You shouldn’t just compare the number of points that you earn from a number of hotel loyalty programs, but also the number of points required for a free night.
In order to compare these programs, I calculated the average number of points earned for six programs and then chose several markets to find out the average number of points required for a free night.
I then calculated the averages for these markets and used this figure to compare these programs below. Please note that Club Carlson was not present in two of the cities, so their average is calculated based on seven cities.
This spend analysis to get a free night was done for the following six chains and you can access the each of the reports by clicking the link:
Club Carlson (access here)
Hilton HHonors (access here)
Hyatt Gold Passport (access here)
InterContinental Hotels Group – IHG Rewards Club (access here)
Marriott Rewards (access here)
Starwood Preferred Guest (access here)
Club Carlson
Hilton HHonors
Hyatt Gold Passport
IHG Rewards Club
Marriott Rewards
Starwood Preferred Guest
Side By Side Comparison
Top Tier
SPG Platinum requires a spend of three times more than Club Carlson Concierge on average for a free night. All the other chains are within a relatively tight range.
Top Tier With Credit Card
When you factor in the credit card, Club Carlson is still requires about half compared to all the other chains except SPG.
Mid Tier
Starwood Gold requires quadruple spend compared to Club Carlson Gold.
Mid Tier With Credit Card
Club Carlson is still the winner.
Conclusion
It is interesting that Hilton, Hyatt IHG and Marriott are all within relatively tight range in all the examples above. The Club Carlson required the least amount of spend for free nights and SPG always required the most.
If you consider the travel package, shopping portals and gift card discount, Marriott is clearly the leader in the big hotel chains. But you need to have a seven- night stay in Marriott.
It takes a long time and stays to get the required number of points to redeem for a travel package.
Many people like SPG just because it counts the reward nights and multi-room credit. But I never find it is worth to redeem points for its high end property.
The number of points required for high end SPG properties is totally out of whack and I have wrote about this here on LoyaltyLobby before:
http://loyaltylobby.com/2012/10/24/worst-value-starpoint-awards-category-7-non-standard-room-properties/
Is it possible to get the Club Carlson credit card outside the US? In Europe more specifically.
Only available for US residents.
Shame, but thanks for the reply.
Whilst review correct as a standalone, whenever i book an IHG points night, i always buy 10k points for us$70. As 10k costs me $800 to earn in room stays (10000 – 50% plat bonus / 10pts/$ +20% vat) then….
The number of stayed nights $’s to earn a free night reducs substantially at midtier 25k/night hotels, and still a welcome amount at highend 50k/night hotels,
As a remember, the points purchase for $70 only earns 1 point per dollar on the PC credit card –
Club Carlson, SPG and Hilton all have similar options. Only Marriott and Hyatt do not.
I could do a comparison about the cash & points redemptions as well.
This has been a great series of articles and quite enlightening particularly that Hilton is still competitive despite this year’s massive devaluation. Could you take the data two steps further and calculate the estimated value per point for each program and since many of us earn most of our points via credit card usage, the amount of spend on each program’s co-branded credit card for a free night.
This has been great series, and this post is the crux. I agree that it would be great to compare every day credit card spend per program for a free night. I have a feeling the playing field will be more even if you don’t count spending bonuses (like CIB to collect 5x Hyatt or Marriott points).
I have tried to stay away about the exact value of the point discussion, as there are so many variables.
It could be relatively easy to take a sample of 100 hotels from each chain and compare the cash price to points needed (- the number of points that you would earn from the paid stay). But sometimes the headline prices are not real and should be discounted.
Thanks for the idea. Will put it to my list of things to do.
Carlson doesn’t really have top tier hotels – they are mid range properties compared to most of the chains you compare them to.
If there is one conclusion I hope people realize – that SPG is one of the worst cards you can have in your wallet. Which flies in the face of the silly conventional “wisdom” so many “experts” proclaim.
Great info, although Club Carlson seems to have very little offerings where I travel&live (Asia/Australia/NZ).
For Free Nights, SPG certainly comes out at the bottom. However I only use SPG for cash&points, which allows me to stay in higher level properties than I normally can afford.
The SPG Cash & Points has become inflated as well. You get hit with higher categories and thus year the number of points + cash got jacked up as well.
Club Carlson is a viable option in Europe, where they have quite a few properties. Also, you have bear in mind that Carlson has about double the number of properties compared to Hyatt.
Yes.I was personally surprised that the SPG is so much worse compared to the other big chains.
Hyatt is best value on top tier hotels IF you have access to 5x. Likewise for mid tier with Marriott for same reason. Carlson is best for mid tier if you don’t have 5x UR. I’m really interested in what Fours Seasons may offer for top tier.
