I've been complaining about that for a long time now about this topic. I'm so surprised that for a rinky dink Hilton hotel, they want soooooo many points. At least with Marriott, you may use 10K for a Fairfield and only 20K -25K for a regular Marriott. makes more sense.

How hard is it to get those 20-25k woth of points?

For a Diamond guy, 4-5 nights at Hilton (Hampton)

For a Platinum guy, 6-7 at IHG (HIX)

My last HIX stay = 2310 Points

My last Hampton Stay = 7910 Points

(Both were two night stays)

Shouldn't the tilte of this thread be "Surprised at how poor this particular hhonors redemption is"?

or "Surprised at how low the threshold of points is for the HIX I picked"

+1. I'm definitely not a fan of the HHonors devaluation, but you have to look at "earn" as well as "burn" to get the whole story. Marriott is my second program; I just earned about 1700 points for a one-night stay at an RI, vs about 5500 for an ES at a similar price point.

Okay thanks for clarification. I spend about 4-6 nights/month in hotels so I can't really rack up points like many of you that travel all week long. And I am also limited by the fact that I can't use special credit cards that help me earn more points. I am required by my company to use their issued travel card. In my case I normally stay at Hamptons and Holliday Inn's that cost between $110-$150/night so I only average 1100-1500 points per stay. I've signed up for a few deals that give me double points during certain months but I still haven't been able to earn like I'd hope. With IHG I'm a gold member and with Hilton I'm a Silver member. I stay in a lot of small towns without a whole lot of variety so programs like Marriot don't make sense.

I never counted my stays with Hampton but I'd guess that based on my points level it's probably been around 30 stays. And still not enough points for a free night. That's pretty pathetic. lol

Even with the low dollar spend/night and non CC, you should almost certainly have enough points for a free night at this point with the Quarterly promotions

Assuming $110 in spend/stay in Q2.

1110 points (10/dollar)
550 points (5/dollar pts and pts)
1000 bonus points (Q2 promotion)
166 bonus points (15% silver bonus)

That's a total of 2826 points per stay. In Q3 it would be closer to 3000 points with the double points promotion.

With low spend Hamptons points and points is almost always the better option give the 100 fixed miles, giving you an extra 50% on your points.

Finally, you could try signing up for the Gold MVP promotion to get you gold in four stays, which would increase your elite bonus and give you access to MyWay points for waving the welcome amenity (or water/snacks if you don't wave it).

I guess the former plethora of Priority Club promotions must have dried up. :(

David

Yeppers... I don't see many promos at all from IHG.

Thats not true, I've been able to net 39000 points from one night stay ($220--package rate)

You could get a Hilton-branded credit card for personal use and rack up points on that. I've got a Hilton Amex, and although I'm re-evaluating its use after this year's devaluation, I'm going to keep it at least through next spring because Mr Canuck and I are staying in some Hilton properties in Asia next spring and we'll enjoy the benefits of Gold status. (I booked the Conrad Singapore before the Amex 4-night reward points requirements increased.) The Hilton Amex isn't our only card, but we use it for groceries, drugstores, restaurants and a few other things that have higher point-earning opportunities.

There are a lot of IHG Promo's right now
 

[QUOTE=DiverDave;21034850]I guess the former plethora of Priority Club promotions must have dried up. :(

Actually there are a LOT of IHG promo's running right now. Here are a few of them and you can stack them:

1) Double Points or Miles + Night Based Additional Bonus

This is IHG Rewards Club public promotion for the summer (June 1 to July 31). You will ear double points starting on your second stay (from first at Candlewood or Staybridge Suites).


2) IHG Rewards Club Promotion: Double Points Or Miles Starting On Second Stay June 1 to July 31

3) IHG Rewards Club Stay Bonuses: June 1 to July 31

You can pick up one of the options that I have presented and register for it. You cannot change the number of nights once you have registered, so choose very carefully

4) IHG Rewards Club Vacation Pay Registration Now Open: Get Up To $200 Back

Vacation Pay is a $50 rebate via prepaid MasterCard for every two night weekend stay during the promotional period and you can earn this four times.

5)IHG Rewards Club Welcome Back Bonus Of 1500 Points

6) Priority Club Next Stay Bonus Offer 1500 Bonus Points

7) IHG Rewards Club Promotion: New Member Bonus Of 1550 Points

8) Weekend Stay Offer For 5000 Bonus Points


AND THERE ARE MORE!!!

Why don't they show up where it use to show the offers available to me?

I'm not an expert with the Hilton program, but even with the recent devaluation, 50K sounds like a lot for a Hampton Inn. (My last HH redemption cost me 30K for an expensive, full-service Hilton.) Are you sure it wasn't a "premium" award? Those awards are available when the standard award rooms aren't and are based on the price of the room rather than the hotel category.

I'd check other random dates to see if that Hampton is available for fewer points on other dates. If so, then there was probably no standard award rooms available for your dates. (If not, then I agree, HH is insane!)