Starting from scratch - which program would you join?

[Herschel]

I have recently moved from operations to the sales side at my company and will shortly be the regional sales manager for the west. I'll be moving to the Phoenix area, but will be traveling about 3-4 days a week. Having done such little traveling previously, I'm starting from scratch as far as hotel loyalty programs are concerned. I'll mostly be visiting medium to larger size cities in NV, AZ, NM, Southern CA regularly, with quarterly visits to Northern CA, OR, and WA.

Would love to hear any thoughts my fellow travelers out there have.

 

[Matt]

I have recently moved from operations to the sales side at my company and will shortly be the regional sales manager for the west. I'll be moving to the Phoenix area, but will be traveling about 3-4 days a week. Having done such little traveling previously, I'm starting from scratch as far as hotel loyalty programs are concerned. I'll mostly be visiting medium to larger size cities in NV, AZ, NM, Southern CA regularly, with quarterly visits to Northern CA, OR, and WA.

Would love to hear any thoughts my fellow travelers out there have.

Congrats! If the company is paying, I'd probably go for the Four Seasons loyalty program

 

[Herschel]

Congrats! If the company is paying, I'd probably go for the Four Seasons loyalty program

No doubt! Sadly if I go down that road, I think I'll see another new job in my future.

 

[haserfauld]

I'd ask myself if I'd rather the benefits be used for your work travel or for future leisure travel? If it's for leisure travel, look at the programs/locations you're likely to visit. If it's for your work travel, then look up the properties in the areas you expect to be servicing. I haven't had this opportunity, but my dad used to travel extensively for work. He preferred Hyatt in general, but ended up going with Hilton because he was able to find nice properties in convenient locations very close to his destinations.

 

[zceuxbhjutf]

I'm outta the loop but IHG used to be the easiest/quickest to get status. Also re any program, a one-time trick is to have multiple reservations if you'll hit status in the middle of a trip (say you'll hit status with one more night but your trip is four nights, so book the first night as its own one-night reservation).

Not that you asked but for flying to the areas you mention, you'll be on lotsa regional jets unless you fly Southwest.

 

[Herschel]

I'd ask myself if I'd rather the benefits be used for your work travel or for future leisure travel? If it's for leisure travel, look at the programs/locations you're likely to visit. If it's for your work travel, then look up the properties in the areas you expect to be servicing. I haven't had this opportunity, but my dad used to travel extensively for work. He preferred Hyatt in general, but ended up going with Hilton because he was able to find nice properties in convenient locations very close to his destinations.

Thanks for the feedback. On the leisure side, I'm looking to turn this into a yearly trip to Hawaii, and most of the major chains have me covered. Since I won't be going to too many small cities - Reno & Tucson being representative of the smaller markets, I'm pretty covered location wise as well.

 

[Herschel]

I'm outta the loop but IHG used to be the easiest/quickest to get status. Also re any program, a one-time trick is to have multiple reservations if you'll hit status in the middle of a trip (say you'll hit status with one more night but your trip is four nights, so book the first night as its own one-night reservation).

Not that you asked but for flying to the areas you mention, you'll be on lotsa regional jets unless you fly Southwest.

Appreciate the tip. I'll be splitting up flights between Southwest & American since they both hub out of PHX.

 

[haserfauld]

Thanks for the feedback. On the leisure side, I'm looking to turn this into a yearly trip to Hawaii, and most of the major chains have me covered. Since I won't be going to too many small cities - Reno & Tucson being representative of the smaller markets, I'm pretty covered location wise as well.

On the Hawaii note, the Grand Hyatt Kauai and the Andaz Maui are both fantastic properties. I'm a Hyatt fanboy myself, but as you said, most chains are represented there.

 

[Matt]

I guess you could do some 'stay/nights' math on this and see if what is upcoming for work (and geolocating potential properties) to see which program would most likely get you into a top tier.. and then what you could use that top tier for in terms of the personal side.

At a high level, it might be worth considering accelerating a status via credit card. The best for this would clearly be Hilton Gold due to the Breakfasts.. but if your firm covers breakfast then that's not as important.

I'd think if you were earning points at the hotel, plus status, via an employer, I'd be happiest doing so in a SPG or Hyatt.

