Paying for a Stay: Hilton Honors Points versus Money or Cash
#31
Join Date: May 2001
Location: pdx
Posts: 860
I guess its subjective. I realized the worth of HH points (for me) in the summer with the appearance of CNTU. I accumulated enough for an ALON in one month. CNTU promo, plus a mattress run to LAS, plus laundering orphan miles from my wife's and my old UA/AA/Delta accounts. Ended up with 200k so have an upcoming 5 night GLON this month in Orlando (100K) and still enough for our HHV trip next year.
Personally, I am delighted with this unexpected opportunity for little $$$'s.
Personally, I am delighted with this unexpected opportunity for little $$$'s.
#32
Guest
Posts: n/a
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by tinkybelle:
I find Hilton Points system very valuable.
I jast booked a GLONP in paris when I couldnt get a room under 560 euro.that is a huge saving.
Most of the hotels in pparis were boooked out and they found me a room.
I also think the GLON hawaii 6 nights for 100.000 a great award.</font>
I find Hilton Points system very valuable.
I jast booked a GLONP in paris when I couldnt get a room under 560 euro.that is a huge saving.
Most of the hotels in pparis were boooked out and they found me a room.
I also think the GLON hawaii 6 nights for 100.000 a great award.</font>
That may very well be true, but you forgot to mention one very salient point to our friend -- that you are a HHonors Diamond, and Hilton will go very far to retain your business.
Unless he obtains a like status, he will have a much harder time using his points. Morevover, he certainly would not be given the treatment that you enjoyed vis a vis your Paris situation. He would just have to grin and bear it and pay the 500 Euros/night.
Others on this thread are also Diamond -- Hilton's highest tier -- so take that into account when making your decision.
All in all, I would take the offer, and with these words of caution, use it and Hilton for your needs, as you see fit, but keep your lodging choices open!
#33
Join Date: Aug 1999
Location: HHQ
Programs: AA-2MM Lifetime Platinum
Posts: 772
There is no annual fee for the Hilton AMEX card, so certainly go for it and take the 20K points. You don't have to make this charge card your #1 card, or even use it at all for that matter. I only use mine when I stay at a Hilton property. The 20K points are a free gift that could come in handy later.
#35
Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 873
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by DOC 2 BE:
Unless he obtains a like status, he will have a much harder time using his points. Morevover, he certainly would not be given the treatment that you enjoyed vis a vis your Paris situation. He would just have to grin and bear it and pay the 500 Euros/night.
Others on this thread are also Diamond -- Hilton's highest tier -- so take that into account when making your decision.
</font>
Unless he obtains a like status, he will have a much harder time using his points. Morevover, he certainly would not be given the treatment that you enjoyed vis a vis your Paris situation. He would just have to grin and bear it and pay the 500 Euros/night.
Others on this thread are also Diamond -- Hilton's highest tier -- so take that into account when making your decision.
</font>
I've used points when I hadn't much status with HHonors, btu was always treated perfectly I could always get what I wanted.
My experience: using HHonor points for earning airmiles or free tickets is not a good idea, for earning free stays it is almost perfect.
#36
Guest
Posts: n/a
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ql2112:
Obtaining status with Hilton is not difficult: search the threads on this board and you'll learn how you can become a GoldVIP very easily and possibly earn 50K bonus points in the process.
I've used points when I hadn't much status with HHonors, btu was always treated perfectly I could always get what I wanted.
My experience: using HHonor points for earning airmiles or free tickets is not a good idea, for earning free stays it is almost perfect.</font>
Obtaining status with Hilton is not difficult: search the threads on this board and you'll learn how you can become a GoldVIP very easily and possibly earn 50K bonus points in the process.
I've used points when I hadn't much status with HHonors, btu was always treated perfectly I could always get what I wanted.
My experience: using HHonor points for earning airmiles or free tickets is not a good idea, for earning free stays it is almost perfect.</font>
I appreciate your input and suggestions, but if you were to do a search of my name in this forum you would see I was quite a prolific writer on Hilton, and defender of same, until ... it came for me to cash in my points.
So my points about being wary unless one is a Diamond stand; however unfortunate that may be.
