Hilton HHonors offers triple miles with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club for hotel stays from April 1 through June 30, 2011. Promotion registration is required before hotel stays and your HHonors earning preference must be set to Points and Miles with Virgin Atlantic selected as your frequent flyer preference. HHonors members are eligible for bonus miles in addition to the 1,000 points per night 2011-Q2 bonus offer. FlyerTalk link to HHonors Representative post regarding combining miles and points promotions.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Triple Miles Earn Rate

• HHonors Points & Fixed Miles = 3,000 miles/stay
• HHonors Points & Variable Miles = 6 miles/$1

Hilton HHonors standard mileage earn rate for Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is double miles compared to most HHonors airline partners at 1,000 miles per stay (fixed miles) or 2 miles per dollar (variable miles). Most airlines earn just 500 miles per stay with HHonors Points & Fixed Miles or 1 mile per dollar with HHonors Points & Variable Miles.

Stays at Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites will earn more Flying Club miles with the Points & Variable Miles option for any stay over $100USD at the 2 miles/$1 earn rate. Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites normally earn only 200 VS Flying Club miles per stay with HHonors Points & Fixed Miles compared to other Hilton brands and the new Home2 Suites brand does not allow earning Points & Fixed Miles.

High value using Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles for Premium Economy to Upper Class upgrade           

One of the best values in frequent flyer programs is the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club upgrade from paid Premium Economy class to Upper Class. This upgrade option requires just 40,000 points for a roundtrip fare in paid Virgin Atlantic Premium Economy in ‘W’ or ‘S’  booking classes.

14 Hilton brand hotel stays can earn 40,000 miles and seat you in luxury with an upgrade to Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class.

  Virgin Atlantic Upgrade Miles link

Hilton HHonors Triple Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Miles April 1-June 30, 2011 registration link

I noticed today Home2 Suites is the only Hilton Worldwide hotel brand to earn just 5 base points/$1 and on room rate only. All other nine Hilton brands earn 10 points per dollar, even Homewood Suites, Hilton’s other extended-stay brand.

Hilton and Wyndham (Hawthorn Suites) offered 10 points per dollar for all hotel brands, even their extended-stay brands until just this past year. Wyndham dropped the earn rate of Hawthorn Suites to 5 points per dollar or 50% of the earn rate for all their other brands a few months ago. Now Hilton HHonors has a reduced points earn rate for its Home2 Suites extended-stay brand.

This is a disappointing development with the  Hilton HHonors program change.

I wonder if Homewood Suites will drop to 5 points per dollar sometime this year as the only other HHonors extended-stay hotel brand?

 

Home2 Suites also charts new ground on the miles earning front. 

HHonors Points + Fixed Miles is not an option with Home2 Suites. 

HHonors + Variable miles is capped at 100 miles per stay with Home2 Suites.

Home2 Suites Earn Rates

Points and Points  = 7.5 points/$1 on room rate only or

Points and Variable Miles = 5 points/$1 + 1 mile per $1 (maximum 100 miles per Home2 Suites hotel stay).

Points and Fixed Miles = not an available option

Now, I think I get the real meaning of the new $25 million ‘Beyond Points” Hilton Worldwide marketing campaign.

Hip and Humble Hilton Home2

I have been saying “Home 2 Suites” in my head all along since reading the many press releases on Hilton’s new 10^th brand. Home2 Suites recently launched in Fayetteville, North Carolina when it opened February 3, 2011. The second Home2 Suites property opened March 10 in Layton, outside Salt Lake City, Utah. After watching the Home2 Suites video tour I now want to abbreviate the spoken brand name as just “Home2″. I so want to be hip.

Home2 Suites webpage Google descriptor:

Home2 Suites by Hilton is a hip extended stay hotel experience. We offer great deals and cheap rates plus spacious & contemporary suites for extended stays…

Three reviews of Home2 Suites.

1.  There is only one hotel review of Home2 Suites Fayetteville, NC on TripAdvisor and it is from March 19, 2011. The reviewer was pleased with the hotel. Here is a review from MilePoint.com by Tommy777 with much better photo imagery than I found on the Home2 Suites website.

2.  Hotel News Now – Jeff Higley, Home2 Suites: Is it extended-stay?

Jeff visits the Fayetteville, North Carolina property for the official media grand opening last week. Jeff points out the absence of a stove top in these rooms. No stove top is a big deal for me in an extended-stay hotel since I like more options than a microwave and I prefer to cook my food on a stove.

According to Jeff, there is an induction burner available at the desk. What’s an induction burner?

The internet tells me it is some kind of portable glass ceramic top burner that plugs into a regular outlet and can hold steady and even high temperature for a couple of hours. Apparently a popular item with the RV crowd. I looked at one with a price tag of $175. It looked nice.

Any guest reading this at a Home2 Suites? Any Home2 Suites insiders reading this?

What kind of induction burner does the Home2Suites have where you are?

3.  Hotel Check-in/USA Today – Barbara DeLollis, Hilton opens second Home2Suites location near Salt Lake City.

The website already shows 60 Home2 Suites hotel locations which I assume means a contract is in place for branding the property a Home2 Suites and a hotel will likely open in the next two years or sooner.  

Home2 Suites Video Tour

The Home2 Suites by Hilton Tour Video. I think I finally get the Home2 name concept now. I can’t say though that I am sold on the “Free to be You” Home2 tagline . 

Balance life on the road with these on-site amenities

• Complimentary continental breakfast
• Market pantry
• Swimming pool
• Fitness center
• Walking track

Studio Suite photos from Home2 Suites website. 

I’ll leave you with the simple message that I see Home2 trying to market to the masses.

Hilton’s hip and humble Home 2 – you may not remember you are in a hotel.

HHonors takes Double Dipping to a new level with two combinable first quarter 2011 promotions for up to 2,000 Delta SkyMiles and 3x base points with a three night stay. Stay four nights and earn quadruple points with 2,000 SkyMiles (40 points per dollar in hotel spend).

Delta SkyMiles – HHonors Promotion

Registration is required.

