Originally Posted by
BillMorrow
For Hilton, a six night stay an elite at a Category 6 costs 175,000 points or 29,166 points per night. A diamond accrues a base of 25 points per dollar spent with Hilton(using HH CC and no double dip). This is a spend of $1167 for a free night at a Category 6 property.
Even with the double dip, Hilton Diamond members will earn 20 points per dollar (using the Hilton CC) - same as Marriott Platinum in 2009. For those of us who usually use Marriott points for one or two night stays in Cat 7 hotels in NYC and London which will now become Cat 8, the amount of points needed for redemption will be the same between Hilton and Marriott (40,000 points per night). But with Hilton, your Diamond arrival gift is 1,000 points at Hilton and Doubletree hotels, and 750 at HGI, as opposed to 500 with Marriott and Renaissance and 200 with Courtyard. On top of that, you will earn 500 airline miles per stay.
So if you do the math... consider 2 business travelers who both take 40 two-night business trips per year, one Diamond staying at Hiltons (half full service Hiltons, half HGI's), and the other Platinum staying at Marriotts (half full service, half Courtyards), paying with Hilton and Marriott CC's respectively. If you figure an average room rate of $150 per night, and each traveler takes the extra points instead of the arrival gift, the Hilton traveler will receive 155,000 Hilton points, and 20,000 airline miles. The Marriott traveler will receive 134,000 Marriott points and no airline miles.
Can you say... status match?