#37
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: USA
Programs: HH Diamond, SPG Gold, PC Platinum Ambassador, Marriott Silver
Posts: 15,249
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by dgordon:
What I have come to realize about Hilton is the points aren't worth much if you want to convert them to miles, but are a better value to use for hotel rooms. </font>
What I have come to realize about Hilton is the points aren't worth much if you want to convert them to miles, but are a better value to use for hotel rooms. </font>
#38
Join Date: Dec 2001
Posts: 5,748
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by DOC 2 BE:
So my points about being wary unless one is a Diamond stand; however unfortunate that may be. </font>
So my points about being wary unless one is a Diamond stand; however unfortunate that may be. </font>
Not to say one won't get lucky but just don't depend on it as a Gold.
As an astute FTer pointed out in another thread, "Diamond attempts to deliver what Gold just promises".
The valus of HH points as Gold is only slightly more than CO OnePass miles even as a Platinum.
#39
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: BOS
Posts: 827
Hello:
I have been thinking about having my wife sign up for the Hilton AMEX. The initial post refers to offer of 20,000 points versus the ususal 10,000 points (subject to purchases of x dollars for both). Is there a link to this offer that I could use or other way to go about getting this offer?
Thanks - Michael
I have been thinking about having my wife sign up for the Hilton AMEX. The initial post refers to offer of 20,000 points versus the ususal 10,000 points (subject to purchases of x dollars for both). Is there a link to this offer that I could use or other way to go about getting this offer?
Thanks - Michael
#40
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: PHX and LIH
Programs: AA: 2 MM
Posts: 85,510
[quote]<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by hedoman:
Good one. I almost find this discussion too silly to respond to. I'm glad, fetchem, that you apparently had enough sense to pay the $36 rather than use points.
Isn't one of the points of being a member of these programs, to pay when you get a reasonable rate, and save the points and miles for the expensive hotels and flights? E.g., the Paris Hilton? I've stayed there free for a week a couple of times. I'll leave it to you math wizards to figure out how much a $275 a night or more room is worth when coverted to points - especially when you consider the three 50,000 point bonus programs of the past couple of years.
Originally posted by emaij:
Am I missing something?
Yes.
Am I missing something?
Yes.
</font>
Isn't one of the points of being a member of these programs, to pay when you get a reasonable rate, and save the points and miles for the expensive hotels and flights? E.g., the Paris Hilton? I've stayed there free for a week a couple of times. I'll leave it to you math wizards to figure out how much a $275 a night or more room is worth when coverted to points - especially when you consider the three 50,000 point bonus programs of the past couple of years.
#41
Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 306
My rule of thumb for HH points is a yield of $8-9 per 1000 points.
We enjoy travelling and I hate wasting points. I am scheduled to use 6000 points for one night on a point stretcher (cheapest rate is $54 w/tax...$9/1K) in December and 10500 on a two night point stretcher in November ($86 w/tax...$8.20/1K).
So, for me, the value if used wisely is approximately $170 for the AMEX promo, which I also received. Best part of the HH credit cards is that there is no fee. I usually do not do point earning CC, not even WN because of the annual fee.
A final thought...what is the value of filling out an application and spending points?
We enjoy travelling and I hate wasting points. I am scheduled to use 6000 points for one night on a point stretcher (cheapest rate is $54 w/tax...$9/1K) in December and 10500 on a two night point stretcher in November ($86 w/tax...$8.20/1K).
So, for me, the value if used wisely is approximately $170 for the AMEX promo, which I also received. Best part of the HH credit cards is that there is no fee. I usually do not do point earning CC, not even WN because of the annual fee.
A final thought...what is the value of filling out an application and spending points?
#42
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: SAN
Posts: 887
$.009/pt is not too far below the $.01/pt often used as a conservative value for ff miles. The trick is clearly to use it for hotel stays and to maximize value with the stretchers or other programs. Now I just have to consider whether I want to direct $5,000 onto that card.
#43
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: MCI
Programs: AA Gold 1MM, AS MVP, UA Silver, WN A-List, Marriott LT Titanium, HH Diamond
Posts: 52,547
Just did an ALON - 6 nts, HWV, nice upgraded room. I didn't do detailed price-checking for my dates, but I figure $166/night with all the taxes is probably fair, so I'll call it a penny a point. (I got the dates I wanted, no problems. I have Gold Status that I got from one of my CNTU runs.)
