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Hotel World of Hyatt

World of Hyatt – 10min-Rocket-Guide for Beginners

Required commitment for optimal use of World of Hyatt:
Budget per night: min. 150€ (better 200€)
Nights per year: min. 60

World of Hyatt is a luxury hotel points collection programme. It is definitely a programme for high-frequency travellers with a larger budget than is required for hotel groups such as Marriott, Hilton or IHG. Additionally, it only comes into question as a primary loyalty programme if you are more likely to be travelling in larger cities, otherwise coverage is very thin (especially in Germany). At World of Hyatt, there was actually no brand with accommodation prices below 100€ on a regular basis. Due to the cooperation with Lindner Hotels (which bring the hip brand "me and all hotels"), which was decided at the end of 2022, there may now be new opportunities and, considering the regular standard, more mid-scale brands will be brought on board. However, this offers the chance to collect nights, points and status even with a lower budget, which can then be used in the luxury brands (every Hyatt brand participates in the collection of nights per year).

There are a total of 4 status levels. Each registered "World of Hyatt" member is initially a "Member", the table shows the other 3 status levels Discoverist, Explorist and Globalist. For every $1 spent (other currencies are automatically converted to dollars via the World of Hyatt internal conversion rate), the guest is awarded 5 points and one night in the World of Hyatt account. With each status level, which is dependent on the number of nights spent in the year, the number of points to be received increases. For Discoverist by 10% - so it increases to 5.5 points per dollar. The other point increases can be seen in Table 1. It is clear to note here that Hyatt is not only bringing higher nightly rates, but unfortunately also cutting corners on reward point bonuses. The large hotel groups Hilton, IHG, Marriott bonus with 10 points per dollar in the basic status level. This should be taken into account when calculating the number of points required for reward nights. These are then, colloquially speaking, about twice as expensive at Hyatt.
A very convenient highlight is the guaranteed late check-out (Discoverist and Explorist 14 h, and Globalist 16 h), as well as the free breakfast for the status holder + 1 guest in the same room (Globalist). In addition, there are room upgrades from the Explorist onwards, but only in the standard categories. The Globalist can also receive upgrades to suites, for example, but it is important to know that Hyatt hotels are obliged to give the Globalist the best room available for sale (up to the 1st category of suites). As a rule, globalists always receive a suite, provided the hotel is not fully booked.

At World of Hyatt, you receive an automatic status match with MGM Rewards if you are a Discoverist (Pearl)or Explorist (Gold). The MGM Rewards programme primarily operates hotels and casinos in the USA and Asia in casino cities such as Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Macao - but also Dubai. The two status levels Pearl and Gold bring room upgrades as well as access to free parking or VIP entry to certain nightclubs in Las Vegas. For more information, visit the following link. MGM. However, from my perspective it is rather an insignificant chain, as it is very much geared towards casino rather than business travellers, and will therefore not be examined in detail here.
From Globalist, alounge access is also included, here you usually get access from 6:30am to approx. midnight and can expect a continental breakfast in the morning and a dinner in the evening. There is also usually a multi-hour happy hour in the evening hours, where beer, wine and sparkling wine are available. At Hyatt, as in the other hotel chains, lounges are not available in all brands and also not in all hotels of the brands. They are mostly found at Hyatt Regency,Grand Hyatt and Park Hyatt.
Another great - and also rather unique - advantage is that as a Globalist you can park free of charge on Reward nights. This is sometimes underestimated on holiday road trips as a very high cost factor!
As a further feature, World of Hyatt also has a cooperation with an airline, similar to Marriott. At World of Hyatt, you can earn an additional 1 bonus point on American Airlines for every dollar spent.

Important: If possible, always book directly through Hyatt, otherwise the status levels will not be recognised and you will not receive any points or nights. Use the company codes of your companies to get the correct price and not to pay too much.

World of Hyatt awards the status level Globalist as a status for lifetime. Interestingly, unlike Hilton or Marriott, this is not awarded after a certain number of nights and constant membership at a high status level. You "only" need 1 million base points. Base points are awarded - regardless of the status level - 5 per US$ 1 spent. The e.g. 1.5 points extra as a globalist are bonus points, which do not count for this. So you currently have to invest about $200,000 over an indefinite period of time.

Like other reward programmes such as IHG One Rewards, World of Hyatt offers a milestone bonus. After 20 and 30 nights you get 2 vouchers each for the Club Lounge in Hyatt hotels (if one is available). For 70 to 100 nights, there is a choice of 10,000 points or a Suite Night Upgrade voucher every 10 nights. For 50 and 60 nights, you will receive 2 Suite Night Upgrade Vouchers. This entitles the holder to a free upgrade to a Standard Suite when booking via a standard rate / company rate / or similar (no reward night certificate). The special feature of the voucher is that at Hyatt you are guaranteed a suite directly at the time of booking, whereas atMarriott and IHG you only receive the official confirmation 5 days or at the earliest 14 days before arrival. Since suite upgrades are granted much more frequently at Hyatt hotels, I would, however, rather recommend the 10,000 points for optional choices of 70 nights or more.
Last but not least, the bonus of 1 Reward Night Certificate for category 1-4 hotels (from 30 nights) and 1 Reward Night Certificate for category 1-7 hotels (from 60 nights) should be mentioned.

