BrianV

Sorry I'm new to the Hilton family and just achieved gold last week by completing the challenge.

I have their credit card (as well as Starwoods). I've been a Starwood loyalist for some time, but am switching some of my loyalty to Hilton due to the fact that Starwoods aren't everywhere I travel.

That said, I just qualified for Gold via a challenge on 01/05/07. When does my Gold expire? I'm trying to determine if I need to requalify this year for next year or whether my gold challenge will give me this year and next year.

It may be a moot point since I just paid a Hilton Las Vegas Suite bill for $7,000. How many base points do I get for spending $7,000? Will that be enough to requalify?

I'm trying to determine if I need to continue using my HH Amex to get the $20k yearly to requalify for Gold or whether I should switch back to my SPG Amex and start spending my $30k for gold in their program next year. I doubt I will re-qualify for SPG Gold via 10 stays since I'm staying at Hiltons for the most part.

Thanks!

travelinfoo

1. Your Gold will expire 4/09. If you log into your HHonors account and look under the VIP tag, it will tell you when your Gold expires.

2. Your base points for your Las Vegas stay depends on what the total is WITHOUT taxes and service fees. (No points for the tax and service charges.) You get 10 points/$ as base points. But the $7000 bill will NOT translate to 70,000 base points!

BrianV

The base room rate was over $6,000. Thanks for the update!

What if I double dip with bonus points?

travelinfoo

As a gold you will receive a 25% base points as bonus points.

For other bonus points, it depends on what you picked as your double dip style. If you did not pick a style, it will default. I can't remember what it will default to but it is NOT the 10 points with 5 points/$ Hilton bonus on base points. (I think the default was the 10 points/$ and 500 flat points for airline.)

Bonus points are ONLY awarded based on the base points, not on any other bonus points.

From the Hilton site:

Double Dipping®
Why choose between hotel points or airline miles when HHonors gives you both?

As an HHonors member, you can earn both Hilton HHonors points and/or airline miles for the same stay with over 50 participating airline partners and at over 2,700 participating Hilton Family hotels worldwide. It's what HHonors calls Double Dipping®.

Choose your Double Dip® Earnings Style from three rewarding options! Select a Double Dip Earnings Style that matches the way you travel and maximize your earnings. Choose any of the following options:

* HHonors Points and Variable Miles
Earn 10 HHonors Base points + 1 airline mile per eligible U.S. dollar spent*
* HHonors Points and Fixed Miles
Earn 10 HHonors Base points per eligible U.S. dollar spent + 500 miles per stay (100 miles per stay at Hampton Inn, Hampton Inn & Suites, Homewood Suites by Hilton**, and Scandic hotels)
* HHonors Points and HHonors Points
Earn 10 HHonors Base points + 5 bonus points per eligible U.S. dollar spent
(Italics mine)

Simply select the option you prefer in your HHonors account Profile page. You're welcome to change your earning preference anytime - even with every HHonors stay. To Double Dip simply provide your HHonors and frequent flyer account numbers at time of reservation and at check-in. Please visit hiltonhhonors.com/myway for complete details.

Points Scrounger

A gold member spending $6K base on a stay should expect ...

60,000 base points (towards status)
15,000 additional points for being Gold

Depending on how your earnings preference was set at 11:59PM CST on the date you checked out one of the following three will appear as a line item (in addition to the above two line items for your stay):

a) Points + Points = 30,000 points
b) Points + Fixed Miles = 500 airline miles
c) Points + Variable Miles = 6,000 airline miles

Your (3) net possibilities are: 105,000 points (and no airline miles); 75,000 points + 500 airline miles; 75,000 points + 6000 airline miles.

You don't get any points for taxes and fees on room rates. You are supposed to earn points on tax/tip for food/drink. The LAS Hilton is more of an "afilliated" than actual property, and known for messing up the dollar amount reported to HHonors (always against the guest). Be sure to check the amount shown online at your account when the stay posts vs. your room rate plus incidentals spent!

nako

While it is a good idea to check and see online when the status expires, I sincerely doubt that it will last any longer than April of 2008. Status earned by challenge or fast track is and always has been a different animal than status earned the hard way, and I'd be really surprised if any challenges right now gave status for a full two years when, historically, they've only given status for a year or so.

Mike

derpelikan

my friend had status for the full two year period, even he got the information that it was only valid for one year.

so ymmv.

dp

Points Scrounger

I got my status last summer under a Diamond challenge (t&c said 04/2007) - fear not dilution-phobes as I would have had 28 stays anyway just a couple months later. I got a [regular, full] 2-year card (04/2008) almost immediately, with that expiration date showing online as well.

infinityplusone

Wirelessly posted (My IV to the Net: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0) BlackBerry7250/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

Someone has a spreadsheet that allows you to input various information (room rate, status level, douple dip selection, etc) and it will calculate the total number of HH points and/or airline miles you will earn.
I have found that it calculates pretty close if not exactly what you will earn.

I'll try to remember to post a link to it or post it somewhere when I am able.

pjrice

If you are able to find the spread sheet and post it, it would be great. Thanks for checking ^

SuperSnoop

I've I'm not mistaken, you only get qualifying base points for one room, and nothing if you stay more than 30 days. Was the $6,000 bill for a single room?

jabez

You can actually get points for two rooms,if on the same folio.

derpelikan

kiwi and myself did create it a while ago.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ghlight=points

thanks to blondebomber for hosting it! ^

BrianV

It's a 3 room suite, but it's billed as one suite. It was only for 5 days, something like $1,200 per day + tax.

Thanks for all the help. I need to go to the front desk and make sure my double dip is set to bonus HH points.

nako

You can set your double dip with HHonors (on the website), but I don't believe that you can set it with the hotel.

Mike