Marriotts have always given me lounge access or free breakfast when the lounge is closed. On one Manhattan overnight where the lounge was open all day until late, this probably saved me $100. I get points for room charges and stay credits too, but those add up slowly.
Hiltons are hit or miss. I usually get lounge access, but they are stingy with stay credits and sometimes won’t give me points for my charges and say that I have to send in my receipts to customer service.
SPG you have to be platinum to access the lounge. They also have never given me points for charges or any stay credits.
I like putting my amex down for charges since when you do get points, you double dip and get Amex points too. When you are planning a vacation or stay somewhere, you can just transfer Amex into the rewards program of your choice.

What does Hilton gold give you? I did not see lounges access.

Personally, I quit chasing points and stay credits a decade ago when the hotels started getting markedly more stingy about it and free Wi-Fi became standard in airline hotel contracts. Just get a credit card that gives you lounge access or some benefit you prefer (Amex probably has the best deals) and use hotels.com to book your stays. Every 10 nights you book, you get a free night. Period. No loyalty to one brand or program required. Nothing to chase or keep track of. Nothing to bug the front desk about and hold up the check-in process for those behind you. No being beholden to the bar or restaurant in the hotel just to get your points. I've always found the quality of most hotel lounges and perks to be decidedly "meh" so that doesn't hold much sway for me but I get the appeal for the more penny-pinching types.

Access to the Hilton Honors lounge in the evening and breakfast in the morning. The quality of the evening and morning amenities vary by hotel. SF Hilton in Union Square offers nothing. There is no complimentary alcohol anywhere I have been.
The O'Hare Hilton connected to the terminal has an awesome breakfast buffet but has nothing at all in the evening...

I'm chasing Marriott Platinum for life and enjoying Gold status while I do it.

1) Ritz Carlton Card - I use it yearly until I spend $10,000, which gets you gold status. It has a $395 annual fee but $300 of that can be spent on different travel items (Any purchase on board, baggage fees, ID 90 fees, airport lounge purchase, etc) which they reimburse you for. Effective annual fee $95

2) once I spend $10,000 I switch to the Marriott Rewards Visa. Every $3,000 gives you a night stay credit which counts towards lifetime status.

I started with the card in 2007 and have 600,000 lifetime points and 337 lifetime stay credits. Most of those credits are from the card.

As a previous poster said, domestic Marriott lounges are decent but basic. International is where you get your money back.

Wise road warrior once said, "the best time to start the lifetime status journey was 20 years ago, the next best time is today."

I have the Marriott Rewards Visa and I was not aware of the credit for a free night stay for each $3000 spent....
I do receive the annual free night when I pay my annual fee but that's a wash....

Is there something about the gold status that enables the
$3000=free stay ....I can't find it listed in the award terms...

I just realized that you may mean "stay credit" as in credit as though you have spent the night at the hotel...

Yeah, as you said it's just a stay credit that counts for status purposes.

"Earn one (1) credit toward Elite Status for every $3,000 you spend."

https://creditcards.chase.com/marrio...s/elite_status

Chase Sapphire Preferred takes 6% of your monthly purchases and converts them to points on travel. If you want to spend your points on cash it is only 1% which is a rip off. But it is a real good deal if you travel. I have a few dozen hotel nights free available anytime I want because of it.