claurenzo

Hi all,

I have a stockpile of hilton points and have Hilton and SPG card now. Hilton started because of work and I'm about to hit Gold status there but I have the option now to stay at SPG as well (however, I'm not keen to the only SPG near our office in NY - the W on Lexington) but at the end of the day, I want points!

Am I right in calculating the points values for my status as follows?

Hilton

Base points = 10 pts per dollar
Points with points added bonus = 5 pts per dollar
Silver status = 0.15% bonus on base
Hilton Citi card = 6 points per dollar

10 base x 15% = 1.5 status bonus + 10 + 5 + 6 = 22.5 pts x 0.5 value = 13.5

After my next two stays in two weeks, I will be gold so this number would have 20% bonus and put it at 13.8

SPG
Base points = 3 pts per dollar
SPG Card = 2 pts per dollar

5x2.7 value = 13.5

Chase
3x points on travel

3x2.2 = 6.6

Given those calculations, assuming I maintain my status and my hilton card, is it right that I can really choose either hotel (with Hilton being slightly better in total value now) and that Chase doesn't actually make sense (unless I want the flex to airlines, etc but if I want to actually build some hotel stays use hilton or SPG cards directly)? SPG does offer the 1 mile per dollar Delta and SPG miles with uber so that would bump it up more preferential to SPG as well and now that I have the card and a healthy reserve of hilton, happy to make the switch especially when they're offering promos like the one they just sent for 4k bonus starpoints (which I'll also be able to maximize with work the next few weeks).

Also, does anyone know of any calculators where you can choose what cards you have, what status and dollar value of the category spend to figure out which cards are better to spend on?

Thanks for confirming guys! I'm learning and starting to learn how/where to earn!

ehallison

Addressing only the credit card aspect of which card to use for your stays: If you truly value each currency as you have shown in your calculations, then it's not rational to use the Citi Hilton card. Your own calculations show that you'll effectively earn 3% on that card, 5.4% on the SPG card, and 6.6% on the Chase card. So you'll need to ask yourself "Do I really want to earn Hilton points worth 3 cents for this payment, or Chase points worth 6.6 cents in Hyatt (or whatever program) transfers for this payment?" The math for SPG card is obviously a closer call. But I wouldn't choose the Citi Hilton card for payment in your circumstances, especially as you mentioned you already have a stockpile.

claurenzo

Ah I put decimal points in the wrong spot. The Citi hilton should also be 13.5 and then 13.8 if I get gold status. I'll revise my initial post.

I also don't know if I'm actually doing those calculations right - math was never my strong suit. It seems straight forward but it wouldn't be the first time I was wrong in a straight forward calculation lol.

jbeckett

For each dollar, you get
base points --10
points + points -- 5
silver status --1.5
citi card -- 6
Total is 22.5 points per dollar. Valuing at .5 cents per point is 11.25 cents per dollar, not 13.5.

And, as ehallison says, use the Chase card, not the Citi card.

claurenzo

Well there ya go, idk what the heck I'm doing with it haha (I do know how to do math split in half) but looks like I input that number wrong too. The value I'm using is TPG at 0.6 (0.5 was the value for April of 2016, not 2017). That's where I came up with the 13.5. But either way, why still the chase if it's only 6.6 vs 13.5 on Hilton and SPG? Unless of course I no longer want to earn any hotel points at all and want the flexibility but if I'm looking for max reward, doesn't it make sense to use Hilton or SPG when at those hotels instead?

Thx!

jbeckett

If you stay at Hilton and use the Chase card, you get
base points --10
points + points -- 5
silver status --1.5
So a total of 16.5 Hilton points per dollar. You also get 3 Chase UR points per dollar.

Also, I would not value the Hilton points above .5 cents per point unless you have a specific redemption in mind where they are worth more.

ehallison

You need to separate the hotel STAY points from the hotel PAYMENT points. Because you earn the same STAY points no matter how you pay.

Here's a very easy example that I would use to calculate this for a Hilton stay of $100, using the double points promo starting May 1:

1000 base points
500 points & points bonus
150 silver points
1000 promo
2650 total points x .5 cents/point = $13.25 in points earned for the stay.

SPG Stay (I'm not familiar with their current promos so I haven't included that):
300 points = $8.10 in points earned for the stay.

Looks like Hilton is much better...then, I decide how to pay: 300 Chase UR points worth $6.60, or 600 Hilton points from Citi worth $3, or 200 SPG points worth $5.40. For either hotel chain, if you truly value UR points at 2.2, then using the CSR to pay is the best choice.

claurenzo

This is an excellent way of looking at it, you are indeed correct here! I knew I wasn't capturing it fully from the right angle! I would add that SPG does have a promo going, 1,500 bonus points for 1 stay and 2,500 for the second stay for a total of 4000. I will do the math with those numbers in mind based on how you calculated above. This is super helpful! Thank you so much!!

maxp0wers

Nice breakdown. So - strictly points value wise - it looks like the only hilton card that compares to the CSR is the Amex Hilton Surpass ( 12x Honors points + 500 pts bonus ).

Need

Or the Citi Hilton Reserve which gets 10X Honors points. I have all the 3 cards: Citi Reserve, SPG Amex, and CSR.

For Hilton stay, I use either Citi Reserve or CSR.
For SPG, Marriott, or RC stay, I use either SPG Amex or CSR.

3 UR, 2 SPG Pt, 10 HH Pt are very similar in value to me.

sandyph

One thing that you may need to consider is that Hilton gold is better than SPG gold in term of benefits (SPG Gold dont get breakfast and upgrade only on the same type of room)

Unless you want to get SPG gold just to get Marriott gold (which comparable to Hhonors), I would rather focus on Hilton

claurenzo

Just saw this. I haven't actually looked into what SPG next levels are. I'm mostly about the free nights and this is the first year I've been hitting status places. I'll definitely compare the two to see! I was just added as friends and family and get cheaper paid rates now and still counts as stays and nights so it may be worth hanging onto now.