azepine00

The thread that started this discussion is locked however I find it very important to bring to light the consequences of this stealth devaluation.

To avoid arguments I invite everyone to submit the facts in a simple format:

Property:

Dates:

Regular reward rate:

Available reward rate:

Comments:

(the last line is for any relevant info you want to include such as status, diamond force attempts, GLON/AXON availability, open case with hilton etc)

Either we'll get Hilton to fix the thing or let everyone know what to expect from this program. Thanks!

azepine00

Property: Hilton Waikiki (fmr Kuhio)

Dates: 12/25-29

Regular reward rate: 40,000/nt

Available reward rate: 72,134/nt

Comments: premium room costs appr $30 more than regular

nic3456

Property: Bora Bora Nui

Dates: 10/12-20

Regular reward rate: 50,000/nt (Twin lagoon view)

Available reward rate: 170,155/nt (King lagoon view)

Comments: To purchase both rooms cost the same

deant

Two data points for Moorea:

Nov. 6-10
Twin DLX Garden BNG Pool
FR 47,500
50,000 points (can be reduced with AXON / VIP)

Twin Garden Bungalow Pool
FR 39,500
62,449 points

Aug 29 - Sept. 2
Twin DLX Garden BNG Pool
FR 47,500
Not Available on points

Twin Garden Bungalow Pool
FR 39,500
62,449 points

Comment: Notice the Twin DXL Garden BNG appears to be the "standard" room yet is N/A for points in the August example. Also the Twin Garden room is cheaper than the "standard" yet costs more.

deant

Paris ADT

June 4-6

Regular rate: 50,000 points (not available)

Available rate: Guest Room Patio View
137,017 points per night

King Deluxe Room
143,620 per night

Churnman

Some Hilton properties won't allow any of their rooms to be called a 'standard room' and therefore only 'premium reward rooms' are show as available. For instance, Hilton Moorea no longer claims to have 'standard rooms' in regards to reward stays so they can just cater to cash customers. They've basically nullified any reason to try to gain Hilton points in order to stay at that property. Their garden rooms are now considered premium just like the overwater bungalows. It takes way too many points now to try to use Hilton Honors points at that property. It's as if they want to have the Hilton name without giving in to the program and it's loyal members. It's owned by the same group that owns the one in Bora Bora.

Properties like that seem to not realize that standard reward stays bring customers who will spend a lot of money eating there, pay cash for upgrades, use of spa and other activities and those kinds of customers won't go at all and will choose another place in another part of the world instead of spending 175,000 HH points for one night.

That property had already left the Starwood program. I wonder how long they be satisfied with Hilton's program? Looks like they don't like it and therefore shun HH members by making all their rooms 'premium'.

lewende

Not true. There are a lot of standard awards/rooms available throughout 2012 - Twin DLX Garden Bungalow.

kmandrew

I just booked ADT Aug 7 for 50k so there you go, are we saying every hotel have to have availability every night; how is this any different than the airline's anytime vs saver awards?

Athena53

My husband and I typically redeem points in Europe so I was curious about this one. It's even worse in May if you can't be flexible on dates. I could get the 50K rate by shifting a few days- otherwise, the nightly rate was 395,000. They're kidding, right?

I also checked Dubrovnik, one of our favorites, in late May and they were 50K across the board. Well, there's some sanity left in the program.

deant

But how many people want to go to Bora Bora or Moorea and stay in a twin room? Remember, up until about Oct. 3, both the twin and king rooms were considered standard. Now Bora Bora, with the new definition of a standard room, cut the potential award room availability by about 80%.

deant

Yes they do have 50K awards for many nights. However, ADT now has 9 different categories of "non-suite" rooms available and only 2 of them qualify as standard. Look at the description of many of the categories. They are the same but some are "standard" and some are "premium" -the only difference being the title of the room.

In my mind, the key is that Hilton did not give any warning about this devaluation and when they were asked, just said it was an "IT glitch". They have NEVER come out and told the real story. What was the last input that HHonorsRepresentative gave us??????? Hint it was in this thread:http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/17274418-post236.html . The statement was: There have been no changes to the Standard Room Rewards product, allowing members to continue to redeem standard rooms at category one hotels through category seven hotels, like select Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts.

I would assume that if there were "no changes to the Standard Room Rewards product", then we would be able to book a King room at Bora Bora and Moorea with "standard" points. This is not the case at the present time. If it is still an IT glitch, then I would think someone within Hilton would explain the situation and give FT members a way to book the standard award.

As to a comparison with airlines, we all recognize that there is the saver vs anytime award. It has been that way for a long time. We have come to accept it (and have utilized the airline that best fits our needs / wants). But this change is new to Hilton and is a significant departure from history. Many of us loved Hilton because of the availability and value. Now it has changed and will cause people to re-evaluate their preferred hotel program.

hellmutt

Similar story for what I fought so hard to book. Customer service finally helped me. For an additional data point, in my case, the regular room runs 295 Euros and the King Deluxe runs 335 Euros. A 13% markup when paying by cash, and a 185% markup when paying by points.

Uncle Lars

If you do on one-night "flexible date" search for the Conrad Hong Kong, you will see available rates anywhere from 65K/night to over 200K/night till the end of the year. Then, on January 1st, everything magically goes down to 50K.

I value Diamond Hilton, which is handed to me for a $40K/year Surpass spend, over Marriott due to availability of rooms with nice Executive Lounges and other facilities a few times a year. This is disappearing for me. Looking for award rooms is becoming exactly like looking for Low Awards on the Delta airlines Website. I am thinking about putting up with it for another year, but it tees me off a lot, and I can't imagine how a Diamond truly earning their status could put up with this devaluation, deception and/or incompetence.

Churnman

They just 'fixed' it recently. I, and I'm sure many others, called a while back to show them that all the rooms were called premium. Even Hilton rep didn't believe me until they looked into it and said that I was correct. So, since that time they must have corrected it and allowed just a few rooms to be 'standard'. They have a few twin garden rooms, but most rooms there are 'deluxe' and still carry the premium reward category even if they have no water view. I've been there and know what kind of bungalows they have. I'm glad they've come to their senses. About 2 months ago they showed all rooms for 2012 even way out were at least 150,000 points per night. I flipped, then called HH and they verified that it was true and would look into that. Looks like they did and fixed this. Now, some of the premium 'garden' rooms with kings are 50,000 HH and that's more like it.
I'm already booked for the summer and was glad I got it reserved with points before the point devaluation occured.

deant

Don't believe any King rooms are considered standard. Would love see them consider king rooms as standard.