Hilton HHonors - Email from Hilton - choose between 500 miles or 50% extra Hhonors points

Just received the following email:

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
Dear Wingnut,

Big news! Now you can decide how you want to be rewarded for your Hilton HHonors® stays!

You can choose to earn a 50% bonus on your Base points instead of Points & Miles® for your HHonors stays between March 1 and May 31, 2003. This means you'll earn your regular HHonors Base points for your stays, plus a 50% bonus on all of those Base points, instead of earning airline miles.

Choose to earn either:

--10 HHonors Base points per eligible US dollar and 500 miles*
-or-
--15 HHonors points per eligible US dollar and no miles**

Just visit http://www.hiltonhhonors.com/50percentbonus, enter your HHonors account number and PIN or your username and password, and select "earn 50% bonus on Base points"!

It's your choice - at more than 2,400 Hilton HHonors hotels worldwide.

Remember, Hilton HHonors is the only hotel reward program to let you Double Dip® to earn both Points & Miles at more than
2,400 hotels worldwide including Hilton®, Conrad®, Doubletree®, Embassy Suites Hotels®, Hampton Inn®, Hampton Inn & Suites®,
Hilton Garden Inn®, Homewood Suites by Hilton® and Scandic hotels. And now, you can choose to earn a 50% bonus on your
HHonors Base points for each stay,instead of earning airline miles.

Visit http://www.hiltonhhonors.com/50percentbonus now to choose to earn a 50% bonus on your HHonors Base points! If you do not go
online and select "earn 50% bonus on Base points", you will continue to earn Points & Miles for your HHonors stays.

* Or equivalent; 100 miles or equivalent at Hampton and Scandic hotels
** 10 Base points plus five bonus points
</font>

It must be targeted. It won't accept my number.

Must be targeted... I get an error message "there is an error with your account" when I register.

Mary

I got the email today too, but I'm not so sure its worth doing.

Your choice is keep your normal double dip or give up the 500 airline miles for 5 extra hhonors points per $ spent.

Lets see 20,000 hhonors = 1 free night
25,000 airline = 1 coach air ticket

4 nights approx= airline ticket, then
80,000 hhonors= 25,000 airline

then, 500 airline approx = 1,600 hhonors
at 5 extra hhonors per $, I would have to spend $320 on a stay to come out ahead with this.

This is no bonus......(it may work for some of us on some of our stays), but on the whole I's rather see ctnu or even an extra 1,000 points per stay for registering on-line.

Unless someone can show me that there is something wrong with my math. I say pass on this one.

...and for those who weren't targeted, apparantly you haven't missed out on anything......cheers!

------------------
US CP,Starwood gold
HHonors gold,
Hyatt diamond

It's a tough choice if you are staying at locations that give the 500 miles, but if you have a bunch of the stays at Hampton booked or planned during that period then giving up 100 miles, but getting more points may make some sense.

My e-mail came early this morning, so they are still sending them out.

Haven't received an email but saw link on website.

starboy, you are valuing airline miles at more than 3 times hilton points. That is the largest ratio I have seen anyone post here. My avg stays are $460 so it works better for me no matter. Now, last years double points instead of miles was even better.

marc

I think for me it's better to get the 500 miles per stay. My stays are short (usually 1-2 nights) so my folios average about $200. I don't believe the 2 to 1 ratio of points to miles is a good trade. I see you can only make this selection once during the offer period and can't change back, so it might make sense if I have a long stay at a single property toward the end of the period, otherwise I'm sticking with my miles. Keep in mind tha the VIP rewards go up June 1, so this may be of benefit to someone who needs a little extra boost to get to an award before then.

Got the e mail this morning. Usually I spend around $1500 per stay. Anybody brighter than me reckong the deal is worth going for rather than 500 KLM miles ?

Nigel

My logic on this:

Short stays with little $ spent &lt;$1,000 - go with the miles.
Anything &gt;$1,000 you are better of with points.

So, at roughly 2HH or more per mile, the deal sounds good. Am I over estimating the HH points?

It's not targetted. The offer is on HHonors website. There is also another thread on this subject listed.

I'm going to continue to DOUBLE DIP. This promotion is good for those who stay multiple nights. In my case, I'm flexible enough to transfer to different Hiltons for multiple stays, hense more FFMiles.

The promo is bad in comparison to the competitors during the same time-period. A simple continuation of 1000 bonus HHonors points for reserving on line would have been good enough for me.

