+1 on 'loves Hampton.' Just had a great stay at SBSCO (Steamboat Springs). I'll be back.
Example: say I have ten stays coming up with an average folio charge of $500 each if I book through Hilton.com... $300 each if I book via Hotwire or Priceline. If I book via Hilton.com I spend $5,000 and rack up 50,000 HHonors points. If I take the bargain-basement route I earn no points but save $2,000.
Are 50,000 HHonors points worth $2,000? Not remotely. They're worth perhaps $400, on average. So why am I spending $2,000 to earn a prize worth $400? Shouldn't I just say the hell with it and go out looking for good cheap deals at any nice property?
That's what you are struggling against, HHonor guard, and I'm sorry Blackstone doesn't understand that. IHG certainly does.
Hilton does better with this on VIP status, VIP redemptions and CC spend, though. Your 50K through Hilton.com turns into 95K if you use your Surpass card to pay for the stay and into 110K or so if you're a Gold status member (+25% base points - and it's not that hard to make Gold*). If you set your My Way prefs to Points and Points, you get 15 base points for your 5K in spend - for a base total of 75K and a grand total of 132,500 points.
(*You're 25% of the way to Gold using Surpass only for this batch of stays. You can, of course, augment using regular spend - 6:1 for gas and grocery and up to 10:1 using Hilton's online mall. Hyatt, Starwood have no online presence; Marriott does but you get no point multiplier on everyday spend, only 2:1 on dining, rental cars, airline.)
Use your Surpass to rack up 12,500 more points - either using it for a one-night $100 stay or on groceries or whatnot - and you get four free nights in a Category 6 Hilton. (details:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...thread-18.html)
Given the devaluations, this isn't the deal it formerly was, but you may come close to breaking even on your $2000 if you were looking to score a room in London or somewhere else where the USD exchange rate is particularly bad. Also, you may well score a room upgrade, free breakfast, a desirable property in a popular location, and your reservation is 100% refundable - never the case with the discounters.