World of Hyatt is still one of the last programmes that divides the hotels into categories for the redemption of reward nights. At Hyatt, this means that the hotels (see Table 3) cost a point value depending on the assigned category. There are also slight fluctuations, but as a rule you can book the Andaz Hotel in Munich for about 20,000 - 23,000 points - even during the Oktoberfest, where the standard price of 210-300€ can be significantly higher than 600-700€.

Table 4 shows which brands are included in the World of Hyatt programme. Each brand has received a comment from the author for characterisation. The classification into the 5 categories Luxury, Up-Scale, Mid-Scale, Lifestyle & Hip and Apartment Style & All-Inclusive is also a subjective assessment by the author.

Luxury: Absolutely high-end hotels with high prices but fantastic designs, excellent service as well as high quality and extensive facilities. My favourite: Is really difficult with Hyatt, as many brands are really luxurious and very high-end. However, at the top of elegance for me is Park Hyatt.
Up-Scale: Hotels with a very high standard, often in big cities with corporate rates/contracts booked by business people (corporate consultants, auditors, sales, et al). My favourite: Hyatt Regency. As you get an upper-up-scale standard in combination with nice wellness area and executive lounge.
Mid-scale: Cheaper alternatives, which bring a good "value for money" with them, but not always very luxurious standard. My favourite: Hyatt Place (high quality for mid-scale and also pretty cool, the relatively boring Lindner brand, which is a new cooperation partner, doesn't really come close).
Lifestyle & Hip: A category that has emerged more strongly in the last 5-7 years, where every hotel group has developed several brands and opened hotels. It focuses on Generation Y and Z and wants to give a hip cool experience that is clearly differentiated from the classic approaches. At Hyatt, you can expect modern rooms, less big, bulky furniture, more integration of storage and hanging places into the room as a whole. Instead, there is lots of life, space and opportunities for gathering in which the common areas such as the lobby are often converted into a breakfast room in the morning or at least have a smooth transition to it. My favourite: Andaz (very cool design that meets luxury) - for travellers with a smaller budget I can highly recommend the "me and all hotels" (very hip, cool rooms and usually also a cool bar).
Apartment-Style & All-Inclusive: 2 categories that are not very common in Europe and rather strongly influenced by the USA. The flat style is created for long-term stays, here you will find rooms with a well-equipped kitchen, sleeping area and living room-like elements, which should enable a self-sufficient life like in your own flat. The whole thing is also extended by facilities such as sauna and gym, as well as restaurant and room service offers. In my view, this is a good case for management consultants, auditors or other business people who spend a long time in one place and don't want to have hotel breakfasts or every evening restaurant. I won't go into detail about Hyatt's all-inclusive brands here and only mention them for the sake of completeness, as I haven't had any experience with them yet and they are not in my travel focus. My favourite: Hyatt House (it is also the only real brand for long-term stays by Hyatt, but in Europe still with few locations).

Table 5 lists personal references and subjective assessments of the author. The category "Best Hotels" is based exclusively on personal experience and is certainly not exhaustive. The following categories are described:
Brand: Hyatt has only a fraction of the worldwide coverage with approx. 1150 hotels in 70 countries vs. more than 8000 hotels of Marriott in over 130 countries. Hyatt hotels are more likely to be found in the USA or in Europe / Asia in large metropolises. In Germany, the coverage will be significantly improved by the cooperation within the framework of Joie de Vivre with Lindner hotels and me and all hotels (otherwise Hyatt would not even have a hotel in Hamburg at present!) The quality level of the brand is very high in all categories and I have hardly ever had an unsatisfactory stay.
The app offers solid functionalities. Again, a chat functionality with the hotel of the upcoming stay is offered for the users. There is also the partial option of a digital room key, otherwise there are the standard functionalities such as booking/cancellation of rooms as well as the display of the electronic bill (unfortunately, this often does not work).

Upgrades: At Hyatt, there have been very good upgrades for me so far (e.g. rooms on the club level with lounge access), even at times when I was only a "member". According to the definitions of the World of Hyatt programme, such upgrades may not even be granted at the status level of Explorist. As a Globalist, you are always guaranteed the best available room at Hyatt. In principle, this is up to each hotel, but rooms up to the category Standard Suite are permitted. As soon as a standard suite is available for sale, it must be allocated to the holder of the Globalist status level. Access is always for oneself plus a guest (who must be officially registered to the room). Unfortunately, in my past Hyatt hotels have actually checked more frequently who is in the lounge (especially when dinner is being set up). Then staff usually go from table to table and ask for the room number. The lounges to which the status level Globalist always has access are very individually designed per hotel. As a rule, there is a free continental breakfast with 2-4 hot options (depending on the hotel) and a quite lavish selection of cold dishes (fruits, bread variations, spreads, cold cuts of sausage and cheese, etc.). Evenings usually from 17:30/18h until 20:30/21:00 there is a small dinner with cold starters, salad and dessert buffet of very different size and quality. In addition, there are always 3-5 warm options (soups, but also very good dishes such as fish, game, etc.). This is usually accompanied by beer and a selection of various wines / sparkling wine. Lounges can be found above all in the Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt and Hyatt Regency brands.
During the day, soft drinks are usually available, as well as bread / pastries and usually a few bowls of sweets or salty snacks.

