What Hotel Chain is the best deal?

[boosami]

I travel as a part of my job, and stay at a variety of hotel chains. I'd like to settle on a single "brand." Maybe you folks have some suggestion on which you like the best, which offer the best rewards/points/deals, etc.

I typically stay at Starwood hotels (W, Westin, Sheraton), mostly because of their affiliation with American Express. In my opinion, though, they tend to be a little more pricey than the other options and are sometimes harder to find.

I know Steve loves Marriott but what else do you guys like and why?

[red92s]

I know marriot just reduced their rewards program.

I spent about 200 days in hotels in 2008, primarily in Intercontinental hotels (Holiday Inn, Candlewood Suites, Meridian, etc). Most of that was in Candlewood Suites, since I really like having a small kitchen when I was staying in one place for more than a few days.

[poundwise]

I prefer Choice Hotels - specifically Quality and Sleep Inn.

Though not a part of this group, I also like Best Western.

[kork13]

I prefer Choice Hotels - specifically Quality and Sleep Inn.

My father uses the Choice Hotels chain alot as well. They're definitely one of the less expensive options, and normally they're just fine if you're just looking for a place to stay for a night or two. He has a rewards card with them, and the nice thing is that it's really easy to take advantage of it. We've been in the middle of nowhere (seriously.... middle of west Texas... Only town for miles and miles), needed a place to stay, and called my dad, he booked a free room for us online, then we walked into the lobby and got a room key.

[disneysteve]

I do prefer Marriott for a few reasons. I like the broad range of price-point options from Fairfield Inn (cheap) to J.W. Marriotts and Renaissance (expensive) and various choices in-between, including suite properties (SpringHill and Towne Place) and efficiency set-ups (Residence Inn). I also like that several of their chains include breakfast buffets, something we prefer when we travel. They also have a huge number of properties across the country so we can almost always find one where we want to go.

red92s is correct that they just adjusted their rewards program. For 1 or 2 night stays, which covers a lot of business travel, it isn't much different. On longer stays, the points needed can add up more, though. Still a good deal overall.

Whichever company you go with, I would highly recommend getting the associated credit card to help you earn more points faster. We get the bulk of our Marriott points from their credit card, not from our actual hotel stays.

[paladin]

We also like Marriott (we're especially fond of Residence Inns) and also have the credit card.

[pearlieq]

We're pretty happy with Hilton. They have a huge network of properties across many different price ranges. Their rewards program is quite generous, with frequent promotions. My DH just had a business stay at an Embassy Suites and between all of the various bonuses and promotions he earned enough off of a single $400 stay to get a free night a a mid-tier property.

We also carry their co-branded AMEX which I like because it has no annual fee and offers a decent accumlation rate both on regular purchases and on partner purchases. Having a card automatically qualifies you for their "silver" or second tier status which includes some nice perks like internet, snacks, breakfast coupons, etc.

It's not a big gap to get to their Gold level either, which includes automatic concierge access and a bunch of other nice perks.

I still have memberships with the other major chains, because occasionally it doesn't work out to get a Hilton family hotel. But all things considered, their program has been very good to us.