Which is the most rewarding hotel loyalty program? | Ep193 | 3-11-23

[@amypriest7751]

As someone who is an average traveler, the only negative to Hyatt is how many nights/spend you have to have to get meaningful benefits. Free breakfast for my husband and I saves us quite a bit and I can have that with a Hilton Aspire and a Marriott Brilliant card. Not disputing that Hyatt is arguably the best program for top tier elites, but the ease of getting high enough status to garner breakfast benefits and the potential of an upgrade means that, for us, Marriott is #1 and Hilton is #2. Thank you for all your work and keeping us on top of all things miles and points! Y'all are the best!

[@lscott9263]

Looking to get the brilliant next. That platinum status alone is worth the annual fee; compared to how much spend one would have to do with marriot outside of the card perk to get status.

[@frequent-miler]

That's certainly a great point -- it takes a lot of nights / spend to get to top-tier with Hyatt (so it makes sense that they reward you well for it!). I think the love for Hyatt is two-pronged though: yes, it is the great benefits at the Globalist level. But it's also the fact that they have an award chart and it is reasonable (and then if we take that a step further, it's that we can generate the points easily with cards in the Ultimate Rewards ecosystem). With Marriott and Hilton, you need far more points to book awards in most cases and you have fewer ways to generate those points reasonably. So from an award travel perspective, I tend to get more excited about Hyatt. That said, I'm not arguing your main point: breakfast status is far easier with other chains and the value of that might exceed the value of well-priced awards if you're traveling a limited number of times per year. Definitely good food for thought there. -Nick

[@IamRossAlexander]

Great discussion guys. Hope for more like these in the future!

[@rmay3186]

It's like you were reading my mind with this week's event! ♡

[@PathologicallySane]

Love this channel. You guys are doing phenomenal work. Thank you.

[@eval.2136]

Thank you thank you thank you! Each Saturday morning I make it a goal to wake up before kids to listen to this great podcast!

[@joshuaanderson4110]

I finally discovered the nerdyass points and miles youtube channel I needed..great info here

[@wrxdrunkie]

Keep up the great work! Favorite podcast! Love the new card talk segments

[@standaman2528]

Excellent analysis! Thanks! Quick suggestion: perhaps next time you guys can add some graphics so the audience will have both narrative and visual aid. Have a great weekend!

[@gregggomlinski3696]

Thank you, great info as always! Greg metioned that the spends on a business card don't affect the Credit Utilization ratio on your credit score. Interesting to know. Is there a separate business side of the credit utilization ratio? If so, is the opposite true? Do the spends on a personal card affect what the banks look at when approving you for a business credit card?

[@PointsPlayTravel]

With Marriott, referring to 40 elite nights, does it have to be a Bonvoy Brilliant and a Bonvoy Business card? Would it work with having a Personal Chase Boundless (or Ritz) and an personal AMEX Brilliant?

[@frequent-miler]

You can only get elite nights from one consumer card and one business card. Nights from multiple consumer cards won't stack - so yes, it would have to be Amex Brilliant and a Bonvoy business card to get 40 nights. -Nick

[@zmfischer]

For Etihad first class booked on AA, can you change a second leg from Maldives to Seychelles without losing the First EY leg?

[@VidOneProductions]

Great information Gent's thanks again for all of your valuable information.

[@SmoothMoneyMoves]

Unfortunately I didn't have the same success with the ink application. It's pending review for a week. Called reconsideration line but no answer.

[@SmoothMoneyMoves]

Correction after a week chase approved me even though I was at 5/24

[@lscott9263]

​@@SmoothMoneyMoves nice!

[@johnlee9383]

I’m still curious why Accor gets no love, perhaps it’s Europe/Asia centric? Where would you say Accor All program ranks within the IHG, Marriot, Hilton, Hyatt scale?