Important to know:If you are upgraded to a Club Room without Globalist status level, you are entitled to lounge access.

Wellness: The quality of the wellness areas in most Hyatt brands is significantly higher than the average of the other large hotel groups Hilton, Marriott and IHG (with the exception of the Luxury segment of the respective hotel groups). Fitness studios can be found in virtually all brands. Wellness areas can be found in almost all Up-Scale and Luxury Brands, as well as in the Lifestyle Brands Andaz, Alila, me and all hotels (joie de vivre). In the mid-scale segment, only Lindner Hotels (joie de vivre).

Best Hotels: Basically, I have to say that Hyatt hotels rarely disappoint, the standard is always very high (exception is possibly the new cooperation with Lindner Hotels). Here you can find an overview of my personal favourite hotels. I generally like the cool, hip "me and all hotels". The Grand Hyatt in Berlin is a highlight for me with its beautifully designed wellness area on the top floor with pool, Jacuzzi, sauna + steam bath. It sets the scene for a very relaxing stay. However, the rooms and club lounge are not super standout compared to the rest of the Hyatt portfolio.
The Hyatt Regency in Düsseldorf is certainly from the outside as well as from the inside the most beautiful and coolest designed Hyatt Regency I have experienced so far. The rooms, lounge and wellness area are really beautiful and luxurious. My absolute favourite in Germany, however, is the Andaz in Munich (I will also write a report with pictures). The high windows in the rooms with the direct (reclining) seating against the glass and the design details are really high-class. The absolute highlight, however, is the two-storey spa. With a large pool including jacuzzi on the 6th floor, 2 saunas and a steam bath and a really huge range of super comfortable lounging areas + a cafe with excellent food and beverage offerings and very attentive staff.

Reward-Nights:
World-of-Hyatt is one of the few programmes that still divides its hotels into categories. That is, each hotel is assigned to one of 8 price categories. The cheapest starts at 3,500 pointsper night and the most expensive at 35,000 points (see Table 3). In a good hotel in the middle category for 12,000 points, one can therefore receive the first free night with a realistic average room price of 170 euros in Globalist status after 11 nights. As a point collector, however, you should always keep an eye out for promotions such as double points per night (you usually have to actively register for this). Or the 500 points awarded by Hyatt for newly opened hotels. Hyatt also offers the possibility of individual hotels offering rates with double points. Within the categories, there are only a few fluctuations around the respective point price. That means the required points are approximatelyalways at the price of the category with slight deviations (+- 3-5%), however, completely independent of the current daily rate. Very good sweet spots are therefore possible here, especially at times when there is high demand due to trade fairs or events such as the Oktoberfest.

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Hotel IHG One Rewards

IHG One Rewards – 10min-Rocket-Guide for Beginners

Necessary commitment for optimal use of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG):
Budget per night: at least 70€ (better 100€)
Nights per year: at least 70

IHG One Rewards is a very good hotel points collection programme as an alternative to Marriott or Hilton. I would never recommend using it as a primary programme, only if you travel a lot on business in smaller cities or have alower budget for hotel nights. Otherwise, it is always very good as a complementary collective programme to Marriott or Hilton if there is no alternative in the respective city. There is often an IHG One Rewards hotel in Europe (especially in Germany) such as Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express. The programme nevertheless comes with a wide range of 19 brands with diverse low-budget and high-end hotels. The geographical coverage with IHG hotels is very good in Europe and especially in Germany, which is certainly the biggest advantage of the chain. Only the coverage with high-end hotels is not particularly good, especially in Germany.

There are a total of 5 status levels. Every registered "IHG One Rewards" member is initially a "Club", the table shows the other 4 status levels Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. For the sake of completeness, it should be mentioned that there is also a purchasable status. The Ambassador status of the flagship chain InterContinental can be purchased for US$200 or 40,000 points and takes you directly to the Platinum status level (for the benefits see Table 2, but these apply only at the InterContinental Hotels & Resorts brand). For every $1 spent (other currencies are automatically converted to dollars via IHG's internal conversion rate), the guest is awarded 10 points and one night in the "IHG One Rewards" account. With each status level, which is dependent on the number of nights spent in the year, the number of points to be received increases. At Silver by 20% - so it increases to 12 points per dollar. The other point increases can be seen in Table 1.

Late Check-Out at IHG is already available from status level Club and always until 2 pm. This is a bit of a shame for status members in the higher categories, as chains such asHilton andMarriott also offer3pmor 4pm. On the other hand, this offers the possibility to get a late check-out until 2pm just by registering with IHG. From Gold onwards, there is the cool feature of Roll-Overnights. This allows you to use unused nights as part of achieving status the following year. For example, I achieved 19 nights in the last year, receive Silver status (10 nights) and thus just fail to achieve Gold status, this means that I take 9 nights into the next year and do not start at 0.
From the status level Platinum you get a snack, drink or extra points (usually between 300 and 600, which is not very much) and from the level Diamond you can choose afree breakfast for you and a guest from the same room. There are also executive lounges at IHG, for example at InterContinental, Regent, Crowne Plaza, Voco and even Holiday Inn. However, in Europe there are relatively few hotels with executive lounges, if then mostly in the Crowne Plaza or InterContinental. In addition, it is noticeable that access to the lounge is not granted via the status level. Presumably, they want to prevent the lounges from being flooded with people who have reached the status via challenges or matches from other hotel chains.

