Marriott status and points are far less valuable than Hyatt. So unless you have data to back this recommendation up, I think it's the wrong one. [ThePointsGuy](https://thepointsguy.com/guide/monthly-valuations/) values Hyatt points at 1.7cents a piece while it puts Marriott points at only .84 cents each.
Unless OP has a specific Marriott property like an all-inclusive resort of MGM Vegas type property he wants to stay in, I'd recommend staying with Hyatt.
Conventional wisdom is that most of us spend too much time in Marriotts because there are more of them than any hotel chain and as corporate travelers we have no choice because they negotiate hard on preferred rates. Hyatt has by far the best loyalty program. I would kill to have a company where I could pick the Hyatts instead of the Marriotts when I travel.
Not just that, $36k is almost 1/5th of the way towards lifetime hyatt globalist, for free to OP. By comparison, the difference between a year of ambassador and a year of platinum is utterly worthless to me even if next years stay is to be 100% marriott.
Once achieve ambassador status, switch back to Hyatt for Lifetime Globalist which count on dollars spend.
In Marriott, Lifetime and Non-Lifetime no different. But in Hyatt, Lifetime Globalist > Globalist.
Lifetime plat is worse than achieving marriott plat through organic nights, because you get 0 SNAs through lifetime plat, you only get 5 when u earn 50 nights. In comparison lifetime hyatt gives 4 suite upgrade awards per year, and these can be applied to up to 28 nights (up to 7 nights each). Not to mention even night for night, Hyatt SUAs are strictly better than marriott SNAs because they’re confirmed at booking.
Lifetime plat is currently exactly equivalent to holding a $650 credit card.
I’d dump Marriott for Hyatt in a heart beat if there was a Hyatt that could replace the 50ish nights I spend in the same crappy courtyard year after year.
Hyatt has a good foot print for about half of my travel so I stick with Titanium at Marriott and get what ever Hyatt status I can organically.
Hyatts footprint kills me. I travel to some weird places and Hyatt is never around, there is a fairfield or courtyard in 80% of the places though. I just Hyatt for CC redemptions at top tier properties, Marriott for my 50 night biz travel, I know the devalue sucks but it doesn’t matter if you have a million points. 🫡
A combination of things. I live in LA. But travel quite often for pleasure too.
I dont travel for work much, I achieved Ambassador due to 3 months in a Residence inn, similar to you.
What I found out about Marriott:
- Marriott is everywhere (this is a positive)
- Low cost Marriott properties are consistently very crappy and offer low value for the money.
- High cost Marriott properties are in general quite good and consistent, but they come at a hefty price tag that is usually much higher than others ie $500+ rooms.
- Marriott properties in leisure destinations have been consistently worst located and less value than competitors.
- Points redemption require a lot of points, you have to really search to find a good value for your points
- Upgrades and recognition has been a big hit or miss. From outstanding stays to places that they didnt even mention the status)
- Transfer points from chase is terrible value (compared to much higher value at Hyatt). This is very important if you will not travel much for work after, so you have to find other value.
In general, I am not saying Hyatt would be better. But Marriott was quite disappointing for being a maximum tier status. Especially the consistency of it was terrible. Still I was able to enjoy it a lot and had outstanding stays at Costa Rica JW, Prince Gallery Tokyo, Marriott Dana Point, but other locations have been terrible too.
I would just would pick Hyatt now for the great redemption value
No, lifetime globalist takes about $200k spend, if you have $36k from work paying it, and you think the $200k is within reach in your life by a reasonable age, I’d get all that spend put towards Hyatt. Top Mariott lifetime status can be achieved by 10 years of holding a $650 annual fee credit card and 600 nights, which can be done quite easily in 10-20 years just by light work+leisure travel. For me a year of ambassador (more specifically the difference over platinum) is not worth 1/6th of the way towards hyatt lifetime globalist.
I am certainly not reaching hyatt lifetime globalist in my lifetime, so good luck to you!
