Originally Posted by
Majikow
Now I just gotta figure out how to get good use out of these points.
Why use them up immediately? HHonors points won't expire as long as you have "activity" at least once a year.
And you can apply for this card more often than once a year (or even more often than twice-at-a-time once a year), so just the activity from the card offers alone will be enough.
I would save the points until you find someplace where they're good value for you (either because the redemption is low or the price of alteratives in money is very high).
Originally Posted by
Majikow
Seems like the program is kind of watered down and you need a lot of points just to get a room (looking in Boston I couldn't find anything less than 50k per night).
Well, OTOH, if you go southwest along Blue Ridge Parkway in a month to two for the fall colors, in Marion NC you're likely to get a room for just 12500 points, even though it can be not super cheap during that time. Yes, it's just a Hampton, but if you're just popping in for the night and gone and enjoying the fall colors soon after it's daylight, who cares?
The best values in HHonors tend to be when you can find cash + points rates, that cut the points requirements in half or more while the cash requirement is about what you'd pay for a Motel 6. So consider half the points to be the ugprade from a Motel 6 to a Hilton family property.
Myself, I find the most value in some cities overseas: Budapest, Buenos Aires, Madrid Airport, Zurich Airport, and all but the first on points + cash, and in all cases a real nice Hilton (well, I haven't been to the last one yet, just reserved).
Of course, in my case, I'm HH Gold, so I particularly enjoy Hilton properties because I'm guananteed free breakfast and free iinternet. (But I hear the free breakfast for Golds at Hilton is sometimes outsourced something like Starbucks in the US, while I've never run into such cheapness overseas.)