MileKing

I just noticed this on the HHonors site and didn't see it posted anywhere:

"Effective June 1, 2006, the HHonors hotel reward category for over 900 Hilton Family hotels will be changing. Reward reservations made prior to this date for reward stays at these hotels will be honored at the hotels current HHonors reward category. After June 1, 2006 when members redeem HHonors points for reward stays at these hotels the new reward category will apply. A list of hotels and their new reward categories will be available at the start of 2006."

It looks like we are in for a round of point devaluation. 900 hotels is approximately 1/3 of the HHonors properties. I can't imagine too many of the category changes being downward.

BigLar

AFAIK, they do this every couple of years. It turns out the hotels I'm primarily interested in for reward stays are all Cat 6 anyhow, so where can they go from there?

Unless, of course, they increase the points required per night. I think they did that back in 2003, so maybe it's here we go again.

Rut Dog

I don't think it that all and maybe not even most of the 900 will move up. Category and Point Stretcher decisions vary greatly by the property's management. Some perceive HHonors as a drag on profit. Others see it as an opportunity to fill empty rooms. And depending on how a property is thinking, particularly if new decision makers are in place, I think you'll see movement of properties in both directions.

GUWonder

I'll be booking my Scandic awards now. Thanks for the heads-up MileKing. ^

tsastor

Me too (already did). GUW nice to see you back...

GUWonder

I had to enjoy the family of (7) deer outside the door here in Stockholm. I thought I would be lucky if I saw one in a city. But I saw 7 all within less than 24 hours. Snow, deer, city ... all in 24 hours. The holidays bring beautiful things.

It will be the Scandic in Sodermalm section of Stockholm soon. Just have to see if the wild things get there too.

I'm concerned both about point hikes per category and category hikes for given hotels.

(The Scandic awards have been just too good to me to risk being surprised.)

Marq

With the addition of more high end properties (e.g., French Polynesia and Vienna), I think Hilton needs to do something regarding award stays at properties where 40K points is not enough. Already, we cannot stay at Sunset Key Cottages or Waldorf Towers. I would of gladly have spent the 80K per day I spent on two rooms at the Hilton for a two bedroom unit at Sunset Key. Given that both would have equalled approximately $0.01 per point, I think it would be reasonable. The FP property will have both a 4 and 5 star portion. It sure would be nice to get awards at the 5 star portion, too.

I think part of the changes will include fixing inconsistencies like the Athens Hilton; I am sure there are a lot more out there. I just hope they also come up with some way to allow us to book awards at the high end.

Marc

jimmac

How far out can you book a reward room? Could I book in late May for early 2008?

GUWonder

A reservation ending 300 some days out from the end of May should be no problem. But book an award reservation in May 2006 for January 2008? There is that matter of award certificates only being good for one year from date of issuance .... meaning May 2007.

tsastor

[QUOTE=GUWonderI'm concerned both about point hikes per category and category hikes for given hotels.

(The Scandic awards have been just too good to me to risk being surprised.)[/QUOTE]
I'm not that concerned about point hikes per category. There are Scandics you can stay at for under 100$, so you need 10 nights for one free night. I think it can't go much over that because of competition. IMO category hikes for some hotels are more likely. Anyway it is ridiculous that for some ex-Scandic Hilton you need 30000 points / night, while for a great Scandic in the same city you need 10000 points and get the buffet breakfast as well. What could happen of course is that Hilton gets rid of the Scandics. I'm not sure they understand the local market well enough to run the Scandics profitably.

sassamanlaw

http://hhonors.hilton.com/en/hhonors...ds/hotel.jhtml

Effective June 1, 2006, the HHonors hotel reward category for over 900 Hilton Family hotels will be changing. Reward reservations made prior to this date for reward stays at these hotels will be honored at the hotels current HHonors reward category. After June 1, 2006 when members redeem HHonors points for reward stays at these hotels the new reward category will apply. A list of hotels and their new reward categories will be available at the start of 2006

Here we go again!

fimo

Ugh. Definitely time to cash in major reward points.

KathyWdrf

Can't say I'm surprised.

Anyhow, five months' notice is far superior to the way Starwood does it (essentially no prior notice of category upgrades/downgrades).

fromYXU

I think that it is called inflation.

Same happening over in the SPG side.

rootsearcher

I just booked a reward stay for Greece in March and had a nice conversation with the lady in redemption. I asked her about the notice on the web site effective June 1, and off-handedly stated that it looks like reward categories were being adjusted upward. She said that wasn't neccesarily so. Her department was told that some categories, of the less utilized hotels, were being adjusted downward. Unfortunately, she doesn't have the list of the 900 hotels yet. She did say that if you book a reward for a hotel prior to June 1st, and the category is adjusted down, the department will adjust the points you redeemed to reflect the new category. She laughed and said naturally, if the reward category goes up, and you already have a certificate issued at the previously lower category, that certificate would be valued.