Access to the Executive Lounge can already be achieved at IHG from 40 nights via a milestone bonus (see Table 3). The milestone bonuses, which are shown in Table 3, start from the 20th completed overnight stay. From then on, you can choose one of up to 4 options every 10 nights (additional points, vouchers for food and drinks, suite night upgrades or the already mentioned lounge access.

Important:If possible, always book via IHG directly, otherwise the status levels will not be recognised and you will not receive any points or nights credited. Use the company codes of your companies to get the correct price displayed and not to pay too much.

Unlike Marriott, Hilton or Hyatt, you cannot achieve status on lifetime at IHG so far.

Table 2 shows which brands are included in the IHG One Rewards programme. Each brand has received a comment from the author for characterisation. The classification into the 5 categories Luxury, Up-Scale, Mid-Scale, Lifestyle & Hip and Apartment Style is also a subjective assessment by the author.

Luxury: Absolutely high-end hotels with high prices, but fantastic designs, excellent service and high-quality and extensive facilities. My favourite: Kimpton (very stylish high end hotels, with mostly also cool bars / restaurants).
Up-scale: Hotels with a very high standard, often in big cities with corporate rates/contracts booked by business people (corporate consultants, auditors, sales, etc.). My favourite: Crowne Plaza (compact brand, often with wellness and executive lounges).
Mid-Scale: Cheaper alternatives, which bring a good "value for money", but are not always very luxurious standard. My favourite: Holiday Inn Express (the brand has had a new design concept for a few years and has already implemented it to a large extent, which is why the hotels have a good look, besides the high coverage, thevalue for money is absolutely convincing here).
Lifestyle & Hip: A category that has emerged more strongly in the last 5-7 years, where every hotel group has developed several brands and opened hotels. It focuses on Generation Y and Z and wants to give a hip cool experience that is clearly differentiated from the classic approaches. Small modern rooms, with fewer features (uniform room sizes, hardly any furniture), but lots of life, space and opportunities to get together in the common areas such as the lobby (which is often converted into a breakfast room in the morning). My favourite: Indigo (cool brand, yet very upscale, often also with special local features and gym + wellness).
Apartment style: Category that is strongly influenced by the USA and not yet very widespread in Europe. Created for long-term stays, you will find rooms with a well-equipped kitchen and sleeping area and living room-like elements that are intended to enable self-sufficient living as in a flat of one's own. But the whole thing is also extended by facilities such as sauna and gym, as well as restaurant and room service offers. From my point of view a good case for management consultants, auditors or other business people who spend a long time in one place and don't want any more hotel breakfasts or every evening restaurant. My favourite: Staybridge Suites (there are only a few in Europe in the Netherlands, France and the UK, overall stylish but also really cosy like in a flat).

Note for newcomers: InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) is on the one hand the entire hotel group, but there are also InterContinental Hotels as a hotel brand.

Table 5 lists personal notes and subjective assessments by the author. The following categories are described:
Brand: In my view, IHG offers the best overall best geographic coverage above all through the strong mid-scale brands Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express. Here you can strategically collect in the Mid-Scale Brands and then book in high-end brands like Kimpton or Intercontinental via points. The disadvantage compared to Hilton and Marriott is that the free breakfast is only selectable from Diamond (70 nights). The IHG App is so far good for the basic functions bookings / cancellations. In addition, you can also choose between the options for milestones reached in the app (see Table 3). In comparison, the app does not offer any other noteworthy functions.

Upgrades: From Platinum status, I have received very good upgrades to large suites here in the past (especially at Regent and Intercontinental).

Lounges: Access is always for yourself and one other guest. What is particularly interesting about IHG's "Club Lounges" is that the guest explicitly does not have to be a guest in the hotel, so it is very convenient to invite work colleagues, business partners or friends/relatives. The lounges to which one has access through the selected option after the milestone bonus after 40 or 70 nights are very individually designed. The InterContinental lounges tend to have the richest selection, offering tea, coffee and soft drinks in the morning and sometimes a continental breakfast (egg dishes, sausages, bacon, mushrooms, etc.), during the day (approx. 12-17 hrs) a buffet of snacks (lunch snacks, sweet snacks) and in the evening (approx. 18-20 hrs) a buffet with 2-3 warm options. This is usually accompanied by beer and wine / sparkling wine as well as other high-proof spirits such as gin, vodka, whiskey. IHG outperforms Marriott and Hilton with the offer, as snacks are available during the day. At the others, you usually wait until the evening for food after breakfast.

