Amex buys $1 billion of Hilton Honors points
Apr 17, 2020, 12:53 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: NW London and NW Sydney
Programs: BA Diamond, Hilton Bronze, A3 Diamond, IHG *G
Posts: 6,344
Amex buys $1 billion of Hilton Honors points
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...erican-express
https://www.headforpoints.com/2020/0...rican-express/
Amex has pre-paid for points that they will award to cardholders in the future.
Raffles (Rob) of HFP speculates that Amex received 4 billion points for their $1 billion but there is likely to be some agreement not to devalue them right away, otherwise this prepurchase would be "pointless".
Whatever happens my strategy is still to earn and burn quickly. I did lots of earning last year and the virus hit just as I wanted to start burning, so that will be happening as soon as possible unless paid rates are really cheap.
https://www.headforpoints.com/2020/0...rican-express/
Amex has pre-paid for points that they will award to cardholders in the future.
Raffles (Rob) of HFP speculates that Amex received 4 billion points for their $1 billion but there is likely to be some agreement not to devalue them right away, otherwise this prepurchase would be "pointless".
Whatever happens my strategy is still to earn and burn quickly. I did lots of earning last year and the virus hit just as I wanted to start burning, so that will be happening as soon as possible unless paid rates are really cheap.
Apr 17, 2020, 1:45 am
#2
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Kyiv, Ukraine
Programs: Mucci, BA Gold, TK Elite, HHonors Lifetime Diamond
Posts: 7,691
Apr 17, 2020, 8:50 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: NW London and NW Sydney
Programs: BA Diamond, Hilton Bronze, A3 Diamond, IHG *G
Posts: 6,344
Apr 17, 2020, 12:39 pm
#5
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Window Seat
Programs: National Executive, HHonors Gold, IHG Platinum, Hyatt Visitor
Posts: 2,495
How many people will be canceling this credit card due to changes in their travel schedules going forward? Curious move for American Express. May be lots of good spend x/get y bonuses ahead.
Apr 17, 2020, 10:31 pm
#7
Join Date: Jun 2007
Programs: CO-plat, SPG-plat
Posts: 1,655
Apr 18, 2020, 6:44 am
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 11,578
As someone wrote in the comments on Rob's blog the cost to Hilton is likely going to decrease over the next one year as occupancy falls and therefore the reimbursement to hotels rarely exceeds the minimums for the brand, as little as $25 for a DT- I can't remember exactly but I did post the numbers for 2018 at some point.
With plummeting occupancy franchise owners may choose to fight corporate on this, leave the brand or sue.
I noticed that for the next few months staff & friends rates have been pulled from hotels (which are of course still open) which will have had oodles of availability given its automatically releasing rooms based on occupancy. Nevertheless it may just be a process to discourage travel.
With plummeting occupancy franchise owners may choose to fight corporate on this, leave the brand or sue.
I noticed that for the next few months staff & friends rates have been pulled from hotels (which are of course still open) which will have had oodles of availability given its automatically releasing rooms based on occupancy. Nevertheless it may just be a process to discourage travel.
Apr 19, 2020, 12:04 am
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: TOA
Programs: HH Diamond, Marriott LTPP/Platinum Premier, Hyatt Lame-ist, UA !K
Posts: 20,061
Apr 20, 2020, 11:59 am
#12
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,387
It's one thing to devalue your customers in a loyalty program. It's another thing to immediately devalue what you just sold the bank providing you liquidity during an economic crisis. AMEX isn't staffed with idiots who would buy something worth a billion dollars and let the company that sold it to them turn it into "whoops, it's actually worth 500 million now".
It'll get devalued at some point but I would argue it's actually a decent time to acquire Hilton points as an AMEX/Hilton customer if AMEX starts throwing them around... just don't plan on keeping them around forever.
It'll get devalued at some point but I would argue it's actually a decent time to acquire Hilton points as an AMEX/Hilton customer if AMEX starts throwing them around... just don't plan on keeping them around forever.
Apr 22, 2020, 1:26 am
#14
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Hilton, Hyatt House, Del Taco
Posts: 5,378
I'm holding onto Aspire, though.
I definitely won't great value out of it this year. But at the very least, it'll get me 1 (possibly 2) weekend nights, plus I always use up my resort credit.