jerry305

List of Category 1 properties (5,000 points):

Doubletree by Hilton Beijing
DoubleTree by Hilton Goa / Arpora / Baga
DoubleTree by Hilton Langfang China
Doubletree by Hilton Merida Yucatan
DoubleTree by Hilton Newcastle Airport
Doubletree by Hilton Wuxi
Doubletree Hotel Richmond Airport Norte
Hampton Bursa
Hampton by Hilton Corby/Kettering
Hampton by Hilton Newport/East
Hampton Inn & Suites Cleburne Corners/Norcross
Hampton Inn by Hilton Chihuahua City
Hampton Inn by Hilton Ciudad Juarez Obispado
Hampton Inn by Hilton Monterrey-Airport
Hampton Inn by Hilton Reynosa/Zona Industrial
Hampton Inn Clarksville
Hampton Inn Columbus-Airport
Hampton Inn Florence-Midtown
Hampton Inn Jacksonville-I-95 South
Hampton Inn Vadodara Alkapuri
Hilton Alexandria Green Plaza
Hilton Dahab
Hilton Garden Inn Queretaro
Hilton Garden Inn Tucuman
Hilton Garden Inn Tuxtla Gutierrez
Hilton Hurghada Resort
Hilton Pyramids Golf Resort
Hilton Salalah Resort
Hilton Sharm Dreams Resort
Hilton Sharm Waterfalls Resort

fogedabouddit

FYI .. another Marriott deval in the works (effective May 16, 2013) so don't ya'll go running that way just yet ..

https://www.marriott.com/marriott-re...gramchanges.mi

elkhornne

They are still worth a good deal. Just book before March 28th to be sure.

lkar

I have 8 in my e-mail inbox presently, the most recent of which was issued on February 4, 2013, so I'm gonna challenge that assertion.

caGALINDO

i also received the email above immediately before i received my AXON booking confirmation. i think they just issued me one and redeemed it. on the booking it says it cost 170k but i was only deducted 145k.

Dovster

You got me curious, so I called the Diamond Desk. They told me that Amex notified them on Jan 13 that I reached the $40,000 spend level and I was given Diamond status through March 31, 2015.

I certainly did not argue that, but if I spent $40,000 in 13 days, I must have been on one heck of a drunken spree!

cjd

Very surprised that this Doubletree in the UK is going from Cat 4 (30000 points) to the new Cat 1 (5000 points) Mistake?

lkar

Yes, the reservations say 170,000 even when it's an AXON. All my certs are for AXON. I have booked some AXONs and not received certs, but usually I do. The way it was explained to me by the diamond desk, there are still some hotels that require manual insertion of a certificate number on the AXON reservation in order to force the reservation, and for those an actual cert needs to be ordered by the diamond desk.

In those circumstances in which the cert expires before the stay, this is and can be an issue as noted in this thread. In those circumstances, it's wise to call around the 11 month period and have the cert reissued and reattached.

The reason any of this matters right now is that AXONs may be going away. So, for example, if you were today to make a reservation at London Tower Bridge for March 2014, the DD would have to manually issue a cert, which would expire 1 year from today -- Feb. 22, 2014 -- so, before your reservation. Yet if you call in April to have it reissued, you might run into a problem because AXON may no longer exist, or, even if it does, LTB will no longer be a category 7 hotel. (I chose the LTB because it's a hotel where I've had to have certs issued manually to make AXON bookings.) I don't know how all this will resolve, but am posting all this as an FYI.

DaveInLA

I have an AXON reservation for Bora Bora in July. I redeemed 145k pts even though my account says 170k. The reservation is clearly displayed in my account info and I have already paid the upgrade fee for OWB. However, I have not received any AXON certificate in the mail or otherwise. Is this going to be a problem?

lkar

Many appear not to receive certs for AXON awards. Some do. As I said above, my speculation is that it's a technology issue for certain hotels. Even where I have been given a cert, I have not been asked for a cert (at least not in the last 2 years since they largely did away with certs).

The issue that I'm speculating about is the situation where (1) you book and AXON, (2) your reservation is more than a year out, and (3) you get a cert in your e-mail at or near the time of booking and the cert expires before your stay. This is a potentially problematic situation.

jerry305

Huh. The PDF says Category 1. Sounds like a deal.

Page 70:
Hilton HHonors Standard Room Rewards Chart Update (PDF, 77 pages)

DaveInLA

So you think I should be fine?

Any others in my situation who booked AXON rewards prior to this announcement, and are scheduled to stay after 3/28/13? I haven't heard from Hilton that they will or will not honor this reservation. It seems to still be intact in my account. Should I bother calling the HHonors Diamond Desk or just leave it alone? FWIW, I redeemed 5 nights for 195K HH (145K for AXON + 50K for 5th night). Someone suggested I change it to GLON, which would be 200K. I happen to have 4400 HH points in my account, so I could buy 1000 points for $12.50 and be done with it. However, I already paid the upgrade fee to the resort, so I'm sure that's already linked to the confirmation numbers. If I were to change my reservation to GLON, that would create new confirmation numbers and I'm afraid the reservation would run the risk of getting messed up.

lkar

I think under the t&C you will be fine. I have booked a few AXON since the announcement and I'm not worried about them. I think the only potential worry is if it's more than a year out and you have an expiring cert.

travelinfoo

As long as you make NO changes to your AXON reservation (or any award reservation) after March 28, you are fine. The new T&C state that awards made BEFORE March 28, including stays after the change will be debited at the old points cost. However, ANY change to the award reservation made MARCH 28 or after will be charged at the new rate for the hotel. For Bora Bora, I believe this would be 95K/night .

I have not received any AXON certificates in the past 2 years. I have had 4 AXON awards in that time. I only get a reservation confirmation with the certificate number on it. I always print it out and bring it with me. In fact, I can only recall getting asked for my certificate last in 2009. The rest of the time, I was told that the "award certificate" and reservations are linked. So they already had the certificate numbers when the reservation was made.

DaveInLA

I have the reservation confirmation numbers for my upcoming stay, but they do not have any certificate number on them. When did you get that AXON certificate number? Given the change (turmoil) in the program now, I want to be as prepared as possible and do not want any surprises.