January 3, 2011 – March 31, 2011

• Stay 1 Night = Earn up to 1,000 SkyMiles (earn 200 SkyMiles for stays at Hampton and Homewood)
• Stay 2 Nights = Earn up to 1,500 SkyMiles (earn 300 SkyMiles for stays at Hampton and Homewood)
• Stay 3 Nights = Earn up to 2,000 SkyMiles (earn 400 SkyMiles for stays at Hampton and Homewood)

Bonus SkyMiles earned from this promotion do not qualify as elite mile MQMs.

Bonus miles can be earned on multiple stays at any of ten Hilton Worldwide hotel brands. There is no mileage earning limit during the promotion. HHonors members must select Delta SkyMiles in their HHonors Points & Miles earning preference guest profile.

Loyalty Traveler analysis:

There is a bit of grumbling about Hilton HHonors Q1 quadruple points offer in this FlyerTalk thread.  There is certainly no promotion value on the points side of the Q1 promotion for one night HHonors stays this winter.

But now we have bonus Delta SkyMiles for one night stays with Hilton HHonors. HHonors hotel stays normally earn 500 miles per stay, except for a measly 100 miles per stay for Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites.

This Hilton HHonors-Delta SkyMiles offers double miles for one night stays, triple miles for two-night stays and 4x miles for three nights or more.

Sample HHonors-Delta promotion earnings: (3 one-night stays)

• $100 per night Hilton Garden Inn
• Assume three 1-night stays ($300)
• Earn 3,000 SkyMiles (1,000 miles/stay)  
• Earn 3,000 HHonors points ($300 x 10 base points).
• This is 500 bonus miles per stay over the normal miles earn rate of 500 miles per stay.
• No promotion bonus HHonors points earned for these 1-night stays.

 

Sample promotion earnings: (1 three-night stay)

• $100 per night Hilton Garden Inn
• Assume one 3-night stay ($300)
• Earn 2,000 SkyMiles (2,000 miles/3-night stay)
• Earn 9,000 HHonors points ($300 x 30 base points).
• This is 1,500 bonus miles over the normal miles earn rate of 500 miles per stay.
• This is 6,000 bonus HHonors points for a 3-night stay with $300 hotel spend.

To me, this looks like HHonors offers a win-win opportunity for HHonors members who can maximize SkyMiles being one-night King and Queen travelers or maximize earning HHonors points and SkyMiles through extended stays. You are maxed out at 2,000 SkyMiles per stay, but you can still earn 40 HHonors points per dollar in hotel spend for stays four nights or more.

Related post: Hilton HHonors 2x, 3x,4x points 2011 Q1 Promotion (Dec 28, 2010)

Hilton HHonors makes a good case study example for illustrating the dynamic changes in promotions in the past two years.

In mid-2009 all the other hotel loyalty programs offered high value promotions as hotel occupancy and room rates plummeted globally.

Hilton HHonors made no attempt to match the free night offers of the other chains.

2009 Q-1 Promotion Hilton HHonors Double Base Points

Terms and Conditions

Offer valid for stays completed between January 6 and April 6, 2009, at participating hotels. To participate, you must first register before you make your reservation. Offer is not applicable to any bookings made prior to the promotional period. “Double Base points” means you will receive a bonus equal to the number of Base points earned during a stay. Bonus points earned on Base points do not count toward VIP tier qualification.

Oops!

In January 2009 Hilton HHonors issued a press release announcing its first quarter 2009 promotion as double base points. The press release incorrectly overstated the promotion bonus as 10 base points per dollar and 20 bonus points per dollar for a total 30 points per $1. Five days later Hilton HHonors released a follow-up stating the initial press release was incorrect. HHonors members selecting Points & Miles would earn 20 points per $1 (10 base points and 10 bonus points) and Points & Points earners earned 25 points per $1 (10 base points and 15 bonus points).

If I only consider the additional bonus points earned above the normal earning rate, then I see this offer is 10 bonus points per $1 in hotel spend. I spend $100 and I earn an extra 1,000 HHonors points, regardless if I choose earning bonus miles or bonus points. The promotion bonus is simply 1,000 bonus points for every $100 in hotel spend.

My promotion bonus points are 20,000 points if I spend $2,000. This is the base points equivalent to $2,000 in hotel spend for the HHonors Points & Miles earner or $1,333 base points equivalent for a Points & Points earner.

The bottom line is there is no arbitrage to be played with promotions multiplying base points. The promotion is simply one where the more you spend the greater your bonus will be.

Promotions based on hotel nights or hotel stays can be strategically planned to maximize the bonus for less money.

 

Hilton HHonors 2009 Q-2 Promotion – 1,000 Bonus Points per Night

Here is the promotion that came in second place at the Frequent Traveler Awards last week for Best Hotel Earning Promotion of 2009. I strongly disagree with the voters’ choice.

HHonors 1,000 bonus points per night Promotion Value – April 13 – June 30, 2009 (no earning limit)

HHonors promotion value is simply $67 to $100 per night for 2009-Q2. This means the 1,000 points per night bonus is earning the HHonors member the equivalent in bonus points he or she would earn in base points after spending $67 per night (Points & Points earner) or $100 night (Points & Miles earner).

Here are the promotion values for the other big hotel chains in the second quarter (May-August) 2009.

That is why this HHonors 1,000 points per night promotion made me laugh to consider its overall second place finish in the Frequent Traveler Awards when these other hotel loyalty promotions were happening at the same time.

Later in 2009 Hyatt Gold Passport tops all these promotion values with their Big Welcome Back free night after every two stays combined with airline miles or G Bonus points while counting all hotel stays double for elite membership credit.

Hilton HHonors 2009 Q-3 Waldorf Astoria Collection and Conrad Hotels promotion

3 nights = 10,000 points

These were a variety of promotions HHonors had going in mid-2009. The Waldorf-Astoria 3-night stay offer was one of the better points earning offers from Hilton in 2009.

Triple bmi miles from April –June 2009 was probably the highest value promotion from HHonors in 2009.

