Axons will continue
 

I was just talking to diamond rep who informed me first that you cannot book any awards beyond 1 year as the certificate is only valid for 1 year from date of issue. Is this correct? Then she said not too worry as she just heard today that Axons will be continued. Lets hope and prey that the points are a lot lower than the regular awards.

Update
I tried again and was able to book an award for September next year. So it depends who you speak to.

HH is aware people are pi$$ed off, maybe they had an intention to get rid of it, but now backed up. I can only speculate that it will stay as is for CAT 6/7, so no luck with properties 8-10.

I think this applies to the AXON statement as well. I have been given incorrect info on different things so many times by Hilton CS reps that I wouldn't put too much stock into what that one person "heard".

IMHO, If I were you, I would call to speak with a supervisor on this issue.

If you booked for September 2014, once the cert is expired (1 year from today), you may likelly lose your reservation.

It is true that certs are only good for 1 year. I think the person who booked for you made a mistake, and it may be one you will not like if you take the chance. (maybe you can repost the results, if you call).


I don't think the Axon awards are going away either.

I never booked with Axon for Sep 14. I hope I have no problems.

I use the AXONs for most of my award reservations.

If retained for all levels, that could be a game changer for me meaning I will move back to giving Hilton much of my business.

Hilton had gotten zero business from me since the megadevaluation was announced.

So are you saying you'd be fine if they had a new AXON in place similar to the old? The difference would be that instead of 145K (vs the normal 200K points) for a category 7 hotel four night stay, that now you'd be "fine" with them applying a similar percentage discount so that a four night stay at a category 10 property costs 145/200 = 72.5% x 95,000 x 4 = 275,500 points vs the normal rate of 380,000. They really ought to do this as they would have still managed to jack up prices an insane amount but at least reduce them somewhat for cardholders and elites. Otherwise there's really little reason to use the Hilton cards for anything except Hilton stays.

That would definitely soften the blow. I think many people stay 4 nights and not 5.

Standard rewards are good for 1 year (but attached to the specific reservation you made at the time of redemption).

I just wanted to make sure that it was clear, I was not talking about AXON awards. I was talking about standard rewards.
I am and was (in my original post above) assuming you booked Sept. 14, 2014 with a standard reward. Therefore, I think you stand a great chance of losing the reservation once the 1 year time frame lapses (when your reward cert. expires).

My comment about the AXON awards, is simply just I do not think they are going away. I have no idea if they are changing or not, but we will know once they announce it.

Maybe they are allowing it because of the devaluation. If there is an issue when I check in then i will just pay and let Amex deal with Hilton about it. A confirmation is a confirmation of a booking. It did not come with a certificate that shows it expires like an axon. Its probably unlikely that anyone has tried using a reward more than 1 year after it was booked.

Will be very interesting to see what AMEX / Hilton comes out with. The variability of "seasonal" awards will cause real issues in trying to make a set number of points for an award.

I meant if they retain 145K for 4 nights at the highest level properties winter/spring/summer/fall, I am in, and will continue to give HH my business.

No other fancy footwork or smoke-and-mirrors or "enhancements", period.