Marriott or Hilton?
 

Would like to start collecting "loyalty" points. which of these chains is the better one to stick to.I am leaning towards the Marriott as I can collect BA miles. Any one have their opinions on this? As well as travelling in Europe I also travel frequently to Asia.

Rob, you may get some responses here but I'm betting you would get a lot more by posing your question on www.flyertalk.com. It's a hangout for people who are into points & miles programs. In my own case, I find Hilton's program to be far more useful to me because of my travel patterns.

Jim<BR>thanks for the website!!

I think Marriott has a very good program. I use my stays at their hotels to automatically post miles to my American Airlines account. I signed up for a special account (Platinum?)for free and get even more mileage. A one night stay recently netted me 1500 miles. You get points at all their hotels including Fairfields, Courtyards, and Spring Hill. Currently I'm working on three stays before the end of March -- all single overnight cheapies, and will get two free weekend nights which I'm redeeming at the Marriott in Leipzig, Germany. I'll get those in addition to all the miles I accrue.

Patrick. How did you manage to sing up for Platinum with Marriott?

OK, the reason I put a question mark after platinum in my post was that I wasn't sure what it was called and didn't want to go upstairs to get my card to look. I just did -- the card is silver (so I thought platinum) but actually I'm a Silver Member. I'm not sure how that happened, except I got a mailing offering it for free and telling me I'd get more mileage that way -- magic words to me.

Rob,<BR>Your post says that you're leaning toward Marriott b/c you can earn miles on BA. If that is your goal, I think Hilton would work as well. What I'd suggest is to pick which hotel chain you like and then choose it for the hotel points, not the airline miles. Hilton gives both points and miles by the way. Just go to their website and check it out.

Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt and others purchase customer lists of people to target for marketing purposes. If you have elite status with an airline, if you carry an American Express card -- maybe even if you subscribe to Conde Nast or whatever -- then you could easily land on such a list. I get offers from time to time and obviously Patrick has been discovered by these marketeers, too. It usually required some amount of activity within a certain period of time to keep it, but I've found that the car rental firm that spiffed me special privileges is satisfied with as little as one rental annually.

thanks for all the advice! since posting my query I have done a little more research myself and am leaning towards Mike's point of view. It is actually the Marriott I think I would prefer but I can also build up points if I decide to opt for the Hilton every so often. Thanks again everyone.

We have the Marriott Rewards program and have always been very satisfied with Marriott. However, what I didn't realize is that when transfering points from the Visa card to miles, it's only something like 3 to 1, so if it's miles you want you might be better off with an airline card. However, if you want to take advantage of the stays, the Marriott works well. (I know some of their chain can transfer one to one for miles, but only a few.)

I think you have the right idea, Rob. Get both. I have a whole drawer full of cards, and grab the one or ones I need before a trip. No harm in getting one for every hotel you might stay at. Now that many of the small highway budget chains are owned by the majors, you can get mileage almost anywhere you stay. In addition, don't forget some of the other benefits you get if you have the card for a chain -- free newspaper, free high speed internet access, sometimes comp. breakfast, automatic room upgrades, sometimes free parking -- the list goes on. Why stay anywhere that you don't have a card for?

And Julie, I'm confused about your Marriott Card. I'm also American Airlines FF, and I have my Marriott points automatically transferred to my American Card. I get 3 miles for each dollar I spend at Marriott, in addition to the one mile per dollar I charge on my Citibank card for staying there. That's since I got the Marriott Silver Card. On a regular card they'd transfer one mile per dollar spent.

My first preference for hotel frequent traveller schemes would be Starwood because I find them easy to collect and easy to use. Secondly I would choose Hilton because they allow you to collect Hilton points plus airline miles, then lastly Marriott.