The competitive advantage for Hilton HHonors is its airline miles partners and the ability to earn some serious mileage while also earning HHonors hotel points. Hilton lets members ‘Double Dip’ to earn both points and miles with every hotel stay. This was pretty much exclusive HHonors territory until 2009 when SPG and Hyatt ran some airline miles promotions combinable with points-earning and free night promotion bonuses.

Hilton HHonors has the most airline partners of any hotel loyalty program for earning miles and miles transfers.

The miles earning opportunities were great with Hilton HHonors, however, the points promotions remained weak in 2009.

Hilton HHonors 2009 Q-3 Promotion 10,000 bonus points after 5 stays; limit 10,000 points

The 10,000 points limit really limited the value of this offer to five stays during the promotion period.

 

Finally Hilton HHonors brought an A-game points promotion to members in the final quarter of 2009.

Hilton HHonors 2009 Q-4 Promotion 25,000 bonus points every Four Stays, up to 75,000 points

This was a serious promotion in a year of mediocre offers from Hilton HHonors.

 

The Big Category Shift

Two weeks after this promotion was released to members Hilton announced it was shifting hotels in its reward categories in January 2010. Hilton HHonors increased the reward night cost for more than 80% of its 3,600 hotels by 5,000 to 10,000 points.

I think Hilton HHonors suffered far more bad press from their hotel reward category moves than the company expected.

 

Hilton HHonors 2010 Q-1 Promotion Free night every four stays, limit of 3 free nights.

Hilton HHonors announced the only free nights offer for 2010 first quarter beginning in January.

Suddenly Hilton HHonors was playing the real hotel promotion game that all the other hotel chains had been playing with members in 2009. 

The value of this offer was the long time period for redemption of free nights and no hotels excluded for free nights.

 

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club staged an open attack on Hilton HHonors in the fallout of the massive HHonors hotel reward category shift in January 2010. 

As if Loyalty Traveler blog taking on Hilton HHonors wasn’t enough, the game changed when a powerhouse hotel chain like InterContinental Hotels Group gave HHonors members 20,000 points for just revealing their HHonors account balance.

How did Hilton HHonors respond?

Hilton HHonors followed up the 2010 first quarter free nights promotion with an even better “no limit” on free nights offer. 

Hilton HHonors 2010 Q-2 Promotion Free night after every four stays with no earning limit

This was probably the best promotion from Hilton HHonors in a decade.

Hilton HHonors has game again. I dump on Hilton HHonors regularly. My complaints are not that there is anything substandard with Hilton brand hotels. I spent five years as Hilton HHonors Diamond, but after a couple of years with poor promotions while Hyatt Gold Passport was giving away free nights for every two stays and SPG had recurring Stays Count Double meaning as few as 13 nights per year secured top-elite SPG Platinum, I finally decided the grass was greener elsewhere in the hotel loyalty world.

Hilton HHonors 2010 Q-3 Double Base Points (July 7 – Sep 30, 2010)

After six months of free nights Hilton HHonors went back to double points or miles for the third quarter of 2010. This was a mediocre promotion. To restate: Double points offers simply mean the more you spend, the more bonus points you earn so there is limited leverage opportunity to pay for low-cost rooms and redeem for high-priced rooms.

2010 Q-4 Hilton HHonors Promotion – Double base points and quadruple points for Sunday stays.

The slide below shows the earning difference by including a Sunday night in your Hilton stay.

2010 is the year Hilton HHonors flexed its muscle with steroid-strength promotions.

Hilton HHonors promotions of 2009 and 2010 illustrate the variability in promotion value in earning hotel loyalty program points.

Hilton started off slow and then offered 9 months of high value promotions in late 2009 and the first half of 2010. Since summer 2010 the promotions have moved back to spend based offers that are inherently less lucrative for low-spend frequent guests.

Although I was HHonors Diamond for many years, I always earned my status through hotel stays. I never have had a Hilton HHonors status match.

I wonder if Hilton HHonors will status match me back into the fold?

Final hotel folio Loyalty Traveler review for Hilton HHonors:

Hilton HHonors had the most improvement in hotel loyalty promotions for 2010 with back-to-back free night offers.

2011 will be an interesting year to watch Hilton HHonors for its promotional value.

Related Links:

The Promotion Variable in Hotel Loyalty Programs – Part 1

The Promotion Variable in Hotel Loyalty Programs – Part 2

Frequent Traveler Awards Commentary by Loyalty Traveler

Earn Delta MQM elite miles and double redeemable miles at 3,600+ Hilton brand hotels worldwide when you stay two or more nights between September 1, 2010 and December 10, 2010.

Promotion registration is required at hiltonhhonors.com/deltaMQMs.

 

HHonors member must choose Points + Miles Earning preference. 

Points + Variable Miles will earn 1 bonus mile + 1 MQM for every U.S. dollar up to a maximum of 10,000 MQM during the promotion. 

Points + Fixed Miles earn 500 bonus miles + 500 MQM per stay. 

Despite the promotion print stating 500 MQM per stay, the past practice for similar Delta MQM offers has been to only award 100 MQM per stay at Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites. You may want to change your earning preference to Points + Variable Miles for stays at these two HHonors brands. 

Delta Silver Medallion requires 25,000 MQM in a calendar year.

Hilton’s 3^rd quarter promotion is double points or miles. Registration is required at www.hhonors.com/doublebonus. You must choose between earning double points or double miles for the duration of the promotion. You can’t change your choice once selected. I rate this as a 3-Key promotion offer – good value promotion. This offer is less lucrative than the free night promotion ended June 30, although this is a more accessible promotion for the masses with double points or miles available for every hotel stay beginning with your first stay.

If you register for Double Miles, then you need to set your HHonors earning preference to Points & Fixed Miles or Points and Variable Miles. You can change your earning preference between fixed miles and variable miles between stays, and you should change your earning preference during the promotion to maximize earning miles. 

Note: the registration page shows a website security certificate warning at this time for IE browser. Clicking through takes you to the registration page.

