The Best Hotel Elite Status for 2025

Hotel elite status can be a mixed bag. While some programs spoil their VIPs with free breakfasts and suite upgrades, others offer nothing but a measly bottle of water at check-in. Some hotel elite tiers can even be earned by simply holding a co-branded credit card.

To help you cut through the noise, we conducted an in-depth analysis of seven major hotel loyalty programs. Here’s what you need to know about which elite statuses are worth pursuing — and which aren’t.

» Learn more: A beginner's guide to hotel elite status

We evaluated programs based on tangible perks like bonus points, free food and suite upgrades, avoiding subjective benefits like “priority check-in.” See the full methodology below for a breakdown.

To determine the overall winner, we averaged the elite earning rates of each program’s entry-level, mid-level and high-level status tiers.

Some assumptions, like the value of suite upgrades or lounge visits, significantly impacted these rankings. We tried to remain objective, but our results do reward programs that offer these bigger perks.

We also assumed that the number of nights stayed in a given year equals the minimum nights needed to earn each status tier, ignoring that one could certainly earn elite status through some credit cards without staying any nights at all.

Our key metric was the elite earning rate — the value of perks received as a percentage of the cost to earn the status. For example, if perks from a status tier are worth $100 and it costs $1,000 to earn, the earning rate is 10%. The higher the rate, the better the program.

Winner: Marriott

Choice Hotels' elite status program stood out because the elite earning rates are high, even with lower levels of elite status.

Hyatt, Wyndham and Best Western fall at the end of NerdWallet's rankings of elite status programs. In Hyatt's case, the program received low marks simply because elite status is so difficult to earn that the quest is rarely worth it for most travelers (unless you can make the highest level of Hyatt elite status).

For brands like Best Western, elite status just isn't all that valuable. You get some free water bottles and extra rewards points, but there isn’t much draw for becoming a Best Western elite member.

Winner: Choice Gold

This category comes with a big caveat: None of these low-status tiers offer much value, period.

The most striking aspect of these entry-level hotel elite status tiers is how consistently underwhelming they are. Most offer a 10% earning bonus on reward points and hand-wavy benefits like priority check-in lines. In general, it’s safe to largely ignore all hotel programs’ entry-level benefits.

Sure, Choice Hotels’ Gold elite status is head and shoulders over the competition with a whopping 23% earning rate because the cost to earn Choice Gold status is so low and Gold members are eligible for suite upgrades.

But Choice doesn't have a ton of luxury properties, which means a room upgrade might entail a little more space and a pool view versus a parking lot view — hardly worth getting out of bed for.

Winner: Choice Platinum

Once again, Choice swoops in with the top spot for best mid-level elite status. That's largely due to the suite upgrades and the increase in bonus points for Platinum members (25% for Platinum versus 10% for Gold).

Winner: Hyatt Globalist

The earning rates jump considerably at this upper echelon, with Hyatt Globalist beating out the winner of the prior two tiers, Choice. It also beat out the high-level tiers tied to other big names, including Hilton Honors™ Diamond Status and Marriott Platinum.

The top programs offer suite upgrades, lounge access and free breakfast at this level, dramatically increasing the benefit-per-dollar-spent value over lower tiers.

Hyatt’s “milestone rewards,” which offer perks on top of the usual elite status benefits, made the difference here. We estimate that a Globalist member who makes the most of it will earn $500 in value from the milestone rewards alone.

» Learn more: Guide to Hyatt elite status

Winner: IHG Diamond

Only Best Western, IHG and Marriott offer more than three status tiers. IHG introduced its ultra-high Diamond level in 2023, and it offers the highest earning rate of them all.

» Learn more: Marriott Bonvoy elite status: Everything you need to know

Our “elite earning rate” allows comparison between different programs, as it reveals the value you can expect to earn from each tier based on the cost it takes to reach that tier. But if you’re considering earning status from a credit card, or are otherwise interested in the raw values of each tier, here they are, broken out by program:

Best Western

Choice

Hilton

Hyatt

IHG

Marriott

Wyndham

To determine the value of each elite status tier, we identified six perks that carry clear value:

• Welcome amenity (such as bottled water).

• Bonus rewards points.

• Suite upgrades.

• Fee waivers (such as Hyatt’s resort fee waivers for Globalists).

• Lounge access.

• Free breakfast.

To determine the cost of earning each tier, we calculated the lowest estimated spend based on the earning criteria. So, if a given elite status tier required 10,000 points or 100 nights, we used the lowest estimated value, per the assumptions below.

To determine the elite earning rate, we simply divided the total benefits for each tier by the cost of earning that tier.

Assumptions

For the value of suite upgrades, lounge access and free breakfast, we canvassed estimates from our in-house travel experts, and averaged the results. The point valuations and average nightly rate were drawn from data collected from our valuations analysis.

• Reward points: We used our current hotel point valuations as of September 2024.

• Suite upgrades: $58 per night per upgrade, occurring at 50% of nights stayed.

• Lounge access: $28 per stay.

• Free breakfast: $15 per night.

• Average nightly rate: $204.

When it’s all said and done, don’t spend too much time chasing entry-level status at any hotel chain. If you want top-tier status, you’ll be in good hands as a Hyatt Globalist — but don’t overlook IHG's ulta-premium Diamond status.