I'll be staying in Michigan for the foreseeable for 3 nights a week,so I figure I ought to benefit on the opportunity as much as I can. I'll be in Monroe, where it looks like they have some selection, but not a huge one. Good thing is, at a quick glance, it seems hotel chains partner up on their programs.

So, what hotels do you think have the best rewards program and why?

Marriot or hilton. Tons of them. Do the math and figure out which gives you the most free nights. Sometimes marriot has promotions where they give a free stay after 2 paid "trips". So you'd get points and a free night certificate.

I use Hotels.com and whatever points program the hotel I stay at has.

I have a hilton account, but I rarely stay at any of their hotels. I usually look at price and then brand.

It appears I may have to settle for the Hilton account as the Hampton seems to be the only Hotel in the area that is a member of a decent program. Do I have to sign up ahead of time or can I do it when I check in?

Pick6;1627632 wrote:It appears I may have to settle for the Hilton account as the Hampton seems to be the only Hotel in the area that is a member of a decent program. Do I have to sign up ahead of time or can I do it when I check in?

You should be able to sign up when you check in.

These type of programs are for poor people. Literally. For poor peple.

Tiernan;1627642 wrote:These type of programs are for poor people. Literally. For poor peple.

whatever makes you feel better about yourself gramps. The thought of free flights (going to LA in November) and hotel rooms is pretty intriguing to me.

But thanks for the responses everyone.

Tiernan;1627642 wrote:These type of programs are for poor people. Literally. For poor peple.

What is a peple?

Hilton Honors or Marriott.

Is work paying, or you? If it's work, you won't get points on either...but a good way to confuse the system into looking at your card and this giving you all the points is to buy something and charge the room. It will charge your CC on file for incidentals, and the system will lump all the points to the card, and see it isn't a master bill and give you points. Works about 40% of the time lol

Also, if you are staying for free via work and don't want to chance getting nothing, have it be mileage based and not points based. You will always get the base points for your selected airline.

I use Marriott (since they're a client of my employer). I'm not so much worried about free nights as I am the ability to get a room upgrade - they're usually very good about that and remembering my preferences (top floor, please, and away from the elevators). The drawback is that staying at the higher-end hotel within their family burns up your points faster than Hilton's program.

Laley23;1627652 wrote:Hilton Honors or Marriott.

Is work paying, or you? If it's work, you won't get points on either...but a good way to confuse the system into looking at your card and this giving you all the points is to buy something and charge the room. It will charge your CC on file for incidentals, and the system will lump all the points to the card, and see it isn't a master bill and give you points. Works about 40% of the time lol

I'll pay out of pocket, then be reimbursed. Thanks for the tip for future reference.

I have used all 3 big ones in Marriott, Hilton, and IHG (Holiday Inn). They are all good and if you are staying 3 nights a week look at which one has the best "platinum" or whatever the highest member level is. Whichever has the best "platinum" points upgrades as well as other things go with that.

What at I mean is that on e you are platinum, you might get 150% on points (50% more) for each stay. See what one has the best points upgrade combined with what others have said. Once you reach "platinum" in any of them they treat you very well, free suite upgrades, free rooms, etc.

I am with IHG now only because my company sticks with Holiday Inns. Been platinum for 2 years and it works well. Heck, the 800 number just for platinum members is nice too. They threw 30,000 PTs (2-3 free nights) just because a hotel was booked that I wanted to book a week out.

I had the hotel put me on a call list for when someone cancelled (knew they would, 2 day wrestling tournament that many kids didn't make second day). I then used some of the points they had just given me 2 days earlier to take the room for free.

I went ahead and went with Hilton and signed up for the base points + miles program. I should be able to achieve at least gold status (40 nights). I get a mile per $ spent. I haven't done the math, but it seems like it will be able to pay for my flight to LA later in the year at least one way. I signed up for an American Airlines account to apply it to as they seem to have a lot of flights in and out of Cleveland. Anyone know if the base points are applicable to flying as well as the mileage points?

Pick6;1627666 wrote:I went ahead and went with Hilton and signed up for the base points + miles program. I should be able to achieve at least gold status (40 nights). I get a mile per $ spent. I haven't done the math, but it seems like it will be able to pay for my flight to LA later in the year at least one way. I signed up for an American Airlines account to apply it to as they seem to have a lot of flights in and out of Cleveland. Anyone know if the base points are applicable to flying as well as the mileage points?

