Hilton HHonors - New Reward Schedule ... AGAIN

On my last statement was mentioned that a new reward schedule would come into effect at the end of year 2000.
So, let's start the bets:
- some Premium hotels named "Super DeLuxe"
- regular reward increased 20%
- PointStretcher reward at the same level as regular rewards 2 years ago..
Does anyone know about the changes?

How about Hampton Inn properties at the current Hilton level and Hilton properties on an all new schedule.

On my last HHonors statement, there was a note that said significant hotel category changes were going to occur in October of this year. I saw nothing about year end.

Tomphot may have a good point. I wouldn't be surprised if the Hilton hotel award point costs were raised and other brands, like Hampton remain similar to the current award schedule. Unfortunately, this might spell the end of the HHonors program for me. The Hampton Inn awards are already overpriced and raising the Hilton Hotel award points costs would move them into the same situation.

Any of you know anyone at the Hilton to give us an idea on how bad/good these new award schedule is going to be?

I think the problem is that Hilton keeps devaluing its "currency". Take the fact that they added many new "cheaper" hotels... but that is not the main issue.

The main issue is promotions like the United one, that adds literally 100,000's of points to people's accounts who never stay at Hilton. Look at maybe 20,000 people getting significant points and the point levels need to go up... It is sad that they do this while sacrificing the current members.

That is just my 2 cents.

Yep, that's the new way to introduce massive devaluation - offer a big fat point-gaining opportunity along with the devaluation to keep the defections down.

Hyatt just did it with their summer promotion. Those with 100,000 points just saw their accounts devalued by about 25%, so Hyatt offered a 25,000 point bonus opportunity to "level things out".

I'm waiting for a Marriott devaluation soon, after "fair-weather" fans like me amassed 200,000+ points during the period.

For the longest time and for a while longer, hotel programs are incredibly superior to airline programs, probably because there is actual competition for loyalty. (How many Minnesotans "choose" their airline?) A well-planned strategy can yield 20-25% returns on spending dollar, while in the airline racket, 5% or less is the norm (except for programs like Southwest's).

[This message has been edited by Tino (edited 07-17-2000).]

Here we go again! When are the suits at Hilton going to get it? I wonder if this has anything to do with the debt load that they took on with the Promus purchase?

I agree with the point loading programs. We own at HGVC Orlando and every year they give a huge chunk of points for attending an owners "feedback session" which is really just another sales opportunity for them. But, for a free breakfast in a nice, relaxed atmosphere and the points for sitting in a no-pressure meeting for a little while, we always take the bait.

As for Hampton Inn's, one thing we noticed was that when you double dip you ONLY get 100 miles per stay! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif Wonder why because the rates are not that much lower than the Garden Inns?

[This message has been edited by spartacus (edited 07-18-2000).]