krobbins

Good morning everyone. I'm a lifetime Marriott Platinum, who stayed at Hiltons last year for the first time, and am Diamond for 2017. I am looking for recommendations on how to best use my accumulated points for luxury destinations anywhere in the world. What are your favorite properties with the best value for redemptions?

pauleeepaul

Any property with a proper exec lounge (eg decent alcohol and food, thereby excluding N America) is good as a Diamond as your lounge access is guaranteed. Think large/world cities eg London, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, Sao Paulo, etc. My approach is deciding where I want to go, evaluated the HH options, and then the rates available ($, points, points + $), and pick what makes the most sense, trying to get $0.005 in value (I don't value HH points that high but that is my hurdle rate.) Recently I needed 2 rooms last minute at a run of the mill Hampton that was >$250 per night for some reason. Using 30k points for each night was a no brainer. OTOH next week I need one night at a Curio where the paid rate is $200 or 50k points. I am paying, in part because I would like to see if I can finagle an upgrade and right or wrong I feel more comfortable having the conversation on a paid booking vs points.

earlyriser

I am only a new Diamond but my first stay was the Conrad Hong Kong using points as a Diamond. Excellent stay and lounge. Was treated really well. Great value compared to the pay rate.

farnorthtrader

If you don't care where you go, then the best hotel experience for the least number of points that I have ever seen is the Conrad Macau. Only 40,000 points per night, upgraded as a diamond to king premier suite (1700 square feet including a media room, about a $900/night room). Very nice lounge, very extensive breakfast in the restaurant, and fantastic staff that will treat you like royalty (even your children, of which I had 4 in tow). Conrad Hong Kong and WA Shanghai (best hotel we have ever stayed in) were also amazing but twice the price in points.
Macau often has points and cash availability as well.

wizla

My best bargain has to be THE WALDORF HILTON in London.......you can sometimes get a Cash and points deal @ £64 & 24k.
This in my opinion is probably the best value for points available I've seen.

Doctorslices

DoubleTree in Kuala Lumpur is a great value for the points (10k a night) and has a nice lounge.

birdiedouble

Wow! I need to find some cheap flights to Kuala Lumpur!

Mel Grant

I booked the Hilton for KUL but I might have to rethink!!

Kacee

Hilton Molino Stucky Venice at 50K points per night. Venice is an expensive hotel city.

C+P at Conrads HKG and Tokyo. HKG especially is really an excellent property.

pauleeepaul

A little OT but I thought the KL Hilton was great. While out passed the DT one day and thought the location was less desirable.

Penguinmoon

I recently stayed in both the Hilton KL and DT. Stay with Hilton. The lounge at the DT was a zoo when I was there, with no feed restocked/or very slow to restock at breakfast. Hilton room MUCH better and location MUCH better.

Doctorslices

I'd assume the Hilton KL is better (never stayed there myself) but it is also 4x the points (10k DT KL vs 40k Hilton KL).

GentleGiant

Mixed reviews when I was looking for a hotel in Venice a year or so ago. Nice location though. Maybe it has improved?

anc305

I was just looking at booking the Maldives. My dates gave me a 3 cents per point yield but this has been covered on this forum many times before.

templar42

Note that the premium rewards pricing formula often means that the Hilton KL can be had for ~20 k. I suspect Hilton didn't think this through properly, unless perhaps they want to incentivise people to book rooms when cash prices are low.