[@frequent-miler]

The points have a fixed value of 2 euro cents per point -- there is no way to use points to better value. You can only transfer to them from Capital One -- and if you did that, you'd barely be getting more value than you would by making the purchase on the Capital One card and then erasing it with the purchase eraser (actually, when you consider whatever you would earn with Accor, I guess that may work out to be a the better deal). I just can't get too excited about a program where the points have fixed value like that unless I could get a great transfer ratio. If you enjoy staying at their properties and you collect their points because of that, that's fine. But, again, there's no shot at using the points for greater value. Head for Points puts it best on their site: " The real problem it causes is psychological. It is difficult to get excited about Accor Live Limitless because you can never ‘beat the system’." -Nick

[@johnlee9383]

Excellent points all around Nick. I’m currently Platinum with Accor and IHG due to work. Accor’s predictability is perhaps that’s both their weakness and strength as IHG’s dynamic pricing is driving me nuts, at least in my experience. Also, I was just made aware that I could status match to a One World Emerald or higher via Qatar Airways/ Qantas preferred partnership with Accor. How would this figure in your methodology to rank these programs?

[@frequent-miler]

I'm going to disagree with Nick a little bit here... There is one way to potentially get outsized value. You can convert Accor points 1 to 1 to a few airline programs (Iberia, Qantas, and Virgin Australia) and so in those cases it's possible to get outsized value. That said, converting 1 to 1 is like paying 2 euro cents per mile for those points. There are often other ways to get miles cheaper. -Greg

[@achevres]

That’s great news about the ATMs in Argentina. But…the Argentinians would really rather have brand new dollars (100, 20), because those bills get the highest exchange for them. For us, fishing trips are quoted and paid in dollars. And the dollar tips are the most appreciated. I’ve found most restaurants and stores take cards.

[@ardens-travel-guide]

One thing that knocks down Marriott's "free breakfast" benefit is that some hotels put a dollar limit on it so you can only order the cheapest half of the entrees and sometimes won't cover tips which are required in the US. But I found that in Asia, Marriott can surprise me by going above and beyond while I've had some disappointing experiences with Hyatt.

[@frequent-miler]

You've had disappointing breakfast experiences at Hyatt properties in Asia? That's surprising to hear! Any examples of where? -Nick

[@ardens-travel-guide]

@@frequent-miler Hyatt Regency Yokohama comes to mind because globalists only get lounge breakfast where there are very few food options. I've also had some good lounge breakfasts at Hyatts in Asia but those were still not as good as the full restaurant breakfasts offered to elites at nearby Hilton and Marriott properties.

[@matthewshannon9]

I've said it often, no one seems to understand. The hotel cards are good for two things - paying for cash stays and accelerating the path to elite status. The Hyatt card is trash if you are not going to pay cash at Hyatt properties. That said, I love the Hyatt card. I spend enough money on the card to complement Hyatt stays to get globalist. Is there really value in getting the cards just for the free nights? Having the card seems like a hassle to save $100-200 on one night a year.

[@frequent-miler]

Sure! It all depends on how you use the free nights though. For example, just last night I booked a hotel using a 35k free night certificate and 2000 Marriott points to book a hotel where the cash rate was $494 a night plus tax. Would I have paid for $494 per night? Absolutely not. But I'll probably enjoy it more than the $150 or $200 hotel I would have booked otherwise, so I'll be very happy with the fact that I used a certificate from a card that cost $95 per year and 2000 Marriott points to get outsized luxury. That doesn't mean it makes sense for you. It certainly might not. For me, if I can save 100 or $200 per card over several cards, it can very quickly and easily add up to more than $1,000 worth of savings over the course of a year. That's absolutely worth it to me. -Nick

[@druiz012]

Luckily it was just the First Class award. Aeroplan in business class to Japan is that 55k from west coast?

[@marklicc]

My AMEX Plat 150K offer disappeared 😞

[@ralphaguayo]

No podcast. At least I have this backup

[@rodb.5801]

Can you refer someone to the Charles schwab platinum card?

[@frequent-miler]

No

[@DCGEMINI202]

IMO Hilton is number 1, Marriott is 2, IHG is 3 and Hyatt is 4.