Major hotel chains offer their own hotel rewards program, including Marriott Bonvoy, Accor Live Limitless, IHG One Rewards, and more.
These programs are typically free to join and offer the opportunity to earn points and receive perks, such as complimentary breakfasts and room upgrades.
For newcomers, the variety of programs can be overwhelming. Therefore, this article provides information to help you select the best hotel rewards program that fits your needs best.
We’ve selected and compared 5 of the top global hotel loyalty programs. Detailed guides for each program can be found in our blog posts. Click on the links below if you’re interested.
Comparison of Hotel Brands and Quantity
The larger the number of brands and hotels managed by a hotel management group, the more options are available for their membership.
Marriott has 30 brands and 8,800+ hotels:
- Luxury: Edition, The Ritz-Carlton, The Luxury Collection, Bulgari Hotel Bvlgari, Stregis, W Hotels, JW Marriott
- Advanced: Marriott, Sheraton, Marriott Vacation Club, Westin, Le Meridien, Renaissance Hotels, Tribute Portfolio
- Highlights: Courtyard, Four Points, Springhill Suites, Fairfield, Aloft Hotels
- Extended stays: Homes & villas, Residence Inn, Marriott Executive Apartments, Element
Hilton offers 18 brands and over 6,100 hotels:
- Luxury: Waldorf Astoria, Conrad
- Upscale: Hilton, DoubleTree, Embassy Suites Hotels
- Mid-range: Garden Inn, Hampton, Homewood Suites, Home2 Suites
IHG brands has 14 brands and 6,000+ hotels:
- Luxury: Six Senses, Kimpton, Regent, EVEN Hotels, Intercontinental
- Upscale: Indigo, Crowne Plaza, Hualuxe, Voco
- Mid-range: Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, Staybridge Suites
- Low-range: Holiday Inn Express, Avid, Even Hotels
Accor has 38 brands and 4,000+ hotels:
- Upscale: Fairmont, Raffles, Switzerland, Sofitel, MGallery, Pullman, Grand Mercure, The Sebel, Banyan Tree, Angsana, Cassia, Mantis
- Mid-range: Novotel, Mercure, Adagio, Mama Shelter, Tribe
- Low-range: Ibis, Ibis Styles, Greet, Adagio Access
Hyatt has more than 1,200 hotels across 18 brands:
- Luxury: Park Hyatt, Miraval
- Upscale：Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, Andaz, Thompson Hotels, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, Destination Hotels
- Mid-range: Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Hyatt Residence Club, Hyatt Centric
In conclusion, since Marriott acquired Starwood in 2019, it has become the leading hotel group worldwide in terms of the number of hotel brands, popularity, and distribution.
The ranking of hotel groups, based on the number of hotels and brands, is as follows:
Marriott – IHG – Accor – Hilton – Hyatt
Difficulty of Membership Upgrade and Maintenance
All hotel groups essentially offer free membership. Members can earn points through hotel stays, participation in points promotions, and more. Upgrading to a higher-level status is another benefit of hotel membership.
Each hotel group has its own unique requirements for upgrading. Let’s look at the prerequisites for advancing to higher-level memberships among major hotel groups.
Accor Hotels members
- Silver: Stay more than 10 nights or spend up to €800
- Gold: Stay more than 30 nights or spend up to €2,800
- Platinum: Stay more than 60 nights or spend up to €5,600
- Diamond Card: from €10,400
Hilton Honors
- Silver: Stay 4 times or stay 10 nights or accumulate 25,000 base points
- Gold: Stay 20 times or stay 40 nights or accumulate 75,000 base points
- Diamond: 30 stays or 60 nights or 120,000 base points
- Lifetime Diamond: 10-year Diamond membership, can be discontinuous, and accumulates 1000 paid nights
IHG Rewards Club
- Silver: Complete a 10-night stay
- Gold: Complete a 20-night stay or accumulate 7,000 Tier Points
- Platinum: Complete a 40-night stay or accumulate 30,000 Tier Points
- Joy Card: Complete a 70-night stay or accumulate 55,000 Tier Points
Marriott Bonvoy
- Silver: Complete a 10-night stay
- Gold: Complete a 25-night stay
- Platinum: Complete a 50-night stay
- Titanium: Complete a 75-night stay
- Ambassador Card: Complete 100 nights and spend $20,000 or more
World of Hyatt
- Explorer: Complete a 10-night stay or accumulate 25,000 Tier Points
- Adventurer: Complete a 30-night stay or accumulate 50,000 Tier Points
- Globetall: Complete a 60-night stay or accumulate 100,000 Tier Points
Hilton membership can be upgraded based on the number of stays, with each stay requiring at least one night.