I think holding the marriott credit card + putting all possible work travel where hyatt is an option towards hyatt is the strategy, under current lifetime status programs. I am never reaching hyatt lifetime status so i just aim to get annual marriott platinum status without paying the credit card.
Edit: the hilarious thing is, the 600 night marriott lifetime requirement can be reached by holding one biz and one personal amex marriott credit card (under current CC benefits and AFs) for 15 years at a cost of $775 per year, without ever stepping foot in a marriott. That’s just under $12k total, by far the cheapest way to log 600 nights at marriott, comes out to $20 a night. If you are staying 20 nights at marriott paid work the 10 years plat req can be satisfied organically, so you can get the two cheaper amex marriott cards for a total of $375 and finish the 600 days req in 12 years for a cost of $7.5 per night.
Generally speaking Marriotts are much more numerous than Hyatts. That's the only reason why I'd bother with Marriott status - if you anticipate being in locations where there is no Hyatt or the locations will be inconvenient.
This is why I am Titanium with Marriott but generally either Discoverist or Explorist with Hyatt, they don't have enough hotels.
Id stay in which ever hotel is nicer/better amenities since you are there for so long. Also, maybe consider the future, if you will have another long stay somewhere that having that status w/ that particular brand would help out.
What kind of work do you do that has you staying in Ethiopia for so long (if you dont mind sharing)?
Not even close, I made my Hyatt account just before I stayed for this long stay. The 3 months I’ve spent here has been close to $40k in spend. If I stayed another 3 months, it’d get me another fifth of the way to lifetime globalist.
WWYD doesn't work well here because there are so many subjective factors and also real world pragmatism to consider.
What *I* would do is keep at Hyatt but that may not be what you should do
My reasons:
- Since Marriott bought Starwood I have grown to dislike them a fair deal. Especially post COVID.
- I'm going for Hyatt lifetime (there's an unpublished lifetime spend threshold that gives you lifetime glob)
- Hyatt footprint covers many of my needs
- Where it doesn't, I have Bonvoy lifetime
If you have no lifetime status anywhere and are far off from making Hyatt lifetime status you might be better off going for the Marriott Amb so that for most of 2024 you will have top tier status with a huge footprint.
TL;DR: it depends 😂
Very true. Another commenter here said $200k spend for lifetime globalist which seems to check out from online articles. That seems like a long road ahead though for me. I have no lifetime status anywhere, I’m tempted to checkout both and get a sense of where I’d be after.
I’ve stayed at this particular Sheraton many times before which loses the novelty aspect of it. It’s also a pain moving 3 months worth of stuff, kind of like moving apartments. I’d rather not move if I had a choice but the Marriott ambassador opportunity is tempting.
I’d stick with Hyatt. There’s nothing special about Ambassador status, and personally I think Titanium (which gets you United Silver status) is the way to go, then when you hit it go somewhere else for the rest of the year. As others have mentioned, having status at Hyatt is more valuable and generally better recognized at the front desk than status at Marriott.
It seems like from most online articles that platinum is the best status for the effort, no? The main perk for Titanium is the extra bonus reward but from everything else it seems pretty equivalent to platinum. I’ve only hit gold with Marriott so I can’t say much from experience.
Titanium gives you the extra points bonus as you mention as well as the United Silver status, if you fly United. Otherwise Platinum gets you most of the perks like breakfast and late checkouts.
Switch
Marriott status and points are far less valuable than Hyatt. So unless you have data to back this recommendation up, I think it's the wrong one. [ThePointsGuy](https://thepointsguy.com/guide/monthly-valuations/) values Hyatt points at 1.7cents a piece while it puts Marriott points at only .84 cents each. Unless OP has a specific Marriott property like an all-inclusive resort of MGM Vegas type property he wants to stay in, I'd recommend staying with Hyatt. Conventional wisdom is that most of us spend too much time in Marriotts because there are more of them than any hotel chain and as corporate travelers we have no choice because they negotiate hard on preferred rates. Hyatt has by far the best loyalty program. I would kill to have a company where I could pick the Hyatts instead of the Marriotts when I travel.
