kyletrems

Great suggestion ! I stayed there in 2004 and had a great time. Just relaxed at the beach at the end of a 18 day vacation ( cruise / land and Vegas - Grand Canyon ). Not sure going from Boston for 5-6 days is worth the long flight. My mom only gets a week off in April then has from end June until end of August off. My Dad just retired so his schedule is all clear. Maybe they will choose to go end of June into July and go for 9-10 days !! I used to have Hilton points .....

Goofy Foot

Check out Hilton Torrey Pines. At the right time of year you can get the beach to yourself and at great rates.

flyer4512

I have stayed at the Hilton Clearwater beach a few times in April, after April 15th or so it slows down quite a bit.

It's nice and I love the area but the hotel walls are thin and you can hear noise from the hall and people next door over the TV.

Unless you get a gulf front suite ( not available with points) none of the rooms face the ocean directly and one side of the building is above very noisy AC units.

$10 day to park, you have to join the beachclub for umbrellas at $22 day.

If you like to have a drink at the pool/beach you have to buy everything you eat and drink at the pool/beach from the Hotel which can get pricy.

This year I'm moving to the Doubletree at North Reddington beach ( about 25 minutes away which has gulf front rooms and great reviews, free parking and you can bring your own fod/drinks to the pool/beach.

If you have a hilton Amex you can use code AXON5 or AXON6 for 4 nights at a cat 5 or 6 hotel for 125,000 miles which is a pretty good deal

kyletrems

Thanks for the info., but I believe it's 125,000 points for catagory 5 and 145,00 points for catagory 6.

Thanks, Kyle

flyer4512

Makes sense but I have never used the AXON6 as both the Hilton Clearwater and Doubletree North Reddington beach are cat 5


EDIT


Doing a little research I found the old AXON code worked for a cat 5 or 6 for 125K but was changed to the new codes earlier this year

xxrice

I'm looking for suggestions for the best beach / rewards getaway for a week at spring break for my wife and I. My wife is a teacher so my dates are not flexible. Caribbean, Costa Rica and Hawaii are areas that I'm considering. Resorts in Mexico are out of the picture because of drug violence.

I was leaning towards Hawaii Hawaiian Village until a friend suggested that after two days in Honolulu you should stay a resort at a less populated area?

My wife is not an adventurer but likes to shop, see different cultural things, lounge bye the pool and read. My interests don't matter. :-) I can find entertainment anywhere. We're both in our fifties.

Any recommendations, advice or links to threads that covers a similar topic would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

kyletrems

Anyone been to the Doubletree Santa Monica ? Looks like 10 -12 minute walk to the beach. Safe walk during the day ? Good area to stroll around / go out to each and walk to the pier ?

Thanks !

MoreMilesPlease

I seriously doubt that you will encounter any drug violence in Cancun or Cabo. As with most violence of this type, whether in Mexico or America, it is regionalized and the other areas are ok to travel to.
If you are concerned about safety then be aware that some areas of Costa Rica have very high crime rates. Many islands in the Caribbean have very high poverty and also crime rates. So it looks like Hawaii would be your best bet to stay away from foreign crime.

cullen24

Held a meeting there a year ago. Great location (end of I 10) and other than the standard compliment of entitled homeless persons, I found nothing to fear at 4AM. The pier is a short walk away. Stopping by there Thursday actually

Thunderroad

Afraid I can't directly help, since I don't know the Hiltons in those areas very well. My wife and did a great award stay in French Polynesia at both the Bora Bora and Moorea properties in August, but that's a long way to go for just a week and the really special rooms (the over-the-water bungalows) could cost a lot of $$$ to upgrade from the rooms you'd get simply from cashing in points.

I would agree with the advice that you wouldn't want to spend seven days in Honolulu. Getting to another resort in Hawaii for most or all of your time would be a better bet. You might also consider Florida and Puerto Rico.

One tool I've found very useful for hotel reviews--both for finding good places and avoiding bad ones--is tripadvisor.com. Once you find Hilton properties in which you'd be interested, you put the names into the search function at that site. After another click or two, you get to pages that give you both cumulative and individual reviews for given hotels; the individual reviews sometimes include other useful info, such as what rooms to request or avoid, nearby restaurants and activities, etc.

Another way to approach this at tripadvisor is to simply plug in Hilton and Hawaii (or some other location) in the search box. That might lead you to the reviews for the various Hiltons there.

For similar information, you can also plug a hotel name to the search function here at FT. The somewhat sketchy search engine here might or might not then take you to the master thread for the hotel.

Anyway, hope you come up with a good place and have a great trip!

Bikeguy

Been to HHV twice and Hilton Waikaloa Village once.

I like a beach, so HHV is preferred.

I think HWV is nicer, but no beach.

Looking at going to Hilton Cancun now. I understand it's nice.

Avoid at all costs the Hilton Caribe in San Juan.

SimpleManToo

Im not sure what a AXON code is. Can someone explain what it is and how to use it if your a HH Member please?

MoreMilesPlease

AXON is a reduced point award that you can use if you have a Hilton American Express card.

Bikeguy

AXON A four day stay normally costing 160K points for 145K.

Was 125K a year or two ago.

Not nearly as good of a deal now.

Better than nothing though.

As a Gold, one only qualifies for a special rate on a 6 day or longer stay.

6 days=175K, add roughly 30K per day up to 14.

flyer4512

I believe you are talking Cat 6 hotels.

I booked here for 6 nights using a GLON2 award code for 150K

http://doubletreebeachresort.com/

Anyone Silver and up can use the GLON2 award. This hotel will be a Cat 7 in 10 days so better book now