Making "Cents" Out of Points for Budget Travelers

Posts in category Hilton

See You Later Hyatt. It’s Nice to See You Again, Hilton

Nov1st
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Ken

In case you weren’t aware from reading my many posts about Hyatt and the Gold Passport program, Hyatt is my preferred program. I’m coming from a place where Hyatt hotels were not only plentiful, but offered a wide range of hotels with rates that could satisfy the most frugal traveler or the the most frivolous traveler.

But alas, those days are gone. There is a pretty big shortage of Hyatt hotels in the Pacific Northwest. The ones that are here are pretty nice but not at all easy on the budget. At the time of my move, I still needed about 12 stays to maintain Diamond status for next year. Well it’s been three months since I moved and now I need 10 stays. I think I’ve known this for awhile now but never really wanted to admit it, but it’s time to give up on elite status with Hyatt.

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Save Up to 40% With The Great Getaway by Hilton HHonors

May25th
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Ken

Between May 10 and July 23, 2012 you can book a stay at a participating Hilton brand hotel and get a discounted rate of up to 40 percent. Your travel must occur between May 17 and September 30, 2012. Reservations have to be made at least seven days in advance, require full pre-payment and are non refundable. Blackout dates may apply.

Depending on where you’re traveling in the world, the discounts will vary. Here is the breakdown:

  • Europe – 15 to 40 percent
  • Middle East/Africa – 25 percent
  • Asia – 15 to 33 percent
  • Americas – 15 to 20 percent

Hilton has provided calendars for the available dates. They can be found along with the complete terms and conditions.

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Earn Double Hilton HHonors Points at Elara in Las Vegas

Apr12th
2012 2 Comments Written by Ken

I received an offer for double Hilton HHonors points at Elara, which is the newest Hilton Grand Vacations hotel in Las Vegas, if you book and stay by September 30, 2012. This promotion doesn’t appear to be targeted since the email directs me to sign up for HHonors if I’m not already a member.

This was an intriguing offer since I may be headed to Vegas later this year. However, Hilton Grand Vacations is Hilton’s timeshare brand. Having never stayed at one of those before, my initial interest was tempered by the fact that timeshares are notorious for making you sit through a sales presentation in exchange for a special gift/offer. After reading the T&C very carefully, there was no mention of a sales presentation so I decided to check the rates and see if this would be worth taking advantage of.

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Is Social Media a Better Way To Handle Your Customer Service Issues?

Apr11th
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Ken

One thing people dread about customer service is having to call in and speak to someone. First you have to get through all the hurdles like the long wait times or the voice automated system that makes you say “Representative” eight times before it connects you with a live person. In the back of your mind, you’re wondering much time out of the day you’ll waste being on hold and you’re bracing yourself to ask to speak to a manager. There has to be a better way, and maybe there is.

Barbara De Lollis of USA Today asks the question, “What do you expect from hotel Facebook and Twitter accounts?” It got me thinking about how much I see customer service issues being handled on Twitter and Facebook. Whether someone is sharing a positive or negative review about a trip, there’s a good chance that it gets picked up by the hotel’s social media team. From there, they proactively reach out to the guest to get more details about the situation. If you’re not actively looking for help but you get it anyway, that is a big step in (re)gaining your trust and your business.
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Hilton HHonors Rewards Category Changes

Apr10th
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Ken

View From the Wing reports Hilton has updated their reward categories for their hotels as of yesterday, April 9, 2012. In total, 447 Hilton hotels will be moving to a new category, with 330 moving up and 117 moving down. These changes will not go into effect until April 30, 2012 so you should look into making arrangements sooner than later if you see one of your hotels on the list.

 

Hilton HHonors American Express Credit Card Review

Mar29th
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Ken

If Hilton HHonors is the program that you find yourself leaning towards, I recommend picking up the Hilton HHonors American Express card to earn additional points. The point multipliers span several categories and there are some nice benefits associated with this card. There are two versions of this card, one without an annual fee and one with an annual fee, called the Surpass card. For this post, let’s focus on the standard card.

 Earning Points

  • Earn 6 HHonors points per dollar spent at Hilton hotels, gas stations, supermarkets, drug stores, cable/satellite TV, phone and internet
  • Earn 3 HHonors points per dollar on everything else

In my experience, a fair general value for HHonors points is approximately half a cent ($0.005). In other words, you’ll earn 3 cents per dollar and 1.5 cents per dollar on your spend. For comparison, the Costco True Earnings American Express card offers 3% cash back year round on gasoline purchases. The Chase Freedom offers 5% cash back on supermarkets once a quarter. With the Hilton AMEX, you’re hitting spending categories that can consist of everyday spend, weekly spend and monthly spend so you can expect to rack up a lot of points if using this as your go-to card.

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Hilton HHonors Q2 2012 Promotion – Double Your HHonors

Mar19th
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Ken

Hilton recently announced their Q2 2012 promotion and it offers double points or double miles. This promotion runs from April 1, 2012 through June 30, 2012 and is the same one that ran in Q3 2011. I wish I had more insight to share about this promotion but there isn’t much new to say. It seems like they’re just recycling promotions but offering them in different quarters.

The Q1 2012 promotion is similar to the Q2 2011 promotion. The only difference is the 5,000 bonus points for a 2-night weekend stay. As you can see, the pattern (if you can call it that) that’s starting to emerge is that the 2012 promos are working on a delayed schedule from 2011.

Assuming this pattern continues, the Q3 2012 promotion would be the Q4 2011 promotion. That promotion offered one free night for every four stays but I don’t see that happening. The third quarter would run from July through the end of September. Two-thirds of Q3 are made up of summer months where families are traveling and going on vacations. A free nights promotion doesn’t seem like one that would run during these months. This why Hilton ran it in Q4 when the kids are back in school and there is less family travel.

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