tremhug

This is my first year as frequent traveler and I learn to live with the promotion. I assume that, year after year, promotions are similar for given quarter. So, what should I expect to get in quarter 4 of this year? That would help me budgeting my points :-)

Notenut

You assume wrong, I'm afraid. A few years ago Hilton had some pretty good promos. Then it was sold to the Blackstone group and there was a drought of special offers. What we've seen this year so far has been relatively mediocre so far. From my recollection it is a rare year when promos are offered all year round. I think the only reason that has been true so far this year is the weak economy, not tradition. So we'll just have to wait and see for Q4, unless anyone has a reliable crystal ball, or has hacked into confidential Hilton Corporate memos

ayg

Stay 5 get 500 points... limit 500 points!

darthbimmer

HH has offered poor promos this year compared to other loyalty programs. That's part of the reason I've shifted a lot of my business to other brands. Hilton's reduction of Diamond benefits is another part of it....

Flying Lawyer

This is utterly wrong. HH offered great rates (like the January Sale) and I do not care about any bonus points if I get great suite rates (with better upgrades) and free breakfast for little money. I really like that HH has stopped the "cheat your customer or employer offers" and makes great offers for smaller money. At the start of this year I thought about dropping diamond after they dropped the rolling tier. However, I am currently at 25 stays and will continue to use Hilton. The benefits? They certainly increased. I have seen more and better upgrades and guaranteed lounge access. However, it is no longer for everybody and everybodies dog. For sure...

Guava

The Q2 promo was fairly strong, some people reportedly rack up over 100K Hilton bonus points + 80K BD miles in Q2 alone. I see no BD mentioned in your profile, that's a mistake on your part for cumulating your miles with United Mileage Plus (or Minus according to many people ). My haul was a little less, at about 100K HH points, base + bonus, including a special 30K bonus from HGVC and 60K BD miles + 1,500 miles for booking via flybmi.com/hilton.co.uk. I won't trade that with those SPG Free Weekends, which are way over-rated and require a lot of weekend travel. It just means a lot of extra and probably unncessary travel in the name of maximizing value of award, which will likely end up adding a lot of unnecessary expenses. I mean, who can really reasonably make use 6~8 weekend nights in the span of 2.5 months and you can't transfer awards to anyone either. If we put this to a vote, I think Hilton had by far the best Q2 promos of all major chains. The BD mileage haul was nothing short of amazing. Put it this way, the guy who snatched 80K miles just got himself roughly 7~8 return tickets within or between North America and Carribbean/Mexico in First/ Business Class. It's probably difficult to imagine for a UA MP member but that's why there were several dedicated threads here in this forum and in the BD forum talking about this.

kats

Yes, Q2 promo this year was strong especially for those collecting miles on BD. I even stayed at Hilton and Conrad in my locality for the first time ever because it was so good to pass up. If Hilton continues to come up with promos like this one, I will probably keep my D status for some time. I was also actually considering to quit until Jan Sale came up. Having said so, I must say Q3 promo of Hilton is poor, and I doubt if Hilton comes up with so competitive promos in the Q4 as other programs. Anyway, I already have more than 20 stays thanks to Q2.

Guava

The SPG Q3 promo is also strikingly similar and lousy as well, 500~1,000 bonus point per stay vs. the Hilton Q3 promo. Keep in mind SPG's earning through stays without any promotion is significantly poorer than Hilton or Marriott, although SPG is running a region specific free weekend promo for Asia Pacific though we don't know the details yet. That said, my award stay from last week while trying to escape the record heatwave hitting my city qualified for Hilton Q3 promo. People often forget there are some really nice features about Hilton HHonors such award stays count towards elite qualification and some promotions.

pmaddock

I just caught a glance of a PC at a Hilton property where they had a promo enrollment screen up. It said something like Delta/Northwest Q4 Promo with a due date of 10/8 for enrollment. That would more or less fit with the current promo ending on 10/15.

I'm guessing this means we'll see another property specific promo for DL miles starting in the 2nd half of Oct.

Sadly there was no detail at all on the screen and only the one promo listed. The screen had a very simple yes/no/undecided radio button - looked like it was designed for a list but again only the one was listed.

Very fuzzy info but thought I'd share.

manicflyer9

The HHonors web site indicates a current promotion from 5 October to 31 December at "participating hotels." There are 2 mutually-exclusive routes: (1) 25,000 points after 4 stays or (2) double base points. Sorry, but I am unable to post the link.
Query: How does one determine if a property is "participating"? Unlike past promotions, there is no link to identify such properties.

kanerf

The link is www.hiltonhhonors.com/PickOffer2009 and it appears that all hotels participate.

I picked the 25K bonus as I won't be staying at enough properties during this period to get more with the double base points. It is a bit lame though compared to other programs, but you take what you can get.

harryhv

Well, at least a promo. Picked the double points - don't want to be forced into 4 stays.

SteveinSTL

Thanks for the timely post; just booked multiple stays in November! ^ That's one free night (@25K). I too wasn't sure of the math of exceeding 25K in base points was worth the risk with typically slow December travel. Offer me the same choice for 1st quarter....and I'll go with door #2!

Keyser

i guess something is better than nothing....but i wonder if award stays qualify for this promo????i have exactly 4 stays planned before the end of the year....2 are paid stays & the other 2 are award stays....

benmaller

According to HHonors T & C awards stays count as stays for "tier membership" and they show up as a stay on your account. I would expect that they would count towards them promotion a well but no guarantees.