Base points for the hotel? That will only go to the hotel points...typically.

If you signed up for mileage, you will get base points for staying (usually equivalent of like 500 miles) which you can apply for flights on that airline. You usually wont get both points for the hotel and "miles" for the airline.

Tiernan;1627642 wrote:These type of programs are for poor people. Literally. For poor peple.

Actually they're for business travelers. Not many poor people staying at Starwood hotels.

I use hilton. Have gone to a couple two week long trips for work (another one coming up next month) and I already have 3.5 free days.

Pick6;1627659 wrote:I'll pay out of pocket, then be reimbursed. Thanks for the tip for future reference.

If you don't have an Amex through work, you might want to think about signing up for the Hilton Credit Card also. You would then get even more points for paying for your hotel stays with it.

jmog;1627663 wrote:I have used all 3 big ones in Marriott, Hilton, and IHG (Holiday Inn). They are all good and if you are staying 3 nights a week look at which one has the best "platinum" or whatever the highest member level is. Whichever has the best "platinum" points upgrades as well as other things go with that.

What at I mean is that on e you are platinum, you might get 150% on points (50% more) for each stay. See what one has the best points upgrade combined with what others have said. Once you reach "platinum" in any of them they treat you very well, free suite upgrades, free rooms, etc.

I am with IHG now only because my company sticks with Holiday Inns. Been platinum for 2 years and it works well. Heck, the 800 number just for platinum members is nice too. They threw 30,000 PTs (2-3 free nights) just because a hotel was booked that I wanted to book a week out.

I had the hotel put me on a call list for when someone cancelled (knew they would, 2 day wrestling tournament that many kids didn't make second day). I then used some of the points they had just given me 2 days earlier to take the room for free.

If you are Platinum with IHG, then you have a 48 hour guarantee to have a room/make a reservation, even when a hotel is sold out. The only way around this is for the hotel to place a restriction on very high demand nights. If the hotel doesn't give you a reservation, then they are obligated to reward you, I believe, 25,000 points.

This 48 hour guarantee is the same for Hilton Diamond members.

Laley23;1627652 wrote:Hilton Honors or Marriott.

Is work paying, or you? If it's work, you won't get points on either...but a good way to confuse the system into looking at your card and this giving you all the points is to buy something and charge the room. It will charge your CC on file for incidentals, and the system will lump all the points to the card, and see it isn't a master bill and give you points. Works about 40% of the time lol

Do not listen to this. Even if your work is paying, via a credit card authorization or even a direct bill, you will still get the points, at least with Hilton and IHG hotels. You aren't confusing the system by buying something and charging the room.

iclfan2;1627708 wrote:If you don't have an Amex through work, you might want to think about signing up for the Hilton Credit Card also. You would then get even more points for paying for your hotel stays with it.

Or it might make more sense to get an airline AMEX card. It really just depends on which points are more useful to you. IMO, the airline miles don't stretch as far, but are also worth more (it's otherwise difficult to accumulate miles/status without flying a bunch).

If he's going to rack-up 120+ nights with Hilton, he's probably already coming away with 5-6 free nights at good hotels in popular destinations. So he might like to have a free plane ticket or two accumulated on an airline AMEX card.

Point being, both airline and hotel rewards have value...and to cash-in a decent free trip you need both.

-Society-;1628002 wrote:Do not listen to this. Even if your work is paying, via a credit card authorization or even a direct bill, you will still get the points, at least with Hilton and IHG hotels. You aren't confusing the system by buying something and charging the room.

Correct. Hotel points are based mostly on stays. However, you have to do a bit of work on the AMEX points (from a corporate card), sometimes you can link those or transfer those to a personal account, but it's not an easy, painless process.

-Society-;1627998 wrote:If you are Platinum with IHG, then you have a 48 hour guarantee to have a room/make a reservation, even when a hotel is sold out. The only way around this is for the hotel to place a restriction on very high demand nights. If the hotel doesn't give you a reservation, then they are obligated to reward you, I believe, 25,000 points.

This 48 hour guarantee is the same for Hilton Diamond members.

There was an event. The hotel forgot to put the event on their internal website. The lady with the 800 number must have thrown another 5k points in for the "hassle". I booked the same hotel as stated above with points 3 days later (for the same night I needed) for I think 10k points.