Before the announcements, I opened the Hawaiian Airlines CC, and one each of a Citi HHonors card and an Amex HHonors card (the ones with no annual fees). My plan was to add to my current bank and empty it all out for a stay at the Grand Wailea in Maui this summer. This is still my plan. I am down to the last few weeks waiting for the rest of the points to post, but I should make it before the change date. Citi closed my statement before my spend from the same day posted last month, so my bonus got shafted to the next closing date which is this week.

But I am done with accumulating HHonors points. Seems like every time our hotel plans involve a possible stay at a Hilton, I can't get the my HHonors points to work in my favor. Last summer it was like burn 30k points or spend $100 for a night in Albany. That's just dumb. Instead I spent $100/nt at Marriott for their stay 2-get 1 free promo. Internationally we stayed at the Hiltons in Sorrento and Prague last year. Again, the points ratio was whack compared to what I could pay in just cash using codes I found on this forum. When we stayed at the Cavalieri, I paid for it because we wanted to ensure access to the Imperial Lounge and not have to chance some upgrade roulette. When we went to London last Christmas, I thought finally I would have a chance to use those HHonors points. There were several 50K hotels available for our nights there. Except my husband decided he wanted to stay at the W London and I sorta agreed, so the HHonors points continued to sit there.

Contrast that to SPG where I have gotten good value for my redemptions so far, mostly all at European properties and some USA properties using cash and points. Though SPG isn't all rosy. Luckily we stayed at the St. Regis Kauai on a great conference rate last year. It is now sneaking up to category 7 making it a tough place to spend points. But I am keeping my SPG Amex for now and they are still our first choice for hotels when we travel.

Even for this upcoming trip to Hawaii, the stay in Maui is not at the lowest redemption level (80K) for Waldorf Astoria because I guess those rooms are gone. Free nights aren't even available for my dates at the HHV in Waikiki. But I'm tired of hanging onto these points that are only going to devalue further so I'd rather spend them even at a higher rate if it means staying at the Grand Wailea and being done with them.