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Starwood Preferred Guest and Marriott Rewards are two of the most popular hotel loyalty programs in the world. If you are a business person or avid traveler, you know that these loyalty programs are beyond important as you can easily rack up some points for personal use. There are some people who swear by only one loyalty program so the real question is, “What hotel loyalty program is better – Starwood or Marriott?”

Starwood vs. Marriott...Let the Battle Begin!

Number of Locations

Starwood Preferred Guest: Starwood owns nine hotel industry heavyweight brands; Le Meridien, Aloft, The Luxury Collection, Westin, Four Points, Element, Sheraton, St. Regis and W Hotels throughout the world. The luxury hotel operator and franchiser has over 950 properties in about 50 countries.
Marriott Rewards: Marriott’s portfolio consists of eleven well known brands; Marriott Hotels & Resorts, JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Renaissance Hotels, EDITION Hotels, Autograph Collection, Courtyard, Residence Inn, Fairfield Inn & Suites, TownePlace Suites, SpringHill Suites and Marriott Vacation Club. The company operates and franchises approximately 3,150 properties in over 60 countries.
WINNER: MARRIOTT REWARDS – Marriott clearly has more properties than Starwood, allowing you more choices to use your well deserved reward points.

Point Usability

Starwood Preferred Guest: There are no blackout dates for standard rooms at Starwood hotels. Starwood Preferred Guest does not limit the number of standard rooms available for Free Night Awards. The one catch to look out for is the dreaded peak season – as some high end properties will charge a high point redemption rate.
Marriott Rewards: Since January 15, 2009, Marriott has eliminated blackout dates at over 3,000 Marriott hotel properties, making it possible for you to redeem points for rooms (single or double standard rooms) in more places worldwide. Similar to Starwood, the amount of points to redeem free nights can vary based on length of stay, time of the year and category of the hotel.
WINNER: TIE – Starwood and Marriott both offer no black out dates on standard rooms, no clear winner in this category.

Point Value

Starwood Preferred Guest: For every dollar spent, at a base level, you will earn 2 points. The average hotel property category requires about 7,000 Starwood Preferred Guest Points to be traded in to get a free night. Using some quick math, you will have to spend about $3,500 dollars (without promotions).
Marriott Rewards: For every dollar spent, at a base level, you will earn 10 points. The average hotel property category requires about 20,000 Marriott Rewards to be traded in to get a free night. Once again with a bit of simple math, you will have to spend about $2,000 dollars (without promotions).
WINNER: MARRIOTT REWARDS This was very close to being a tie but I gave the victory to Marriott. It’s cheaper to obtain Marriott points when you will be using the points for lodging but Starwood Preferred Guest Flight’s (SPG Flights) transfer ability to airline miles is a huge plus when you can get a bonus of 5,000 points after transferring 20,000 points to miles.

Credit Cards

Starwood Preferred Guest: The American Express Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card will give members up to 25,000 free points after their first purchase. On top of this, you will be rewarded 1 point for every dollar spent on the card as well 2 points for every dollar spent at Starwood properties. The annual fee for using this credit card to collect Starwood points is $45.00.
Marriott Rewards: The Marriott Rewards Visa Credit Card will give about 22,500 points (or 30,000 if you want the Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card) but has an annual fee of $65.00. Similar to Starwood Preferred Guests, Marriott Reward members will receive 1 point for every purchase and 3 points for every dollar spent at a Marriott location.
WINNER: STARWOOD PREFERRED GUEST – The bonus points as well as the lower annual fee makes Starwood the winner in this category. On top of that, 3 points for every dollar spent at Marriott isn’t that much when you earn 10 points per dollar spent on the hotel booking.