Choosing Double Points

Choosing Double Points is the easy choice for the HHonors member who does not want to manage her/his account for maximum miles. Double points is simply an additional 10 points per $1 in hotel spend for the HHonors hotel brands of Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Waldorf Astoria Collection, Conrad, Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites.

Double points is probably the better choice for the member who frequents Hampton Inn or Homewood Suites. All Hilton brands earn 10 base points per US dollar. Choosing Points & Points earning with double points is 10 base points + 5 bonus points (Points & Points) + 10 bonus points (double points promotion) for a total of 25 points per US$1 for any Hilton stay. HHonors members earn 25 points per $1 with Points & Points during the double base points promotion.

Elite bonus points (1.5 to 5 points per $1) are additional and you can earn even more with Hilton American Express credit card points at 6 points/$1 or even 9 points/$1 with the HHonors AMEX Surpass card.

An HHonors diamond elite with an Amex Surpass card can be pulling in an incredible 39 points per $1. Category 7 hotel awards at 50,000 points drop to a mere $1,259 in spend for a free night.

Choosing Double Miles

Hilton HHonors has more airline frequent flier partners (nearly 60 airlines) than any other hotel loyalty program. Hilton has become a serious source of miles for so inclined HHonors members.

One of the main restrictions to keep in mind when going for HHonors miles for hotel stays is to be aware of airlines that exclude either Hampton Inn or Homewood Suites stays, or exclude both brands for miles.

HHonors has a relatively poor exchange rate for points-to-miles which favors earning Points & Miles from hotel stays rather than exchanging points to miles if miles are your ultimate goal.

Not all airline partners earn miles at the same rate.

 

HHonors Points & Miles strategies

HHonors members need to actively manage earning preference between Points & Fixed Miles or Points & Variable Miles to maximize miles earning. 

Points & Fixed Miles

Most airline partners earn 500 miles per stay for all brands, except Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites. Double miles is 1,000 miles per stay with Points & Fixed Miles for all the major airlines like United, Delta, and American when in the full service brands. Double miles earns 1 credit per stay with Southwest Airlines.

Bmi airlines is the clear frequent flier program winner for most miles from a stay with the ability to earn 1,000 miles per night at any Hilton brand hotel including Hampton Inns and Homewood Suites with a three night limit. Double miles can earn 2,000 miles per night, up to 6,000 miles per 3-night stay.

FinnAir is the only other airline program offering miles per night rather than per stay. Earn 500 Finnair points per night up to 5 nights for any Hilton brand stay except Hampton Inn stays. A 5-night stay at a Doubletree can earn 5,000 Finnair points with double miles.

Watch out for Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites stays

Point to Remember: most airlines give only 20% miles for Hampton Inn or Homewood Suites stays.

These airline programs offer no miles for Hampton Inn or Homewood Suites stays

• Air Berlin TopBonus
• Air New Zealand
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• El Al Israel
• Varig Smiles
• Japan Airlines
• Miles & More
• Qantas
• Thai Airways
• Virgin Blue Velocity

These airline programs offer no miles for Hampton Inn stays

• Emirates
• FinnAir

These airline programs offer no miles for Homewood Suites stays

• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air China
• Alitalia
• China Eastern
• GlobalPass
• Gulf Air
• Kuwait Airways
• Turkish

HHonors Points & Variable Miles

(1 mile per US$1 spent for most airlines and 2 miles/US$1 during Double Miles promotion.)

Link to HHonors variable miles airline partners

Airlines earning other than 1 mile per $1 spent

• Air Miles (Canada) = 1 mile per US$10 spent (Double miles = 1/US$5)
• Air New Zealand = 1 point per US$25 spent (Double miles = 1/US$12.50)
• Deutsche Bahn = 1 points per US$2 spent (Double miles = 1/US$1)
• El Al = 1 point per US$40 spent (Double miles = 1/US$20)
• Iberia = 1 points per US$10 spent (Double miles = 1/US$5)
• JetBlue = 1 TrueBlue point per US$2 spent (Double miles = 1/US$1)
• LanPass = 2 km per US$1 (Double miles = 4km/US$1)
• Virgin America Elevate = 1 point per US$2 spent (Double miles = 1/US$1)
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club = 2 miles per US$1 (Double miles = 4 miles/US$1)

Bonus mile promotions may be combined with Hilton’s second quarter promotion for a free night after 4 stays or 10 nights.

Alitalia, Air France/KLM Flying Blue, American, British Airways, Delta/NW Skymiles, Jet Blue, Miles & More are the offers I have found so far. The initial post on FlyerTalk by HamptonInsider on March 1 also listed Air Canada Aeroplan (double miles June 1-Aug 31), Emirates (triple miles Mar 1-May 31), and Virgin Atlantic (triple miles April 1-June 30) participating in bonus miles promotions for Hilton stays, but I have not located these offer registration pages yet. All the other offers listed by HamptonInsider were correct with the exception of British Airways originally reported as 5,000 miles per stay, but actually the British Airways promotion is for triple miles and limited to 5,000 total bonus miles for the promotion.

There was also a false rumor on FlyerTalk that award stays would qualify for the 4 stays for a free night promotion. This rumor was squelched today by HHonors Representative Teresa. Award stays do not count for the HHonors free night offer.

The miles bonus terms vary between airlines. Some have property limitations and some require multiple nights.

Here is the list of airline bonus mile offers I have found to date with links to registration pages:

Air France/KLM Flying Blue, April 1-June 30, triple miles, only stays booked after promotion registration are eligible for miles.

Loyalty Traveler note – this offer from Flying Blue and Alitalia appear to be the least restrictive of all the miles offers. Eligible at all HHonors hotels and no minimum length of stay or bonus miles limit for the promotion.

Alitalia – Triple Miles, April 1-June 30, all Hilton Worldwide hotel stays eligible. New members to HHonors will earn an additional 1,000 miles after first stay.

