Most of my hotel stays at chain properties are personally paid with my family, and my business is primarily driven by the following factors (in order of importance):

(1) Location
(2) Rate
(3) Promo
(4) Elite benefits/EQS

Thus, all else being equal, I will first select a hotel in the most convenient location (where there may or may not be a Hilton property) then next by rate. If rates are within a narrow range, I look at promos - SPG's summer buy-2-get-1-free and Hyatt's FFNs come to mind as ones that have significant value. If all else is equal, then I will prefer the program that provides the best elite benefits or qualifying.

A few years ago HHonors was at the top of the food chain because I would receive Gold benefits including free breakfasts on priceline stays and other low rates. As Gold benefits were devalued, and I made less use of priceline, my business has shifted to SPG and Marriott.

In the last year HHonors promos - both for rates and stays - have been mediocre compared with the competition. So the latest devaluation - which appears to be an incredible marketing blunder during a severe recession in the travel business - is merely another strike against HHonors.

It is a shame as Hilton has some great properties and often competitive rates. But they have simply failed to keep up with promotions.

When possible, I will be going to PC and SPG for all stays from now on. I will burn my HH points (mileage transfer ratios stink) and I will cancel my HH Amex. There is just no value remaining in HH relative to PC and SPG.

Well that is my gripe with PS vs PB. Yes PB seem to go quickly at the "best hotels" (eg IC), but I've NEVER had a problem booking a PB hotel in the city I want on the date I want when it is listed on the website. And to be honest, goto the website and there are LOTS of hotels.

Compare that to HH where the PS site lists currently NO hotels.


Agree, but also should point out there never is a good time.

For those members who like to evaluate the value of PC PointBreaks. (5K PC points/night).

With the exeption of IC Cleveland (regular redemption rate: 30K PC points/night) I don't see any property I want and will stay.

IMO KathyWdrf's comment are on spot (if someone is picky s/he may add that regular redemption rate of IC is either 30K or 40K PC points).

Let's see now. You state that you are Diamond in Hilton, Platinum in Marriott and Platinum in Priority Club.

No wonder you state that points are not that important to you. You do reallize, of course, that not everyone travels as much as you do and may be more concerned about the value they receive from their program than you do, right? ;)

i would have to disagree....other hotel programs are reducing their redepmtion levels (eg. spg)....also, travel is down in pretty much every part of the globe....the economy is getting into recovery mode....so this is absolutely the wrong time....if they would have increased their levels when travel was blooming & the economy was great & other hotel programs were not reducing their levels, then this would not have been taken as badly as it is now....

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I look at that PB list VERY FREQUENTLY!!! And there are almost NEVER any I can make use of -- and the best ones often get snapped up instantly by hoarders who end up not using them. :td:

:rolleyes:

Duh -- that is because the PS program has been suspended!!! It doesn't exist any more (until further notice).

Just to make my point about the PC Point Breaks program and its limitations, here is a current excerpt of the listings:

Even the ones that purport to be in major cities really (in general) are not! And when the really juicy listings show up (such as in central Paris) they disappear quickly. To demonstrate, PARIS - VAL DE BIÈVRE (a current listing) is NOT in the center of Paris, and NOT even in the inner suburbs. It's in a small town, Jouy-en-Josas, that is quite distant from central Paris. So if you don't read the listings carefully, and judge only by the fact that there are, as you say, "LOTS of hotels," you are ignoring the fact that they are, mostly, hotels in locations that most people don't want to visit. That is precisely why they are on the list in the first place! If you happen to score one that is where (and when) you want to stay, great. But it's not something you can count on. Anyhow, I've looked at those listings frequently, on every single continent, and there is almost never anything that I find worth booking. (Again, if PC would put rules in place that would reduce or eliminate the "speculative" bookings, that would certainly help the most desirable listings remain available longer.)

I do make use of the PC program, and it has a lot of value. (However, the Point Breaks are only of marginal benefit.) HHonors excels in other ways, though; e.g., free breakfast/upgrades for Gold/Diamond, VIP (GLON*) (and AXON) multi-night awards. I had a fabulous 6-night GLON2 award stay at the Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya which I could not have duplicated using PC or SPG at my current status (Gold in all 3 programs -- HH, PC, SPG). Not only an upgraded room, but (even more importantly) free access to the executive lounge with good breakfast, evening snacks, drinks, use of computers, etc. It'd be hard to get all that from either PC or SPG, esp. at Gold level. Of course, the GLON* awards will soon cost more points because of the Category inflation, but I still don't see how I could match that level of benefits with the other programs. (There are a couple of SPG hotels that I have stayed at a few times each, that offer Golds benefits normally reserved for Platinums -- exec lounge/breakfast, etc. However, that is NOT the norm for SPG as a whole!)

Not quite sure what you mean by this and I don't mean to sound rude but.........there has been no "official" list published of the changes yet so how can you make this comment? Unless I'm really missing something here.

HH Rep here on FT has confirmed a 1 cat. increase for all hotels. The link you provided doesn't give any details of anyone jumping to a wrong conclusion. Most of us on FT are basing our displeasure with the program on the HH Reps confirming a 1 cat. increase for all hotels.

It's always good to hear, if a member is satisfied about the awards s/he was able to redeem (if this hotel will be cat 6, the award in question will rise by 20% to 180K HH points). However, those who pay for their stays at Hilton brands out of their own dime, don't have the option to earn HH points in paying by co-branded CCs for whatever reason and have substantial amount of HH points sleeping in their account have a valid point in their disappointment.

