Hilton HHonors - Why is 50,000 points worth more then $250

Hello, I am going to go for the CNTU promo to get the 50,000 points.

My gold kit is in the mail, so I am not sure about all of the benefits just yet, but was wondering why the 50,000 points would be worth spending the extra $250-350 dollars that my non-priceline stays will cost?

I see that 100,000 points will get me a 6 night GLON stay (approx) $400 - $2000 plus.

Any other reasons??

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by smilee:
I see that 100,000 points will get me a 6 night GLON stay (approx) $400 - $2000 plus.
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the awards are the big value IMO.

by the way, $400 is quite low (only $66 per night for a room?) besides not forgetting taxes, how did you figure this?

I figure the avg award price I redeem is about $1200-1400 (mostly alon)

Was thinking of glon for Buenos Aires this winter, but with rooms being $90US, I did not want to waste the points.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by smilee:
I see that 100,000 points will get me a 6 night GLON stay (approx) $400 - $2000 plus.
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Isn't that reason enough? And your 4 stays will net you something over 55,000 points and 2,000 airline miles. This has been discussed at length on several occasions.

I don't follow your logic as to the pricing. You can do hilton properties for $60 or so a night, Embassy just sent an e-mail this morning with locations from $79.

There isn't any reason to spend $350 in addition to whatever you are paying on priceline for the points, you can easily get them for a total of $240 or so.

Here is how I came up with some of those ranges of price:

Typical Example
Priceline (no credit): $40 + tax = $50
Hilton with AAA dscnt: $99 + tax = $110

To do the 4 stays for CNTU

4 x Hilton HH = $440
4 x Priceline = $200
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Difference is = $240 to earn CNTU 50,000 points

This is what I am finding for the low end hilton. For the higher end I find


Priceline (no credit): $70 + tax = $82
Hilton with AAA dscnt: $179 +tax = $200

Tyson's Corner/McLean Hilton is offering a $59 weekend internet rate if anyone needs to finish off a CNTU promo cheaply.

Why don't you make your reservations using priceline? If you're lucky enough to get a Hilton hotel, you can usually get points and stay credit by charging something to the room.

If towards the end of the promo period this did not work and you are still short a few stays, you should be able to find a HHonors hotel for &lt; $50. This way, you get your priceline stays, and possibly all or part of the 50,000 bonus points. Odds are you will get points and stay credit for at least 1 of the 4 priceline stays. You don't need to be spending $240 more for these points.

In calculating whether to go for HHonors points or Priceline my general rule of thumb is 60 cents/HHonors point. That is what I figure a point is worth when comparing a Hilton stay to a Priceline stay. I then figure 1.2 cents/airline mile from a paid Hilton stay. It helps give a comparison to the value of paying more for a Hilton stay.

My .6/pt is calculated from major cities where Priceline has cost about $100/night vs. 30,000 points for getting a one night HHonors award stay at a Classic hotel or $600/6nights vs. 100,000 GLON award.

I cost/benefit on a case by case scenario. I had an award stay at Conrad Singapore for 45,000 points then opted for Priceline at $61/night for Marriott. I considered that $270 in HHonors points not as good a value since Priceline was so much less.

Most of my award redemptions are GLON awards for 100,000 points and generally I get a suite which would cost $180-200/night if I purchased the lowest rate room. Knowing I could generally get a nice room with Priceline for $100/night, but ususally without lounge privileges or breakfast, I figure that every GLON saves about $600 cash.

Any stays less than 6 nights I try to plan with point stretchers, weekend low rates, or Priceline.

My wife and I just did 4 stays in the past week for her 50,000 point bonus. It cost $380. With last year's 50,000 point promo she is now over 100,000 which we can redeem for a GLON. We probably spent $700-800 for the eight nights, but I know we will get at least a $1200 value for her award. Bottom line 14 nights (8 paid, 6 award) for $800 = $57/night. That beats Priceline for the cities where we use GLON awards and we know we will have a fantstic room with upgrades, breakfast, and lounge access.

I never pass on the 50,000 point Hilton promos.

Your logic still makes no sense, you can do the four stays for considerably less then $99 per night, or less then $179 per night.

You can get the 50,000 points for just over $250 in total, not in addition to what you pay Pirceline and end up where ever they put you.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by smilee:
...was wondering why the 50,000 points would be worth spending the extra $250-350 dollars that my non-priceline stays will cost?</font>

Well, most of my stays were in the $60-70 range, four stays "cost" me about $300. I used points the last time I was in Tokyo, got 3 nights for 55K points. In this case, 3 nights there cost approx. $250 per night. End of 3 nights I'm ahead roughly $500. Plus I wasn't counting that I got the upgrade to the exec floor and buffet bkfast, lounge drinks, etc. which is more than the standard rate. I've found that using points overseas has been the best value for me. I'm sure some like Sweet_Willie can attest to this.

How do you get your stays so cheap. I was on the phone with Hilton and tried booking in Phoenix at 4 different properties for Nov 9-11, spent a while with the agent and tried all types of rates AAA, Government etc. Best rate I could get was $130 at the Phoenix Mesa Hilton.

Hung up, bid $35 on priceline and bingo got the Hilton. Nearly $100 difference. What to do....decided priceline for this stay.



[This message has been edited by smilee (edited 10-02-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by smilee:
How do you get your stays so cheap. I was on the phone with Hilton and tried booking in Phoenix at 4 different properties for Nov 9-11, spent a while with the agent and tried all types of rates AAA, Government etc. Best rate I could get was $130 at the Phoenix Mesa Hilton.
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A cursory view through Orbitz for that weekend gives the following rates:

Homewood Suites Metro Center - $69/nt
Hampton Inn & Suites Tempe - $79/nt
Hampton Inn Mesa - $74/nt

Remember, HHonors stays for CNTU (or any eligible stay, for that manner) don't just have to be at Hilton. They can be HGI or Hampton or ES or Homewood or Doubletree or Scandic as well.

*That* is why most of us could get our CNTU stays in for under $300 without Priceline. I did mine for $240, using a Hilton, a Homewood, a Hampton, and a Doubletree, averaging about $60/night.

Mike

Hilton Bellevue -Seattle $69
Homewood Suites-Albuquerque $69
Hampton Inn - Santa Fe $54
Upcoming trip Hilton Garden Inn -Toronto/Markham - $54
(Above before taxes) $246 plus tax

------------------
Ms.DtG

Both my wife and I got my separate CNTU stays with 2 stays each at:

Hampton Inn Disney East: $44
Hampton Inn Orlando Sandlake road: $35.10

Total of ~$360 + tax for two 50K in our accounts http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by Jet2K (edited 10-04-2002).]