Xyzzy

It's McPaper -- don't expect accurate reporting from such a shoddy outfit.

kevino

I really hope you're right, but I fear you are not. The reason is that if we look at just the percentages above and throw out the 20% across the board statement, it would mean that more hotels are actually going down in points needed for a redemption than hotels going up. If that were the case, Hilton would be marketing that, and not the category changes. Clearly there is a devaluation going on and that's why Hilton has had to explain it and defend it. I do hope I'm wrong about this though.

Beckles

Note that I only said it appears possible these changes aren't too bad. The fact even 10 hotels will be cheaper after the change and 10 will be the same price, assuming at least the point levels for the 30 specific hotels listed are correct, is better than the oft-repeated claim here on FT that "every hotel" was going up at least one category.

sorro

I agree here. This has been a total PR disaster for Hilton and if this is how they planned it the whole time, they ought to change their marketing department around. If this is a result of the hue and cry by HHonors members they should acknowledge that "we're listening and changing things around and that's why you don't have a chart" instead of just hiding at corporate HQ and letting speculation run rampant. Trust us with the information, especially if it's better news than we're expecting.

SFOisHome

I just found this thread and am a Diamond member( last 4yrs based on nights in Hilton rooms) who did not recieve an email, let alone one with a free night. I of couse emailed Hilton, and of course I do not qualify for the free night because 'Your account is not one of the targeted few accounts' that was eligible but as a goodwill geture I was given 5000 points. WOW. I guess being Diamond member based on amount of time spen in Hilton rooms really doesn't matter.

Keyser

i read in an article somewhere that they were giving the free night to diamonds who have been with them for a while & have over 200k points in their account....i don't believe this to be true because i have been diamond for 3 years & have well over 500k points in my account....i know people who are first year diamonds with a much less point balance than me who have got the free night....

travelinfoo

I'm not so sure about the reported criteria either. I have a friend who just became a HHonors member this yr and achieved Diamond via Surpass spending shortly before the certificate issuance. He had less than 200K, no Hilton stays, and had been Diamond for UNDER TWO MONTHS! He received a certificate.

I initially did not get a certificate. I'm now at my 5th yr as a Diamond, all earned via time in hotels. I had about 140K in my account at the time of the announcement. However, up to that point, I had ADDED about 350K points since Jan. I complained and eventually received a certificate (I earned an additional 50K during the time from the email release and DD resolution 3 wks later).
I was initially sent the standard email with the statement "certificate only issued to our most valued Diamond member". I was irate when I saw that. A Diamond for several yrs and well over 2 mill points lifetime points was deemed not valuable while a brand new Diamond/HHonors member via CC spend with just over 160K lifetime points was considered most valuable.

The published criteria is most definitely NOT what was used. I think it was much more arbitrary than that. But it does seem they favored the high CC spenders more than the ppl who stayed in the hotels.

deuce1

went to book my free night using the cert...it's nowhere in my emails. I must've deleted. Anyone had success getting this resent?

update...duh, they have it at the Diamond Desk, no problem at all...hopefully this will be helpful to anyone else who did this

Football Fan

Is there an overall overview of all hotels and their new categories? And of GLON/GLONP (or whatever they are called) prices? Thanks...

cjd

The Hhonors website has a page which lets you locate the different reward level hotels in different countries. See: http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/.../categories.do
Hhonors did publish a list of the VIP award levels, but then removed it from the site. LarryU saved a copy and gave it in a previous thread. Hopefully he won't mind me quoting it again: http://members.aceweb.com/larryu/fil..._9-25-2009.pdf

Football Fan

Thank you very much Chris, this is what I was looking for.

Edit: These people are completely out of their minds...

Among Category 7 hotels:

Hilton London Hyde Park
Hilton London Paddington
Hilton London Green Park
Hilton London Heathrow Airport
Hilton Amsterdam
Embassy Suites Chicago
Embassy Suites Deerfield Beach
Drake
Palmer House
Millenium Hilton NYC

I believe I have stayed at all of these...don't get me wrong, they are decent enough hotels and while I guess you could make the argument for the Drake or the Palmer House due to their tradition, I really don't see how you put these hotels in the same category as the Conrad Maldives or, from what I hear, the Hilton Seychelles and Hilton Mauritius.

Thanks also for the VIP rewards - so that means that there is no longer a discount for a 6-night award as there used to be?

So the Conrad Maldives went from 175k points to 225k points?

I bet nobody is ever going to redeem the London Green Park Hilton for 225k points for 6 nights!!!

HAHAHA...the Hilton London Olympia is a cat. 6...hilarious. Worst hotel ever.

SimpleManToo

No one is happy about all the changes.

I want to make sure that these certificates they are going to give out for free nights after 4 stays (with a maximum of 3 certificates) WILL Be GOOD for ANY Hilton Property ANYWHERE with a one year expiration period.

Do I understand this correctly???

Beckles

There are a few dozen properties not participating (about 1% of all Hilton Family properties), see this page for the list.

DH

Maybe that's the point. It doesn't want any award stays...

cjd

There is still a discount for the VIP awards. The new 2010 chart for single night awards http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/...s/freenight.do shows that the nightly rate for Cat 7 properties is 50000 points. So for 6 nights, instead of 300k points, you pay 225k for the VIP award.