VERY high-priced Honors redemption rates
 

Are HH reward prices wonky right now, or am I just naive on recent redemption values?

I am just doing some very premature daydreaming about redeeming HHonors points some time in 2020 or 2021, for admittedly high end properties, but am a little surprised to see 100,000 per night as typical redemption cost for base rooms. I don't spend a lot of time looking at resort prices, so perhaps there is rather extreme premium for places like Hilton Aruba or Grand Wailea.

Not sure why, but I was expecting something in the 70,000 per night range. Do I need to change expectations?

Again, this is cursory daydreaming activity, I don't even really have dates and locations in mind.

Grand Wailea is one of the most expensive (in terms of points) places to stay in the Hilton system. It is very popular much of the year, and has a very high occupancy rate (above 90% year around), so its about supply and demand.

And it is in Hawaii, which is never cheap.

Makes sense.

When the Carib props came up at 100,000 a night as well I was a little surprised.

In addition, I am surprised that demand side of the equation has not moved the needle more I guess.

shrug

Maybe I missed the thread, but is anybody talking about how terrible the new Hilton flexible calendar search is for award stays?

At this point, there's really on incentive for hotels to drop reward prices for long-off reservations (like late 2020 or 2021). Assuming that Hilton operates their redemptions like the chain I used to work, hotels don't get paid for points until after the guest departs.

Dropping redemption rates now is not a smart move given the fact that demand might return to "normal" at some point prior to the date in question. It might make sense to drop cash rates if the hotel requires a deposit. The infusion of a small amount of cash might be helpful to some properties. But, points reservations have no immediate financial benefit to hotels.

What's important for hotels is their normal booking window. The booking window is the time-frame where the hotel gets most of their reservations. It will vary greatly depending upon location and type of hotel.

The booking window for property at a hub airport might be a day or less. A hotel in a downtown business district might be 10 to 20 days. For a resort on an island, the booking window might be 2 to 3 months because guests need to coordinate airline reservations to get there.

If the hotel is being smart, they won't even consider dropping points redemption rates until the beginning of their normal booking window.

It sucks. Any links out there to the old calendar?

Something is wrong with the points rates displayed by the app. I have the most up to date version (v 2020.3.17) if the Hilton app for iOS and its showing much higher rates


Could it be a sign of upcoming devaluation?


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I replicated your search and get the 55k for the Conrad on the intermediate page, but when I click through the King rooms are available for 35k like in your first image. Probably just an issue with which inventory shows on the front page. I don’t see any cause for alarm.

It's not just the high-end properties....

I was checking several Hamptons and HGIs that are usually in the 20-30K range and they are now 40-65K -- even when AAA rates for those properties are ~$99/night.

Strange.

Summer Redemption Rates... Wow
 

Looking for a quick weekend getaway on the Gulf Coast. We're looking at our favorite properties, and the points redemption rates are insane.

Property #1 : 9 different room types. 1 of which is "standard" (1K) and is 60k points. Remaining 8 are "Premium", including 2Q, 1K with bunk bed, and they range from 141k to 182k points per night. Point value is $0.005 for standard rooms, $0.002 for premium.

Property #2 : 9 different room types. 2 are "standard" and are 80k points. Remaining 6 are "Premium" and range from 139k to 238k points per night. Point value for standard rooms is $0.004 and premium rooms is $0.0028.

Property #3 : 9 different room types. 2 are standard, including rooms with 2 double beds and partial/obstructed views. These start at 70k points or $0.004 per point. Premium rooms start at 94k points per night or $0.0033 per point. This property has an alert saying "#1[/URL] d1d1d]Pay with Points is currently unavailable at this property."

The endless promotions are coming back in the form of inflation. Ouch!

And have the standard redemptions become more pricey than previously? There is no point complaining about Premium redemptions, since they have never been in line with standard ones (even before dynamic pricing), and are always (much) more expensive.

From my experience, it's a 10k point-per-night jump from recent standard rewards.

Like every travel provider with a loyalty / points program, Hilton has every incentive at the moment to throttle redemptions. A lot of people are sitting on big points / miles balances after cancelling 2020 stays and redepositing, and the providers need cash.

IHG has massively reduced redemption rates, including during times of possible heavy demand (if such events resume or are not cancelled).

I have been saving Hilton points for a couple years for a future vacation, and properties cost 2 to 3 times more points than they did when I started. It's disheartening.