American Airlines AAdvantage, April 1-June 30, earn 1,000 bonus miles for a 4-night or longer stay at any of 950 participating Hilton Worldwide properties. (Loyalty traveler note: You have to search the promotion page for the participating properties. This offer is only valid at fewer than 30% of the 3,500 Hilton HHonors. properties.)

British Airways Executive Club, April 1-June 30, only stays booked after promotion registration will be eligible for bonus miles. Points and Fixed Miles earners will receive 500 miles per stay + 1,000 bonus miles per stay. Points and Variable Miles Earners will receive 1 mile per $1 + 1,000 bonus miles per stay. Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites will earn 250 bonus miles per stay. There is a total promotion limit of 5,000 bonus miles.

Delta/Northwest Skymiles, April 1-June 30, 300% bonus miles for 2-night or longer stay required. This is actually quadruple miles. Maximum of 1,500 bonus miles per stay in addition to regular miles earned is 2,000 miles per stay. Stays at Hampton Inn or Homewood Suites earn maximum 300 bonus miles. Limited participating properties can be searched on registration page.

(LT note: I interpret the rules to mean a Points + Variable Miles earner is limited to these same bonus mile maximums per stay. I think this means a $500 Homewood Suites stay will still only earn 300 bonus miles for a Points + Variable Miles earner.)

Emirates Skywards – May 1 – July 31, Triple miles. Earn 1,500 miles per stay or 3 miles per US$1. The triple miles offer details from Emirates state Hampton Inn earns miles. Normally Hampton Inn stays do not earn miles with Emirates Skywards program. Keep an eye on this if you plan Hampton Inn stays and I advise speaking with Emirates customer service to verify Hampton Inn stays count.

JetBlue TrueBlue, April 6-July 15, double miles. Earn 2 miles per $1 spent at 860 participating hotels. This offer is valid at fewer than 25% of Hilton Worldwide properties.

Loyalty Traveler JetBlue note: the JetBlue promotion registration page is broken, at least for my Windows browser. Only 860 Hilton properties are participating, however, when I tried to check properties, I couldn’t even see state or country listings in the drop-down menus. I typed San Francisco in the “city” field and the search function rejected my inquiry with a red note “Please select a country”. I can’t see any country or states in the drop down menus to select.

Miles & More (Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, LOT Polish), April 1 – June 30, Triple Miles. Only stays booked after promotion registration are eligible for bonus miles. Points and Fixed Miles earners will receive 500 regular miles and 1,000 bonus miles per stay. Triple miles offer is not applicable for Hampton Inn or Homewood Suites stays.

There are very few participating hotels and only Europe locations.

Participating hotels include:

• Hilton Heathrow Airport,
• The Trafalgar,
• The Waldorf Hilton,
• Hilton Green Park,
• Hilton Park Lane,
• Hilton London Euston,
• Hilton London Tower Bridge,
• Hilton London Metropole,
• Hilton London Paddington,
• Hilton London Islington,
• Hilton London Hyde Park,
• Hilton London Olympia,
• Hilton London Kensington,
• Hilton London Docklands,
• Hilton London Canary Wharf,
• Wembley Plaza,
• Courthouse Doubletree by Hilton,
• The Bentley,
• Hilton Arc de Triomphe,
• Hilton Paris La Defense,
• Hilton Paris Orly Airport,
• Hilton Paris Charles De Gaulle,
• Trianon Palace Versailles,
• Hilton Madrid Airport,
• Hilton Diagonal Mar,
• Hilton Barcelona,
• Hilton Milan,
• Doubletree by Hilton Milan,
• Garden Inn Malpensa,
• Hilton Excelsior,
• Hilton Villa Igiea,
• Hilton Sorrento Palace,
• Garden Inn Bari,
• Garden Inn Matera,
• Doubletree by Hilton Olbia,
• Hilton Stockholm Slussen,
• Hilton Warsaw,
• Hilton Budapest,
• Hilton Budapest WestEnd,
• Hilton Athenee Palace.

 

Earn 5,000 bonus miles with Air Canada Aeroplan or United Mileage Plus for a minimum 4-night stay in Hawaii before May 31, 2010.

Choose from seven wonderful hotels and resorts on the three magical islands:

• Island of Oahu: Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach & Spa Resort, Hilton Waikiki Prince Kuhio, Doubletree Hotel Alana, Embassy Suites Waikiki Beach, and Grand Waikikian Suites by Hilton Grand Vacation
• Island of Maui: Grand Wailea
• Hawaii’s Big Island: Hilton Waikoloa Village

HHonors “Fast Ways to Free Stays” started yesterday. Members can choose to earn free night certificates, good for one year at nearly all 3,500 Hilton Worldwide hotels. One free night certificate is earned with every four (4) hotel stays or ten (10) hotel nights from April 6 to June 30. Members can choose to earn double base points instead of free nights. There are also several airline miles bonus offers that may be combined with free nights for members choosing Points & Miles.

The initial details and my Loyalty Traveler examples of the “Fast Ways to Free Stays” promotion value can be found in my post two days ago here. My earlier Loyalty Traveler post shows how double base points are calculated.

I think this HHonors promotion will rank as one of the best hotel loyalty promotions of 2010. These free night promotions are truly not all that common in the hotel loyalty program world with the exception of Hyatt Hotels and its perennial free night after two stays offer that has been around for years.

The free night offers of 2009 and now 2010 are not the kind of promotion that you are likely to see once hotel travel picks up again. The big hotel companies don’t want to give away free nights but as average hotel room occupancy in the U.S. dipped below 50% recently in 2010, desperate times call for desperate measures. HHonors has decided to show hotel loyalty competitors that Hilton can play this game too.

Here are some answers to frequently asked questions regarding Hilton HHonors “Fast Ways to Free Stays” promotion as posted in a FlyerTalk thread started by HHonors Representative, an official corporate Hilton HHonors representative to FlyerTalk.

FAQ for Fast Ways to Free Stays (Q2) promotion.

