I have about 100,000 Hilton points and 20,000 Starwood points. I thought about getting a Hilton GLON2 award.

The idea is to move the 20000 *points to American Airlines (25,000 miles) and then to Hilton (50000 hpoints). This would give me the req. 150,000 for the Hilton GLON2 award.

Would you do that? I have never redeemed with Hilton. Is the availability for the GLON2 fairly ok? I am a Hilton Gold and won't be a Diamond anytime soon. No status with *wood at all.

No. I think one Starpoint is worth more than 2.5 HHonors points (I value one Starpoint at somewhere between 3-3.5 HHonors points).

As for availability, it depends on where you want to go and how far out you book it. If you're not Diamond, you have to contend with limited award availability. Not so with Starwood.

consider the following comparisons before moving anything into HHonors. I am using Hawaii as a focus, so many people redeem there.

HHonors - 1 free night at a nice hotel is about 40,000 pts (example. Waikoloa Village)

SPG - 1 free night at a nice hotel is about 10,000 pts (example. Westin Maui)
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HHonors - 6 free nights at a Hawaiian resort is 175,000 pts

SPG - 6 free nights at a cat.5 Hawaiian resort (ex. Westin Maui) is around 74,000 pts (redeeming two awards (1 free night and 5th night free), assuming max pts needed)
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HHonors - inclusive vacation awards not offered. Redeem 125,000 pts for a coach ticket on CO to Hawaii and then one of the above hotel awards for the rooms. Easily costing well over 300,000 pts for two.

SPG - night'n'flights 2 - 70,000 pts gets you 50,000 air pts and 5 free nights at a hotel like the Westin Maui or Sheraton Waikiki. You will be abit short on miles for the mainland to HI flights, but since you are getting bulk miles dropped into the account of your choice, you can easily make up the difference with most FFers' existing mileage balances.
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I also was thinking of getting points transferred into HHonors for ALON awards, but a careful review of the numbers told me this was quite unwise. Given I can book the Waikoloa village at AA rates of $150/night, why would I ever redeem 40,000 pts for that?

If anyone can add more (or correct) to my analysis, please do.

Starwood = No Blackout dates
Hilton = Many blackout dates

I would come up with another method of finding the HHonors points you need. Leave the Starpoints alone. They are worth far too much to transfer to Hilton.

I would not due it under normal circumstances. SPG beats HH hands down. But, if I was in need of a free 6-night vacation and it might otherwise take me a very long time to accrue the remaining points to get to the required redemption level without doing a transfer, then I'd go for it. Burn them before they are devalued again.

Not sure where you are goin' with this comparison, but the HWV is not in the same league SPG Cat 5 Hawaiian properties. Better comparison would be any of the Cat 4 properties (which IMO are still far better than the HWV) - 40,000 for 5 nights, plus 10,000 for 6th night + 50,000 SPG total.

This is exactly my situation. There is a good chance that my hotel activity will come to a stop by the end of the year (about 10-14 one night stays left) and if that happens, a 6 day trip to Hawaii sounds like a good idea. The 20,000 starpoints are neither here nor there because I only get 2-3 nights out them. The same is true for 100,000 Hilton points but I can't transfer those around at a reasonable rate.

I'll hold off until I know my upcoming travel patterns better. Thanks, everyone.

you are right, actually I meant SPG cat 4 hotels. There are the two properties on Lanai which are cat 5, but I think most folks would choose a Waikiki Sheraton to compare against the HHV and choose the Westin Maui against the HWV (I actually like the HWV, and would pay to stay there). I wish SPG had properties on the Big Island.

I wish Hilton had a property on Maui

Regardless of the value of SP if they are orphan - Not enough for a full week, the conversion rate is about as favorable as you can get.

I was requested a comp on SPG just to rescue orphan points

- There seem to be fewer options into Hilton so move those SP's and take a vacation

[This message has been edited by FC_Dave (edited 11-07-2003).]

[This message has been edited by FC_Dave (edited 11-07-2003).]

As a member of both HH and Starwood, I would say that the tranfer to HH is in your favor if you stay at HWV. I have been to most cat. 4 starwood hotel in Hawaii and I say the HWV blows them away. And to be a HH gold member just makes it better. You get a great room while no status with starwood can ruin your trip.

Actually, for as little as 4k points per night, you can stay at the Westin Maui using the SPG Cash and Points award. (4k points per night, plus $60 cash.) Unlike the normal non-capacity controlled awards, the cash&points awards are cap controlled, but you can check for availability online.

The hotels in the cash&points program changes quarterly. The number of points and amt of cash varies by the cat level of the property. I think the Westin Mauai is Cat 4, so Cat 1, 2 and 3 are even less points per night.

http://www.starwood.com/preferredgue...landing.html#4

-David


[This message has been edited by LIH Prem (edited 11-11-2003).]