MilesBuzz! - Get 10,000 Hilton points for $49 (for HHonors Visa cardholders)

Citibank has a new promotion on the Hilton HHonors Platinum Visa: transfer $2,000 or more onto the card, pay a $49 transfer fee, and get 10,000 Hilton points. Call them at 888-977-6687; make sure you mention the 10,000 point promotion.

When you say transfer, do the transferred monies have to accrue interest?

Here is a scenario:

Pay all CC's off every month. Request HHonors Citi Visa to transfer $2k from SPG Amex (Yes, I pay that one off each month too).

The $2k hits the Citi Visa and I pay that one off at statement closing.

Are any other interest charges besides the $49 fee assessed?

thanks for the info, but based on my experience, 10k Hilton points aren't really worth any effort that also costs $49-- across all award classifications. maybe if someone was just a little short of an ALON, but you're probably better off finding some scheme to get 5k miles an a partner airline and convert those. plus, i'd bet they make you pay more than $49 when all the "hidden" fees are applied.

The whole thing hardly seems worth the trouble to me. As I recall, you can buy the HHonors points directly from Hilton for 1 cent each. If you manage to time this thing just perfectly and pay no interest on the money from the checks, the absolute most you would be ahead is $51 (considering the 100.00 value of the points minus the $49 fee).

[This message has been edited by dogcanyon (edited 02-15-2002).]

No need to accrue interest on the transfer. In fact, I just paid $2,049 to them right after requesting the $2,000 transfer to them. No hidden fees on top of the $49, and it took about two minutes to set up the transfer (while sitting in traffic). I think 10,000 points for $49 is a good deal, but obviously, it's a personal decision.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by pynchonesque:
No need to accrue interest on the transfer. In fact, I just paid $2,049 to them right after requesting the $2,000 transfer to them. No hidden fees on top of the $49, and it took about two minutes to set up the transfer (while sitting in traffic). I think 10,000 points for $49 is a good deal, but obviously, it's a personal decision.</font>

Where did you transfer $2k from? Do you just tell them the credit card number for where the $2k should be transferred from?

I tend to agree with the doubters about the value of this.

Also, watch out for 2 things. First, many credit cards charge a fee for a balance transfer--could be $25, could be 2% or 3%. Second, balance transfers sometimes are treated as cash advances and therefore accrue interest from day 1 with no grace period.

I gave them the # of my United Mileage Plus card, and they knew right away that it's First USA, and they transferred it. I didn't even have a $2,000 outstanding balance there.

The fee charged by Citibank is the minimum of {$49, 3%}, so it's $49 for $2,000+.

It's not treated as a cash advance. In fact, if I decided to finance it, it would have some low promo APR (like 2.9% maybe).

What value do you assign to Hilton Points?

I just used Hilton points for 3 nights pointstretcher 51,000 points (for Classic hotel), where the lowest room rate was $99 plus tax (minus miles and points if this would have been a paid stay). This brings is very close to 1/2 cent per point. And if I was spending the money anyway I would have tried to Priceline it to beat .49 cents per point.

I value points around 1 cent each. I believe this is a common valuation here on FT, although some folks say less and some say more. I value points more than you because I use them in situations where Priceline, for whatever reason, doesn't get me what I want. My typical award stay is 25,000 points for a $250 room night. Again: personal decisions and preferences.

You can buy 1000 miles for $25 from Delta. 10000 Hilton points = 2500 Delta miles (4:1) so you would need to pay $62.50 (if you could buy in less than 1000 parcels) for the equivalent of 10000 Hilton points. I know that's mixing apples and oranges a bit but it gives us another way to think about the relative value of 10000 Hilton points for $49, even without any other fees, etc. for the transfer. But, as P... said, it's always a matter of personal choice.

In other words, they are worth roughly half an airline mile. Note that they are much easier to use than airline miles--fewer restrictions, etc.--which must be considered in their value.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by upgrader:
You can buy 1000 miles for $25 from Delta. 10000 Hilton points = 2500 Delta miles (4:1) so you would need to pay $62.50 (if you could buy in less than 1000 parcels) for the equivalent of 10000 Hilton points. I know that's mixing apples and oranges a bit but it gives us another way to think about the relative value of 10000 Hilton points for $49, even without any other fees, etc. for the transfer. But, as P... said, it's always a matter of personal choice.</font>

If you bought miles from Delta, you would need 5000 Delta miles (not 2500) to convert to 10,000 Hilton points.