What would you do with 5 Million plus Honors points?
 

So I just got done with a meeting, and the CEO, my direct boss has decided to give away all of his HHonors points to employees at our Holiday party next Friday.

We have a customer service department with 14 people. He has just over 5.6 million points in his account, and feels like with the devaluation this year he is done with Hilton (really our entire company is). He has not had a single stay since the announcement of the devaluation in February. So he is going to book rooms of each customer service reps request up to 500,000 per person as their Christmas bonus this year.

I thought I had it bad, and I have been spending my points balance down.

I like his idea, for him, as he is the majority owner of the company, and it will create a lot of good will in that department. But what would you do with over 5 Million Hhonors points?

1 AXON10 award for each employee?

Actually they could book multiply stays, or they could go use them up all in one stay. He is going to have his secretary book the rooms, and they have 3 weeks decide where and when they will use the stay(s). They can even use Points and Money Rewards, however, wherever they want to book the room. So they could do a AXON 10, and a AXON7, or 3 AXON 6's.

The only catches he said were, that they will have 3 weeks to decide and book the rooms, and that the employee's name must be on the reservation. So they can't book a room for their daughter or son, or a friend somewhere. He thinks, and I agree, this will hopefully create a great memory or memories for the employee. 500,000 points is still a lot, even after the devaluation.

I am burning 420,000 points for a week long stay at the Hilton Rose Hall Resort in Jamaica. I'm on day 6 and really enjoying it. Great for families or couples.

I don't know what the people in your dept. are like, but IF I was given 500,000 HH points and IF I had kids, I'd go for the Hilton Bonnet Creek, or the adjoining Waldorf if I really wanted to splurge.

The WF is double the points of the Hilton, so the length of the trip would be the tiebreaker between the two.

Many threads around here regarding the Orlando Hilton properties.

My thoughts:

If this gift is in lieu of what would otherwise be a cash bonus I don't suspect it will be well received. Most middle class workers desperately need cash not a free vacation for which they may be unable to fly/drive to or afford the incidentals. I would only recommend this route if there would otherwise not be a bonus given.

If your boss decides to give out HH points I'm sure the employees will all have different ideas on where to stay depending on their personal situation and disposable income.

To answer your question directly if I were the boss I would spend a month at Rangali Island, two weeks in Moorea then two weeks in the Seychelles.

This seems like a dubious bonus at best, and hardly the altruistic effort described by the OP. My guess is he tries to take some sort of tax writeoff for the "gifted" points.

Agreed. If I'm reading correctly:

"as their Christmas bonus this year."

Most folks will likely be counting on $$ to pay bills, and most typical middle class workers not on FT value luxury vacations WAAAYY less than most of us do. A free week at Rangali Island is NOT attractive to someone who needs cash to pay bills. For most folks without hoards of FF miles the hotel is only a minor portion of a vacation's total expense.

There are probably ways to monetize his HH points that will do far less damage to employee morale. I work with around sixty average income workers ($30K-$70K), and I bet no more than 10-15% of them would find this gift useful. Most are struggling to pay bills, and on average very few of them vacation outside our home state in a given year.

It's not a bad idea, just not a practical one for the reasons already mentioned. Actually, it is a bad idea. Kind of like winning a car, only to learn you have to pay taxes and fees. And why would anyone understand anything about 500,000 Hhonors points?

It is in leu of a cash or gift card bonus. Our cash bonuses are very small though, as most bonuses are put into the profit-sharing of our 401K. So they will get this instead of $100-$150. No Tax right-off is allowed by him giving away his points like this, he acknowledged this when he told us what he was planning on doing.

All of our Sales, QC, Marketing, and Sourcing Agents travel extensively for work. They all deal with Customer Service on a regular basis, IT, Warehouse, Accounting, and General Administration don't deal with those people very much. I deal with Customer Service a lot, as the Manager reports to me, and I do hear them talk about taking dream vacations, and they wish they could travel like others in the company. So this gives them a shot at it, at least.

It's not being presented here is 500,000 points. It's book whatever hotels you want in the next 3 weeks, up to a cost of 500,000 reward points. It's kind of create your own dream vacation that way.

...and they are on their own for airfare, car rental, cab, incidentals, etc.? Will certainly be interesting to hear about the reaction to this "gift". :rolleyes:

Maybe a couple of the employees will get to book one of Hilton's handful of all-inclusives to make their gift go further. Costa Rica. Jamaica. Etc.

Some people are just never going to be happy. :rolleyes: :(

Exactly. Very nice offer from your boss.

You just won a million dollars.

That stinks I will have to pay taxes. Now doesn't that sound dumb?

I think if someone gave me 500,000 points I would pay the rest of the expenses.

Generous Gift^