craigthemif

Hilton is playing with the fact that many people don't know what a "point" is. So handing out 50, 60, 70 points per $ sounds great to the uninformed, especially when Hilton can then claim that award rooms start at 5,000 points per night.

Actual reality is that most decent hotels start at 50/60K per night... And just wait until the 95K cap silently falls away...

ceebee100

linsj

Hilton Garden Inn and Doubletree--at least every DT I've been to, including the one in Savannah's historic district (since you mentioned being in Savannah).

1P

I think you'll find that most of the time Hilton's prices are noticeably less than Marriott's. If there's a Hampton and a Courtyard in the same town, the Courtyard will usually be more expensive while the rooms are broadly comparable.

arlflyer

Will see if it is actually operated as a normal executive lounge or if they run it as a separate thing to keep elites out. The specific naming/branding doesn't bode well for the former. Have a reservation booked for opening weekend, so we will find out!

Beltway2A

Let us me know how it is. I'm never near City Center, but the photographs have looked great.

pinniped

This is going to vary all over the place, but Fairfield Inn is the comp to Hampton. HGI = Courtyard.

It's been places where the Courtyards are cheaper than everything - including Hamptons and Fairfields. It's often because they aren't very good. (North Dallas has a few of these.) In other places, with newer Courtyards that they're half-pitching as full-service hotels, CY's can be pricey.

Where there's an HGI, I almost always feel like it's the best overall option (for a U.S. suburban stay) - newer hotel, good price, good breakfast, elite benefits. I know CY now *sort of* recognizes Marriott elite status, but I'm still not a big fan of the brand and am not actually 100% sure what you get as an elite on a post-merger stay.

Points Scrounger

​​​​​​Some Doubletree's are Continental only, with a surcharge for hot items.

1P

You're right about it varying. I can think of some towns where the Hampton is actually of a higher standard than the HGI! And you get free breakfast at both!

edot8

Others answered above.

I'm on my status match challenge. I've had 2 stays so both booked as standard rooms. 1 of which was upgraded to exec room, the other would've been had there been space claimed the front desk.
I do have an upcoming 5 night stay which got upgraded to a suite for the whole duration of the stay. (This alone has made the pursuit worth it.)
Other 5 stays are to be confirmed.

yurtripper

In terms of choice in the cheaper properties bracket (low-mid range) in Europe and Asia I would say IHG > Hilton > MR/SPG (Accor would be ahead of IHG in Europe but if you include brands like Ibis then you're verging on sado-masochistic territory).

I now ask for 6PM checkout if I want later than 12PM. Yeah, they still might end up knocking me down to 2PM but I've also got 3PM-4PM a few times (Hilton Gdansk gave me 4PM last time). If it turns out I only need till 2pm and they offer me a later checkout then I tell them 'actually, I've changed my mind - 2PM will be OK'. If you ask for 2PM in these situations you might only get 1PM. Take the Donald Trump approach to negotiating!

With Hilton, even more than for other chains, you need to dump the points as fast as you earn them. With the recent sucker punch devaluation that Hilton hit us with, I found that even 24 hours was too long to hold on to points.

lcohen999

Ibis can be kinda OK for what it is

Ibis budget on the other hand....I did that once and never again

Although, there is a hotel in Melbourne where the toilet is literally in the shower in their smaller rooms. So that is a step up from an Ibis Budget I guess

lcohen999

I find there is sometimes good value but then I look at a booking I made at the Hilton in Aruba

Rate was only $239 per night. For a week, I was quoted in the neighbourhood of 400,000 points $0.005c per point, which is just insane. If the rate is low, points redemption should follow.

Instead, i am going to use some of my Amex points. If I put the whole thing on Amex MR points, it cuts my points usage in half. Obviously there are different earn/burn. But 400,000 points is insane.

yurtripper

One more thing I should have mentioned - Hilton uses funky dynamic pricing for points redemptions whereas Marriott has fixed price categories (now with extra tiers for peak and off-peak but still fixed).
Once you've made your points booking with Marriott you can sit back and relax - the only thing that could alter the rate is a category change, and a category downgrade that would make you cancel and rebook isn't something that happens very often. But with Hilton the rates are all over the place, depending on dates/availability, and that means you have to alter your approach.

(1) Use the flexible dates option and play around with your date selections to find the optimal redemption (i.e. alter dates and length of stay to see what happens).
(2) Once you've decided on a redemption and booked it, monitor like a hawk, especially in the weeks leading up to your stay. Places that haven't sold many beds may drop the rates handily so you can cancel and rebook (technically, rebook and cancel, to be on the safe side). TBH, you should probably do this on any program in case cash rates change enough for you to make it worth replacing the points booking with a cash one.

Amelorn

In the US, getting 1 PM is often the limit. Occasionally 2, but the FD agent will sound as if their child will be beaten as a result of such profligacy. In Asia, I am offered 4 PM without any suggestion on my part.

Hilton and Conrad, most reliably. I have seen the odd DT with one.

HGI and the full service properties. If available, I like to take breakfast in the restaurant rather than the lounge. I find US lounges mediocre to utter crap depending on the property. With US Waldorfs, the breakfast credit isn't even 50% of the meal's value (after tax & tip).

Very rarely, a property here or there might do a managers reception. On a brand level, you are stuck with ES and HS. Again, diamond status overseas....the lounges have acceptable to decent beverages. In Nanjing, I was making myself Stoli cocktails from the solid spirits/juice/mixer section. In BKK, I had a choice of Singha, a nice Chilean red, or various Absolut cocktails. This beats the well-liquor and bud light of the ES/HS chains.

Absolutely not. Diamond only guarantees lounge access, if one is available. Diamond treatment varies wildly dependent on the property, your relationship (if any) with the property, and demand during your stay. I've gotten nothing even as a repeat customer at various US properties. For my stay this weekend at the HIlton Dali (Yunnan, China), I got a multi-category upgrade from a basic king to a 120sqm/1250sqft king suite (4 or 5 categories up?!). This is quite common in Asia.


Yes, although with the cost savings of not being loyal, you could probably buy the gift item for half your town.