• Members must register for the offer at: www.hhonors.com/freestay
• Once registered, stays must begin and end between the offer period. This means that a stay starting April 5 checking out April 10 will not count.
• Reward stays will not count towards the offer (including Q3FN and FN601s).
• All eligible stays will count for the Q2 promo regardless of booking date, after you register for the promotion.
• There is no cap on the rewards. Reward certificates are same as the Q1 offer and can be used at participating hotels worldwide.
• Double base points will not count towards tier status. They are counted as bonus points vs. base points. Double points can be earned on reward stays as long as there are incidentals. (LT note: Double base points = 20 points per $1. Only 10 points per $1 count as base points for elite qualification. The other 10 points per $1 in double base points are bonus points and do not count for elite tier qualification. HHonors members earn Gold status with 60,000 Base points in a calendar year = $6,000 in hotel spend.)
• Member may participate in any of the airline promos and Q2 promotion simultaneously. (Loyalty traveler note: There are several airlines offering triple miles promotions for Hilton stays. I have listed a few offers below. Please post links in the comments section if you know links to  other airline offers.)
• Third party rates do not count towards the offer. (LT note: Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, Priceline… do not count) 
• Free Night Certificates will not be accepted at Hilton Grand Vacation or all inclusive hotel properties.

Loyalty traveler additional FAQ: Here are answers and tactics for some basic questions regarding this promotion. 

What counts as a hotel stay? A stay is consecutive nights at the same hotel for the same guest on record regardless of check-in and check-out. Basically, you have to break up your hotel stays by leaving the hotel for at least one night.

There are two ways to tackle this problem.

One is to change to another Hilton hotel in the same location. For example, San Francisco Hilton and San Francisco Hilton Financial District are a few blocks from each other. The HHonors member could stay four nights in the San Francisco Hilton and earn one stay credit. Alternatively, the member could alternate nights between the two hotels and move back and forth each day to earn four stay credits and one free night certificate.

Inconvenient – Yeah!

Worthwhile for one Hilton Worldwide free night certificate? – You decide! 

Perhaps a better way when traveling with a significant other is to alternate the guest on record for each night. My wife and I have stayed at the same hotel and booked the first night reservation in my name and the second night in her name and the third night in my name. You may still have to change rooms, but at least not hotels. You may even be able to arrange with the hotel front desk to keep the same room. It has worked for us in the past when changing hotels was not an option. As long as the free nights earned stay in the family this is a win-win situation.

Airline Miles offers for HHonors Points & Miles earners may be combined with free nights promotion: Please post links in the comments section if you know links to other airline offers. These are the ones I have found so far, but there should be several more airline promotions.

Delta/Northwest Skymiles, April 1- June 30 Triple Miles for two-night stays. http://www.hiltonhhonors.com/delta3xbonus

British Airways Executive Club Triple Miles April 1-June 30 (maximum 5,000 bonus miles) https://www.hiltonhhonors.com/processLanding2.aspx?lp=BA5000 

Lufthansa Miles & More, Triple Miles April 1-June 30

http://www.hiltonhhonors.com/lufthansatriplemiles

HHonors Points & Fixed Miles Earning Preference: Most airlines earn 500 miles per stay at Hilton brands, except Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites at just 100 miles per stay. Triple miles will be 1,500 miles per hotel stay. Link to HHonors Airline Partners and Miles

HHonors Points & Variable Miles earn 1 mile per $1 with most airlines. Triple miles will earn 3 miles per $1. Variable miles is often the better earning preference for Hampton Inn and Homewood Suite stays that earn only 20% miles with Points & Fixed Miles with most airlines. 

Hotels not participating in “Fast Ways to Free Stays” promotion include:

• Hampton Cullman, Cullman, AL, USA.
• Hampton Clarksville, Clarksville, AR, USA.
• Hampton Inn & Suites Show Low Pine Top SHOW LOW, AZ, USA.
• Hilton Garden Inn Palm Springs Rancho Mirage RANCHO MIRAGE, CA. USA.
• Hampton Glenwood Springs GLENWOOD SPRINGS, CO. USA.
• Homewood Suites Newark Wilmington South NEWARK, DE. USA.
• Hampton Inn & Suites Ocala Bellevue  OCALA, FL. USA.
• Embassy Brunswick BRUNSWICK, GA . US.
• Hampton Madison Georgia Madison GA . US.
• Hampton Savanna-95 North PORT WENTWORTH GA . US.
• Hilton Garden Inn Evanston Church St Plaza EVANSTON IL . US.
• Hampton Inn Cincinnati Florence 1-275 Airport Hebron KY . US.
• HAMPTON KUTTWA KUTTAWA KY . US.
• HILTON GARDEN INN BALTIMORE ARUNDEL MILLS HANOVER MD . US.
• Hampton Inn & .Suites Rockland THOMASTON ME . US.
• Embassy Troy/Auburn Hills TROY MI . US.
• HOMEWOOD SUITES ST LOUIS GALLERIA RICHMOND HEIGHTS MO . US.
• Hampton Inn Biloxi Beach Blvd BILOXI MS . US.
• HAMPTON MORGANTON MORGANTON NC . US.
• Embassy Suites Durahm Research Triangle RALEIGH NC . US.
• Hampton Flemington FLEMINGTON NJ . US.
• Hampton Inn & Suites Jamestown JAMESTOWN NY . US.
• Hilton Garden Inn Akron Canton Airport AKRON OH . US.
• Hampton Inn & Suite Toledo TOLEDO OH . US.
• Hampton Inn & Suites Del Rio DEL RIO TX . US.
• Hampton Tooele .UT Tooele UT . US.
• Homewood Suites Dulles North DULLES VA . US.

Ineligible Rate Plans for Fast Ways to Free Stays Promotion:

There are excluded Special Rate Plans listed below.

