FlyerTalk Forums - Consolidated "Points Devaluation" thread

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Checked all my upcoming stays:
Phoenix HGI Midtown: Booked at 40K, still 40K
Yuma HGI: Booked at 30K, still 30K
Hong Kong Conrad: Booked at 80K, now 78K
Perth Parmelia Hilton: Booked at 60K, still 60K

In reviewing the Perth stay, I noticed that a note above the slider reminds you that you can get the fifth night free if you use all points. Glad to see that still works.

One thing I do not understand, will points and cash combos count towards award night stays? Will the cash count as a hotel stay (10x points) with my Citi Hilton Reserve card?

Quote:

Originally Posted by eponymous_coward (Post 27977478)

At .5 cpp, I get around 10-20% back as rebate on HH if there's a promo (there almost always is). It's competitive with hotels.com. What made it better was getting 1 cpp on spend for some money + points redemptions.

The thing is you don't get 1/2 cent per point per dollar spent with Hilton (that's just wrong). You would shoot for .5 cents per point when SPENDING your points (preferably more).

The baseline for OBTAINING points is 10 points per dollar, plus 5 more if you take points and points, plus any promos, plus any status bonus, plus anything like Gold/Diamond amenity (which you can take as points), plus any bonuses for Hilton credit cards.

During one promo, I figured as a Gold I was getting 27.5 points per dollar I spent- so let's call it a $100 hotel room. Oh, and I was getting the 1000 point Gold amenity. So 2750 points + 1000 = 3750. OK, so at .5 cpp... that's $18.75 effective rebate on a $100 hotel room. Or 18.75%. Right around that 10-20% range I'd get for hotels.com.

So like I said, with the right set of promos it's pretty easy to net 10-20% rebate (even easier now that Hilton makes EVERYONE play ball). The thing is hotels.com doesn't lock you into Hilton. That's why I might be giving up on Hilton if the value for money + points is evaporating, because getting more like 20-30% on Hilton (when I get value closer to 1 cpp instead of .5) was more attractive than being able to be a free agent, but if it's net-net the same-ish with hotels.com... why be locked in?

What I find interesting is that some cash back portals lower cash back rates for Hilton bookings based on how high a status the Hilton customer has in the Hilton "loyalty" program.

Counting on promos to get value out of being locked in with Hilton is more of a gamble than counting on the value from the program absent promos and not being as locked in.

I must say that of Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Marriott and Starwood, Hilton has been the most egregious in devaluing points during the course of my posting on FT. 100k-150k points as a Diamond used to get me a 6-night award stay at even the most expensively priced Hiltons. Now that same 100k-150k points may not even get me more than one night at some of those hotels, even as the cash price for those hotels has generally not increased by 500+% in the same time period.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pinniped (Post 27976236)

The old Points + Money was so rare for me that losing it is really the least of my concerns. In its entire history, I managed to find exactly one P+M award: Conrad HKG for 3 nights a couple years ago.

Those were a fantastic value to be sure, but they were a needle in a haystack to begin with.

HUGE concern for me. I always use cash+points at the Tel Aviv Hilton, and I stay a week. In the past it's been 25,000 points and $125, now when I check it's 25,000 and $250... Over 7 days, that's an extra $875, or I have to spend 490,000 points! This change significantly impacts me in a negative way, I didn't even know about it until I happened across this thread....

It's a smart business move by Hilton no doubt, but it will move people like me into AirBnb when I travel for leisure.

Well checked all my reservations, mainly C+P, and all are now more expensive. :(

I looked at the new C&P vaguely and to me it seemed like the system just takes the nightly cash rate for the hotel / room type and assigns the respective c&p value. i.e. a hotel costing $300 or 30K points is assigned a value of 1 cents per point and then it's upto the member to spend whatever points and whatever cash portion they want.

I wish I knew this was coming. I wanted to do a P&M booking at the Conrad HK. Pre-devaluation it was 32k + HK$1,100 per night, totalling 96k + $3,300. Now, it would be 100k + over HK$6,000 for the booking.

Bye, Hilton.

I thought Lauren explained that this is a glitch, that they plan on fixing, showing pretty much only premium prices?

Just booked the Hilton at the Frankfurt Airport for 40K points. I normal use 50K. Glad I waited.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Points Scrounger (Post 27977836)

I thought Lauren explained that this is a glitch, that they plan on fixing, showing pretty much only premium prices?

Lauren's post mentioned a bug on the Flexible Dates page. That's much narrower than what folks are complaining about here.

I think it may take a while to figure out what's really happened though. Was just looking at Hilton Parc 55 and they're offering "standard" room for 60k points, which is over .6 cpp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomMM (Post 27977891)

Just booked the Hilton at the Frankfurt Airport for 40K points. I normal use 50K. Glad I waited.

Hmm . . . I can get it for 32k next week. Maybe I should change my cash booking (142 Euro).

I'm calling B.S. here. I just searched for one random date in April and the rate is 203 EUR (Honors discount) or 39,000 points for a standard room. Plenty of great standard room redemptions options over almost all days unless standard rooms are sold out, which they are on April 6.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RAPC (Post 27973829)

Have had the same hit my accounts. I have just made a quick call to the European call centre who have confirmed that the cash elements are not chargeable and that they think the system is adding them in error. It has already been reported to Hilton IT to look in to it.

Hopefully this is the case, but as the IT update only happened a few hours ago, I will give them a chance to get things fixed and confirmed properly.

Also as an update, if you go to replicate these reservations, the cash charges do not show. Clearly an error on what is shown for existing reservations rather than a new charge.

I am seeing a potentially a very big problem on an all point reservation that was 40,000 points per night and now plus a cash component. If I replicate the reservation it is now 60,000 per night and no cash. So I am wondering why it is 60,000 points per night for the exact same dates and same stardard room. Did the category change last month or has the cap been raised from 40,000 to 60,000 today March 1st when the Categories were removed?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael19887 (Post 27978057)

Please try searching for the date I listed - April 6 in, April 7th out. No BS at all. I have no choice in the date, you know, that work thing....

Update - Points and Cash is now showing (it was not earlier today). Rebooked it with 199 Euro and 60k points. Main problem was not going over 200 Euro per company policy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by UserMark (Post 27975830)

According to the fine print, absolutely. With regard to actual impact on customers, not so much.

I just this post after my last post. I agree I incorrectly thought they were going to keep the low seasonal caps on the all point reservations.

Quote:

Originally Posted by timfountain (Post 27978085)

Please try searching for the date I listed - April 6 in, April 7th out. No BS at all. I have no choice in the date, you know, that work thing....

It is not 140,000 points for a standard room. They are sold out of standard rooms that night.