I had the opportunity to stay at the Hilton Budapest during my trip.  The location is great for tourists since it is right in the middle of the Castle Area (which has no castle) but does have amazing views of the Danube.

Getting there was easy enough since the confirmation stated to get on bus 16.  Bus 16 is a tiny old rickety bus since it has to maneuver the winding roads up to the castle, but it runs regularly.  The Hilton is right next to St. Matthias church so if you follow the numerous signs to the church you can’t miss the hotel.

Check in for executive floor eligible members is actually in the executive lounge.  There is a sign stating this, but I attempted check in with the normal people first.  The executive lounge has beer and soft drinks available as long as the lounge is open, but wine and liquor don’t come out until later.  The fridge was stocked with plenty of Dreher and they brought out the Unicum in the evening for people wishing to sample the local flavor without wasting money.  The Executive Lounge in Prague was much larger, but Budapest’s was never crowded at any time I went there.

https://www.hiltonhhonors.com/DoubleYourHHonors

Suddenly ‘around the world’ is around your corner. You can earn Double Points or Double Miles when you book and stay at any of our participating 3,700 hotels and resorts in 82 countries by September 30, 2011. So whether you’re craving a lazy week at the beach or want to spend the weekend by the pool, the vacation you’re waiting for is almost here.

I chose double points because I use Hilton points quite frequently.

You can earn 250 free Hilton Honors points by simply clicking “Like” on the Hilton Garden Inn Facebook Page.

Simple click on the “Like” button, then click on the “Like us for Points” on the left side of the page where you’ll enter your email, name, and Hilton Honors number.

Thanks to all the other Boarding Area bloggers.

I know this was announced a couple days ago and you probably saw it on Lucky or Gary’s blogs, but I’m posting it too just in case you missed it.

Hilton’s Q2 promo is out. You get 1K points per night between April 1, 2011 and June 30, 2011.

Register at www.hhonors.com/grand

Offer details: HHonors members who register for the promotion and have a stay inclusive of dates falling during the promotion period will receive 1,000 HHonors Bonus Points per night of their stay.

Offer Period: April 1, 2011 – June 30, 2011

-Members must register for the offer at: www.HHonors.com/Grand prior to completing their first eligible stay

-All eligible stays will count towards the Q2 promo regardless of booking date or check-in/check-out date of the stay.
• If you register for the promotion prior to checking in and/or prior to checking out and have an eligible stay inclusive of dates falling within the promotion period, you will receive points for the entire stay, regardless of check-in or check-out dates.
• If a stay is booked prior to the promotional period, however is consumed within the promotional period, you may register and participate in this promotion.

-Offer is not targeted

-Promotional points will not count towards tier status. They are counted as bonus points vs. base points.

-Promotional points can be earned on reward stays.

-Member may participate in any of the airline promos and other Hilton HHonors Q2 promotions simultaneously.

-Select rates do not count towards the offer.

-All Hilton Worldwide hotels will be participating in the Grand Nights promotion.

I knew from Flyertalk and the Citi site that they were no longer issuing the PremierPass, but I didn’t realize they were issuing all PremierPass cardholders new cards.  I have the Citi Professional that they had stopped issuing over a year ago, but my card and benefits have remained intact.

One of the key perks that made the PremierPass different than many other cards is the concept of flight points.  If I book a flight with my PremierPass for my mom I would get ThankYou points for the miles she flies.  She could accrue miles with whatever program she was flying, but with most credit cards I would only get credit for the actual cost of the ticket.  This benefit didn’t work so well for me recently though.  My business flying is all booked on a corporate card and I have few personal trips where I don’t use miles (although paying the taxes for an award would still be enough to get you flight miles).  Most of my personal trips are booked with United and United and Citi seem to not like eachother.  After a couple go-rounds of “call the airline” “call the card issuer” “we can’t authorize the transaction because they aren’t asking for authorization properly” I gave up and booked with my American Express with no hassle.

I’m not going to say I will miss PremierPass.  I never bought up to the Elite card so I pretty much always got 1 ThankYou point per $ and 1 TYP per 3 miles flown for the few personal trips I booked.  I haven’t even carried my PP card for at least a year since I have better cards in my wallet.  For those who booked tickets for other people or booked their own frequent travel the TYPs really added up.  After the last devaluation I decided to focus mainly on Hilton HHonors points and I’m now trying to see if Citi will let me convert my PP into their Hilton product (to complement my current HHonors AMEX) instead of the other card it’s converting into.

ETA: I called Citi Customer Service (and was surprised they actually tell you the stated of the call center) and asked to convert my Premier Pass to the Hilton Visa.  I explained I understood the number had to change (MCs start with 5, Visas start with 4).  I have to wait until March 9th to get my new Hilton card, but my credit limit should carry over and that was my main concern.  The rep went through all the benefits I would lose, but Hilton points are more valuable to me anyway.

Offer details: HHonors members will earn Double Points for stays of 2 consecutive nights, Triple Points for stays of 3 consecutive nights, Quadruple Points for stays of 4 nights or more.

Offer Period: January 03, 2011 – March 31, 2011

-Members must register for the offer at: www.hhonors.com/more

-All eligible stays will count towards the Q1 promo regardless of booking date or check-in/check-out date of the stay.