Wellness: The wellness quality is good to very good, especially in the hotels from the luxury segment. Unique spa experiences with sauna, steam baths and pool can be found in the Brand Six Senses. In Germany I don't have a favourite, but in Europe the Six Senses in Rome.

Best Hotels: In Germany I don't have any hotels which I find really impressive. Depending on whether you get a renovated room, the InterContinental Berlin with its good wellness area left a very good impression on me. Overall, the hotel with the best all-round concept for me was the Intercontinental El Presidente on Cozumel in Mexico, where the location on the beach, mti the large high-end rooms and great resort stlye is very convincing.

Reward Nights: IHG has relatively humane prices here compared to Hilton when redeeming Reward Nights. There is also no high volatility with higher demand/supply shortages. Good value is offered above all by IHG's own brands (i.e. no partnership collaborations such as Mr. and Mrs. Smith) such as InterContinental, Kimpton, Holiday Inn, Hoiday Inn Express. Collecting points at IHG is not particularly fast even as a Diamond status level (100% extra points, i.e. 20 points per 1 US dollar) in comparison to Marriott and Hilton, as the internal conversion rate from euros to US dollars at IHG is not particularly good in my experience, often almost 1:1. For loyal customers, however, there are often promotions for double, triple or even quadruple points, which can fill the points account enormously quickly. Good to very good hotels can be achieved from 15,000 to 50,000 Punte per night, depending on personal preference.

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Accor Live Limiteless (ALL) Hotel

Accor Live Limitless – 10min-Rocket-Guide for Beginners

Der Guide zu Accor Live Limitless befindet sich gerade in der Erstellung und erscheint voraussichtlich Mitte Februar 2023 – stay tuned!

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Hilton Honors Hotel

Hilton Honors – 10min-Rocket-Guide for Beginners

Necessary commitment for optimal use of Hilton Honors:
Budget per night: min. 100€ (better 120€)
Nights per year: min. 60

Hilton Honors is a very good hotel points collection programme, with a wide range of 18 brands with various low-budget and high-end hotels. The geographical coverage of Hilton hotels is very good in North America, but in Europe more concentrated in large cities. From my perspective, the Hilton Honors programme is only the first choice if you very personally like the style of the hotels. However, for me the programme is only 2nd place after Marriott Bonvoy (see also my guide to Marriott Bonvoy), as it scores slightly worse in many aspects in a direct comparison.

There are a total of 4 status levels. Every registered Hilton Honors member is initially a "Member", the table shows the other 3 status levels Silver, Gold, Diamond. For every 1 dollar spent (other currencies are automatically converted to dollars via the Hilton-internal conversion rate), the guest is credited with 10 points and one night in the "Hilton Honors" account.
With each status level, which is dependent on the number of nights spent in the year, the number of points to be received increases. At Silver by 20% - so it increases to 12 points per dollar. See Table 1 for the other point increases. Late Check-Out at Hilton is unfortunately not very specifically regulated and is already available from status level Silver. This devalues the whole thing somewhat and it is also not really clear whether there are differences for the respective status levels and certainly not until when a late check-out is available. As a rule, I have always received maximum until 3pm with my Diamond status so far. A great feature is for longer stays that if you book 5 consecutive nights, the 5th night is free. For me, the outstanding quality and scope of Hilton's - hotel group-wide - breakfast is absolutely free of charge from status level Gold for you and a guest from the same room. Unlike at Marriott, this is also available in every brand without exception. Since 2022, there is the restriction that in the USA, unfortunately, only daily consumption vouchers are issued at most brands. Depending on the brand, these range between $10-25 per person, but can also be used for lunch, dinner or at the bar instead of breakfast. This has advantages for people who don't like to go out for breakfast.

From status level Diamond, Hilton Honors also offers access to executive lounges alongside Marriott, which are available in various brands (see Table 2, highlighted in red). However, my personal experience is that even in the main brand Hilton there is no good coverage with executive lounges.
In the Hilton Honors programme there is an additional milestone bonus, from 40 to 100 nights one receives 10.000 points bonus per 10 nights, with the exception of 60 nights, where you will receive 30,000 points.
A unique feature at Hilton is the option to once only extend your Diamond status if you don't reach 60 nights. To do this, you must have held Diamond status for at least 3 years (does not have to be consecutive) or have collected a total of 500,000 base points.

Important:If possible, always book through Hilton directly, otherwise the status levels will not be recognised and you will not be credited with points or nights. Use the company codes of your companies to get the correct price and not to pay too much.

Hilton Honors offers exactly one status level Diamond as a lifetime status. In addition to holding Diamond status for 10 years (can also be with interruptions), 1000 overnight stays or 2 million base points (i.e. without promotions or bonuses) are required. Achieving a lifetime status has the respective benefits of the status level for life (see Table 1).

Table 2 shows which brands are included in the Hilton Honours programme. Each brand has received a comment from the author for characterisation. The classification into the 5 categories Luxury, Up-Scale, Mid-Scale, Lifestyle & Hip and Apartment Style is also a subjective assessment by the author.