 

[MaiJohnson]

I have recently moved from operations to the sales side at my company and will shortly be the regional sales manager for the west. I'll be moving to the Phoenix area, but will be traveling about 3-4 days a week. Having done such little traveling previously, I'm starting from scratch as far as hotel loyalty programs are concerned. I'll mostly be visiting medium to larger size cities in NV, AZ, NM, Southern CA regularly, with quarterly visits to Northern CA, OR, and WA.

Would love to hear any thoughts my fellow travelers out there have.

One of the most important things I didn't see listed is whether or not you'll be paying for the rooms yourself and being reimbursed, or if they were booked on a company card instead. The reason I ask is because that may change some of your calculations on which hotel chain to go after.

For instance, it's generally not beneficial to convert hotel points into airline points because the transfer ratios are bad, but the best of the bunch from my understanding is SPG because while they are way more valuable as hotel points, they do transfer over at some of the best ratios. That possible flexibility may be enough to help you decide between two good choices.

Something else to consider is how long you intend to have this job, and if you plan on traveling for quite some time. If the answer is yes, then you should look into one of the programs that grants lifetime status as well, so even when your work travel life is over you have easy access to those top tier rewards. Both SPG and Hyatt offer this kind of deal, with SPG requiring 25 nights a year for 10 years, and 500 nights in total over the 10 year period. Hyatt is a little easier/harder depending on how you look at it, where they need 1000000 base points or 20ok in spending to hit their magic number.

Just to use some basic math though, at 52 weeks a year, and you said 3-4 days a week traveling. Call it 3 nights a week. That means you would probably be racking up 150ish nights a year in your chosen hotel brand. Call it 130$ a night, and you're already around 20k a year in hotel spending. So either way it looks like you could hit lifetime status in 10 years, in some of the better programs. Hilton and Mariott also have similar programs I believe.

Once you've made your choice though, you should definitely see if the program in question either has a way to accelerate your status directly, or has a status match/status challenge set up. Many programs have been matching to IHG lately, and the IHG card by itself will get you to platinum status.

Good luck in the new position!

 

[HUCAwin]

I'm newer to this, but in the last year I have joined all major hotel programs. I have also attained Spire Elite with IHG, and Diamond with Hyatt and Hilton. So far in my limited experience Hyatt treats Diamonds very well and they are my favorites. You get 4 suite upgrades a year, but as an example I just stayed at a Hyatt Regency last Thursday and booked a reward night normal king room. At check in I was upgraded to the $489 a night King Exuictive suite, club floor access and general amazing treatment. My wife was quite impressed for sure. As was I actually, my "Spire Elite" with IHG is useLess in comparison. I need to try higher end IHG properties and see if it gets better I guess.

You only need 25 stays to get to Hyatt Diamond compared to 75 for IHG. Not sure the requirement for Hilton as I status matched to Diamond there (Hyatt too) but the Hilton points just are not worth it to me.

I personally would do Hyatt for sure, then pick Mariott or IHG as a backup as they have so many properties. I wanted to get the Mariott card but as of today I see it is now under the dreaded 5/24 rule so I may not ever be getting it now!

 

[MickiSue]

When I was traveling for a job, I chose Hilton, for the policy they had then of offering equal airline points along with your HH points. And, because I was support, not sales, (I trained home healthcare nurses on clinical software) I didn't get to stay at actual Hiltons, but at Hampton Inns. Even so, I ended up at the Gold level for multiple years running.

I really have no idea if they are currently offering that benefit, but it made the choices easy, then.

 

[Cytraveler]

Depending on how big your company is (and/or how much your manager cares about budget), you might also look out for them a bit too. So getting status where you get free breakfast is nice even for your company (and then, sometime when in conversation with your manager, you drop that line). Small businesses in particular will care about this.

A small plug for IHG and its usefulness: I was just at my son's college graduation in New Haven CT. Between all the relatives, we needed 10 nights. In the town, all rooms were booked 6 months ago when I tried. Booked rooms at Super 8, 10 minutes away, but it was a REALLY bad Super 8. So I switched to a newer Motel 6, 15 minutes away. Rooms opened up in town at the Marriott, at $500/night (and it's a so-so Marriott). Then I looked into the points break that IHG has (book a room for 5,000 points/nt, generally about 2 hotels per state each quarter). Lo and behold, one was in Bridgeport an extra 10 minutes away. And it was a really nice Holiday Inn Express. By then I had the IHG card with platinum status, we got upgrades. Would have cost $1400 at the Motel 6 (or $5000 at the Marriott), instead all of us stayed free with large, nice rooms for 50,000 points (and then with platinum I get 10% points back).
IHG (Holiday Inn) is everywhere, and it has decent, sometimes very nice, rooms. And sometimes it can save you lots of money. I'd recommend at least getting the card.

