sdsearch

Still still available! And since it's 2012, you've got a new calendar limit at AA, so even if you maxed out last year, now you can transfer even more this year!

redeemaamiles.points.com

mrkymark

Sorry I this may be a stupid question but I don't know too much about hilton points. Is this a good transfer ratio? Worth it to blow aa miles on?

Thunderroad

Not a stupid question. You'll get all sorts of answers, but my own take is that it can be a good transfer ratio if you plan on using the HH points for nice resorts or other nice overseas properties, since you get better value cashing in the points at more expensive hotels. And you're even better off if you know exactly what you want to do with the points in terms of where you'd go and when you'd go there, and if reward rooms are available then.

That last point is especially salient because the HH program seems to be deteriorating in various ways, including restricting reward access for some (though not all) good properties. You can find this discussed in various ways at the HH forum.

sdsearch

It depends on many things, including how many AA miles you'll have left after such a transfer. I went from just under 1.2 milliion miles to just over 1.1 million miles doing that, but the very next day (today) a Citi AA Amex 50k signup bonus just posted, and so I'm back to 1.15 million miles, and in a few days a Citi AA Visa 50k bonus will post, and I'll be back to 1.2 millon miles.

So if it's at the margins of your AA account, and you'll use the HH points only when you get value for them (ie, not because "I'm going on a trip and I have to use points no matter what), then I'd say it makes a lot of sense.

If doing so would drain your AA account, and you don't pay attention to value when redeeming your HH points, then it would probably not make sense.


Examples of what seemed to me like good redemption values I've done in the past year or two:

Two or three Hamptons in the Blue Ridge Parkway area (Hickory and/or Marion NC and one of the two in Galax VA) for 10k or 12.5k points, when they were charging $100++ for cash.

Hilton Buenos Aires for 20k + $70 (cash + points rate0, when it was chariging $200++ for cash.

Just redeemed for 6 nights at Hilton Madrid Airport for 15k + 34 Euro a night, when it was charging 160+ Euro a night.

(I should point out that I belong to a number of hotel programs, and evaluate various redemption possiblities, as well as cash pirces, for anyh place I'm going. I thus can take or leave any one HHonors redemption rate, depending on how good a deal it seems to me, if there are other options around, which there usually are.)


Meanwhile, it also depends on how much you value your AA miles and how much of a use you have for them. (This is not the right forum to discuss all that, however.)


(Finally, some people feel the HHonors devaluations have already happened, but that AA may have unknown devaluations coming as they go through and hopefully past their Chapter 11 process.)

Jaimito Cartero

I changed 75k AA to HH a few years back at the 1-2 ratio. Wish I could get them back, as I value the AA a lot more than HH these days. Unless you can get .8 cent or better value per HH point, I wouldn't do it.

jpdx

I would strongly advise against transferring miles to HHonors unless you have immediate plans to use the points. Given the massive devaluation of HHonors points via the premium reward scam it's much better to keep miles. However, if you do have a use for the points -ideally taking advantage one of the sweet spots of the HHonors program- the transfer can be a good idea.

For instance, I recently transferred 100k VS, to book a points&money reward at Conrad HK. 140k HHonors* + HKD 5288.00 for 8 nights in a room that would cost HKD 3350.00 per night. So HKD 21500.00 (USD 2760) value for the 140k points or 1.97cpp. Very decent value in my book, especially because I don't value VS miles very highly (based on high taxes and route network restrictions). With AA miles (less attractive transfer ratio and higher value of the miles), I might have thought twice about even this redemption.

----
*after 30% kickback under the current promo.

mrkymark

Thanks folks. It is hard to part with AA miles.

I was thinking about Tahiti as an example but properties like Bora Bora are asking for 271K HH points for one night! Yikes!

If I transferred, I would be transferring only for the sake of transferring and not knowing which hotel to get or use it at just yet. Guess I'll bow out for now since it depends on the hotel eh?

Ritz

In a word - no:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...hh-points.html

KathyWdrf

It's nice to still have this option, whether a good transfer ratio or no.

The fact is, whether it is a good deal depends on one's own particular travel patterns. I may or may not be able to use AA miles to fly, but I can always make use of HHonors points to stay at a hotel.

I wonder how much longer this will continue to be available....

thelostshark

Another option is to use the AA miles to book a hotel (including at least some Hilton family hotels) through AA's web site. I imagine those are devalued deals also, but I wonder if they are less devaluted than going thru points.com? Has anyone done a comparison? tls

sdsearch

It depends what you're comparing against. Some of the best values with HH points these days are points+cash rates where the points requirement is a lot less than normal yet the cash requirement is not that much. There is no equivalent "sweet spot" over in the AA miles to book a hotel, though. So it depends, for example, of whether you'd use points+cash (and then if with a promo like Gets Points Back that gives a 30% refund on points+cash, tho too late for that if you didn't do it all ready since the booking period is over), or would have used just outright points.

Also, do you get HH stay credit when using AA miles to book a HH hotel? With HH giving stay credit for award stays (including points+cash), some people need their award stays to count for HH stays in order to (re)qualify for the HH status they want.

thelostshark

I had the same question, and according to the response in this thread, the answer is no. I still might do it though, if it's basically a better deal than going thru points.com tls

b1513

I transferred mine a few months ago and am glad I did since AA stopped service to my airport. I usually stay at Hilton so the points were welcome to me.

Bobette

Ritz

With the all the HH point "worth" insanity, its nice to hear at least one success story with regard to HH devaluation. ^

azepine00

Well the reference point here was worthless aa miles the poster couldnt use as aa dropped his airport..