If HH Honors downgrades the value of every hotel award by cluster every hotel in one higher award category (eg Las Vegas Hilton – bookable from $ 40 - from Cat. 5 to Cat. 6 = 40K HH ponts/night or Hampton Inn in Daphne, AL from Cat. 3 to Cat. 4 = 30K HH points/night), I don’t see why they wait to publish future reward categories until December/January. You don’t need months doing that.

But please be patient with me, as I have no idea about the outcome.

Hilton devalues its loyalty program by Nicholas Kralev (Washington Times)

And again I will point out they at least have hotels listed (by my count WELL over 20) vs nothing for PS.


Fair enough. I do concede that YMMV wildly with PB and that in your experience it hasn't worked well for you. But in my experience (maybe mine is rare) as a Plat with PC (only the last 12 mo) I've booked 7 or so PB nights at a variety of properties in Canada, Denver, Frankfurt, and somewhere else I can't remember right now and they haven't been too far "out there."

OTOH, my PS experience with close to 6 years as an elite constitutes 2 PS days, that's it.

As for the current list being in hotels no one wants, again I can see your point. My point is that it has served me well and I've been very pleased with my PC experience.

Certainly HH has its value for me, hence I'm still around, still requal for Diamond, etc. But I'm just pointing out in comparison to another company (eg PC), I've seen the grass pretty green on that side, hence my slow shift away from Hilton.

I am glad that you are satisfied in the way you redeemed 35K of your PC points and hopefully you enjoyed your stays on those seven nights. If you try to max out your free nights, there is nothing to add.

If I compare HH & PC, its not only much more difficult for me to redeem PC points to a value I consider as attractive than with HH. This opportunity interfear most likly with HH: I have to pay more points at HH but both properties are not compareable, as HH's is plays in a different league.

As you are a PC Platinum card holder and there are reports members earn 200K/year, are you also satisfied with regular redemption option or are you pleased if your points sleep in your account and pile up?

I more or less switched last spring on a family vacation to Florida. I have been a Diamond for about 10 years. I booked a Hhonors week at a Doubletree months in advance and requested a room with a patio or balconey. When I arrived, we checked in and there was no upgrade. While disappointed I couldn't complain as it was a free stay. The hotel itself was a bit run down and the restaurant service was horrible. During the week on a whim I called Starwood to see if I could get a night at their resort. Sure enough, they booked me for the next day and asked if I would like a balconey room upgrade. Of course, I said yes. We stayed for a night. The hotel was great, they had several great restaurants, and not only did we get our balconey but they got our kids into the kids night so the wife and I had a nice romantic dinner.

Since then, I have booked almost all my travel at Starwood. I won't complain too much about Hilton. They have been good to me over the years but their program is very tired and nothing like it used to be. Starwood, on the other hand, seems to make a effort to recognize me during every stay. They offer a much bigger variety of upgrades and suites for rewards stays, which is very important to me with the family.

The devaluation is sort of a non-event to me, but hopefully Hilton will get the message and breath some fun back into the program. Till then, Starwood will get most of my business.

Well said. I feel the same.

Hohum, if you're offended by devaluations, you do have a problem. You'll find your choices limited, as in recent years Hilton have been beaten to the devaluation starting blocks by IHG, SPG and Marriott, so, if you're looking to move to a worldwide hotel group with extensive inventory, but one that doesn't devalue, your choices are VERY limited...

I have to confess, I'm a Marriott Rewards member and almost always stay at their hotels when on my travels, using IHG as my second choice and Hilton in reserve. 80 nights on average each year in Marriott, 10 in IHG and 2 in Hilton.

I must admit my HH points are accumulating somewhat slowly;)

It is annoying to see those slowly accruing points so substantially devalued overnight, especially as I think I'll reach enough points for 1 night at a decent hotel next year, now looks as if that'll wait till 2012!!

We Marriott road warriors faced a similar points devaluation this time last year and it generated a similar reaction - if not worse as Marriott crassly announced it as an "improvement", thus challenging FT'ers to get out their dictionary!

Many posters on the Marriott group responded with "bye bye Marriott, hello Hilton" and I'd assume they must now be reconsidering their position, especially as this is a straight devaluation without any other adjustment... for instance, the Marriott devaluation was accompanied by a 15% increase in points earned by plat members, thereby wiping out much of the future effect of the devaluation for us PLT's.

The problem is the same with all these programs, devaluation is inevitable, every program has done it over recent years, and they will do it again as inflation takes its toll. The secret is to "burn as you earn" so to speak. The biggest losers here are those with 500k plus points, who will be left bearing the brunt of this change. You in Hilton do however have 2 great redemption advantages over Marriott:-

1. Much better redemption availability; and
2. Redemption nights count to status

I prefer the HH scheme, but dont think much of the hotels, so stick with Marriott. I view the points as a pleasant extra from my travels, not an essential part of them...

Finally, the commitment to take business elsewhere, make no mistake I think it will hurt Hiltons bottom line, it should be remembered that even though Diamonds may represent a very small proprtion of scheme members, they do represent a much larger proportion of staying guests at a hotel on any one night. In other words Diamond/Gold members represent cash several times their membership percentage, piss you guys off and it can represent a large decrease in turnover, right in the middle of a crippling recession, but I am guessing at the moment we regular guests dont stay as much as we did, hence right now our percentage contribution towards turnover is smaller. Thus, offending us now is probably better than waiting for the economy and business travel to improve, then offending us just when we're paying top $ for the accommodation.

Which brings us back to where we started, all have devalued so where do you take your business?