 

[Voyaging Doc]

All my hotel choices for business stays are based on how I can redeem for leisure. I weigh the current points-boosting promotions and how far my points will go towards a valuable/exotic redemption vs practicality like getting free breakfasts. I feel that hyatt top-tier status gets the closest thing to true elite treatment or at least a nice boost in points with the possibility of low points or excellent points & cash value for redemptions. Unfortunately, Hyatt has little to no footprint where I travel for work and Hyatt hotels can often cost more than other hotels. I think IHG all-around probably has better value in terms of points redemptions than Hilton and Marriott, despite the latter two having a larger footprint worldwide. That being said, if there are some great promotions out there, I will take advantage of them. For example this past month i've triple dipped at Wyndham to earn bonused Wyndham and UA points + Wyndham GC after 2 stays (1 night per stay). By the time I use those Wyndham GC on future stays I'll have accumulated enough for a free night I can use in the future. I've also taken advantage of the recent amex offers (amex travel, hilton, etc). My goal is to accumulate a large number of points in several programs so I have multiple options for leisure travel. I'm willing to move hotels to boost my stays if it helps my goal. Of course, if the business stays were on my dime then that would change my entire approach. Or if I could only generate limited points I would stick solely to one program, which would probably be IHG if I were in your scenario.

But yes, having the hotel credit card is generally recommended. Even if you don't end up using the card there is usually an associated elite status benefit plus the annual free night to take your points further when you decide to redeem.

Also, don't forget that when you book paid stays you can sometimes use a portal to get some extra cash/points. If your company puts a cap per night you might try adding those ripoff "extra points" packages if there's wiggle room. A lot of IHG bookings give the option of adding 1k pts /night for adding $5/night to the rate or 5k points for adding $20 to the stay. I also sometimes buy gift cards on the cheap or at 5x and then use them to pay down the bill

 

[CWAL]

I would probably start off with Marriott as primary instead of Hilton. My company used to be heavily loyal to Hiltons, and it was essentially the default choice, and mine when I began the job. A lot of our work is in the middle of nowhere, so SPG, Carlson, Hyatt, etc. are pretty much non starters.

The lifetime status of MR is a big factor in my continuing to use them primarily - although I have qualified for Platinum MR and Diamond Hhonors for the last two years based on stays in both.

Both Hilton and MR have the best redemption options for areas I want to redeem. One of my co-workers is almost exclusively Hilton because he finds much better redemption options in Latin America.

 

[heavenlyjane]

If your company is paying, I'd swing your lodging choices to SPG and Hyatt because they have the lowest point redemption. Avoid Hilton because their points are worth less than pesos.

 

[cdancer20]

I agree that Hyatt and SPG are the best ways to go. I am a Hyatt Diamond and absolutely love it (minus all their crazy antics in the last year). Diamond membership has been amazing though. The 4 yearly suite upgrades are a great perk for special trips. I know well in advance if I will have a suite when it matters. I'm currently working on SPG Platinum though too since I can get credit off pure points stays and that matters to me. If my company though was paying, I would definitely go after Hyatt. SPG I can get on my own via points stays so easier to get nights. Hyatt does not have that luxury. Only Points + Cash bookings.

Then depending on how long it takes for you to get status, you might can status match to Hilton after the fact. Currently they are matching through March 2018. I've had 2 stays at Hilton in the last 4+ years. Both were since I obtained Diamond at the end of the year and one was only b/c I had little choice in other places to stay. (work trip.). Yet I have Diamond status with them lol. Too easy.

 

[RollPlayer]

The one thing I would be cognizant of if I were starting all over would be the footprint of the hotels. I did a quick calculation and found Hyatt to be the most "bang for my buck" when I started travelling heavily for work, and I got Diamond status for two years. However, when it came time to book a vacation there were few options in places I would have been interested in going, such as Greece (one hotel in the whole country!), Dublin, and Barcelona.

For me I wouldnt want to structure a vacation around where my hotel points are, so I have switched to Marriott where I am getting a truly global chain, a companion pass once per year through their nights + flights, and United Silver status through their matching program with United.