Bonus Points and Promotions

Starwood Preferred Guest: At some participating properties you can deny maid service for free points or even monetary gifts in an effort to help the environment. Who really needs new towels every night? The hotel chain also does quarterly promotions in which members can register to earn additional Starwood points. Starwood also has a few more creative bonus point offers (e.g., 2x, 3x, 4x reward points based on the length of your stay).
Marriott Rewards: Two words – Marriott MegaBonus. This promotion is usually offered once a year and allows members to earn up to 25,000 Marriott Reward points for consecutive stays at participating properties. The one problem with Marriott is that they usually offer promotions that require you to use a Marriott Rewards Visa Credit Card which can be a problem if you don’t want to sign up for a card.
WINNER: STARWOOD PREFERRED GUEST – The bonus points as well as the lower annual fee makes Starwood the winner in this category. On top of that, 3 points for every dollar spent at Marriott isn’t that much when you earn 10 points per dollar spent on the hotel booking.

Purchasing Points

Starwood Preferred Guest: The exchange rate to purchase Starwood Preferred Guest points is $17.50 (USD) for 500 points, which comes out to about $.035 (USD) per point. A Starwood Preferred Guest member is only allowed to receive or be sent a gift of 20,000 reward points per calendar year.
Marriott Rewards: If a guest does not have enough points to redeem for a free night, there is no need to fret. Marriott Reward points can be purchased for at an exchange rate of $12.50 (USD) for 1,000 points, which is a rate of .0125 points per dollar. A Marriott Rewards member is however only allowed to purchase (or be sent a gift) of up to 50,000 points per calendar year.
WINNER: STARWOOD PREFERRED GUEST – It’s basically a marketing ploy as you would think Marriott is the winner – cheaper to buy a lot of points, right? Let’s imagine that we are trying to purchase 20,000 points…if we stick with Marriott, we need to spend $250 dollars while we need spend $700 for Starwood. The only problem is that it is a bit unfair as 20,000 points can get a much better hotel category if you go with Starwood.

Freddie Awards (2009)

Starwood Preferred Guest: The 21st Annual Freddie Awards gave Starwood top honors in the following categories;

1. Best Elite-Level Program (Japan, Pacific, Asia, Australia)
2. Best Web Site (Europe, Middle East, Africa)
3. Best Member Communications (Japan, Pacific, Asia, Australia)
4. Best Affinity Credit Card (Americas)
5. Best Award (Japan, Pacific, Asia, Australia)
6. Best Award Redemption (Japan, Pacific, Asia, Australia)
7. Program of the Year (Japan, Pacific, Asia, Australia)
8. Program of the Year (Europe, Middle East, Africa)

Marriott Rewards: The host of the Freddie Awards, Randy Petersen, presented 1st place awards for the following categories;

1. Best Elite-Level Program (Europe, Middle East, Africa)
2. Best Elite-Level Program (Americas)
3. Best Web Site (Japan, Pacific, Asia, Australia)
4. Best Web Site (Americas)
5. Best Member Communications (Europe, Middle East, Africa)
6. Best Member Communications (Americas)
7. Best Bonus Promotion (Europe, Middle East, Africa)
8. Best Customer Service (Americas)
9. Program of the Year (Americas)

WINNER: MARRIOTT REWARDS – This is easy…9 Freddie Awards is more than 8 Freddie Awards.

Membership Tiers

Starwood Preferred Guest: It’s a bit easier to obtain higher membership tiers at Starwood as there are only two levels above the basic “Preferred” tier;

• Gold Preferred – 10 stays or 25 nights
• Platinum Preferred – 25 stays or 50 nights

Marriott Rewards: It’s easy to obtain silver, but if you want to move up in the elite ranks in Marriott’s world, you’ll need some serious stays.

• Silver – 10 nights
• Gold – 50 nights
• Platinum – 75 nights

WINNER: STARWOOD PREFERRED GUEST – The benefits offered at the platinum level for both Starwood and Marriott are about equal but it’s a bit easier to obtain the highest membership level at Starwood.

And the Winner is…

The final score between in the battle between Starwood Preferred Guest and Marriott Rewards is…drum roll please…MARRIOTT REWARDS! I personally have signed up for both loyalty programs as I travel a decent amount for work but I usually lean towards Starwood hotels when the opportunity exists. As of writing this post, I have over 100,000 points at both Starwood and Marriott – now I just need to figure ideas on where to use them…