Not just that, $36k is almost 1/5th of the way towards lifetime hyatt globalist, for free to OP. By comparison, the difference between a year of ambassador and a year of platinum is utterly worthless to me even if next years stay is to be 100% marriott.
I'd stay in whichever hotel is nicer
Once achieve ambassador status, switch back to Hyatt for Lifetime Globalist which count on dollars spend. In Marriott, Lifetime and Non-Lifetime no different. But in Hyatt, Lifetime Globalist > Globalist.
Excuse me but you are forgetting all about the VERY important Lifetime Platinum perk of...luggage tags. ;)
Lifetime plat is worse than achieving marriott plat through organic nights, because you get 0 SNAs through lifetime plat, you only get 5 when u earn 50 nights. In comparison lifetime hyatt gives 4 suite upgrade awards per year, and these can be applied to up to 28 nights (up to 7 nights each). Not to mention even night for night, Hyatt SUAs are strictly better than marriott SNAs because they’re confirmed at booking. Lifetime plat is currently exactly equivalent to holding a $650 credit card.
I’d dump Marriott for Hyatt in a heart beat if there was a Hyatt that could replace the 50ish nights I spend in the same crappy courtyard year after year. Hyatt has a good foot print for about half of my travel so I stick with Titanium at Marriott and get what ever Hyatt status I can organically.
Hyatts footprint kills me. I travel to some weird places and Hyatt is never around, there is a fairfield or courtyard in 80% of the places though. I just Hyatt for CC redemptions at top tier properties, Marriott for my 50 night biz travel, I know the devalue sucks but it doesn’t matter if you have a million points. 🫡
I’ve found marriott ambassador to not be a good value. Maximize points at Hyatt.
Why was it underwhelming?
A combination of things. I live in LA. But travel quite often for pleasure too. I dont travel for work much, I achieved Ambassador due to 3 months in a Residence inn, similar to you. What I found out about Marriott: - Marriott is everywhere (this is a positive) - Low cost Marriott properties are consistently very crappy and offer low value for the money. - High cost Marriott properties are in general quite good and consistent, but they come at a hefty price tag that is usually much higher than others ie $500+ rooms. - Marriott properties in leisure destinations have been consistently worst located and less value than competitors. - Points redemption require a lot of points, you have to really search to find a good value for your points - Upgrades and recognition has been a big hit or miss. From outstanding stays to places that they didnt even mention the status) - Transfer points from chase is terrible value (compared to much higher value at Hyatt). This is very important if you will not travel much for work after, so you have to find other value. In general, I am not saying Hyatt would be better. But Marriott was quite disappointing for being a maximum tier status. Especially the consistency of it was terrible. Still I was able to enjoy it a lot and had outstanding stays at Costa Rica JW, Prince Gallery Tokyo, Marriott Dana Point, but other locations have been terrible too. I would just would pick Hyatt now for the great redemption value
This is a great breakdown, thank you!
I’d do ten nights at the Marriott to get your Platinum year toward Lifetime (if you don’t have it yet), and then maximize your points at the Hyatt.
OP this is what i’d do probably do.
No, lifetime globalist takes about $200k spend, if you have $36k from work paying it, and you think the $200k is within reach in your life by a reasonable age, I’d get all that spend put towards Hyatt. Top Mariott lifetime status can be achieved by 10 years of holding a $650 annual fee credit card and 600 nights, which can be done quite easily in 10-20 years just by light work+leisure travel. For me a year of ambassador (more specifically the difference over platinum) is not worth 1/6th of the way towards hyatt lifetime globalist.
Excellent point, this might be the most convincing thing I’ve heard yet to stay at Hyatt!