Luxury: Absolutely high-end hotels with high prices but fantastic designs, excellent service as well as high quality and extensive facilities. My favourite: Waldorf Astoria (absolute mega brand with top service and design).
Up-scale: Hotels with a very high standard, often in big cities with corporate rates/contracts booked by business people (corporate consultants, auditors, sales, et al). My favourite: Hilton (as often with lounge and a compact offer with gym and wellness).
Mid-scale: Cheaper alternatives, which bring a good "value for money", but not always very luxurious standard. My favourite: Hampton (because especially in Germany new hotels with good free breakfast offer [also without status!]).
Lifestyle & Hip: A category that has emerged more strongly especially in the last 5-7 years, here every hotel group has developed several brands and opened hotels. It focuses on Generation Y and Z and wants to give a hip cool experience that is clearly differentiated from the classic approaches. Small modern rooms, with fewer features (uniform room sizes, hardly any furniture), but lots of life, space and opportunities for gathering in the common areas such as the lobby (which is often converted into a breakfast room in the morning). My favourite: Canopy (very hip upscale chain, with Nordic designs in the room), Motto (1 hotel in Europe in Rotterdam) and Tempo are very young brands from 2018 that have only opened individual hotels so far.
Apartment Style: category that is strongly influenced by the USA and not yet very widespread in Europe. Created for long-term stays, you will find rooms with a well-equipped kitchen and sleeping area and living room-like elements, which are intended to enable self-sufficient living as in one's own flat. But the whole thing is also extended by facilities such as sauna and gym, as well as restaurant and room service offers. From my point of view a good case for management consultants, auditors or other business people who spend a long time in one place and don't want any more hotel breakfasts or every evening restaurant. My favourite: Here I don't have a favourite yet, at Embassy Suites I have seen many stylish hotels online. Basically, however, all apartment-style brands are very widespread in North America and partly in Asia. In Europe, in contrast to Marriott, Hilton does not offer hotels designed for longer stays.

Note for newcomers: Hilton is on the one hand the entire hotel holding company, but Hilton also exists as a hotel brand.

Table 3 lists personal references and subjective assessments of the author. The following categories are described:

Brand: Hilton offers a good selection of lower budget hotels such as Garden Inn, Hampton, tru or motto, but especially in Europe does not have the coverage as competing brands from Marriott, Accor or IHG. Hilton relies heavily on the Hampton brand, which is slowly spreading in Germany. Otherwise, there are many outdated hotels in the upscale sector at the "Hilton"brand in Europe, where no more investments have been made for too many years. If you are aiming for modern hotels, you should consider the Double Tree Hotels. The Luxury Brands such as Waldorf Astoria and Conrad, on the other hand, are without exception flagship chains. However, both Luxury and Up-Scale do not have very high coverage in Europe. The Hilton Honors app offers well-functioning basic functions for bookings and cancellations. Really good features are that you can request an upgrade in the app and also get the respective concrete status advantages for the concrete brand displayed (e.g. your advantages at Hilton Garden Inn as status level Diamond). Furthermore, in addition to the digital room key, there is the possibility to select a concrete room on the day of check-in in the app in a room location plan. As a final point, I would like to mention the website (hilton.com - not .de!, which is really terrible) as a positive aspect, you can filter very clearly and in detail in the hotel search and it is also visually very nicely prepared.

Upgrades: This is a very difficult topic with Hilton, here I have not really got through the strategy of the hotel group. There are neither suite night upgrade vouchers that you can somehow "sleep through", nor does Hilton really noticeable upgrades to great suites (even not as a Diamond member). Most of the time you get the room you booked and at most a higher floor as an upgrade. Feel free to post your experiences here in the comments.

Lounges: Executive lounges are most frequently offered in the "Hilton" brand (access from Diamond status level), but also in some other brands (see Table 2). In any case, it should be emphasised that - unlike the Marriott hotel group and its main brand "Marriott" -not every "Hilton" brand hotel offers a lounge. However, a big advantage is that you can filter the lounge in the hotel search for the lounge (see picture 2). Access is always for oneself and a guest (who must be officially registered in the room). In practice, I have experienced relatively few controls in the last 10 years. So it is a good idea to invite work colleagues, business partners or friends/relatives. Usually there is a free continental breakfast with 3-4 hot options (egg dishes, sausages, bacon, mushrooms etc.) in the morning. In the afternoon there are often cakes and sweet pastries. In the evening, you can expect a small cold buffet between 6 pm and 8 pm, usually supplemented by 2 hot dishes. In my experience, however, this is not gourmet cuisine, here often simple mozarella sticks, wings, nuggets or other not particularly high-quality dishes are offered (here there are very large individual differences between the various hotels - even within the brands). When it comes to drinks, there is a larger offer than just beer and wine and more high-proof spirits such as gin, vodka, whiskey or others are also offered. However, I must personally say that these are always somewhat lost / lovelessly positioned on a table and you don't get the feeling of a bar, as you mix the long drinks yourself a bit like at a flat-sharing party.
During the day there are mostly soft drinks.

Wellness: The wellness quality is mostly good to very good, especially in the hotels from upscale. The spa area often has a pool in addition to a sauna and steam bath. The best spa areas in Germany are in the Waldorf Astoria and Hilton Airport Munich and Doubletree Hannover - Schweizerhof. There are usually wellness areas on offer from the upscale category onwards, but here every hotel really has to be considered individually and no leading brand crystallises out.