In terms of cost, IHG and Accor are the least expensive options for upgrading.
Considering both the required number of nights and cost, the ranking of best hotel rewards program from easiest to hardest for upgrading and maintaining membership levels is:
IHG – Hilton – Accor – Marriott – Hyatt
Indeed, many hotel groups now provide quick upgrade promotions, eliminating the need to stay dozens of nights to qualify for an upgrade. For more details, refer to our latest promotional information.
Best Hotel Rewards Program: Hotel Points Value
Most hotel groups offer the option to purchase points, often through annual promotional events. We have analyzed the cost of purchasing points and the value of redeeming them for hotel stays.
Here is an approximate value of points for each major hotel group:
- Hilton Points: $5 per 1,000 points
- Accor Points: $22.3 per 1,000 points
- IHG Points: $5 per 1,000 points
- Marriott Points: $8.75 per 1,000 points
- Hyatt Points: $17.14 per 1,000 points
Accor Hotels distinguishes itself by not selling points directly, maintaining a consistent exchange ratio of 2,000 points to 40 euros. This approach removes the need to understand fluctuating exchange rates for free rooms during off-peak and peak seasons, or across different categories (CAT1-8).
In addition to purchasing points, hotel groups often host promotions where you can earn bonus points for bookings made during the promotional period. Participating in these campaigns often results in earning several times the regular points.
Keep up with each group’s points events by following the latest hotel discounts on our blogs.
Taking into account the usage and value of points, the ranking of major hotel membership plans is as follows:
Accor – Hilton – IHG – Marriott – Hyatt
Best Hotel Rewards Program: Hotel Membership Benefits
There are numerous benefits for hotel members, including executive lounge access, complimentary breakfast, late check-out, and welcome gifts like fruit or drinks.
To access these benefits, hotel members need to reach the following levels:
- Hilton Gold Card
- IHG Platinum Card
- Marriott Platinum Card
- Accor Platinum Card
- Hyatt Adventurer
Hilton and Marriott offer superior free breakfast benefits, with Hilton providing the most reward points.
Marriott’s executive lounge is generous, although it has been overcrowded in recent years, leading to complaints from members.
IHG’s membership benefits are widely regarded as inferior to other hotel groups, with breakfast benefits for top-tier members not guaranteed and left to the hotel’s discretion.
Based on the official member benefits and our actual stay experiences, the ranking of best hotel rewards program benefits is as follows:
Hilton – Marriott – Accor – Hyatt – IHG
Summary
For beginners in hotel membership programs, consider starting with the Accor Live Limitless membership from Accor Hotels. This plan is straightforward to manage, with a fixed points redemption system that eliminates the need for calculations. Plus, Accor Hotels offers quality and value, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.
For frequent travelers visiting numerous cities, the Marriott Bonvoy membership from Marriott Hotel is recommended. Given Marriott Hotel’s extensive network, you’ll have a wide range of choices.
For those comfortable with hotel points systems and with a mid-range budget, the Hilton Honors membership from Hilton is a good choice. Membership levels upgrade relatively quickly, are easy to keep, and offer decent benefits.
Regardless of your choice, if you have a preferred hotel, remember to register as a member before booking. Registration is free, and it allows you to accumulate points.
For more hotel tips, check out the guide on How to book luxury hotels for cheap?
Each major hotel group has its own membership program, such as Marriott’s Marriott Bonvoy, AccorHotels’ AccorHotels, InterContinental’s InterContinental Priority Club, etc. It is generally free to register as a member. After becoming a member, you can accumulate SNP and receive member benefits, such as free breakfast, room upgrades, etc.
If you have never learned about hotel membership programs, it may be confusing to choose among the many hotel groups and membership programs. This article will list all the information you need and help you easily choose the best hotel membership program for you.
We have selected a total of 5 Global Top Hotel Membership Plans for comparison (each membership plan travel tabloid has a detailed guide, if you are interested, you can click to view):
- InterContinental Rewards Club IHG One Rewards
- Accor Live Limitless ALL – Accor Live Limitless
- Marriott Bonvoy
- World of Hyatt
- Hilton Honors
Hotel brand and quantity comparison
The more brands a hotel manages and the more hotels there are, the more choices representatives have to become a member.
