

Originally opened in 1904 as the Hotel Seville, The Carlton Hotel recently  underwent a multi-million dollar makeover and is now a contemporary enclave for  both world travelers and local trendsetters who want to be in the middle of the action and surrounded by luxury in New York City.

The hotel is located in Midtown Manhattan and is only steps away from entertainment, architectural and shopping icons such as Madison Square Garden, the Empire State Building, and Macy’s flagship Herald Square store.

Back inside, the hotel includes stylish rooms, suites and public areas influenced by renowned designer David Rockwell; New York’s best new restaurant of 2011 as acclaimed by Esquire Magazine; and a vibrant nightlife and live entertainment scene that has featured performances by Ne Yo, Swiss Beatz, Tito Puente Jr. and N’Dea Davenport.

Property Highlights

• Millesime Restaurant. Featuring the cuisine of 2 Michelin Star Executive Chef Laurent Manrique, the restaurant is a must for fans of classic seafood and fine French cuisine.
• Salon Millesime. This lounge is the place to be and to be seen. You can relax with a cool cocktail, dine on small plates and listen to hip sounds from live performers or a select roster of all-star DJs.
• The Waterfall. It cascades down two floors and comes to rest in the lobby, creating a dramatic backdrop as you enter the hotel.

I checked The Carlton Hotel website for a photo of this Waterfall and I don’t see it, unless it is water falling in front of the photo on the right?

Carlton Hotel NY lobby.

I am not familiar with The Carlton Hotel so I saw much more information on the hotel’s own website with video and 40 photos of the hotel and rooms compared to the four photos on the Marriott Autograph Collection site. The rooms look like fully luxury furnished rooms to me.

The Carlton Hotel, New York is Marriott Autograph Collection member.

A common complaint I read about hotel loyalty programs is the sameness of the hotels in each brand. The Autograph Collection debunks that criticism of chain scale hotels by offering Marriott Rewards benefits and redemption opportunities at independent hotels partnering with Marriott.

Several hotel chains have launched alliance brands to attract high-end independent properties to a hotel loyalty program for marketing purposes. IHG has InterContinental Alliance Resorts, Choice has the Ascend Collection, Starwood has the Luxury Collection and Hilton has the Waldorf-Astoria Hotels & Resorts.

Marriott plans to add several more member hotels to the Autograph Collection over the next few months including Union Station Hotel in Nashville rebranded from a Wyndham Grand Hotel property to the Marriott Autograph Collection just today and hotels rebranding in New Orleans and Miami South Beach.