Reading a lot of doom and gloom here but I've just managed to secure a fantastic booking on points - 5 nights at the Hilton Warwick for a paltry 60k points (cash rates approx £55/night). Before the update the property was 30k/night so I think it's good for redeeming at properties that were typically cash low but points high.
Yes, this was one of the advertised improvements. You are getting about 0.55 US cents per point, which is more or less the new fixed value of points that I am seeing at a lot of properties in Europe.
Originally Posted by
thbe
Curio Hamburg, points&money:
before: 16.000 points plus EUR 58,91
now: 16.000 points plus EUR 115,06 (+95,3%)
Standard rate appr. EUR 200,-, before and now.
The "increase of 95%" is not really relevant, as the way it works is completely different.
Before: it cost 40K points for a full redemption, therefore, the points and money rate was 40% of the points (16K) and a fixed value usually around €59. You were effectively purchasing 24K points with €59, or €0.0025 per point (a reasonably good price). Like with purchasing points directly, you didn't earn any points for the stay.
It would cost 16K + €59 for any night regardless of cash rate, as long as the full standard redemption was 40K.
Now, the flexible rate is used to calculate the points&money rate. However, Hilton has promised that the maximum points for a redemption won't change for the moment. Therefore, a standard redemption is still 40K points.
Under the new points&money, if you use 16K points (40% of the flexible rate), the money portion will just be
60% of the flexible rate for that night. If you use 75% of the points required, the money portion will just be 25% of the flexible rate for that night.
When you understand this, then you see why the old points&money was almost always a good deal - the money portion was almost always much less than 60% of the revenue rate for that night!
So if the flexible rate is €192, a possible P&M rate will be 16K + €115 (€115 = 60% of €192).
For another night I am looking at, the flexible rate is €236, therefore, a possible P&M rate is 16K + €142 (€142 = 60% of €236).
Points&money redemption amounts are no longer fixed, and you get more "value" for your points when the revenue rate is higher, just like with full redemptions - but that's only if you were willing to pay the revenue rate.
It's really quite simple and even from the basic information given out 2 weeks ago, it wasn't that difficult to understand that it would be a devaluation for expensive properties, and minor improvements for cheap properties where it previously made no sense to redeem.
Originally Posted by
illesus
After checking several reservations in Japan, US and Barbados and rates for those dates my understanding is that 1 HH pt is exactly valued as 0.7 cent (always calculated from the _gross_ rates). This is a result coming from 5 diff hotels, dates.
I don't doubt you but for various properties in Europe, I am seeing 0.55 US cents per point for all of them. However, I found a few that were only 0.38 US cents per point.