Head-to-Head: Marriott Bonvoy vs. Hilton Honors

Among the major global hotel chains, Marriott and Hilton are probably the two most compelling brands for Canadian travellers looking to maximize their gains through loyalty programs.

Both have impressive footprints around the world, and their respective loyalty programs allow you to earn points relatively easily without necessarily having to spend a lot of money out-of-pocket, while also providing users with aspirational redemption sweet spots. 

So how do they stack up against each other? Is Marriott Bonvoy’s reputation as the best hotel loyalty program for Canadians justified, or are there areas in which Hilton Honors is in fact more advantageous?

The Value of a Point

Whenever we compare different loyalty programs, it’s useful to establish the relative value between a single point in each program.

In this case, we generally value Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.9 cents per point (CAD) and Hilton Honors points at 0.6 cents per point (CAD), so we’ll refer to these a priori valuations throughout the head-to-head comparison. 

It may be tempting to conclude immediately from these valuations that Marriott Bonvoy is the more valuable program, but that’s not necessarily the case for every type of traveller, as we shall see.

Earning Points

The more avenues a loyalty program offers to accumulate respectable quantities of points, the easier it is for us to engage with it and derive benefits from the program.

Both Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors offer a variety of ways to earn points, so let’s look at each one in turn. 

Credit Card Welcome Bonuses

Marriott Bonvoy has two co-branded credit cards in Canada: the American Express Marriott Bonvoy Card and the American Express Marriott Bonvoy Business Card, each currently offering 80,000 Bonvoy points as a welcome bonus. While the bonuses on these cards aren’t the highest that we’ve seen, the cards should be in the wallets of anyone who takes their hotel points seriously.

Dipping into the US credit card market opens up even more possibilities for Bonvoy loyalists. The Amex US Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card, Amex US Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card, and the Amex US Marriott Bonvoy Business Card have offers of 100,000–150,000 Bonvoy points, and also come with numerous other perks.

Furthermore, Chase has four co-branded Marriott Bonvoy cards, ranging from premium to no-fee: Bountiful, Boundless, Bold, and the Ritz-Carlton Card (which…