Hilton HHonors - Newbie Help

Hey everyone,
I have been lurking for a month or so, but finally decided to post. I got a new job a few months ago that will have me traveling a great deal, thus far I have been spending an average of 4-6 weeks in NYC for a week at a time. My clients pay for the hotels and I am allotted per diem, generally the rule with my firm is to try to find places around $325 or below (at least this is what I'm working with in NYC). I have the corporate Diners Club Card which my firm also lets me keep the points that I charge to them. I am trying to figure out which program is the best to start out with, and I am having a really hard time deciding. What is most important to me is the ability to redeem the points for free stays. I am in my mid-twenties and single and get 5 weeks of vacation with this job so when I go away I think it would be great to use the perks and free nights if I can get them. It is basically 90% of the time that I am away I will be sent to mid-large cities and the trips will generally have me staying for a week at a time for however long the project is. I am currently a Silver with Marriott for 2007 (managed to get that from November into December) and have played around at a few of the other hotels in NYC (Waldorf, W etc.) just to try them out, but now I would really like to focus and build up. Any suggestions? -- Thanks in advance!

Specific to NYC, I've been pleased with the NY Hilton (Sixth & 53rd). As Gold, I've been upgraded to executive floor every time, spacious rooms (for NYC), decent lounge, centrally located, and usually reasonable rates (never paid more than about $380). Much prefer the NY Hilton over the Waldorf. A few HGIs around Manhattan as well, though I've never given them a shot. A colleague of mine is a fan of the Doubletree, but I've never given that property a visit.

I find the variety of offerings in NYC by Hilton to be wide. I've added the Hilton AMEX for hotel stays and have seen my points explode with little effort. No problems, yet, redeeming points for stays...in two tries. The AMEX also offers a decent 4-night, class-6 promo for just 120K points which I am using this summer for vacation.

I've only been a loyal Hilton person since September, but pleased with the experience.

And, if you give Hilton a try, sign-up at www.hiltonracing.com where you can fast-track to Gold VIP in 4 stays.

I've focused mostly on Hilton HHonors points for the past 5 years because: a) you can double dip (HHonors points and airline miles); b) I found the price range for the Hilton family of hotels to be the most accessible to me (in my former employment when I was on somewhat stricter per diems than you've got and as a leisure traveller); and c) there are a lot of Hilton properties. Now I've got a Hilton Amex and I'm racking up a lot of miles. Hilton's recent change in its programme to make more rooms available for redemption looks promising (but we'll have to see how it works in practice). With respect to (b), I've found that the Hampton properties in a number of North American cities (including the new one in NYC in the 20s) to be very good values, with good service and often very new decor.

I like Starwood but have often found that the hotels in the group are outside my price range (there are relatively few Four Points hotels and the price jump between a Four Points and a Sheraton seems a lot bigger than the graduated jumps from a Hampton or Hilton Garden Inn to a Doubletree or Hilton). Many say that Starwood has one of the best frequent stay programmes (and if you got top tier status the benefits can be great), but I've never come close. I've found Marriott family hotels to offer a flexible range of prices that I can pay for with my work budget or leisure traveller's budget.

I stay in Inter-Continental family hotels from time to time, but am not very loyal to Priority Club because I've found that, to get really good rates, you have to make non-cancellable reservations at least 21 days in advance (and I don't want to commit that far in advance). Hilton also offers good deals on non-refundable rates, but their refundable rates don't seem as high as IC's rates.

I do a lot of hilton and Sheraton. Overall Hilton has more hotels to choose from, starwood has higher end hotels. I prefer hilton for the locations, NYC has some nice hiltons, they can hit all price ranges if needed. I have never had an issue useing my points with hilton, every now and then I have issues wiht starwood, they have a lot of conventions and resorts that will have a hotel sold out a year in advance.

If you get a Hilton Amex, then you have access to some special 4-night awards (at 25,000 points per night). If you spend $20,000 or more per year on the Amex, you get Gold Status. (Although I think you get Gold Status automatically with Starwood's Amex.)

And, if you give Hilton a try, sign-up at www.hiltonracing.com where you can fast-track to Gold VIP in 4 stays.

I've been a HH member for about a year, and just signed up for the HH AMEX. The card's still in the mail, but the website shows I have status already.

I knew about the automatic bump to Silver, and the bump to Gold with 20K in spending. The website indicates they're giving me a fast-track to Gold, as well - 4 stays in 4 months gets me another bump.

I would recommend the HHonors Amex for charges. My wife and I earn approx 10k / month thru basic charges. Putting travelling charges on the card, which I'm not allowed to do thru work, would be fantastic for points.