• 2D2 2D BOOKING.COM ADV PUR
• 2G2 2G BOOKING ROOM ONLY
• 2WB 2W TRAVELWEB
• 4E4 4E GULLIVERS
• A01 A0 ARES ADV PURCHASE
• A31 A3 ARES ROOM ONLY
• A62 A6 ARES PACKAGE
• AC1 AC EXPEDIA PACKAGE
• AH1 AH EXPEDIA ADV PUR
• EXP AD EXPEDIA ROOM ONLY
• O01 O0 HOTEL PLUS PTL PKG
• O05 O5 HOTEL PLUS PORTAL AP
• O06 O6 TRIP RES PKG
• O08 O8 TRIP RES RM ONLY
• OB1 OB ORBITZ PACKAGE
• OR1 OR ORBITZ ROOM ONLY
• OS1 OS ORBITZ ADV PURCHASE
• S01 SO ORBITZ ADV PURCHASE
• TN1 TN TRAVELOCITY RM ONLY
• TP1 TP TRAVELOCITY PACKAGE
• TS1 TS TRAVELOCITY ADV PUR
• U01 U0 HOTEL PLUS PTL ROOM
• XA1 OJXPA1 EXP HRN NREF VAC PKG
• FIT IT TOUR WHOLESALE
• FI1 FIT / TOUR RATE
• HFP 9D HILTON FAMILY TRAVEL
• HW0 C0 HOTWIRE RM ONLY
• HWP CP HOTWIRE PACKAGE
• HW3 C3 HOTWIRE RETAIL PKG
• TL1 TL TRAVELOCITY ADV PUR
• AD1 AD EXPEDIA ROOM ONLY
• 4G4 AG OCTOPUS TRAVEL AP
• 4F4 4F OCTOPUS TRAVEL AP
• 2A2 2A BOOKING.COM ADV PUR
• A41 A4 ARES ADV PURCHASE
• AE1 AE EXPEDIA ADV PUR
• OL1 OL ORBITZ ADV PURCHASE
• 4Z4 4Z OCTOPUS TRAVEL AP
• 4Y4 4Y OCTOPUS RM ONLY
• CT1 NK PRICELINE RM ONLY
• CT2 0L PRICELINE RM ONLY
• CTJ 0N PRICELINE RM ONLY
• CT5 0P PRICELINE PACKAGE

 

• INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS
  PR09SP Advanced purchase 2 for 1
  PR25VF Spring Sale
  PR09FN Hilton Extra Nights Offer
  PR09FM Hilton Extra Nights Offer
  PR09FK Hilton Extra Nights Offer
  PR47FN ME Summer Offer
  PR47FM ME Summer Offer
  PR470Y Egyptian Offer
  PR13LH Hilton Sorrento Palace Offer
  PR137H Hilton Sorrento Palace Offer
  PR13CB Corporate Benefits Employee Offer
  0Y Egyptian Offer
  0Y Egyptian Offer

Loyalty Traveler note: The first set of ineligible rate plans are third party online travel agency rates which normally would not count for HHonors stay credit. The international promotions do include Hilton Worldwide rates which mostly count for Hilton elite qualifying stays and points credit, but will not count as eligible stays for the free nights credit.

There is no better time to jump into HHonors if you need a hotel loyalty program with 3,500 properties, including numerous upscale hotels and plenty of midscale hotels in places where you will not find a Starwood or Hyatt.

You can earn free nights, elite status, points and miles with frequent stays over the next three months with HHonors. And if Hyatt’s free night offer is more appealing, you can break up your Hyatt stays with Hilton stays to earn free nights in both programs while staying in different hotels in the same location.

The category shift in HHonors last Friday is a difficult systemwide, global change to analyze. I decided to restrict my initial observations to my local area of the San Francisco Bay region as a way to take a manageable approach to the changes.

For many travelers the choice of a major hotel program comes down to Marriott or Hilton. Both hotel chains have a large number of upper upscale hotel properties and a geographically diverse availability of hotels in the USA.

I have analyzed the hotel category placement for three areas of the San Francisco Bay region to take a closer look at how the redemption levels for free nights using hotel points compare between these major hotel loyalty programs.

1.       Downtown San Francisco

2.       San Francisco Airport (10 miles south of downtown San Francisco)

3.       Pleasanton/Livermore/San Ramon (30 miles east of San Francisco in corporate headquarters region)

Each of these three locations tend to have high room rates Sunday through Thursday and significantly lower room rates on Friday and Saturday.

 

 

The tables show the room rate for Wednesday, January 20 (high rates) and Friday, January 22 (low rates). Downtown San Franciso is the only region of the three areas where the low room rates  for January weekends might show a high degree of variance to be significantly higher priced room rates during summer tourist season (July-October).

The Hilton HHonors category changes can be viewed in two ways. Hilton HHonors management has told members the changes are overdue after 6 years of only slight changes to the hotel categories and reward redemption levels. The member redeeming points in 2010 will generally see a 20% to 25% increase in the cost of a free night.

The change in VIP awards allows elite HHonors members to now redeem 4-night and 5-night reward stays at a reduced rate to the nightly cost. Previously these reduced rate VIP rewards were only available beginning with 6-night stays. This is a significant improvement to the HHonors program.

Another way to look at the HHonors program hotel category changes is to compare HHonors to its closest competitor – Marriott Rewards.

I say Marriott Rewards is HHonors closest competitor based on the two hotel chains similar number of properties, a comparable geographic distribution of hotels, and similar market segments within their hotel brands ranging from midscale to upper upscale hotels around the USA and globally.

In a Loyalty Traveler post last month I compared hotels for free nights using points across five hotel chains in New York City. In that post I estimated the relative value of hotel points for Hilton HHonors at US$6 to $9 per 1,000 points redeemed for free nights. I estimated Marriott Rewards at $7 to $10 per 1,000 points.

In general, Hilton HHonors members can earn more points per $1 in hotel spend with 15 points per $1 when choosing Points & Points “Double Dipping” earning preference. HHonors members choosing Points & Miles will earn miles, but then points are earned at the same rate as Marriott Rewards members, 10 points per $1 spent.  Hilton HHonors has the advantage over Marriott Rewards in that all Hilton brands earn 10 base points per $1, whereas Marriott Rewards offers 10 points per $1 for most of its hotel brands, but only 5 points per $1 for Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites hotel stays.

