Introduction

2024 looks to be a busy year for Little Boy From Taiwan.

Currently, there are a couple of a trips coming up in the springtime, as well as the beginnings of summertime. With a mix of existing and new hotels/flights coming out of those trips, I’m excited to see how they’ve improved or have changed throughout the year. As we begin a new year, I wanted to share my general overview of how I’m looking to utilize my hotel statues for the year, and what elite status I’ll be leveraging the most.

For potential work trips, ultimately it comes down to whatever is given and available. However, I look to examine and review new and upcoming hotels that may be benefit everyone as much as possible. I do believe in 2024, there will be more hotel reviews than flight reviews this time around. Airline fares are a bit harder to find this year due to the influx of travel demand, and I expect it to continue onwards. Nevertheless, I look forward to seeing what particular business and first class comes my way!

Hotel Elite Strategies

Not all hotel loyalty programs are made overpower each other. Sometimes, they can also be risky if a devaluation occurs (i.e. Marriott and IHG in 2023). They can offer valuable benefits and provide free points for free night awards, but can also charge more on points and provide less valuable hotels if you decide to capitulate to only one brand. Thus, I’m approaching 2024 elite status with more focus on brands that can give me and my family strong value across the year.

World of Hyatt | Globalist

Currently, World of Hyatt is the most utilized hotel program from Little Boy From Taiwan and is my favorite top-tier hotel status due to its amazing perks, strong customer service base and fantastic value. I’ve been hitting 60 elite nights consistently over the last 4 years through a mixture of hotel credit card elite night spending, hotel nights and free night award redemptions.

With the changes on the Milestone Rewards Program at Hyatt, my incentive right now is to maximize the usage of all my award certificates. For a quick recap, the Milestone Rewards program is tied to the number of elite nights you obtain, from suite upgrade awards to free night awards to Guest of Honor awards and more. I plan on leveraging this and treating my parents to the Alila Napa Valley or the Alila Ventana BIg Sur, all which are great aspirational properties in California.

My goal this year will probably continue to be push all spend and nights at Hyatt. For starters, I’ll continue to prioritize credit card spending on our World of Hyatt’s credit cards:

With the World of Hyatt Credit Card, I would be receiving 5 elite nights towards status annually for just having the card, and then 2 additional elite nights for every $5,000 spend on the card.
With the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card, I would be receiving 5 elite nights for every $10,000 spend on the card.

Given the opportunity cost, I’ll be balancing this out with business and personal hotel stays at Hyatt. My goal is to quickly hit the $15,000 spend on our World of Hyatt card to get the free night, 15,000 Hyatt points and move over to the Business card for garner the elite nights.

Hilton Honors | Diamond

One of the most underrated programs is the Hilton Honors Program. I love this particular hotel program whenever I travel to Asia, given its value as a Diamond member at aspirational properties. Hilton has always been a brand that’s been with me for the last 10 years, and for many reasons:

They continue to add luxury hotels across the world (the LXR Waikiki Beach is one example, along with new additions to the Waldorf Astoria and Conrad brand)
My wife and I both have Diamond status due to our Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card from American Express, which gets us fantastic perks, such as free breakfast, anniversary free night award, $400 Hilton Honors Credit, $200 Flight Credit, and more. Our stay at the LXR Roku Kyoto back in 2023 saw us get fantastic room upgrades, room credit and some insane perks, such as free in-house luxury car limo to and from restaurants and train station.
With Diamond status, we enjoy a plethora of superb customer service from hotels in Asia, which we value a ton due to their magnificent breakfast and amenities. My latest experience at the Conrad Tokyo exemplified that, with room upgrades, personalized service and help with airport service. Plus getting uni for breakfast is a great upgrade!

Currently, I have a been storing a couple free night certificates from Hilton - my plan is so use them on certain aspirational properties, such as the upcoming LXR Waikiki and or the Oceana Santa Monica. They’re a great alternative to Hyatt and one that plan to utilize continuously throughout 2024.

IHG One Rewards | Diamond

The IHG One Rewards program recently went through a revamp and has added Diamond Tier, which currently my wife both have. While I don’t love the varying price ranges of all the IHG properties (I’m looking at you, Intercontinental) and their current lineup, they still consist of several well-off hotels that we frequent and utilize, such as the Regent Taipei, the Kimpton Riverplace Hotel and the Intercontinental Tokyo Bay. It’s getting harder and harder to find great redemptions with the free night certificates, so it’s more of a backup at this point.

IHG is not as useful for me heading into 2024 after Hyatt and Hilton, and while I have both their IHG Rewards and IHG Premier Rewards Card (two free nights with an annual fee for $49 and $99, respectively), those free nights tend to be more immediate or impulsive finds on IHG properties. It really is a hit or miss sometimes, as I’ve tended to value them as a roulette at times.

Marriott Bonvoy | Platinum

Last but not least is the Marriott Bonvoy program, which has been a great backup hotel program for me, especially during work travel. My status with Marriott Bonvoy has gone from Gold to Titanium back to Platinum, and I’m not sure if I’m going to be even keeping Platinum as 2024 churns forward. Marriott members are bountiful and have plenty of reason to utilize their points and their Marriott credit cards, though it’s becoming alarmingly clear that their benefits continue to dilute away.

In 2023, I was able to utilize a series of free night certificates at some underrated properties, such as the Le Meridien Taipei, The Sheraton Redding Hotel at Sundial Bridge and the Westin Singapore. I don’t generally like using these free nights in the United States, (with the Sheraton Redding being a fantastic exemption) as their service is usually a miss or under deliver on their lounge and room portfolio.

For this year, I’ll be watching for any properties that may catch my eye and are under the 50,000 points mark, given that we have a few certificates left. Examples include some hotels in Taiwan and in Vietnam, and look forward to locking them in should the time come!

Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts

A curveball to all of these hotel programs is the Fine Hotels and Resorts program from American Express. We’ve had various uses of their program given the $200 hotel credit that the Amex Platinum Card gives each calendar year. From staying at the SENZA hotel in Napa Valley to the Prince Gallery Kiocho in Tokyo, I find myself booking through this program for certain properties, as they can be of fantastic value with their room upgrades, breakfast, hotel credit and more.

Trips to Las Vegas, Cabos and Bangkok are some of the places that I plan on utilizing this program, as they would vest high-value rewards such as upgrades and breakfast. Let’s see what happens!

Conclusion

2024 seems to be a new year of hotels and airlines, and I’m excited to see what this year will bring. With my current lineup of hotel statuses, I’m looking to invest in properties that I think will be beneficial to all of you and to those with pets!

With Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond and IHG Diamond, I’ll probably look for these hotel properties over Marriott, given that my status gives a ton of value over a 1-2 night stay. With the co-branded hotel credit cards, I’ll be able to net several free nights across Hyatt and HIlton over the year, making them more valuable as the time comes across for more travel.