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I'm having a dilemma too. Just recently opened both free hilton cards the second of which should post in about 3 weeks. I'll have about 125K points then. I have an upcoming Europe trip planned with 3 nights in London and Paris each and 2 in Belgium. Hotel was booked in Paris (Park Hyatt) on points and free night certs, Belgium the Hilton options are limited and I have a good rate. London I booked one night at a great rate for a great hotel (sub $200) and am using club carlson points for the other two nights with the credit card benefit. I also don't think the London properties are that fantastic.
So at the moment I'm planning to either save my points or use a bunch of points for a weekend getaway. I already have one planned in Charleston, SC for May so could use 100K points for a hotel that'd cost about $300 a night. Not the best use but it'll do. Otherwise I may try and max out 6X and save for the future. |
I'm not burning points that I wouldn't have anyway, but I'm booking my later-in-the-year reservations now, before the increases. And when I'm uncertain on exact locations or dates, I'm booking multiple stays to be sorted out later. I think I currently have 9 reservations on the books, and I'm not done. I'll cancel the unneeded ones when vacation dates, next year's school schedule, and flights are all known.
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I burned Hilton 40k, another 40k will be burned before the date. Starwood, transferred out to AA 20k each time, Marriott I will burn it before May, probably in March. Park Hyatt in Paris using certificates.
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re
just started getting HH points and only have 85k so I might as well keep collecting, with the devaluations I probably wont save for aspirational award.
Marriott we have a good chunk but were planning on using 7 day air/hotel award which probably wont get hurt by the devaluation, we might order it early just in case they add a new price tier for cat 9. My main burning problem is choice points, we bought a few 100k in the discover america promotions with the intent to use them at all inclusive partner Barcello'. We did a couple of stays in PVR but at the end of last year they discontinued the partnership and now we have about 160k that expire the end of the year....most of their properties are crap so I wont book more than a long weekend stay at any of them...we have the companion pass on southwest, so long weekend trips to new cities might help us burn some...at the worst I can cash in for gas gift cards. |
I could never really figure out why people went after hotel points. There is some value but most of the time it saves me much less than flights.
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Originally Posted by CPRich
(Post 20329390)
I'm not burning points that I wouldn't have anyway, but I'm booking my later-in-the-year reservations now, before the increases. And when I'm uncertain on exact locations or dates, I'm booking multiple stays to be sorted out later. I think I currently have 9 reservations on the books, and I'm not done. I'll cancel the unneeded ones when vacation dates, next year's school schedule, and flights are all known.
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Originally Posted by Boraxo
(Post 20324891)
My normal reaction to the category devaluations is - meh - something that is beyond my control and happens across all chains with regularity. I know it's not good to bank points, but I see no reason to use them in absence of a good redemption value, particularly as it takes me some time to accumulate them. And good redemption opportunities are rare for me, with young children and lack of opportunity for the 4+1 (5 night) stays.
But this time it feels different. The HHonors devaluation is massive for the top city properties that I've been looking to visit at some future date. Priority Club is also pretty bad for the midlevel HIX properties that are going from a ridiculous 25k to an absurd 35k/night. So I've decided to liquidate my current HHonors balance of 200k+ and PC balance of 100k+ I'm gonna hang onto Marriott as the increases were minimal for the hotels I plan to visit. Ditto for SPG, not happy about the P+C increases but still leaves a lot of properties within reach. PC points were easy to use for a nice HIX on the California Coast. But Hilton is a bit tougher - Europe is a possibility, but that would require more logistical planning, you generally would not book rooms before the airfare. So are you burning any of your points? Which programs and properties? Mod- please note this is not a "are you abandoning loyalty?" thread and really would like to get opinions across programs rather than transfer this to a specific hotel chain. Anyway at the end of the day these points are just a bonus and not a "right" I hose my hotels by choice. |
Originally Posted by UA Fan
(Post 20329898)
I could never really figure out why people went after hotel points. There is some value but most of the time it saves me much less than flights.
Miles just make travel more comfortable - they don't save you much. Hotels on the other hand - well there are no alternative to paying $300+/nt at certain locations and points indeed save a lot of money i would absolutely have to spend. YMMV of course |
SPG card for me still just because the 20k to 25k point transfer to AA/DL.
