Originally Posted by
deant
First question is why you are buying HHonors gift cards for a trip to Europe? You buy the gift cards in USD and then the Hotel will do the conversion from the local currency to USD - and they will always give you a very lousy conversion rate. I have never seen a hotel that will give a good exchange rate.
Funny you say that... I'm planning on loading up this card before 31 Dec when the miles cease to be recognized as lifetime miles, so I'm more likely to use it years down the road (i.e. when I'm underemployed and attending grad school). So more likely than not, I'd use my Mastercard in Europe if for no reason other than to take full advantage of the free foreign transactions.
That being said, will the money spent count for miles?