Best Hotels: Here you will find an overview of my personally favoured hotels. The Waldorf Astoria in Berlin is an absolute high-end hotel, with great immaculate design. The other hotels listed are from my personal history, but without clear favourites. In Madrid, the Canopy Hotel with its very extensive breakfast has been a highlight for me. It offers a very cool rooftop pool that is very worthwhile, especially in summer, with the insane temperatures in Spain's capital.

Reward Nights: A very complicated topic is the Reward Nights at Hilton. You can collect a lot of points very quickly in the Hilton Honors system, there are also regular promotions for double points or similar. However, Hilton already replaced the hotel categories years ago and introduced a flexible points system, which is why there are strong fluctuations in the points required for bookings. The value of 1 Hilton Honors point varies between 0.2 and 0.8 cent (€). So there is no fixed conversion from points to € as with Accor, but there can be fluctuations of points required for a night in a room between 30,000 and 140,000 points (I saw this for example once at the Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona). It is based on demand, but sometimes it feels completely arbitrary in the concrete point requirement.

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Hotel Marriott Bonvoy

Marriott Bonvoy – 10min-Rocket-Guide for Beginners

Necessary commitment for the optimal use of Marriott Bonvoy:
Budget per night: min. 100€ (better 120€)
Nights per year: min. 50

The best hotel points collection programme for me is currently Marriott Bonvoy. Especially for frequent travellers who are not always in the same city. With over 29 brands, it is a very broad chain from low-budget to high-end hotels. It offers very high coverage worldwide on all continents. Through a variety of lifestyle and lower-budget brands, it allows point earners with smaller purses to earn reward nights at high-end hotels and enjoy status benefits there (for earning nights per year, every Marriott brand participates).

There are a total of 6 status levels. Every registered Marriott member is initially a "Member", the table shows the other 5 status levels Silver, Gold, Platinum, Titanium and Ambassador. For every $1 spent (other currencies are automatically converted to dollars via Marriott's internal conversion rate), the guest is awarded 10 points and one night in the "Marriott Bonvoy" account. With each status level, which is dependent on the number of nights spent in the year, the number of points to be received increases. So at Silver 10% it increases to 11 points per dollar. The other point increases can be seen in Table 1.
A very convenient highlight is the guaranteed late check-out (Gold 2 p.m., and from Platinum 4 p.m.), as well as the free breakfast (there are exceptions such as Courtyard and Moxy, which only give daily vouchers of $10 per person, which are usually not enough for breakfast).
From Platinum onwards, lounge access is also included, usually from 6:30am to approx. midnight, and you can expect breakfast in the morning and dinner in the evening. There is also usually a happy hour in the evening hours, where beer and wine are available. However, only about 9 brands in the programme have lounges (see Table 2) - but not always! With high coverage, they are present at JW Marriott, Marriott, Sheraton as well as Westin.
A final great feature is for longer stays, if you book 5 consecutive nights, the 5th night is free.

From the Platinum and Titanium status levels, you receive an annual benefit, with the most attractive benefit for Platinum being 5 Suite Night Upgrades. These can be used for hotel bookings before a stay and you get a choice of suites (or sometimes just bigger rooms...) for the hotel you booked, which would be available for the upgrade. The hotels do not guarantee upgrades until 5 days before arrival and then notify you by mail which room category will be allocated as an upgrade. On reaching Titanium status the most attractive options are a further 5 suite night upgrades or a voucher for a night worth 40000 points (my recommendation).
The Ambassador brings a 24h option for rooms as the only additional feature. This has to be requested before arrival and is a top feature especially for short trips with one overnight stay. The guest is provided with the room from the time of arrival for 24 hours (e.g.: arrival 11.3. 11:30 p.m., departure 12.3. 11:29 p.m.).

Important: Always book via Marriott directly, otherwise the status levels will not be recognised and you will not receive any points or nights credited. Use your company codes to get the correct price and avoid paying too much.

Marriott Bonvoy is the only programme besides Hilton and Hyatt to offer Lifetime Status Level. Here the requirements are quite demanding (Figure 1). Upon achieving a Lifetime Status, one has the respective benefits of the status level for life (see Table 1).

Table 2 shows which brands are included in the Marriott-Bonvoy programme. Each brand has received a comment from the author for characterisation. The classification into the 5 categories Luxury, Up-Scale, Mid-Scale, Lifestyle & Hip and Apartment Style is also a subjective assessment by the author.

