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Originally Posted by Explore
(Post 15099274)
The Priority Club Rewards program is much better than HHonors. You get way more bonus points if you work the codes, top Platinum status can be achieved with fewer than 10 stays per year, and most redemptions are 25K points or less per night, every night.
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Originally Posted by saad
(Post 15099345)
but platinum doesn't really mean much at pc......
At the higher end, if Hyatts or SPG hotels are around, they usually beat the Hilton properties. |
Originally Posted by Explore
(Post 15099274)
...
Hilton points, worth less than 0.5 cents each, can't be compared with Starwood points worth over 2.0 cents each. ... What you need to do is compare like with like. Let's try $ value:
¹ A HHonors Gold would earn either 2750 HHonors or 2250 HHonors and 500 miles*- value $13.75/$11.25. *Miles vary with programme. |
Another indirect benefit of the HHonors devaluation has been the ICH PC promotions. The "slice-it" one earned me 21K PC points which I burned on a points break and a HIX stay at cities with no HH properties
Subsequently I received a 149,600 "Crack the Case" offer, which effectively earns 15K+ PC points per stay... http://www.australianfrequentflyer.c...s/icon_lol.gif http://www.australianfrequentflyer.c...s/icon_lol.gif http://www.australianfrequentflyer.c...s/icon_lol.gif http://www.australianfrequentflyer.c...s/icon_lol.gif |
Originally Posted by MarkMColo
(Post 15097654)
Really? I didn't know that - unless you are referring strictly to the Hilton brand and not the various HHonors properties. Can you provide more than a few examples?
I was shocked that 'my' chains were so low on total number of properties scale. |
Originally Posted by Explore
(Post 15099274)
The Priority Club Rewards program is much better than HHonors. You get way more bonus points if you work the codes, top Platinum status can be achieved with fewer than 10 stays per year,
That said, I'd be happy to be positively surprised when I go burn my newly acquired stash of PC points in the future. Even ignoring the relative value, I find it interesting to learn about and dive into the intricacies of a new program. This year it was Hyatt for me. Maybe next year it's PC (certainly need eight more stays to complete my Crack-The-Case). |
Originally Posted by Sweet Willie
(Post 15101166)
choice, best western, accor, and shame on me I forget the 2-3 others that were just mentioned a couple weeks ago at the Chicago Seminar Do:o
I was shocked that 'my' chains were so low on total number of properties scale. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyndham_Worldwide |
Originally Posted by Explore
(Post 15099407)
I do make a point of contacting the front desk in advance to ask for an upgrade, and it's paid off.
there are over a dozen people in my firm that are ihg plat....they all tell me that they get no suite upgrades or any other real benefits.... |
Originally Posted by Toula
(Post 15098252)
As long as there is competition in the market I would expect that there will always be someone offering a promo and once one does it the rest have to follow like lambs to the slaughter.
The way we play the game is we maintain membership in all the programs. When we are going somewhere we look at the hotels on offer, price it up then run the numbers thru a spreadsheet I have built which tells us how many points each location will offer us and what those points will give us in terms of freebies. We don't stay anywhere just because of a promotion or because it is part of any chain. For example our next 3 stays are the Intercontinental at Monterey, Grand Hyatt Vancouver and Hilton Honolulu. We are never going to be top tier at any of the programs however we are fine with that.
Originally Posted by trueblu
(Post 15098584)
ihg has 4400 hotels vs 3200 in hilton, hardly 'dwarfing'. Cf hilton's 3200 vs 940 starwood.
Having said that, i'm sure there are chains, e.g. choice, which do dwarf hilton. tb
Originally Posted by saad
(Post 15099161)
they have 25% more hotels than hilton....also, they have better coverage worldwide....
Originally Posted by saad
(Post 15099345)
but platinum doesn't really mean much at pc....hilton diamond is one of the best levels to have across all programs....
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Originally Posted by mnredfox
(Post 15104520)
Interesting mentality. I was originally only loyal to one, Hilton where I first earned elite some 6 years ago. Since then, I've learned to maintain Diamond with Hilton and for the past 3 years built up status at PC. Now these days I've become a PC Plat RA and I've shifted more and more business away from Hilton to PC.
However, even taking the tact that we stay at the hotel we want to, we have Hyatt Platinum, Hilton Gold and we will get Gold at Priority Club after 1 stay this year. The other method to our madness is we look at where we can redeem. We have specific locations as our goal so we know what hotels we want to stay at in the next 2 years so we are ensuring we have sufficient points in the appropriate chains. Hilton has far better coverage in Europe than Hyatt does. Also why pay more for a specific chain when you can bank the difference and pay for the room that you want? |
Originally Posted by mnredfox
(Post 15104520)
I know there is many debates about this in the IHG forum, but I just wanted to state here that I disagree. I've had equal if not better treatment as a PC Plat compared to HH Diamond. However, HH guaranteeing lounge access, free internet, and the Dia force do make it more valuable than PC Plat for sure, but regards to "real upgrades" I've done just as well at PC.
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Unbelievable points devaluation, even by Hilton's standards
I'm looking at the possibilities for the summertime break, and one place we're considering is Malta. I can't believe that they are currently showing rates "from 96,484 points" as the rate for our dates. Didn't we used to have a top rate for the top places at 50,000? Or am I missing something?
Looking around other places, it seems to be the same story. Is the "point in my pocket" now really worth less than half what it was just a couple of months ago? |
All the more surprising since the daily cash rate at the Hilton Malta shows as 183 Euros in July (same time as the ~100,000 point/night rate).
100,000 points for a $260/nt is NOT a good value. |
It appears they show only "Deluxe Plus", or Executive level/Suites available (no 'standard" rooms), and have a 96-113K point requirement for these rooms. Bad news for all I fear. As a Diamond, this would effectively eliminate the Diamond force as a benefit for getting awards at a high occupancy location. If they just make awards available to all room categories at outrageous rates, the 50K award stay will start to disappear. This is equivalent to the elusive 25K airline award seat. If this starts to grow, re-assessing programs is the next step for me.
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This is too confusing... I just pulled a random date (Sept. 19 - Sept. 20, 2011), it shows the "Deluxe Plus" room with 45627 points (or 178 Euro). Sounds this hotel is Category 6.5. :confused:
I don't know how they determine the "value" and it is really bad if this is up to the hotel to adjust. Any idea what's the "formula" here? |
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