Head-to-Head: Best Hotel Loyalty Programs in 2024

Loyalty programs can be complicated. Actually, all of them are designed to be; some more than others. In the eyes of loyalty programs, ideal members are those who do not keep track or have valuations of their points. These members would stay loyal and redeem their points/miles for anything, without thinking about value.

Like I’ve always said, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this fuss-free approach. It can be time-consuming to keep track of your miles/points, especially if you don’t enjoy it as a hobby, or if your hotel stays are mostly paid by your employer.

However, if you are reading this, you are probably like me! We, self-funded travel hackers, maximize our miles/points earnings and redeem them for high-value sweet spots, as much as we can. In doing so, we get to enjoy dream hotel stays and airline seats, without ever paying the full price.

In this article, I will be summarizing the key benefits of 6 popular hotel loyalty programs in easy-to-read tables to help decide which is the best for you. I will also share my favourites and explain why.

The loyalty programs compared in this article are Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, World of Hyatt, IHG One Rewards, Accor Live Limitless and GHA Discovery.

How do Hotel Loyalty Programs work?

In a nutshell, travellers can receive additional benefits on their hotel stays when they hold certain Elite membership statuses.

This includes complimentary breakfast, room upgrades, early check-in, late check-out and even Club Lounge access, which can include free food and alcoholic beverages at certain hours of the day.

Like most of my hotel stays, one can receive all these benefits even when booking the cheapest available room.

Basic information

No. of hotels: Marriott, Hilton, IHG and Accor have at least 5,000 properties all over the world. With these programs, there’s a much higher chance of finding an affiliated hotel on your travels, as compared to Hyatt and GHA.

Points validity: All programs offer at least 1 year activity-based points expiry term. An “activity-based” points expiry term allows you to automatically extend the expiration of your points whenever there is account activity (earn or spend points).

Fifth night free: Only Marriott and Hilton offer 5th night free when redeeming points for hotel stays. In other words, you’ll pay 4 nights worth of points, for a 5-night stay.

Rollover nights: Only Hilton and IHG offer rollover Elite nights. Elite nights earned in a calendar year that are not used towards maintaining or upgrading your status will be rolled over to the following year, to make it easier to maintain/upgrade your status in future. For example, if you are a Hilton Gold member with 50 elite nights earned in a calendar year, you will have 10 nights rolled over to the following year, after deducting the 40 nights required to maintain your Gold status.

Soft landing: Soft landing is a valuable program benefit offered by Marriott, IHG and Accor. With this benefit, an Elite member can only drop a maximum of one status tier per year, when they don’t requalify for the current tier.

Staying 25 to 40 nights a year

Here are the membership statuses that you can qualify for, if you stay between 25 and 40 nights in a calendar year.

With complimentary breakfast offered in every hotel, Hilton’s Gold status is the clear winner for this membership level. However, take note that you would only get a US$10 – US$25 F&B credit per person in US hotels (usually only enough for 1 coffee + 1 muffin!).

GHA Discovery can be a fun status to hold, as a member only needs to stay at least 1 night in 3 different brands. This can be done with as little as 3 nights in total!

My thoughts: The benefits offered by other loyalty programs at this level are simply not worth your loyalty. If you stay less than 50 nights a year, choose Hilton, or stay independent. If you stay mostly in hotels in the United States, stay independant.

Staying 50 or more nights a year

This is where you get some real hotel benefits!

Breakfast: Members with any of the above statuses can receive complimentary breakfast on their stays in most affiliated properties. Accor Platinum is definitely the weakest in this category, as breakfast is only complimentary in Asia Pacific properties.

Suite upgrades: Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt offer room upgrades up to select suites. However, room upgrades heavily depends on how generous the property is, availability, occupancy levels, number of Elite members that day, and even your check-in/check-out time.

In my real-life experience, I’ve had the lowest success-rate on suite upgrades with a top-tier Hilton status, vs Marriott and Hyatt.

Club lounge access: While members of the other statuses receive complimentary club lounge access in most properties, IHG Diamond does not offer this benefit (only as a Milestone reward).

Additional Hyatt perk: On top of the above benefits, Hyatt Globalist members can enjoy free parking, when staying on points. This is especially useful at expensive cities.

My thoughts: On paper, Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt are the programs that offer the best benefits at this membership level. Unless if you stay mostly in Asia Pacific hotels, I would avoid Accor Platinum. I also can’t see how anyone can justify staying loyal to IHG over the others.

Lifetime status

Upon achieving a lifetime status, members no longer need to re-qualify for their status.

Hilton and Marriott both require members to hold the status for at least 10 years (doesn’t have to be consecutive). However, Hilton’s second requirement is a lot harder to achieve than Marriott’s.

Hyatt awards the lifetime status to members who spent at least US$200k (excl. taxes/fees). You can be a Lifetime Globalist on your first year if you reach the spending requirement. Simple as that.

My thoughts: Marriott’s Lifetime Platinum status is obviously the easiest to achieve. Because of its global footprint and my real-world experience with status recognition, it is the most worthwhile too. If lifetime hotel status is your long-term goal, stick to Marriott.