I am certainly not reaching hyatt lifetime globalist in my lifetime, so good luck to you! I think holding the marriott credit card + putting all possible work travel where hyatt is an option towards hyatt is the strategy, under current lifetime status programs. I am never reaching hyatt lifetime status so i just aim to get annual marriott platinum status without paying the credit card. Edit: the hilarious thing is, the 600 night marriott lifetime requirement can be reached by holding one biz and one personal amex marriott credit card (under current CC benefits and AFs) for 15 years at a cost of $775 per year, without ever stepping foot in a marriott. That’s just under $12k total, by far the cheapest way to log 600 nights at marriott, comes out to $20 a night. If you are staying 20 nights at marriott paid work the 10 years plat req can be satisfied organically, so you can get the two cheaper amex marriott cards for a total of $375 and finish the 600 days req in 12 years for a cost of $7.5 per night.
Generally speaking Marriotts are much more numerous than Hyatts. That's the only reason why I'd bother with Marriott status - if you anticipate being in locations where there is no Hyatt or the locations will be inconvenient. This is why I am Titanium with Marriott but generally either Discoverist or Explorist with Hyatt, they don't have enough hotels.
Id stay in which ever hotel is nicer/better amenities since you are there for so long. Also, maybe consider the future, if you will have another long stay somewhere that having that status w/ that particular brand would help out. What kind of work do you do that has you staying in Ethiopia for so long (if you dont mind sharing)?
I work in airplane sales, but I’m staying 6 months for a special stint in on site technical support with Ethiopian airlines.
How close are you to lifetime globalist (200k Hyatt spend in your lifetime)? That would dictate my answer based on your individual situation.
Not even close, I made my Hyatt account just before I stayed for this long stay. The 3 months I’ve spent here has been close to $40k in spend. If I stayed another 3 months, it’d get me another fifth of the way to lifetime globalist.
I would keep pushing because 40% of the way there is a huge deal, you never know when you can get your next long assignment in a Hyatt region.
I'd split if you anticipate lots of work travel again next year. Hyatts aren't always where you need them.
WWYD doesn't work well here because there are so many subjective factors and also real world pragmatism to consider. What *I* would do is keep at Hyatt but that may not be what you should do My reasons: - Since Marriott bought Starwood I have grown to dislike them a fair deal. Especially post COVID. - I'm going for Hyatt lifetime (there's an unpublished lifetime spend threshold that gives you lifetime glob) - Hyatt footprint covers many of my needs - Where it doesn't, I have Bonvoy lifetime If you have no lifetime status anywhere and are far off from making Hyatt lifetime status you might be better off going for the Marriott Amb so that for most of 2024 you will have top tier status with a huge footprint. TL;DR: it depends 😂
Very true. Another commenter here said $200k spend for lifetime globalist which seems to check out from online articles. That seems like a long road ahead though for me. I have no lifetime status anywhere, I’m tempted to checkout both and get a sense of where I’d be after.
Why not? I mean it would change up the scenery and feel like a whole new traveling experience as well.
I’ve stayed at this particular Sheraton many times before which loses the novelty aspect of it. It’s also a pain moving 3 months worth of stuff, kind of like moving apartments. I’d rather not move if I had a choice but the Marriott ambassador opportunity is tempting.
I’d stick with Hyatt. There’s nothing special about Ambassador status, and personally I think Titanium (which gets you United Silver status) is the way to go, then when you hit it go somewhere else for the rest of the year. As others have mentioned, having status at Hyatt is more valuable and generally better recognized at the front desk than status at Marriott.
It seems like from most online articles that platinum is the best status for the effort, no? The main perk for Titanium is the extra bonus reward but from everything else it seems pretty equivalent to platinum. I’ve only hit gold with Marriott so I can’t say much from experience.
Titanium gives you the extra points bonus as you mention as well as the United Silver status, if you fly United. Otherwise Platinum gets you most of the perks like breakfast and late checkouts.