SPG has been the worst hotel card to have for a long time and I’ve never understood the oft-repeated conventional “wisdom” that “if only one card to have, it would be SPG”. The only real advantage of SPG is large transfer partners and 25% bonus to airlines. But since you only get 1x, you are putting spend on a mediocre card, even with the 25% bonus.
I’d much rather get Amex PRG that offers 2x (at grocery with lots of gcs) and gives 15K MR bonus for $30K spend (and also has significantly better signup bonus than SPG). So $30K spend on PRG at grocery stores gives 75K MRs/yr at less than half a cent per pt, double what same spend would give on SPG and transferring to airlines.
Of course, hands down the best card to have in your wallet is a Chase Ink IF you can get 5x and max out the category spend.
Can you please elaborate on what you mean by “if you have access to 5x & 5x UR?” Assuming that UR means Chase Ultimate Rewards, how does this factor into the evaluation? Thanks!
Agreed – I’ve been trying SPG for over a year now and after 30+ nights, I finally have enough points for one night in an “aspirational” hotel. I compare this to Hilton where prior to the devaluation I couldn’t burn points fast enough.
Very good analysis. I find C. Carlson very suitable for European travel. I received the pre-aproved CC form and may end up taking advantage of it. I agree with disqus and think that SPG is way overrated.
Yep. Europe is the strongest market for Club Carlson from quality and quantity perspective.
Great work, John,
It would be nice to see another Asia/Oceania-centric program like Accor included (although I suspect they would come out on the bottom for value).
I have received request to have Accor as well. I might do a piece about it as well, but the redemption value is directly tied to the price of the hotel room using these vouchers.
Hi John, any plan on this? I assume you could run the comparison using a rack rate, normal t&c terms for a normal hotel room…
I have done the percentage chart of the price paid that you receive back as hotel vouchers.
It seems the main value is in the sign-up bonuses. For several SPG properties I have looked at (4 star Sheratons in U.S. cities) the cash and points rate is equivalent to the cash only cost on Hotwire or Priceline.
John, thanks for the excellent analysis. You are making me question my loyalty to SPG. 😉 I most value suite upgrades and traveling mostly in Asia and Hawaii have about 75%+ suite upgrade success and am very happy.
I started a FT thread here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milesbuzz/1464797-most-reliable-suite-upgrade-program.html asking about suite upgrade experience at the various programs.
What is your experience of suite upgrade success of the various programs?
All these chains are better in Asia than everywhere else. If suite upgrades are the main driver, I would look into InterContinental Royal Ambassador (can be purchased) and you could also try Marriott Platinum.
Marriott Platinum is easy to get via challenge that I have written about here previously. You need 9 stays within the month you sign up + three following months and it is valid now until 2015. They have these stay 2 get 1 free night cert promos that are lucrative IF you can do one night stays. Nothing to lose really trying them out.
Nice analysis. so many apples and oranges with hotel programs. SPG used to make up for its shortfalls with terrific promos such as FWNs but no longer does and as a result, I’m a Club Carlson convert.
I still like them all, but the base line earning and burning with SPG is challenging compared to other chains.
I will do a follow up on each of these chains and what I believe are their sweet spots later this month.
I believe your analysis methodology assumes that all your CC spend is for hotel nights. But, if you use the cards for everyday purchases as well, SPG remains a good choice. (For example, $10,000 in SPG Amex spend earns a free night at a Category 4 hotel. But it takes $16,667 in Hilton spend to earn a free night at a 50,000 points/night hotel after the devaluation.)
This is “Most Rewarding Hotel Loyalty Program” analysis about the hotel spend that is required for a free night.
Missing Platinum 75+ night tier… you get 4 points per dollar. Also this doesn’t adjust for Starwood generally having nicer properties. I’ve calculated the value per point multiple times, and it always comes up to ~$0.03-0.04 per point for redemption. When I count that most stays I get 8-10 points per dollar spent (4 on status + 2 on CC + 2-4 more for promos) that means a 24-40% of every $ I spend goes towards a future stay. Wow!
If you add the third Starpoint per USD past the 75 nights, the difference would not had changed a lot. You are way overvaluing the value of a Starpoint.
Thnx.i am a hikton honours gold member.the card is good.i was hopibg to find something even better but I can see hilton is a gud choice
I will update on this after all the 2014 devaluations are in. Likely March or April.
Dear people, I’m currently doing some research and I need some people to answer this survey it takes 3 to 5 minutes and any help would be really appreciated.
Obviously all of the answers can be treated confidential and it’s for my
masters theses in hospitality management, in advance thank you very much.
http://www.surveyact.com/s/Na6xzUJluZ23SaK5