SimpleManToo

Ok if you choose miles and are starting at ground zero, which U.S. Based carrier makes the most sense to make your miles go towards? Southwest? Delta? Anyones thoughts on this.

ACflyerDE

Definitely the one you are about to use the miles of for reward travels.

dcshungu

That question is always easy for me due to my travel pattern, which is overwhelmingly international, and to the fact that I have top elite status with both UA Mileage Plus and HH. Whenever a promo offers double or triple airline miles or HH points, I invariably choose HH points because raking in miles is rather trivial for elite intl travelers. As a UA 1K elite, I get 100% bonus miles for every butt-in-seat (BIS) mile I travel (i.e., every trip is a double your BIS promo). Therefore, the longer the trip, which most intl trips (save Canada and Mexico) are, the more miles I get. I just returned from a trip in Singapore that earned me 20,000 BIS miles. Then as a 1K elite, I got an extra 20,000 redeemable (RDM) bonus miles for a total of 40,000 RDM on a single trip. You repeat that 4, 5, 6 times a year and you rake in more redeemable miles than you know what to do with. However, if I select double miles, whatever I would get from staying at a Hilton property (tops 5k miles) would pale in comparison. Moreover, a feature of intl travel is that one is not likely to go to, e.g., Singapore and stay just one night at a Hilton property, so that the folio is usually relatively large on check out, and you get 10 HH points for each $ spent. You then double the HH points earned from that and very quickly your HH point total builds up. Throw in 50% elite (Diamond) and AMEX booking bonuses and you are looking at a huge store of free award stays in raked in HH points. It is the "win-win" scenario: You travel far and stay at a Hilton property and select double or triple HH points because lots of miles will be earned regardless.

The calculus for double/triple mile or HH point promos is straightforward under my scenario...

Case in point (or miles):

Base Points - Hilton Singapore 14,768
2010 Q2 PICK OFFER - Hilton Singapore 14,768
DIAMOND VIP BONUS - 50% 2010 - Hilton Singapore 7,384
AMEX CO BRAND ONLINE BOOKING BONUS - Hilton Singapore 500

HH points from my stay in SIN: 37,420, enough for an award night at Hilton Chongqing.

UA DOUBLE DIP - Hilton Singapore 1,476. You double this and you get ~3K UA miles, which is not even close to being enough for an award travel on UA. However, I did rake in 40k RDM from the trip, which is enough for a free one-way intra Asia or US trip.

Like I said, it is the "win-win" scenario.


QED.

kats

I have exactly the same questions if anybody could help. Hopefully stackable with VS triple miles promo through the end of July.

dcshungu

I am not a Hilton rep, but I will give this a shot.

Any promo being run by an airline is not at all connected with the HH Q3 promo. You earn the miles from HH and from the Virgin promo separately.
As usual, everything 'extra' charged to your folio on award stay will earn points (or [maybe] also miles). My award stay at Hilton Frankfurt in Q2, where my folio was about $54 in 'extra' spend was credited as follows:

Base Points - Hilton Frankfurt 536
2010 Q2 PICK OFFER - Hilton Frankfurt 536
AMEX CO BRAND ONLINE BOOKING BONUS - Hilton Frankfurt 500
DIAMOND VIP BONUS - 50% 2010 - Hilton Frankfurt 268

No miles were awarded (I have "double dip") but it would have been just 53 miles so they did not bother...

I am not sure what you mean by "changing airline middway through". Points are credited to the airline FF program number that is associated with your HH account at the time of posting, so I am guessing the answer is yes, if I understand what you mean.

drewdawg199

I think this is an easy question, but if someone could confirm I would appreciate it.


So I have 32 one night stays in Q3 at $83 each. Choosing double points would get me 830*32 = 26560 extra HH points.

If I choose double miles, and do Southwest, that would be one credit per stay, so 32 credits total - 2 reward flights.

But by taking double miles, I would also loose the double dip extra 5 points per dollar which would be 415*32 = 13280 HH points.

So to me it seems that if I take double miles, I would get 2 reward flights on Southwest but would have to give up 39840 HH points.

Is it a no brainer to just take the 2 southwest flights and give up some points? Or did I miss something? I also do the surpass card, so that keeps my points coming in.

Thanks

travelinfoo

No. Stays must be occur completely within the stated time period of July 7-Sept 30, 2010.

Your stay BEGINS prior to the period and thus, is ineligible.

alxir

Yes, it is a no brainer if your goal is to get airline award flights. If you didn't get free stay certificates during the 2nd. Quarter promotion and have lots of miles already, you might choose double points. FT member 'divemistressofthedark' proved mathematically that you can get more bang for your buck with double miles for SW credits in several posts back on about page 4 or 5 of this thread. I think her analysis holds up for other airline mileage programs when you stay at a Hilton that would normally give you 500 miles per stay, but maybe not if they only give you 250. And all of this depends on you having a short stay (1-2 night) travel pattern and not a long stay (4 days or more) travel pattern during the promotion period.

drewdawg199

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! I got 15 certs between Q1 and Q2 and have more HH points than I can use anytime soon, so I think SW should be a good way to go this quarter.

travelinfoo

Stays over the July 4th holiday weekend are NOT eleigible for the promo.

Eligible stay dates are July7-Sept 30, 2010, inclusive. Stays have to occur COMPLETELY within these dates. Anything starting before or after the dates will NOT be counted toward the promo.

travelinfoo

Glad to see another promo this quarter. Double points work for me since I have a smattering of more expensive stays coming up.

pertboy

I asked the Hilton desk this same question (am signed up to Emirates promotion that runs til end of July) and they said I wouldn't get the miles for both promotions, and suggested I only register for double miles at the start of August

dcshungu

The response would make sense only if the Emirates' promo is in conjunction with or through HH, which it sounds like this might be but the poster did not specify... otherwise there should be no link.

When in doubt read the T&C fine print.

Keyser

that's a lot of one night stays....

miakayuuki

So, given that I am checking into an HGI on 7/5 and staying there for 4 weeks, if I want until the 7th, and have the hotel check me out and then check me back in, will this let the end part of the stay apply to the promo, or am I just sol for 3.5 weeks worth of stays in the promo period.?

-- Mia