In the past few weeks, most major hotel chains have "updated" their loyalty programs for 2013. For most, if not all, the changes were not in our (consumer) favor.
For a great write-up in this, please read this post by The Points Guy.
For a great write-up in this, please read this post by The Points Guy.
How does that effect my loyalty spending? I'm not sure yet.
Currently, all of our personal spend was going to our Hilton Citibank Reserve card. I chose this card for our personal spending since it comes with Gold Status (which is enough status at Hilton) and 2 free night certificates when signing up. In addition, if we spend $10K on it during our card membership year, we get a free night certificate. These can come in handy during weekend trips. On top of that, the category bonuses are useful and I wanted to stock up on Hilton points for their very aspirational properties (ie. Maldives, Bora Bora, Hong Kong, Thailand, Maui). But now that those properties will probably require even MORE points to stay there, it may not be worth continuing my current spending path. I need to re-evaluate where our spending goes.
My work spending, and some personal spending, has been focused on meeting minimum spend requirements to receive sign-on bonuses. This is almost complete and then my work spending can be dedicated somewhere.
Without a full analysis, it looks like I may just focus everything on Starwood. Their cash & points option still appears the best. But only time will tell.
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