From the CNTU's, I still have 180K left over. I little Amex charging and I'll have two more ALONs/GLONs, or a GLONP with a little bit left over.
So I would beg to differ: HH points have a *lot* of value, based on what you have to do to get them. One Starwood point is worth more than one HH point, but you have to work a lot harder to get that Starwood point. If my Amex yields 3 points per dollar (i.e., 2.5 to 3 cents per dollar) with no annual fee, that's good value.
I'm just guessing here, but I would bet that HH will tighten up on the CNTU's in the future. Unfortunately or fortunately - depending on your stays - Hilton has built their rewards structure around huge bonus promotions based on stays, reducing the relative value of a single high-revenue Monday-through-Friday business trip. That's why people sometimes say "HH points have no value".
Obviously, your opinion will vary if ALONs and GLONs aren't what you are looking for, and especially if you view hotel points is strictly a backdoor to more airline miles.
From the CNTU's, I still have 180K left over. I little Amex charging and I'll have two more ALONs/GLONs, or a GLONP with a little bit left over.
So I would beg to differ: HH points have a *lot* of value, based on what you have to do to get them. One Starwood point is worth more than one HH point, but you have to work a lot harder to get that Starwood point. If my Amex yields 3 points per dollar (i.e., 2.5 to 3 cents per dollar) with no annual fee, that's good value.
I'm just guessing here, but I would bet that HH will tighten up on the CNTU's in the future. Unfortunately or fortunately - depending on your stays - Hilton has built their rewards structure around huge bonus promotions based on stays, reducing the relative value of a single high-revenue Monday-through-Friday business trip. That's why people sometimes say "HH points have no value".
Obviously, your opinion will vary if ALONs and GLONs aren't what you are looking for, and especially if you view hotel points is strictly a backdoor to more airline miles.
#44
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Reno, NV (RNO)
Programs: AA Platinum, AS, UA, DL, HHonors Gold, Marriott LTP, Hyatt, IHG Platinum
Posts: 4,707
As many have stated, an important part of the value equation is based on which awards you claim. If you only use your HHonors awards for GLON/ALON stays, the value is much higher. Also, if your travel patterns tend to favor longer stays (say 5-6 night stays vs. 1-3 night stays), you get more value since points required per night tend to decrease as you stay longer.
Personally, my vacation stays for US destinations are typically 1-2 nights max, occasionally 3 nights, but rarely more. Hawaii is a noteable exception. Overseas, where I travel far less frequently, my stays are typically longer (3-6 nights). For me, the value I receive on international stays is almost always excellent because of the longer stays and higher prices. In the US, I pay for most of my 1-2 night stays because I can usually get a lower price than the value of an award I would use (at a valuation of $.007 cents/point). There are always exceptions: Hawaii on a ALON award, Anchorage Hilton during the peak summer season, etc.
Personally, my vacation stays for US destinations are typically 1-2 nights max, occasionally 3 nights, but rarely more. Hawaii is a noteable exception. Overseas, where I travel far less frequently, my stays are typically longer (3-6 nights). For me, the value I receive on international stays is almost always excellent because of the longer stays and higher prices. In the US, I pay for most of my 1-2 night stays because I can usually get a lower price than the value of an award I would use (at a valuation of $.007 cents/point). There are always exceptions: Hawaii on a ALON award, Anchorage Hilton during the peak summer season, etc.
#45
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Worcester, MA, USA
Programs: AA PLT, SPG Gold, Hyatt Platinum, HHonors, Marriott Silver
Posts: 547
Well, I just tried to use a GLON for 6 nights in London for mid-November....no blocks of 6 nights available, just scattered days at various hotels.
It makes me wonder why I worked to build my HHonors balance up over 270K!
I could understand it if I was trying to book a month out for a busy season, but November in London is not high season! They must really have a minute number of award rooms available.
I guess it's time to push the Starwood account again.
It makes me wonder why I worked to build my HHonors balance up over 270K!
I could understand it if I was trying to book a month out for a busy season, but November in London is not high season! They must really have a minute number of award rooms available.
I guess it's time to push the Starwood account again.