Marriott 30 8800+ hotels across brands:
- Luxury: Edition, The Ritz-Carlton, The Luxury Collection, Bvlgari, Stregis, W Hotels, JW Marriott< /li>
- Premium: Marriott, Sheraton, Marriott Vacation Club, Westin, Le Meridien, Renaissance Hotels, Tribute Portfolio
- Selected: Courtyard, Four Points, Springhill Suites, Fairfield, Aloft Hotels
- Long term stays: Homes & villas, Residence Inn, Marriott Executive Apartments, Element
Hilton 18 brands, a total of 6100+ hotels, there are 9 main brands in China: < /p>
- Luxury: Waldorf Astoria, Conrad
- High-end: Hilton, DoubleTree, Embassy Suites Hotels
- Mid-range: Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton, Homewood Suites, Home2 Suites
IHG InterContinental 14 6,000+ hotels across brands:
- Luxury: Six Sense, Kimpton, Regent, EVEN Hotels, Intercontinental
- High-end: Indigo, Crowne Plaza, Hualuxe, Voco
- Mid-range: Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, Staybridge Suites
- Low-end: Holiday Inn Express, Avid, Even Hotels
Accor 38 A total of 4,000+ hotels under each brand:
- High-end: Fairmont, Raffles, Swissotel, Sofitel, MGallery, Pullman, Grand Mercure ), The Sebel, Banyan Tree, Angsana, Cassia, Mantis
- Mid-range: Novotel, Mercure, Adagio, Mama Shelter, Tribe
- Low-end: Ibis, Ibis Styles, Greet, Adagio Access
Ibis in mainland China is managed by Huazhu and does not participate in the AccorHotels membership program, which means that Accor points and room nights cannot be accumulated.
Hyatt 18 1,200+ hotels across brands:
- Luxury: Park Hyatt, Miraval
- High-end: Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, Andaz, Thompson Hotels, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, Destination Hotels
- Mid-range: Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Hyatt Residence Club, Hyatt Centric
To summarize, since Marriott acquired Starwood in 2019, it has been far ahead among the world’s major hotel groups in terms of the number of hotel brands, popularity, and breadth of hotel distribution.
Judging from the number of hotels and brands, the ranking of hotel groups is roughly: Marriott – IHG – Accor – Hilton – Hyatt
Comparison of the difficulty of membership upgrade and maintenance
We mentioned that all hotel groups can basically register and join for free. New members are generally at the most basic level and are often called whiteboards.
Basic members can accumulate points by staying in hotels, participating in activities, etc., or completing membership upgrades to enjoy the benefits of high-level members. The upgrade requirements of each hotel are different. Let’s compare the requirements of major hotel groups for upgrading to high-level membership:
AccorHotelsMember
- Ordinary members: Register for free to become a member of AccorHotels
- Silver Card: Stay more than 10 nights or spend 800 euros
- Gold Card: Stay more than 30 nights or spend 2800 euros
- Platinum Card: Stay 60 nights or more or spend €5,600
- Diamond Card: Spend from €10,400
Hilton Honors
- Silver Card: Stay 4 times or stay 10 nights or accumulate 25,000 basic points
- Gold Card: Stay 20 times or stay 40 nights or accumulate 75,000 basic points
- Diamond Card: Stay 30 times or stay 60 nights or accumulate 120,000 basic points
- Lifetime Diamond: 10 years of Diamond membership, no need to be consecutive, cumulative paid stays of 1,000 nights
IHG Priority Club
- Club members: Register for free to become a Priority Club Rewards member.
- Silver Member: Complete 10 nights of stay.
- Gold members: Complete 20 nights or earn 40,000 Elite qualifying points.
- Platinum Membership: Complete 40 nights or earn 60,000 Elite Qualifying Points.
- Diamond Membership: Complete 70 nights or earn 120,000 Elite Qualifying Points.