-Offer is not targeted

-Double/Triple/Quadruple points will not count towards tier status. They are counted as bonus points vs. base points.

-Double/Triple/Quadruple points can be earned on reward stays as long as there are incidentals.

-Member may participate in any of the airline promos and other Hilton HHonors Q1 promotions simultaneously.

-Select Third party rates do not count towards the offer.

-The hotels that are listed as non participating, are the only properties that members will not receive promotional credit for. All other properties worldwide are participating. While we would like all hotels to participate, individual properties do retain the right to opt-out of most promotions based on their anticipated need for promotional support for that quarter.

Also see Loyalty Traveler for his take on all the first quarter promotions

I know I’m a little late for cyber monday, but before you shop online this holiday season make sure you check your frequent flyer program for their shopping web portal to earn extra miles.  These are also good for programs where you just need some activity to retain your points.  Not every store is in every portal so you might want to check all your programs before just going directly to the site.

Airlines

Alaskan: Mileage Plan Shopping (http://mileageplanshopping.com)
jetBlue: Shop True (https://trueblue.jetblue.com/group/trueblue/shoptrue)
Continental: Shop OnePass (http://www.continental.com/CMS/en-US/marketing/custcomm/promotions/Pages/onlineretailpartners.aspx)
Delta: SkyMiles Shopping (http://www.skymilesshopping.com)
Frontier: EarlyReturns Mall (http://www.skymall.com/frontiermall/)
Airtran: a+ Rewards Mall (http://www.airtran.com/mall)
Spirit: Free Spirit Mall (http://mall.spiritair.com/)
United: Mileage Plus Shopping (http://www.mileageplusshopping.com)
US: Dividend Miles Shopping Mall (http://www.skymall.com/usairwaysmilesmall/homepage.htm)
Virgin America: The Red Store (http://www.the-red-store.com/)

Hotels:

Hilton:(http://www.hiltonhhonorsearningsmall.com)
Marriott:(https://mrewards.shopmyway.com/?src=MRMALL)
Priority Club:(https://pcrshopping.dbgloyalty.com/)
Hyatt:apparently isn’t one.  Please correct in comments if there is
Best Western:(https://goldcrownclub.bestwestern.com/offers/retailpartners.asp)
Starwood:Couldn’t find a starwood either

Cash:

Also, since cash is king consider a cash rebate site such as Mr. Rebates or Fat Wallet

Sounds like they finally caved to the pressure from Flyertalk and other hotel chains.

Hilton Worldwide is pleased to announce that beginning September 1, 2010, all Gold and Diamond HHonors members will receive complimentary high-speed internet access during their stay at all 3,600 hotels within the Hilton Worldwide portfolio of brands.

As a Diamond member, you don’t have to do anything except enjoy your complimentary high-speed internet at all your future stays at our 10 distinct hotel brands. We will change your current My Way benefit from high-speed internet to a room upgrade request.

I am glad to hear this.  Since I’m married to someone addicted to the internet my MyWay has always been on free internet so when I stayed at the Hilton South Wharf I didn’t get to enjoy their lounge due to the fact that he needed internet and I hate paying for it.

To all you googlers out there I finally have something worth searching for.

http://www.hhonors.com/doublebonus

Double HHonors points or Double Miles.

Took my first trip today completely as Mrs. Flygracefully. Presented my brand spanking new passport card with my delta boarding pass. Went into the Sky Club (no new card from them, but I was flying DL so it was on my BP) Checked into the hotel with the new name and even remembered which name to sign! My Hilton card doesn’t list my status, but the card is rarely needed anyway.

The thing that made changing my name easiest is a website I used called FaxZero which allowed me to send free faxes from word files to my frequent flyer programs. You only get 2 free faxes per day, but I think that is per e-mail address so I just entered other e-mail addresses. They won’t release the fax until you click on a link in the e-mail so don’t just fake the e-mail address.

Hilton has finally enabled registration for the second quarter promotion.  This time it is 4 stays = a free night OR double base points.  The fine print does mention 4 stays/10 nights.  This makes it pretty much the same promo as Q1 when I only ended up getting 2 free nights instead of the max 3.  This time there is no limit so I need to try harder to get some more free nights this quarter.

I know a lot of you give me flack for being a Hilton apologist.  I know Hyatt’s promos blow Hilton out of the water, but find me a Hyatt in St. Joseph, MO (35 miles away).  Find me a Hyatt in Newburgh, NY( 36 miles away).  Find me a Hyatt as convenient as the Embassy Suites in Charleston, SC (where I have redeemed most of my Hilton points).    Then there is the fact that I often have to deal with my client’s contracted rates which coincidentally seem to be at Hampton Inns.  By mainly staying at Hampton Inns the brand offers me very little for my loyalty aside from extra points.  They do seem to be everywhere I need or want to be though.  As a business traveler my goal is to earn points as conveniently as possible to redeem when I’m not working.  My goals are different than people like Lucky on OneMileataTime who are always looking for a ways to spend a little money to get big rewards.

The key is to know your goals.  My goal is to maximize points without going out of my way.  It has worked out well enough over these past few years.  I get my points with minimal personal cash outlay.