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canyonwalkerEvery year around the start of the year I take stock of my balances in various frequent traveler points programs, both to see how we'll I've done in accumulating & using miles as well as to set goals for the coming 12 months. Earlier today I posted a wrap-up of my airline miles and status for 2022. Now it's time for the same with hotel points and status.
As with flying, hotel stays have been on a comeback this year as Coronavirus fades into a new normal. In 2022 I logged 68 hotel nights. That's not back to the level of 2019 when I had 93 hotel nights, but it's 70% more than in 2021.
Marriott returned to being my #1 hotel program in 2022, at least in terms of nights stayed. I stayed 19 nights with them. The count rises to 22 if we include nights Hawk paid for with points or certs from her account.
Speaking of points and certs, almost all of my nights with Marriott were award nights. Only 5 nights were cash. Three of those were for business, two were for leisure when the points rate was ridiculous. Through all those award stays I reduced my mountain of Marriott's too-preciously named Bonvoy Points from 567k to 400k.
I hold Lifetime Titanium status in Bonvoy, the second highest of five elite levels. It's a benefit of my past years of much heavier travel. If I had to qualify from scratch this year, my 19 nights would get me Silver status— three levels lower. And I'd only get that high because Marriott changed the program to count awards nights toward elite status. Prior to that my 5 paid nights would've earned me "dirt" status— i.e., none. ...Not that my significantly higher status was particularly valuable. There aren't a lot of upgrades and other benefits to be had at the basic suburban hotels where I spent most of these 19 nights. Though I did enjoy an attractive little upgrade to a balcony room and a delicious breakfast at the Orlando World Center Marriott where I stayed just 1 night before bailing out for a hurricane.
For 2023 my goal remains the same as the past several years: Spend down that mountain of points. The mountain is smaller now than a year ago but 400k is still way more than I want to carry. Hotel and airline points only ever lose value over time, so it doesn't pay to save them too long hoping to use them later.
Hilton was my #2 hotel chain with 18 nights stayed this year, very close behind Marriott, though it's #1 by revenue as 11 of those nights were on cash. Of the 7 nights on points, two were really nice ones when we stayed at the Hilton Sedona resort. The other 5 were 5 nights in Barstow at a Hampton Inn.
Together these redemptions used 280,000 points from my Hilton Honors balance. That's a great spend of points! I did earn piles of points of points from the 11 paid nights, though, so year-over-year my Hilton Honors balance decreased from 482,000 to only 365,000. Thus my goal for 2023 with Hilton Honors is the same as it was 12 months ago: Find a good, big redemption opportunity to spend those points on. Or lots of little ones. Or both!
Status-wise I remain Diamond elite (top tier) with Hilton because of a credit card. That sure as heck beats having to earn it the old fashioned way with 28 trips or 50 nights of "butt-in-bed" like I used to back in the day.
The value of Diamond status is mixed. At limited service hotels, such as Hampton Inns, I often get a small but appreciated room upgrade. At full service hotels there's often a minor upgrade, too, plus credits on food & beverage purchased at the in-house restaurants. On the one hand, a free $25/day doesn't suck. On the other hand, the restaurants are overpriced so $25 doesn't go as far as you'd think. But still, it's a worthwhile benefit that helps offset the $450 annual fee of the credit card.
Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), whose portfolio includes Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express, was my #1 hotel program in 2021 based on number of nights stayed. For 2022 it dropped to third place. I still managed 13 nights with them, though. And they were all free!
Five of those free nights were on free-night certificates from carrying an IHG credit card. Two I used in combination with 2 that Hawk had, putting them together for a free 4-night stay in Waikiki, Hawaii. Ironically that wasn't the highest redemption value this year.... The Waikiki hotel's cash rate was only about $150/night. A roadside Holiday Inn Express we stayed at in nowheresville, WA, in August would've been almost $300 if I hadn't used a cert for it!
With all the redemptions this past year I spent about 120k IHG points. I earned a few, too; so I landed at a balance of 179k. On the whole this is a reasonable place to be. I'm glad to have spent this 120k (plus several certs) on a bunch of award stays. That's exactly what I earned them for! I'm looking forward to doing it again in 2023.
Status-wise I remain Platinum with IHG, a benefit of owning their affiliated credit card. Platinum is their second highest tier. In the past I've groused it's not worth much because there really aren't elite benefits to be had at the limited-service properties I make most of my stays at. In 2022 I did get a few suite upgrades that were... well, amusing if not also a nice touch. Those include the suite with a "view" of the Strip in Las Vegas, a suite on our stay in Palmdale, CA in April, and our July stay in Montrose, CO where I made a video walkthrough of our suite upgrade.
It's been years since I earned a point with Hyatt but this year I transferred 78,000 to them and used nearly all of them. The transfers were from my Chase Sapphire Preferred card. I got great value for those points: 4 nights at a resort in Florida for our anniversary, plus a random night on the road during another trip.
This continued the pattern of how Hawk and I used Hyatt points in 2021. We barely spent a penny at their hotels— well, okay, we spent a few hundred on food and a corner room upgrade when we stayed 4 nights at a resort in Florida in September. But we haven't paid for a night with them in years.
I canceled my transfers credit card earlier this year, so no more Hyatt transfers for me. Hawk still has her card, though, and is thinking about getting a Hyatt credit card, too. So maybe we'll have more nice stays on her dime!