Milestone bonuses

For simplicity, I’ve ommited low-value rewards from this table. Members may be able to select other milestone rewards.

Points value: Not all points are equal! One can receive much more value with Hyatt points, than Hilton’s. Here’s how I value 10,000 points from each program:

Marriott: US$60
Hilton: US$30
Hyatt: US$150
IHG: US$50

Related: Best ways to redeem Marriott Bonvoy points

Related: Best ways to redeem World of Hyatt points

Suite upgrades: Suite upgrades are not created equal too. Marriott’s 5 room upgrades can be used for 5 nights, while Hyatt’s one suite upgrade can be applied to a stay of up to 7 nights!

Additional Hyatt perk: You will receive a Category 4 free night (worth US$225) after staying in 5 Hyatt brands, up to 5 times (25 out of 28 brands), with Hyatt’s Brand Explorer.

My thoughts: Marriott is very weak when it comes to milestone bonuses. Hilton and IHG reward you consistently every step of the way, while Hyatt is simply the king of milestones!

Shortcuts to Elite statuses

There are numerous “shortcuts” to achieving Elite statuses with hotel loyalty programs. A lot of members receive or re-qualify for their statuses without actually staying the required amount of nights.

Double Elite Nights: Loyalty programs sometimes run promotions where members can earn twice the number of elite nights during the promo period. In this Marriott example, members can clock 50 Elite nights (to get Platinum status) after staying just 25 actual nights.

Status match: Holding a hotel loyalty status? You may be eligible for a status match to another program, like this Hilton one.

Fast track: Members can sometimes sign up for fast track offers, to achieve Elite statuses for a fewer number of nights than what’s usually required.

Credit cards: Certain cardholders may receive automatic status with a loyalty program, like what’s offered by Mastercard for GHA members, and the Hilton AMEX Aspire card in the US.

Mattress run

You’ve probably heard of the term “mattress run”. It simply means going out of your way to spend additional nights in hotels that you normally wouldn’t. Hotel loyalty members do this for a variety of reasons:

1. Reach minimum nights required to maintain status
2. Reach milestone bonus tiers
3. Take advantage of ongoing promotions like double points or double elite nights

My thoughts: Mattress runs are unnecessary, most of the time. If you do not stay in hotels enough, you will not get to truly enjoy the benefits of your status anyway, and it is not worth your time, and the mattress-running expenses.

If you travel once or twice a year, you can simply pay more on your travels and book rooms with breakfast or club benefits whenever you want them. You can even book Hyatt Prive or Virtuoso rates to enjoy additional benefits as a non-elite member.

How can each program improve?

Marriott: Add rollover nights and more milestones. Plus, guaranteed breakfast, lounge access or suite upgrades for statuses above Platinum (i.e. Titanium, Ambassador).

Hilton: Better real-world Diamond member upgrades (not just on paper). Plus, better breakfast benefit in the US and less-crazy award devaluation.

Hyatt: More properties, 5th night free for award stays.

IHG: Club lounge access and suite upgrades for Diamond members.

Accor: Complimentary breakfast worldwide for Platinum members.

GHA Discovery: More properties and a higher status level above Titanium with complimentary breakfast, club lounge access and suite upgrades upon availability.

Staying disloyal

Staying disloyal/independent gets you one huge benefit: FREEDOM.

You will not feel the need to stay in a crappy, overpriced Hilton or Marriott (believe me, there are plenty of them around) just because you hold an Elite status with that program.

Staying disloyal does not mean that you should stop booking stays with Marriott, Hilton or Hyatt. Non-elite members can often receive outstanding value by redeeming points for award sweet spots.

You will also have the freedom to take advantage of any promotion, from any loyalty program any time you want through 2-Player Mode and even hotel hacks!

On top of that, you will also be able to benefit from promotions from third-party Online Travel Agencies (e.g. up to 25% Agoda discount).

Lastly, you won’t feel bad about staying in an Airbnb!

Remember, be a fan of the product, not the billion-dollar corporation behind it.

Bottom line

An Elite hotel status can only be truly enjoyed if you travel enough to enjoy the benefits and rack up the Elite nights naturally. If you do not stay at least 30-or-so actual nights in hotels, you are probably better-off staying independent.

Here are my favourite hotel loyalty programs for self-funded travellers based in Southeast Asia:

Marriott Bonvoy: Pick this if you can achieve at least the Platinum status. Take advantage of Double Elite Night promos, if any. Receive great value for your points by taking advantage of the wonderful Marriott sweet spots. Try to aim for the lifetime status too!

Hilton Honors: Pick this if you can clock at least 20 stays or 40 nights for the Gold status. Take advantage of Double Elite Night promos, if any.

World of Hyatt: Pick this if you stay at least 60 nights in hotels annually to achieve the Globalist status. As Double Elite Nights promo are extremely rare, be prepared to qualify solely on actual nights stayed. This status is also the most beneficial, although not amazing, in the United States.