darnits

I have an interesting dilemma that I would like some input on.

My wife and I are heading to NYC city next week, here are our hotel plans.

Night 1: Radisson Martinique on 1-for-1 certificate
Night 2: DoubleTree Suites Times Square using 80,000 Hilton Points

I check the hotels daily to see if there are any rate changes and paying with Club Carlson points has opened up for the two nights we are in NYC. I am a Club Carlson Visa holder, so 2 nights at the Radisson Martinique would only cost 50,000 points.

In this scenario, we would have this:

Night 1: Radisson Martinique using 50,000 points
Night 2: Radisson Martinique using Free Night Award via Visa Card

I would get a refund of 80,000 Hilton points and have the 1-for-1 certificate to use by the end of the year. We have nothing planned, but I'm sure I can find a quick weekend getaway to use it on.

So here are some pros and cons I have come up with:

Pros of switching
Save 80,000 Hilton Points
Still have 1-for-1 certificate
No need to check-in/check-out of multiple hotels
Get great value of Club Carlson Points (Around 1.3 cents per point)

Cons of switching
Won't stay right in Times Square on second night
Still have to use 1-for-1 certificate by the end of the year

I have my thoughts on what I would like to do, but I wanted to get what some of your thoughts would be!

Thanks!

Jon

helosc

I would stay in the Radisson both nights as I find it very inconvenient and time consuming to change hotels for such a short stay.
And 80.000 hhonors point is a fair amount of points to be able to spend elsewhere later.
My suggestion doesn't factor the quality and location of the hotels in as I don't know anything about that.

darnits

Thanks. I will probably end up doing this. While planning out what we are going to do, it is a pain to have to block off around 2 hours to check out of one hotel and check in at the other.

Jon

helosc

I only change hotels on short stays if I for some reason want to try out a new hotel. Like I recently did in Berlin - 2 nights in Hilton Berlin ( which I know and am happy with ) and the 3. night in the new Waldorf Astoria in Berlin ( to try out ). Am now going back to the Waldorf in Berlin in December as it turned out to be a brilliant hotel ( with a very fancy spa ). So sometimes it is worth the hassle to change hotels but mostly not.
Have a nice trip.

MD/DC Flyer

It depends whether you have status with Hilton. If you are gold with Hilton you'll get the free breakfast. The location on Times Square can be a plus or a minus. Have not stayed in the Doubletree yet (first time in couple of weeks), but have stayed in the Radisson - which is quite basic, but a good base for NYC.

I would probably save the Hilton points and stay in the Radisson.

Neil35

For such a short stay I wouldn't want to switch hotels. If I switched mid-day it would foul up whole day's plan. Doing it in the morning or evening rush hours is a pain in NYC. Either way I would have to repack and re-unpack my things -- time-consuming and risky for losing things in the process.