Although I am liquidating all my points at this time. 2 reasons, 1. the point devaluation has done bad things. I signed up for the 80k ihg offer in 2011 and have held these points now through....2 (or is this 3?) point devaluations. I've watched them basically get cut in half. If I knew what I knew now........ 2. Grad trip to Italy/Switzerland/Ireland. Burning up points at the IC Rome and some various properties along the way, BUT unfortunately most of these hotels beside the IC Rome lack the central location. |
I don't know about that...a 50-60k RT to Europe award saves me $1000-1200 at least, so that's 2cents a point right there. Combined with free or almost free one-ways, or creative routing you can do on UA, AA or US, that starts to approach 3 cents in value. If you have the miles to go in Business, it saves you the hassle of having to waste a day or two adjusting after a cramped flight, which is priceless on vacation.
With hotels, there's very few instances where you can't find a $100-150/night rooms somewhere decent. I save my Hotel stash for those cases, or when I don't have time to try and get a cheap room for only a few days of stay.
Originally Posted by azepine00
(Post 20330543)
I disagree - points don't save all that much on coach redemption and so called "savings" on premium redemption only make sense if you plan to pay cash as an alternative. Most people don't so i put "i got 10c/$ by redeeming on CX F" claims in the same category as "i just made $150K by not buying a Porsche".
Miles just make travel more comfortable - they don't save you much. Hotels on the other hand - well there are no alternative to paying $300+/nt at certain locations and points indeed save a lot of money i would absolutely have to spend. YMMV of course |
Originally Posted by azepine00
(Post 20330543)
I disagree - points don't save all that much on coach redemption and so called "savings" on premium redemption only make sense if you plan to pay cash as an alternative. Most people don't so i put "i got 10c/$ by redeeming on CX F" claims in the same category as "i just made $150K by not buying a Porsche".
Miles just make travel more comfortable - they don't save you much. Hotels on the other hand - well there are no alternative to paying $300+/nt at certain locations and points indeed save a lot of money i would absolutely have to spend. YMMV of course Low-end redemptions can also be very high on the % return scale. Redeeming HH points on the old cat 1 hotel night at 7,500 points, that's on the order of 10% return on money spend. More than that, if you had earned 7,500 points by spending only $300 as a Diamond on a double points promo. That's if it was your $300 to begin with. |
Originally Posted by atxtravel
(Post 20330662)
.. If you have the miles to go in Business, it saves you the hassle of having to waste a day or two adjusting after a cramped flight, which is priceless on vacation.
.. A hypothetical stash of 100K miles/points can give you a rountrip in C - perhaps 20 hrs of comfort in the air or luxurious accommodations for 5-10 nights... what's more important to you is your call... |
Originally Posted by kemitx
(Post 20330777)
Amen to that.
Low-end redemptions can also be very high on the % return scale. Redeeming HH points on the old cat 1 hotel night at 7,500 points, that's on the order of 10% return on money spend. More than that, if you had earned 7,500 points by spending only $300 as a Diamond on a double points promo. That's if it was your $300 to begin with. |
Originally Posted by PainCorp
(Post 20324899)
I'm probably in the minority, I'm stocking up on HHonors points right now, since I have enough time to do a couple extra cards before my trip, I now have time I can use to gain the additional points I need, that I wouldn't otherwise. Another problem for me is that Hilton is the only one with multiple credit cards that give you bonus points, and just not certificates. I can keep points from expiring, I can't keep certificates from expiring.
The way I see it, if I'm going to be doing the spending anyways, and I'm not going to be using it for something else, why not use it for this, better than wasting it at 1x when not working towards a bonus. I am not burning my points right now just because of the devaluation because I usually redeem for lower end properties. I have done my fair share of aspirational awards but I never got the value of having a Category 5 or 6 or 7 or higher award in a new city when I am always out trying to enjoy the city and do all the touristy and non-touristy things. For instance, sometime back I spent 45,000 SPG points on Le Meridien in Paris where we stayed for 5 nights and we would get up in the morning, go all over Paris and return totally tired late night and just hit the bed. Of course everyone has different goals when traveling and when your goal (or the place itself) is for total relaxation, then an aspirational award is good and in that case the devaluation affects you a lot more. For me, I am cheapstake - I look for Cat 2 or Cat 3 hotels at the most in usual cases. |
Originally Posted by atxtravel
(Post 20330662)
I don't know about that...a 50-60k RT to Europe award saves me $1000-1200 at least, so that's 2cents a point right there. Combined with free or almost free one-ways, or creative routing you can do on UA, AA or US, that starts to approach 3 cents in value. If you have the miles to go in Business, it saves you the hassle of having to waste a day or two adjusting after a cramped flight, which is priceless on vacation.
One-ways, though, that's definitely a winner for the miles. One-way cash prices can be a killer, and in Europe on short notice especially. |
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