From January 1 through April 30 Hilton offered double points with no properties excluded. Hilton co-brand American Express cardholders got an additional bonus of 1000 HHonors points when paying for their first stay with the card during the promotion period.
For May 1 through August 31 they’re again offering double points, this time called “Unlimited Bonus” — Registration required.
This isn’t as generous as what Hyatt is offering right now but it’s a promotion and you’re better off earning double points than single points.
Hilton used to exclude many of its properties from promotions, they’ve overcome that which is a big win. And hotels are still generally full, with high average daily room rates, so there aren’t that many empty hotels to try to fill with promotions.
Instead hotel programs are offering promotions largely because other hotel programs are. They aren’t revolutionary, but they add value and activate members and help prevent other programs from poaching stays.
What double points means is an extra 10 points per dollar spent, worth about 4 cents (Hilton HHonors points are worth about $0.004 each), so an extra 4% rebate. I’ll take it!
@Gary sez: “This isn’t as generous as what Hyatt is offering right now but it’s a promotion and you’re better off earning double points than single points.”
I am just baffled that travel bloggers simply cannot resist the urge to make these largely unnecessary and often dead wrong comparisons!
It is NOT at all true that Hyatt’s 25 nights/75K points promo is more generous than this HHonors promo.
First, 25 nights in 3 months is simply ridiculous for most. Their room rates being generally more expensive than Hilton’s, the Hyatt promo loses any edge it might have because one has to pay a bundle out of pocket in a very short time to earn the points. The sticker shock for 25 revenue nights in 3 months would be considerable for most. On the other, because one gets double HH points with every single stay, there is no doubt in my mind which is the more generous promo.
Second, it also depends on how one will earn the points. For my pattern of traveling and lodging, which consists of relatively long stays at mid- to high-end Hilton properties, I will truly rake it in. Let’s compare the points earned at the end of the promo period, using 1 HGP ~= 3 HH points conversion rate. With a 7-night stay starting late next week at Hilton Singapore, followed by a 2-night stay at Conrad Hong Kong [which is also running at least two stackable brand-specific promos] and then an 8-night stay at a Hilton in Seoul in July during which I will earn HH points at 42/$ thanks in part to the 2x promo bonus, I would probably already exceed the equivalent of 75K HGP points in less than 25 nights. In fact, HH promos have been so lucrative this year I am already on pace to breaking my own record of 1M HH points I hit last year
G’day!
I already booked a week ago for June. When I activate this will it work for that reservation or do I need to cancel and redo it?
There is even more to this promo!
I just checked the details of this HH Q2 promo at Loyalty Lobby, which in my opinion is the best site out there for getting unbiased info on virtually every hotel or airline promo running at any given time, and it appears that 2 types of targeted offers are revealed after one registers for this HH Q2 promo: (a) lifetime HH Diamond members will earn 10,000 HH points after EVERY 10th stay during the promo period, and (b) targeted HH members (eligibility criteria unclear) will get 5,000 HH points after their first stay of 2 nights or more. This really kool promo within a promo that’s similar to what HH has offered with their recent global promos appears to be here to stay and obliterates any claims about how HGP’s promo is “more generous”, which it should have been to make up for the fact that it is HGP’s first promo since last September 😉
I am not sure why I was not targeted for anything this time but my own success at earning HH points at a brisk pace so far this year might have indicated that I did not need boosting…
“Hilton used to exclude many of its properties from promotions, they’ve overcome that which is a big win.”
It is a big win but it now very old news. I remember having a debate with this site’s host some two years ago when I’d predicted that Hilton properties would not longer opt out HHonors quarterly promo and he thought otherwise. Now nearly two years later and my prediction has come to pass, is it not time to stop going on about how Hilton properties used to opt out of HHonors promos? In fact, despite being hyped by bloggers it was never really a big deal because properties that used to opt out were seldom “properties of consequence”. And it is not true that “Hilton used to exclude many of its properties from promotions”. The properties chose to exclude themselves, as those that opted out were mostly franchised Mom & Pop shops in the U.S. (HGI, Home2, etc) that did not appreciate HHonors and considered HH elites self-entitled.
As per my rationale a couple of years, all that changed when Hilton started getting profitable and experiencing brisk growth, which Hilton’s new visionary CEO, Chris Nassetta, credited to HHonors and to returning guests (i.e., HH members), who he said were driving about 50% of the company’s annual revenue. That’s why I’d predicted from the very first time that no property opted out of a global HH promo that it would become the norm. Nassetta had evidence that HHonors was contributing greatly to the company’s bottom line and decided to play hardball and require every property to participate in global promos or else…
And that’s also why, with support straight from the top brass, it is no surprise that the most vibrant and revitalized hotel loyalty program out there right now is HHonors. Eat your heart out or just get used to it!
G’day!
No comment on the relative value of a future potato planted in the ground in frozen Kiev.
However, I would like to meet the acid freak responsible for that Ad bar up there.
Yes I do indeed identify with Doctor J wearing a baseball cap & Elton John glasses in a snowstorm.
In fact, I’m so inspired. Where do I click ? click click click click.
This promo is better than snowflakes! It’s GrrrrrrrrrEAT.
How’d you know?
@DCS other targeted promos that most members can’t take advantage of somehow ‘obliterates’ how much more generous a different promo is, only in DCS World. Love it.
I actually like that promotional picture that Hilton is using. What I don’t like was Hilton taking away my fix-miles double dip choice.
@Gary — You cannot possibly miss the point that the targeted offers are WITHIN the Q2 promo, which is affordable and reachable to all, unlike the HGP’s 25 nights/75K points promo that’s out of reach of most, and that “targeted” precisely means that not all members get the offer! Also, I am not sure where you got that “most” members were not targeted as that information is not released, but inserting the targeted offer within a global promo is great fun that keeps the members guessing and the icing on the cake that obliterates HGP’s 25/75K, which MOST members won’t definitely be able to take advantage of because of the high sticker price. Whether targeted or not everyone is ahead with the HH global promo…
What do you think ? Does DCS actually have a life?
@Dalo — You’d be surprised, but what do YOU think? And do YOU have a life?
@Dalo – at least he’s finally on the defensive & having to defend his mediocre rewards program, vs. constantly bashing SPG (for nonsensical & incorrect reasons). A nice change of pace…guaranteed!
I’d said that I would not address this poster again, but even for he, this is beyond stupid. How can anyone with an ounce of gray matter between the ears possibly read my comments in this thread as “being on the defensive”, when what they do is shoot down a few of the canards that our host tried to peddle? What’s more, anyone who has been reading this blog or OMAAT long enough knows that I have never pulled any punches when it came to defending HHonors, in fact, so much that detractors like him have wanted me to go away start my own HH-centric blog!
Going on and on about how I cannot or refuse to defend HHonors was and remains a very idiotic attack line, as anyone who’s been frequenting this site and OMAAT for the last couple of years can attest.
Now, go on being stupid. I will just “quarantine” you again.
G’day!
Turnabout is fair play, after your months of inane, without-merit SPG attacks.
Back into your dark lab & back on your meds DCS…g’day!