Hotel Points Guy

I think one has to be very careful comparing the points required for a reward redemption across hotel chains. In your example, you are comparing Hyatt and Hilton points. Most people value Hyatt points at $0.02/point (i.e. 2 cents per point) and Hilton points at $0.005/point (i.e. one half cent per point). In other words, Hyatt points are worth 4 times more than Hilton points. Therefore, a 5,000 point Hyatt property is equivalent to a 20,000 point Hilton property (insofar that you are redeeming $100 worth of points in each case). Even if Hilton eliminated all 5,000 point properties and replaced them with 10,000 point (or even 15,000 point) properties, a stay at these hypothetical Hiltons would still be cheaper than a stay at a 5,000 point Hyatt property (in dollar terms, of course). The same is true on the higher end as well. A 30,000 Hyatt point stay at a Park Hyatt is not equivalent to a 95,000 Hilton point stay at a Conrad (i.e. you are redeeming $600 worth of Hyatt points versus $475 worth of Hilton points to stay at the respective property.) Of course, one may prefer the Park Hyatt for a variety of reasons (location, level of service etc.), but in reality, the Conrad is a cheaper property in points (when converted to dollar terms).

Of course, nobody likes points inflation, and it is annoying to see 5,000 point properties increase in cost to 10,000 or 15,000 points. I agree with you that it is sneaky of Hilton to stealthily eliminate 5,000 point properties without a word to members. However, I do believe Hilton is merely bringing points costs in line with dollar costs for each room. My take is simply that these increases are reflective of the general rise in prices at hotels across the board in this strong economy. As the dollar value of hotel rooms rise, so too will the point values. Hyatt is under much less pressure to increase point redemptions, as their points are already worth 4 times as much as Hilton points. Just remember that the next time you book a Hampton Inn for 20,000 points (that used to cost 5,000 Hilton points), it costs exactly the same (in dollar terms) as the Hyatt Place across the street that costs "just" 5,000 Hyatt Points!

Raffles

Hampton Sheffield UK remains 10k and frankly that is far more likely to be a hotel the average traveller would use than one in an odd corner of Russia.

birdiedouble

I get that. The two sweet spots of Hilton points redemption for my personal and some business travel is the 5th Night Free and in season rates, mainly in FL, when rooms in the areas I'm traveling to are easily $200+/night and can be had for 30,000 points. Add in the occupancy tax savings and it's easy for me to still find value. I do agree the the PointsGuy in that Hilton is merely adjusting the points to be more in line with cash prices in a strong travel market.

wizla

Kacee

Hyatt more like 1.5 cpp, Hilton more like .4. So still in the range of 3-4x. Don't think the bloggers' valuations are accurate for either program, they're all shilling for the branded cards.

More important than relative valuation is that Hyatt still publishes an award chart and hasn't allowed the properties to untether award prices from the chart. That program has different issues.

GUWonder

Kat007

Where is Sheffield? Lol. Those cities "in an odd corner of Russia" are hosts for FIFA 2018. And of course, Krakow is far more likely to be visited by any kind of tourists than some unknown for most location in the UK.

Hilton has been notorious for devaluing its loyalty program for years, you can`t deny it. I believe Hilton started that war of playing "Zimbabwe currency" with reward redemption (and it is still the leader of all requiring the max number of points for Standard Reward). Now it devalues between official announcements.

It might be the time to start booking via third party sites, especially if the same benefits apply to all regardless of status such as Hampton. This way (all hotels) loose $$ to pay the middle men - it is getting to the point with all those very frequent devaluations when getting points is not that valuable. Cash is king, not the points

Btw, a few hotels which jumped up in this silent devaluation are operated by Hilton, and they are not franchised. So it was Hilton`s move.

yurtripper

I don't get this attitude. Are Krakow and Salalah far less likely to be visited by the average traveller than Sheffield? It's not as if Sheffield is the centre of the universe!

Kat007

And Minsk on that devalued list is far more interesting to visit than some Sheffield in the middle of nowhere So I don`t give a damn if Sheffield is 5K or 95K.
But again, the matter of silent devaluation is not based on individual preferences, but on this sneaky way to jump up Standard rewards once again.

retiredfromhilton

Whether or not Hilton manages a property, it does not own any properties. While Hilton may have a revenue manager in place at a property or the property may use Hilton's revenue management system, the ultimate decision over pricing rests with the hotel's owner(s). The dropping of redemption tiers and largely fixed seasonal redemption values marked another step in empowering hotel owners.

satori

In Europe, Hampton Inn Krakow and Hampton Inn Minsk were 5,000 points and rose to 10,000 points.

Hampton Inn Krakow changed over one month ago since it was 10,000 points on February 5 when I went to book that hotel on points and received a surprise.

Doubletree Sighisoara, Romania and Hilton Garden Inn Rzeszow, Poland are still at 5,000 points.

On a positive note, there is a new Hampton Inn Iasi, Romania at 5,000 points.

In Turkey, Hampton Inn Bursa and Hampton Istanbul Atakoy went from 5,000 to 10,000 points. These were 2 of 14 hotels in Turkey at 5,000 points in 2017.

10 additional hotels in Turkey are currently priced at 5,000 points.

Hilton Garden Inn Konya, Turkey 5,000

Hilton Garden Inn Kutahya 5,000

Hilton Garden Inn Mardin 5,000

Hilton Garden Inn Sanliurfa 5,000

Hilton Garden Inn Sivas 5,000

Hilton Garden Inn Corlu 5,000

Hampton by Hilton Kahramanmaras 5,000

Hilton Kayseri 5,000

Hampton by Hilton Ordu 5,000

Hampton by Hilton Samsun 5,000


In Russia, 4 of 6 hotels at 5,000 points in 2017 are now 10,000 points.

Hampton by Hilton Nizhny Novgorod 10,000

Hampton by Hilton Samara 10,000

Hampton by Hilton Ufa 5,000

Hilton Garden Inn Ufa Riverside 5,000

Hilton Garden Inn Ulyanovsk 10,000

Hilton Garden Inn Volgograd 10,000

Kat007

Here is a few more of silently devalued in 2018 properties:

• Hampton Inn Mexico City – Centro Historico. Was 10k, now 20k per night.

• Hilton Garden Inn Singapore Serangoon. Was 10k initially, now 20k.

Howste

I booked reservations for this hotel in Iasi last October for a stay in May. How new is this hotel? Glad to see it's still 5,000 points.

Jaimito Cartero

TTL

To be frank, who in right mind would travel to any part of Russia (under current regime)?