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Ranking Hotel Loyalty Programs Which One Is Best For You
Today we are ranking hotel loyalty programs
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Which one is best for you? We help you decide which one you should go for and which ones you should pass on. We have been living in hotels all year and we have had a chance to try out many programs. We are currently working on top tier status on every one of the top hotel brands
How can a Canadian get Hyatt points without a US credit card please
I have lifetime Diamond on Hilton, Titanium on Marriott and am about a year away from lifetime Globalist on Hyatt. IHG doesn’t offer lifetime status years ago, so I dismissed that brand years ago. Of course Radisson and Accor don’t offer it either, so I don’t stay there. Once I hit lifetime Globalist, I’ll likely only stay with Hyatt.
I have had my best rewards redemption stays with Hilton at the most beautiful properties. I think it is really important to see which program makes the most sense based on WHERE you travel the most. For example, my son lives in the northeast, and in that part of the country, my best options are usually Marriott properties. We are mostly traveling in the U.S. and so Hilton is very valuable to us. We live in the upper midwest, and for budget travelers around here, Wyndam is a valuable option with more properties in smaller towns and rural areas. I have never liked IHG properties, so it's hard for me to even consider pursuing status with IHG or putting IHG ahead of other brands. Are they better internationally? Because almost every IHG property I've stayed at in the U.S. has been a huge disappointment (and usually dirty).
I would really appreciate if you would include chapters in your videos, so we can go directly to the part that we are most interested in, or want to go back to easily. I know it's an extra step in the process, but I find it very helpful in these type of videos. My personal rule of thumb is that if the video is longer than 15 minutes long, I include chapters or section titles to assist my viewers in finding the information they need more easily. In this video, for example, I would really have liked to skip right to the sections on Hyatt, Hilton, and Marriott Bonvoy because those are the brands I prefer.
Love this breakdown. One thing we love is a decent lounge. It makes the world of difference. Some lounges don't even have water, whist some lounges have an al a carte menu for near the entire day with a fully staffed bar. It's hard to know what you're going to get before you go. Our best experience yet was in an upgraded club room at ritz carlton.
Hilton internationally is for Luxury properties not value properties
I already thought IHG would be the card for us. You both confirmed it for me. Thanks
thank you for this helpful video …. I totally agree about what you said about Hilton. I was able to get rid of all of my Hilton points, and have started working on my Hyatt status. Hopefully, by early next year, I can work on my IHG status.
IHG is a slam dunk! The room upgrades are gre. Thank you for thr video
Are the accumulated points has expiration date.
You can book Hilton reward nights at the Maldives for as low at 40k pts a night. All those water bungolos are where the redemptions are at. You can also use the airline incidental credits with the Aspire to reload your UA travel bank. Adds up over time. Also, IHG Ambassador status for $200 gets you that free weekend night and jumps you to their top status which means, free breakfast.
The problem as I see it is one needs to play this status game every year (or at least every other year) for every chain. It's so complicated and the rules change so you have to stay up on it. I want retirement to be very simple. Living full time in an rv seems ways simpler and more relaxing as well as cheaper. I am solo and retired for almost 8 years now. My annual budget is $42k and I can cruise upwards of 10 times per year on that amount.
If I am missing something please let me know.
Only for Rome with Hilton. It's the only hotel that's right at FCO. You guys are much more diverse in your travels than I am. I tend to go to Italy, so it's good for the night before a flight. Still, I'm thinking of getting rid of it. Thanks, you guys.
Thanks for starting with IHG. I am starting that program. currently, I only travel a couple times a year. We used to travel more, but smaller, when my husband had Hilton status through work travel. Now they don't allow him to earn the credits. boooo
We travel as husband and wife. Do each of us have to get the IHG Premier to have access to lounges and other perks? Thanks.
Marriott boundless card made it only possible to use 50k points (35k free night plus you can add up to 15j) but, in the us to get a nice hotel- it’s minimum 52k points a night ! So now you have to get the brilliant card (which has high annual fee, but has elite status) their free night yearly is up to 85k points- so a nice Ritz or st Regis or W in south beach is possible- I’ll be excited to see if they card is worth it and will be making videos once the sign up bonus
points come in 🎉 would you say you could do what you’re doing with a dog 🐕 in tow?
L❤VE and appreciate your fun and inspiring videos 👍🏽🙏🏽💕
Hilton doesn’t always upgrade diamond. They tend to the most in Conrad. Grand Wailea in Maui is the worst. The absolute worst! They will often try to charge you for an upgrade via email before your arrival. Don’t fall for it. When you arrive they often just upgrade you one category. In Mexico this is what you can expect. IHG- I find hard to book rooms in places I like and in hotels I would enjoy often. Sometimes I will search outside of the app and get better results on any of them…as if their cookies know where you’d like to be and they don’t make points available there.
The Conrad Tokyo was great. They did charge us however for the upgrade in spite of being diamond…but it was minimal. The park Hyatt Tokyo was WOW but only suite upgrades w points. No basic rooms available
ok.. I just got the IHG card a month or so ago and now today I got an email inviting me to the InterContinental Ambassador level for either $200 or 40,000 points. Do you feel this offer is worth the money or the points?
Hi, thank you so much for all your information you share! I went and got the IHG one reward card. They just sent me an offer for buying points and getting 80% extra. For 10,000 points It cost $135.00. There’s a limit of 250,000 points you can buy. It looks like if you buy all of them you can’t buy any extra later in the year.
I was wondering if you thought this was a good deal? I was thinking in the fall is when they have their big sale. 😮
Thanks Vicky
Hilton is brutal on points only. But my hotel in Cape Town (DoubleTree) was great for cash. Cape Town South Africa. Room two story suite amazing. Food there is great and very low cost. I really reccommend that one if you go to Cape Town. Location is safe. Sometimes a cash stay is fine and you can use Amex membership rewards m(maybe) on some of them. I have no experience at all with IHG.
I generally agree with you on the hotel programs. Hyatt is my #1 , but I can find some value with Marriott on 4/nights-5th night free awards. Those are key for me.
This is confusing. do you have a video on which cc to use when booking hotels. Do you use the IHG card or the Am Ex. How do you know when to use which card?
Great video and very informative! I have the Hilton program and often found that using points is more expensive than with cash. I will switch to IHG or Hyatt soon. Thanks guys!