Are You Loyal? Part 1.

For example, to reach Silver status you have to have either 4 stays, 10 nights, or 25,000 Hilton Honors Base Points. Now, a stay is defined by the time you are in a Hilton hotel from check-in to check out. So if you were staying at the Hilton Garden Inn in Washington, DC for 4 nights, that would be considered 1 stay, 4 nights. However, if you stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn for 1 night, checked out and then stayed at the Homewood Suites for 1 night, checked out, then stayed at the Home 2 Home Suites for 1 night, checked out and then stayed at the Hilton for 1 night, that would be considered 4 stays, and 4 nights and thus you would be eligible for Silver status. Now, this seems easy enough but as you can see, checking in and out of hotels every day is a bit of a hassle. But for a quicker way to gaining status if you're about that life, I say go for it.

Hotel Loyalty Programs

There are a BUNCH of hotel rewards programs but today I'll just be focusing on the big three: Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, and World of Hyatt. Each program offers you something different.

Marriott Bonvoy

The first rewards program I was a part of. I've been a Marriott member for about a decade. Signing up for the program is free and you gain status the more your stay - simple. There are 6 levels of status in the Bonvoy program: Member, Silver Elite, Gold Elite, Platinum Elite, Titanium Elite, and Ambassador Elite. When you sign up, your automatically at member status. You reach Silver Elite by staying 10 nights , Gold Elite by staying 25 nights, Platinum Elite by staying 50 nights, Titanium Elite by staying 75 nights, and Ambassador Elite by staying 100 night PLUS spending $20k in one year.

With each tier you get access to more benefits like late check-in, room upgrades, welcome presents, percentage bonus points, enhanced wifi, and more. Garnering status at Marriott is one of the smartest things to do because Marriott has the biggest hotel portfolio out of the three mentioned because of their acquisition of Westin and Sheraton hotels. Yes, if you didn't know, Sheraton hotels are owned by Marriott so your status works there too! You can use your status for a number of things and the points you garner, can be used to pay for rooms. Pricing depends on the time of the year and the location but if you play your cards right and be flexible you could come out spending little to nothing on an amazing stay.

If you don't feel like garnering status by staying there is an easier way - open a credit card. The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ Credit Card from Chase and Marriott Bonvoy Bold™ Credit Card from Chase both come with automatic Silver Elite status for the card holders and the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card comes with automatic Gold Elite status for card holders. Being a card holder offers you a faster way to earn points as well as retain status for stays. Check out more about the Marriott Bonvoy program here.

Hilton Honors

The next rewards program is Hilton Honors. This rewards program has 4 levels: Member, Silver, Gold, and Diamond. Member is automatic when you sign up (which is free), Silver status is reached through: 4 stays, 10 nights or 25,000 Hilton Honors Base Points. Gold is reached through 20 stays, 40 nights or 75,000 Hilton Honors Base Points. And Diamond is reached through 30 stays, 60 nights or 120,000 Hilton Honors Base Points. As you can see you have more options to reach versus the other programs and this actually comes in handy.

Another quick way to get status across programs is by status match. If you have status with one program, the others may allow you to match the equivalent in their program usually requiring you to stay a select amount of nights during a time period. For example, I am GOLD Elite with Marriott Bonvoy. I requested a status match with Hilton Honors and was required to complete 4 stays in 60 days. I did this by staying at the Doubletree in Fort Lauderdale, Hilton Garden Inn Miami, and Hilton Washington D.C. for my birthday weekend and my final stay was at the Homewood Suites in Atlanta a few weeks later. I garnered Gold status until 2021. Status match can be tricky but it can also be extremely beneficial when done correctly. nd out of hotels every day is a bit of a hassle. But for a quicker way to gaining status if you're about that life, I say go for it.

Here are some of the perks that come with having status at Hilton

You can also garner status through credit cards. The Hilton Honors Credit Card by American Express gives you automatic Silver status. The Hilton Honors Amex Surpass® Card gives you automatics Gold status and the Hilton Honors Amex Aspire® Card gives you automatic Diamond status. Check out more about Hilton Honors here.

World of Hyatt

World of Hyatt is the final rewards program. There are four levels in this program and three different ways to garner status.

Like the other programs, with each tier you get access to more benefits like late check-in, room upgrades, welcome presents, percentage bonus points, enhanced wifi, and more. If you don't want to garner status by stays you can also gain it by credit cards. Opening the World of Hyatt Credit Card by Chase will give you automatic Discoverist status. Check out more about World of Hyatt here.

Status Match

Another quick way to get status across programs is by status match. If you have status with one program, the others may allow you to match the equivilent in their program usually requiring you to stay a select amount of nights during a time period. For example: I am GOLD Elite with Marriott Bonvoy. I requested a status match with Hilton Honors and was required to complete 4 stays in 60 days. I did this by staying at the Doubletree in Fort Lauderdale, Hilton Garden Inn Miami, and Hilton Washington D.C. for my birthday weekend and my final stay was at the Homewood Suites in Atlanta a few weeks later. I garnered Gold status until 2021. Status match can be tricky but it can also be extremely beneficial when done correctly.

There are a host of other rewards programs out there so if you're a part of one not mentioned here and would like information about it, drop a note. I'll be sure to get back to you.