I was just able to register via the website. Thanks!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SHADO:
This promotion is good for those who stay multiple nights. In my case, I'm flexible enough to transfer to different Hiltons for multiple stays, hense more FFMiles.
</font>

Since all of my travel - is on Continental my miles are harder to redeem - Many of my stays are 12 nights so the bonuses pay off - If I was staying 2 nights or less all of the time then I would stay with the miles -

Last years targeted offer was 100 %

Rechecked my math and probably it's a wash

I project 15 stays and an additional 44,000 Hilton honors points - Could have had 7500 miles for the same activity

One Night (Top Level) or 1/3 of a domestic roundtrip - Although I am a Continetal flyer and 25K R/T's are pretty rare - it needs to be evaluated at 1/6 of a (50 K) domestic round trip.

My head is still at the old redemption levels and the bonus that was twice as good for 7 months last year (targeted)




[This message has been edited by FC_Dave (edited 03-01-2003).]

Would one's Gold Bonus Points be based on the increased base points?

Here's another way to estimate the "breakeven" point -

Airline - 500 miles x .02 per mile = $10

HHonors - $200 spent x 5 extra points/$ = 1000 points x .01 per point = $10

So by this calculation the breakeven point would be if you spend $200 per stay.

This promotion comes 10 days too late for me. I just spent 6 nights at the Washington Hilton & Towers spending close to $8K. The 50% bonus on base would have come in handy.

Don't forget, I believe once you switch, you can't switch back for the promotion period, I think until end of May.

This is targetted?? I am a nobody and I got it. My stays in the past year consisted of 2 nights at a Hampton in Calgary for $99 CDN and a priceline at a Doubletree.

Why did I get the email????

This is targetted?? I am a nobody and I got it.
Don't be so hard on yourself. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
Why did I get the email????
Because you are a HiltonHonor card holder. This is not a targetted promotion.

[This message has been edited by fromYXU (edited 03-01-2003).]

I got the mail today, and am probably going to pass on it.

For me, I get 1000 Virgin Atlantic miles per stay. And i stay once a week at a Hilton spending around $150-200 per stay.

I'll stick with my current 15 points per $ as a Diamond.

Thanks
Richard

Well, in my opinion:

Airline miles are worth about $.015 each (assuming your standard reward of 20,000 miles could otherwise be purchased for around $300).

Hotel points are worth about $.008 each (assuming you average a 20,000 point reward and would otherwise pay $200 after taxes per night - I usually get the VIP).

S0, for me (like JerryFF said), a $200 folio is the break even point. After that, the points pay-off over a 500 mile double dip alternative.

[This message has been edited by jkzahn (edited 03-01-2003).]

I am going to take up this offer. Aeroplan Air Canada miles are not worth what they used to be.

I have a real backwards reason why I switched to HHOnors points only -- I can never keep track if my 500 points have posted to my airline Account, so I switched to all Hilton points.

And for me, I am losing value, since my stays are usually $100, so I only get 500 points vs 500 miles, which at my valuation is half value. But easier is better http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by pitflyer (edited 03-01-2003).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by stevenl57:
Would one's Gold Bonus Points be based on the increased base points?</font>

No. Bonus = Bonus, not base. I too received the email, but it is not targetted. I knew of the promotion before the email. It is on HHonors website.

Hey, sanity check here...

That's what happens when we have two threads on the same topic, I look for a comment I made, can't find it, and wonder, "Did I just dream that post?"

Wingnut, I certainly appreciate yhour effort in posting. And everyone (posters, readers, responders, and especially moderators) it is always helpful to check first for double posts and to get cross referenced to the original thread when they happen.

I'm not blaming anyone, just trying to encourage Good Housekeeping. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

This thread was started 03-01-2003 05:46 AM.

The original thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum57/HTML/006924.html) was started 02-28-2003 05:03 PM.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by korea71:
Don't forget, I believe once you switch, you can't switch back for the promotion period, I think until end of May. </font>

Yes you can Korea71 but once you switch back you can't change again. From the e mail I received.

" Offer is valid for stays between March 1 and May 31, 2003.
Members can change their earning style preference during the
offer period, however, once a change has been made, the new
earning style will be applied to future stays during the offer period
only. "

Mind you having read it again it's a bit ambiguous .

Nigel

Any ideas how this bonus will be calculated for Gold and Diamond members?

