Comments on: HHonors 2010 Hotel Category Shift – It is bad!

By: Priority Club Luckiest Loser Promotion Rewards HHonors Members - Loyalty Traveler

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 04:21:54 +0000

[...] Loyalty Traveler – January 15, 2010 – HHonors 2010 Hotel Category Shift – It is Bad! [...]

By: Ric Garrido

Ric Garrido — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:36:15 +0000

Starwood works the best for me as a leisure traveler, but that is based on my travel pattern and freedom to travel where and when I want. SPG has always been the best to me for complimentary suite upgrades, but I also had good luck with Hilton providing regular upgrades when I was a Diamond member. I rely on backup hotel loyalty programs for places where Starwood is not.

Marriott has great vacation deals (Miles + Points) if you have the ability to earn lots of points. I like Marriott’s hotel redemption value. I think Marriott and IHG offer good value for points.

Hyatt is great value when redeeming points. Hyatt’s full service properties can be expensive if you are paying your own way, but their promotions make any hotel easily within reach when spending points or using free night awards earned through promotions. Hyatt’s small geographic coverage (400 hotels) relative to the other programs (1,000 to 4,000 hotels) makes it difficult to maintain Hyatt as your sole hotel travel program.

Hilton is a good deal for earning miles with hotel stays and reward stays counting for elite credit. The Hilton credit card is a good deal and if you have the ability to spend $40,000 annually you can buy yourself Diamond status. No other program has that option.

IHG Royal Ambassador gets rave reviews if you live an InterContinental life.

I like Diners for its reward partners and the fact that it is a MasterCard.

AmEx is unbeatable if you have a high spending pattern since AmEx Membership Rewards points can be exchanged into so many airlines. And you can buy up to 500,000 AmEx points if you need a boost for an award ticket. AmEx is great for the high spending traveler.

Mix and match your loyalty programs to your travel profile is the best advice I can give.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:09:22 +0000

This is as bad as anticipated. Unbelievable.

Ric – What in your mind is the best value, Starwood, Marriott, Mbrship Rewards, or Diner’s? I am sure you have posted on this in the past; please forgive my laziness.

Thank you for your service to this community.

By: Oliver

Oliver — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 02:46:34 +0000

Reading this analysis from the Hyatt in Waikiki. Last year we spent the same long holiday weekend at the Embassy Suites Waikiki. Was a no-brainer to switch loyalties.

By: Ric Garrido

Ric Garrido — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 19:11:51 +0000

I really didn’t think Hilton HHonors would make such a wholescale upward shift in redemtpion categories despite all the news reports to the contrary stating a 20% increase.

There are still great values for points at many hotels, but in many places like San Francisco the major Hilton Hotels are only $99 per night for many days during the year.

50,000 points or $99 ($115 after tax in SF) is a no-brainer for spending cash rather than points.

The bottom line is more cash for Hilton and more points sitting in members’ accounts looking for good value redemption opportunities.

Hopefully HHonors will bring back a hefty listing of PointStretcher hotels for 40% discount award nights in 2010.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:29:15 +0000

Thanks for some of the analysis. I am SHOCKED to see some of the category increases.

Taking a look at Orlando, where the hotels are no more than ~ $200/night, the NEW hotels are cat 7′s @ 50K points/night so ~ .4 CPM.

In CC spend that means you are getting 1.2 CPM per $$ on the AMEX.

In stay you get 10 points/$ so getting about 4 CPM (not as bad).

Compared to Starwood, this program is nony around 1/2 the value per $ spent on CC.

By: lance

lance — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:53:49 +0000

What Hilton bascially did was create a new level (7), and move all the hotels up one level. You can see this pretty clearly in Ric’s chart.

By: Alex from Virginia

Alex from Virginia — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:47:23 +0000

Thanks Ric! Your posts have a huge impact on where I choose to stay (and I’m in hotel rooms about 330 nights/year).

By: Ric Garrido

Ric Garrido — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:12:10 +0000

Alex – You should take a look at the tables I compiled last month comparing hotel points to airline miles conversion for the major loyalty programs.

HHonors ranked at the bottom or near the bottom for most airlines.

USA Domestic Airlines
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/loyaltytraveler/2009/12/06/hotel-points-to-airline-miles-conversion-tables-pt-1-domestic/

International Airlines
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/loyaltytraveler/2009/12/07/hotel-loyalty-program-comparative-tables-for-international-airlines-points-to-miles-conversion/

The Have a Free night promotion certificate has no category restrictions or property exclusions as far as I know. Of course, you have to be able to find an available standard room.

I made a comparative analysis of New York City properties across the hotel chains for free night redemption last month. The Waldorf Astoria was the only hotel among all the chains that did not have an award night avaialble for the April 2010 dates I used in the analysis.

I also offered my valuation range for hotel points in different hotel loyalty programs in that post.
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/loyaltytraveler/2009/12/15/better-know-a-city-%e2%80%93-new-york-for-comparative-hotel-points-value/

By: Alex from Virginia

Alex from Virginia — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 15:51:51 +0000

Based on various sources where hotel points are quantified in various ways, I’ve gained a general feeling that Hilton points are worth about half as much as Marriott points and maybe 3/4 of Priority Club points. The Hilton points have been easier for me to earn in higher numbers and greater comfort. I guess this devalues them for use on hotel stays, but what I think this means for me is that I may be using Hilton points primarily for conversion to airline miles going forward. My stays are driven more and more by the bonuses given in promotions. Thus, I’m most interested in the limitations to certain categories which may or may not be on the free stay certificates being awarded in the 2010 Q1 Hilton “Have a Free Night on Us” promotion.