Marriott Bonvoy
- Silver Card: Complete 10 night stay
- Gold Card: Complete 25 night stay
- Platinum Card: Complete 50 night stay
- Titanium Card: Complete 75 night stay
- Ambassador Card: Complete 100 night stay and spend 20,000 USD
World of Hyatt
- Explorer: Complete 10 nights or accumulate 25,000 tier points
- Adventurer: Complete 30 nights, or accumulate 50,000 qualifying points
- Global Guest: Complete 60 nights, or accumulate 100,000 tier points
Hilton members can upgrade according to the number of stays, that is, according to stay. Each stay only needs to stay for more than 1 night. From the perspective of consumption amount, IHG and Accor require the least amount of money to upgrade.
Based on the number of nights required and the amount of consumption, the ranking from the easiest to the most difficult for major hotel groups to upgrade and maintain is:IHG – Hilton – AccorHotels – Marriott – Hyatt< /strong>
In fact, many hotel groups now have rapid upgrade activities, and there is no need to stay for dozens of nights to upgrade. For detailed information, you can view the latest discount and promotion information of each hotel group.
Related Post: IHG Platinum Quick Upgrade Guide: Upgrade to IHG Platinum Or Diamond membership strategy, minimum 0 nights to directly upgrade
Hotel membership point value comparison
Most hotel groups allow you to purchase points, and there are promotions for purchasing points several times a year. Combining the cost of buying points and the price of redeeming points for hotels, we summarize the points value of each hotel group as follows:
- Hilton Points (5 USD/1,000 points)
- Accorpoints (22.3 USD/thousand points)
- IHG Intercontinental Points (USD 5 /thousand points)
- Marriott Points (USD 8.75/thousand points)
- Hyatt points (17.14 USD/1,000 points)
Among all hotel groups, AccorHotels’ points are quite special. AccorHotels does not sell points, and every 2,000 points = 40 euros is a fixed ratio. The advantage of this is that members do not need to spend too much time understanding the low and peak seasons and CAT1-8 to redeem free rooms.
There are several hotel groups where you can buy points, such as IHG and Hilton. The usual prices are relatively high. Travel tabloids suggest that you can buy points when there are events. For example, IHG’s point buying event can be as low as 50% off. .
In addition to point-buying activities, almost all hotel groups will launch some points activities from time to time. For example, if you spend the same money and book during the event, you can enjoy 2 times the points for booking a room, or receive an additional 5,000 points, etc. Those who can participate in these activities must participate, and you can easily earn several times the points you used to earn.
If you want to know about the points activities of each group, you can follow the latest hotel member discount information updated by travel tabloid.
Based on the use and value of points, the rankings of major hotel membership programs are: Accor – Hilton – IHG – Marriott – Hyatt
Comparison of hotel membership benefits
Hotel members have many rights and interests. Here I have selected a few that I think are more valuable, namely: executive lounge, free breakfast, late check-out, welcome fruits or drinks, etc.
According to this standard, major hotel members need to reach the following levels to achieve part or all of them:
- Hilton Gold Card
- IHG Platinum Card
- Marriott Platinum Card
- Accor Platinum Card
- Hyatt Adventurer
In terms of free breakfast benefits, Hilton and Marriott are better; Hilton has the most generous points rewards, and Marriott is more generous in executive lounges (in recent years, Marriott executive lounges have been complained by members because they are often overcrowded). IHG’s membership benefits have long been recognized as the worst among all hotel groups. The breakfast rights of the most advanced members are not fully guaranteed and are entirely decided by the hotel.
Based on the official member benefits, combined with actual check-in conditions, the hotel’s ranking of benefits to members: Hilton- Accor – Marriott-Hyatt-IHG
Travel tabloid summary
If you have never tried a hotel loyalty program before, I recommend AccorHotels Xin Yue Jie MemberAs a starter. Because this membership plan is the most worry-free, the amount of points that can be redeemed is fixed, so there is no need to calculate. In addition, the quality and price-performance ratio of Accor hotels are good, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.
If you travel frequently and visit many cities, then I recommend Marriott Bonvoy membership at Marriott Hotels. After all, Marriott has the largest number of hotels, more cities where they are released, and more choices.
If your budget for staying at a hotel is in the mid-price range and you are familiar with the algorithm and method of hotel points, I recommend Hilton’s Hilton Honors Member. Membership upgrades are relatively fast, maintenance is relatively easy, and membership benefits are relatively good.
In addition, if you already have a hotel you frequent or have a favorite, remember to register as a hotel member before making a reservation. Anyway, registration is free and you can also get bonus points.