$100.00 spend = 1000pts + reg bonus x 50% bonus? or the bonus will be calculated on the base points only

GOLD: $100 = 1000 + 250 + 500 = 1750
DIAM: $100 = 1000 + 500 + 500 = 2000
(No 500 FF Miles/100 FF Miles for Hampton).

That's for one stay. But multiple nights, the promotion is good.

GOLD: $300 = 3000 + 750 + 1500 = 5250
DIAM: $100 = 3000 + 1500 + 1500 = 6000
(No 500 FF Miles/100 FF Miles for Hampton)

But multiple stays is different as 3 stays (i.e.: changing Hiltons enroute). In the case for Hampton, the FF Miles would be a cheap 300 and doesn't apply

GOLD: $300 = 3000 + 750 + 1500 = 5250
DIAM: $300 = 3000 + 1500 + 1500 = 6000
(No ****1500 FF Miles**** for Hilton)

For those who were unable to register via the link, I called the HHonors desk directly, since I was unable to register as well and was told that the server had been down for some time. The CSR was able to sign me up, although she said it was for the double points offer, rather than the 50% bonus.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by beergut:
Yes you can Korea71 but once you switch back you can't change again. From the e mail I received.

" Offer is valid for stays between March 1 and May 31, 2003.
Members can change their earning style preference during the
offer period, however, once a change has been made, the new
earning style will be applied to future stays during the offer period
only. "

Mind you having read it again it's a bit ambiguous .

Nigel

</font>

IMO, what it means is that you may switch back and forth as you'd like, but if you make a change, it will not apply retoactively - that is, once a stay has posted, it can't be changed to reflect different earning.

If such is the case, then it may be worthwhile to switch for either long stays (where extra points will outweigh the 500 miles) or HI stays (where just about anything will outweigh 100 miles), and then switch back for short ones.

Then again, right now I only have one single stay planned, so the promo isn't worth it to me. Unless, of course, I happen to find someone who wishes to hire me sooner rather than later. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Mike (unemployed and not loving it)

I'm thinking this might be a good idea if you have award stays planned. I don't know that I've ever gotten miles for award stays (if I did it was a fluke), but I always get my points for extras. So for an upcoming 6-night award stay where I will be charging things to my room, it might make sense. I wouldn't get miles anyway, but I could get the extra points.

Looks good for me, as GOLD

I've got a stay coming up next week, w/estimated folio to be approx $3,500

Correct me if I'm wrong on the math, but I'm guessing it would be ...

35,000 + 8,750 + 17,500 = 61,250

Not bad for 5 days.

Anyone else notice that the bonus points promo (50%) is the same as the increase in points required for the most popular reward - GLON (50%). Looks to me like a nice way to guage the reaction in advance of an elimination of double-dipping completely. Hilton is telling us, "see - we increased your point earning potential by just as much as our redemption rates! And...now you don't hafta worry 'bout keepin' up with all those silly & confusing 500-mile postings! Easy-Squeezy! Just think of us as Starwood w/ capacity controls!"

MikesMiles, charge that to your Hhonors Visa for an add'l 3 points per $ or Hhonors AMEX for 5 points per $. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by raffy:

For those who were unable to register via the link, I called the HHonors desk directly, since I was unable to register as well and was told that the server had been down for some time. The CSR was able to sign me up, although she said it was for the double points offer, rather than the 50% bonus.</font>

FYI: You can register for this promo via the phone link: 1-800-552-0852

I, personally, will not be signing up even though I received the e-mail as I go for double-dipping by taking the 1/2 point credit on Southwest which I value more that miles on other airlines.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by NJUPINTHEAIR:
FYI: You can register for this promo via the phone link: 1-800-552-0852

</font>

Thanks!

Together now, with Elvis twang:
"All signed up... huh huh!"

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by korea71:
Don't forget, I believe once you switch, you can't switch back for the promotion period, I think until end of May. </font>


Terms and Conditions:
Offer is valid for stays between March 1 and May 31, 2003. Members can change their earning style preference during the offer period, however, once
a change has been made, the new earning style will be applied to future stays during the offer period only. No changes can be made for past stays.

Hilton have confused things even more for me now, they're offering double miles for KLM if you book World of savings rate and stay 2 nights.

So now it's 50% extra Hilton or 1000 KLM miles.

Mind you it of course depends on the rate.

Nigel

Any word on this offer being extended beyond 5-31-2003

Last year's "very targeted" (100% Bonus) offer was set to expire 9-30 and was extended through 12-31-02