Luxury: Absolutely high-end hotels with high prices, but fantastic designs, excellent service and high-quality and extensive facilities. My favourite: W Hotels.
Up-scale: Hotels with a very high standard, often in big cities with corporate rates/contracts booked by business people (corporate consultants, auditors, sales, among others). My favourite: Marriott (as always with lounge and a compact offering)
Mid-Scale: Cheaper alternatives, which bring a good "Value for Money", but not always very luxurious standard. My favourite: Courtyard (always large rooms, gym and sauna)
Lifestyle & Hip: A category that has emerged more strongly in the last 5-7 years, where every hotel group has developed several brands and opened hotels. It focuses on Generation Y and Z and wants to give a hip cool experience that is clearly different from the classic approaches. Small modern rooms, with fewer features (uniform [smaller] room sizes, hardly any furniture), but lots of life, space and opportunities for gathering in the common areas such as the lobby (which is often converted into a breakfast room in the morning). My favourite: Moxy (damn cool spirit, which is really fun for short trips or in a group of several people)
Apartment style: category which is strongly influenced by the USA and is not yet super widespread in Europe. Created for long-term stays, you will find rooms with a well-equipped kitchen and sleeping area and living-room-like elements that are intended to enable self-sufficient living like in your own flat. But the whole thing is also extended by facilities such as sauna and gym, as well as restaurant and room service offers. From my point of view a good case for management consultants, auditors or other business people who spend a long time in one place and don't want any more hotel breakfasts or every evening restaurant. My favourite: Residence Inn (high-end style with often cool hotel facilities like gym and sauna).

Note for newcomers: Marriott is on the one hand the entire hotel group, there is Marriott also as hotel brand.

Table 3 lists personal references and subjective assessments of the author. The following categories are described:
Brand: Marriott offers the best geographical coverage in my view in combination with a wide range of very affordable hotel brands such as Moxy, Courtyard, Four Points, AC Hotels up to absolute luxury brands such as W, JW Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis. The Marriott Bonvoy App is good so far for the basic booking/cancellation functions. I particularly like the chat function with the hotel, which already works 1-2 days before arrival and replaces annoying phone calls. The digital check-in only works partially, you can get a digital key, but often you still have to go to the reception for signatures on the registration form etc., at some hotels the digital check-out is not yet really well implemented.

Upgrades: At Marriott, you are usually always upgraded one room category from Gold. However, this usually only means an increase of 3 square metres or a higher floor. For first stays and short stays (1 night), you often get significantly better upgrades, even to larger suites.

Lounges: You always have access for yourself and a guest (who has to be officially registered in the room). In practice, I have experienced relatively few controls in the last 10 years. So it is a good idea to invite work colleagues, business partners or friends/relatives. The lounges to which the status levels Platinum, Titanium and Ambassador always have access are very individually designed per hotel. As a rule, in the morning there is a complimentary continental breakfast with 3-4 hot options (egg dishes, sausages, bacon, mushrooms etc.). In the evening usually from 17:30/18h to 20/20:30h there is a small dinner with a cold salad and dessert buffet that varies greatly in size and quality. In addition, there are always 2-4 warm options (soups, but also very good dishes such as fish, game, etc., so not just cheap pasta or chicken wings - but there are also in some hotels). This is usually accompanied by beer and wine / sparkling wine. In some hotels, this often-named happy hour goes on until late in the evening (11/24 p.m.). JW Marriott, Marriott and Westin usually offer a very good standard here. Sheraton has a somewhat more limited offer and also not very high quality. Here I have the impression that over the last few years (also before Covid) a very strong austerity course was taken. During the day there are mostly soft drinks and occasionally bread / pastries and usually a few bowls with sweets (chocolate, chewy sweets, gummy bears, etc.) or salty snacks (nuts, crisps, etc.).
Important to know: If you upgrade to an Executive or Club room (designation varies) without Platinum, Titanium, Ambassador status level, you are entitled to lounge access.

Wellness: The wellness quality is very mixed and invidual in the hotels. The best wellness areas in Germany are at the Roomers Hotels (Munich and Baden-Baden belong to the Autograph Collection, Frankfurt to Design Hotels). As a rule, the classic big brands from the Luxury and Up-Scale segments have good wellness areas and gyms. In the mid-scale segment, you can usually rely on Courtyard hotels and usually always find a gym + sauna there. AC Hotels can sometimes also surprise positively here. With the other brands, you will rarely find wellness, but usually a gym.

Best Hotels: Here you will find an overview of my personal favourite hotels. The Roomers Hotels impress with a very hip modern style with cool features (e.g. bathtubs in the bedroom, free vodka in the icebox next to the sauna, stylish wellness areas, top-equipped gyms, top restaurants and bars). My personal favourite for a weekend with high-class wellness, mega breakfast and dinner in the Moriki restaurant and party in its own hip bar on the ground floor is Roomers Baden Baden - you don't even have to leave the hotel!
Another highlight is the Westin in Hamburg. If you upgrade to one of the Junior Suites here, you have a dreamlike view over Hamburg. The wellness area as well as the lounge are also very good and definitely worth a visit. Even though the lounge unfortunately did not have a view to the outside, but windows to the inside of the glass building - not really a smart solution.

Reward Nights: Marriott currently still has a rewards system where the point prices for an overnight stay fluctuate the least compared to other hotel groups. Here you can already find good hotels from 15,000 points (especially with AC Hotels in Spain, there are some highlights). A great feature for longer stays is that for bookings of 5 consecutive nights, the 5th night is free.
As a calculation example, at 120€ per night, this is:
- without status 12.5 nights
- at Titanium and in 4 stays already within 5.2 nights.
I will present how this works in calculation examples in later guides - stay tuned).

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