As with flying, hotel stays have been on a comeback this year as Coronavirus fades into a new normal. In 2022 I logged 68 hotel nights. That's not back to the level of 2019 when I had 93 hotel nights, but it's 70% more than in 2021.
⬇️ Marriott: Bonvoy(age), Points
Marriott returned to being my #1 hotel program in 2022, at least in terms of nights stayed. I stayed 19 nights with them. The count rises to 22 if we include nights Hawk paid for with points or certs from her account.Speaking of points and certs, almost all of my nights with Marriott were award nights. Only 5 nights were cash. Three of those were for business, two were for leisure when the points rate was ridiculous. Through all those award stays I reduced my mountain of Marriott's too-preciously named Bonvoy Points from 567k to 400k.
I hold Lifetime Titanium status in Bonvoy, the second highest of five elite levels. It's a benefit of my past years of much heavier travel. If I had to qualify from scratch this year, my 19 nights would get me Silver status— three levels lower. And I'd only get that high because Marriott changed the program to count awards nights toward elite status. Prior to that my 5 paid nights would've earned me "dirt" status— i.e., none. ...Not that my significantly higher status was particularly valuable. There aren't a lot of upgrades and other benefits to be had at the basic suburban hotels where I spent most of these 19 nights. Though I did enjoy an attractive little upgrade to a balcony room and a delicious breakfast at the Orlando World Center Marriott where I stayed just 1 night before bailing out for a hurricane.
For 2023 my goal remains the same as the past several years: Spend down that mountain of points. The mountain is smaller now than a year ago but 400k is still way more than I want to carry. Hotel and airline points only ever lose value over time, so it doesn't pay to save them too long hoping to use them later.
⬇️ Hilton: Diamond Starting to Shine
Hilton was my #2 hotel chain with 18 nights stayed this year, very close behind Marriott, though it's #1 by revenue as 11 of those nights were on cash. Of the 7 nights on points, two were really nice ones when we stayed at the Hilton Sedona resort. The other 5 were 5 nights in Barstow at a Hampton Inn.Together these redemptions used 280,000 points from my Hilton Honors balance. That's a great spend of points! I did earn piles of points of points from the 11 paid nights, though, so year-over-year my Hilton Honors balance decreased from 482,000 to only 365,000. Thus my goal for 2023 with Hilton Honors is the same as it was 12 months ago: Find a good, big redemption opportunity to spend those points on. Or lots of little ones. Or both!
Status-wise I remain Diamond elite (top tier) with Hilton because of a credit card. That sure as heck beats having to earn it the old fashioned way with 28 trips or 50 nights of "butt-in-bed" like I used to back in the day.
The value of Diamond status is mixed. At limited service hotels, such as Hampton Inns, I often get a small but appreciated room upgrade. At full service hotels there's often a minor upgrade, too, plus credits on food & beverage purchased at the in-house restaurants. On the one hand, a free $25/day doesn't suck. On the other hand, the restaurants are overpriced so $25 doesn't go as far as you'd think. But still, it's a worthwhile benefit that helps offset the $450 annual fee of the credit card.
⬇️ IHG: Burn, baby. Burn!
Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), whose portfolio includes Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express, was my #1 hotel program in 2021 based on number of nights stayed. For 2022 it dropped to third place. I still managed 13 nights with them, though. And they were all free!Five of those free nights were on free-night certificates from carrying an IHG credit card. Two I used in combination with 2 that Hawk had, putting them together for a free 4-night stay in Waikiki, Hawaii. Ironically that wasn't the highest redemption value this year.... The Waikiki hotel's cash rate was only about $150/night. A roadside Holiday Inn Express we stayed at in nowheresville, WA, in August would've been almost $300 if I hadn't used a cert for it!
With all the redemptions this past year I spent about 120k IHG points. I earned a few, too; so I landed at a balance of 179k. On the whole this is a reasonable place to be. I'm glad to have spent this 120k (plus several certs) on a bunch of award stays. That's exactly what I earned them for! I'm looking forward to doing it again in 2023.
Status-wise I remain Platinum with IHG, a benefit of owning their affiliated credit card. Platinum is their second highest tier. In the past I've groused it's not worth much because there really aren't elite benefits to be had at the limited-service properties I make most of my stays at. In 2022 I did get a few suite upgrades that were... well, amusing if not also a nice touch. Those include the suite with a "view" of the Strip in Las Vegas, a suite on our stay in Palmdale, CA in April, and our July stay in Montrose, CO where I made a video walkthrough of our suite upgrade.
↔️ Hyatt: A Great Use of Chase Points!
It's been years since I earned a point with Hyatt but this year I transferred 78,000 to them and used nearly all of them. The transfers were from my Chase Sapphire Preferred card. I got great value for those points: 4 nights at a resort in Florida for our anniversary, plus a random night on the road during another trip.This continued the pattern of how Hawk and I used Hyatt points in 2021. We barely spent a penny at their hotels— well, okay, we spent a few hundred on food and a corner room upgrade when we stayed 4 nights at a resort in Florida in September. But we haven't paid for a night with them in years.
I canceled my transfers credit card earlier this year, so no more Hyatt transfers for me. Hawk still has her card, though, and is thinking about getting a Hyatt credit card, too. So maybe we'll have more nice stays on her dime!