The ability to earn points within either program is dependent on other earning variables like the member’s hotel stay pattern (multi-night stays v. single night stays), hotel brands, elite status, loyalty program promotions, and whether the member uses the hotel program co-branded credit card.

The ability to earn points is complex. The redemption of points is less complex. Basically, the comparison of points redemption just looks at the hotel location and hotel category within the loyalty program redemption chart.

Here are three charts showing the hotel reward category for Marriott Rewards hotels and Hilton HHonors hotels in three San Francisco area locations based on the distance from a central location

• San Francisco Downtown,

• San Francisco Airport, 

• Cities in vicinity of Pleasanton, California, the corporate headquarters corridor, located 30 miles east of San Francisco.

As Loyalty Traveler I have an axiom: Hotel points only have potential value until redeemed.

The potential value I placed on Hilton HHonors points last month in my New York City analysis was a redemption value of $6 to $9 per 1,000 points. This meant I expect to save between $180 and $270 for a hotel room if I redeem 30,000 points for a free night at a HHonors hotel.

In light of the 2010 changes in hotel categories I may have to reduce this redemption value to $4 to $7.

If you get a higher value than $9 per 1,000 points, then that is a good value for your points with Hilton HHonors and Marriott Rewards. Redeeming points for less than $6 per 1,000 points is not a good use of points, and cash is preferable for room payment. Save hotel points for when a better value is possible.

The $6 to $10 range is what you should look for when redeeming your hotel points and the higher redemption value, the better. Keep in mind that free nights using points also covers local hotel taxes for the room rate in most cases. In San Francisco this saves an additional 15%+ on the nightly room rate. A $200 hotel room redeemed for  points in San Francisco actually saves $231  with the room tax also covered by the points reward stay.

 

This chart shows yellow for room rates and a points redemption value in the range of $6 to $10. Blue shows a range of $3 to $6 and I would consider this to be a low redemption value. In most cases the value of Hilton HHonors points falls in the blue value more often than Marriott hotels in San Francisco. Can you earn points at twice the rate of Marriott Rewards as a Hilton HHonors? Many of the Marriott Hotels have a redemption value twice as high as Hilton HHonors options. These charts favor Marriott Rewards value in all three locations.

Red room rate blocks are a redemption value less than $3 per 1,000 points. I may have to adjust my assessment of Hilton HHonors points valuation. For several years I anticipated getting $10 per 1,000 points value for my HHonors points. I consider it an extremely poor value to redeem HHonors points at less than $3 per 1,000 points. Several Hilton blocks show red for San Francisco over this next week in these tables.

The most striking feature to me of the San Francisco Airport (SFO) hotels is the Hilton San Francisco Airport. This hotel was a Sheraton for the past decade until August 2009. The Sheraton SFO was a SPG Category 1 hotel until it increased to SPG Category 2 in 2006. In August 2009 the property rebranded to the Hilton SFO and is now a high level Category 5 property at 35,000 points per night.

Marriott Rewards offers high value for weekday reward nights. Hilton is less than 50% of the value for these East Bay hotels. Again I ask, can you earn points at twice the rate with Hilton HHonors compared to Marriott Rewards?

I think it  unlikely without significant cobranded credit card spending with the HHonors credit card.

My conclusion is HHonors has severely devalued its hotel redemption, i.e. the value of HHonors points. I don’t think I should have to change my redemption value scale. I urge HHonors members to look for redemption values in the $6 to $10 per 1,000 points spent range. Your hotel reward stay options may make that goal a bit harder to find. 

 

Here are comparative tables for points-to-miles conversions for Hilton HHonors, Hyatt Gold Passport, IHG Priority Club, Marriott Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest with major US and international airline frequent flyer programs. Part 1 is domestic airlines. Part 2 – 14 major international airline conversion tables. Part 2 offers more detailed discussion of the limitations of a comparative analysis of points-to-miles between hotel programs with regard to Hilton HHonors Miles & Points earning. 

All the major hotel loyalty programs allow a member to convert hotel points to airline miles. There is a high degree of variability in exchange rates between hotel loyalty programs. There is variability in the exchange rates with different airlines within a single program.

These tables make adjustments for the different base points earning levels for Hyatt Gold Passport (5 points/$1) and Starwood Preferred Guest (2 points/$1). The adjustment to Hyatt Gold Passport points exchanges 50% points and Starwood Preferred Guest 20% points. These adjustments are designed to create comparably-sized points exchanges with Hilton HHonors, IHG Priority Club, and Marriott Rewards programs earning base points at 10 points/$1.

Part 2 covers major international airlines conversion tables.

 

 

  

Alaska Airlines Hotel Points-to-Miles Conversion

1. Marriott
2. Hyatt, Starwood
3. IHG
4. Hilton

 

Marriott

1. Hyatt, Starwood
2. IHG
3. Hilton

Update July 1, 2010: Marriott Rewards and American Airlines AAdvantage severed their partnership as of July 1, 2010. Marriott Rewards members will not earn American Airlines AAdvantage miles through the program. Prior to the change the Marriott Rewards program had the best points-to-miles exchange.

1. Marriott
2. Hyatt
3. IHG
4. Starwood
5. Hilton

1. Marriott
2. Hyatt, Starwood
3. IHG
4. Hilton

 

1. Marriott
2. Hyatt
3. IHG
4. Hilton
5. Starwood is not a partner

1. Marriott
2. Hyatt
3. IHG
4. Starwood
5. Hilton

1. Marriott
2. Hyatt, Starwood
3. IHG
4. Hilton

Hilton HHonors comes up short in these comparative tables for points-to-miles conversion. In fairness to Hilton, a member has the ability to earn additional miles through hotel stays by choosing an earning preference of Points & Variable Miles (1 mile per $1 hotel spend) or Points & Fixed Miles (500 miles per stay, except 100 miles per stay at Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites). Hilton HHonors members will significantly increase their miles earned through the program by choosing Points & Miles.

These conversion tables are accurate for points redeemed by a Hilton HHonors member in a points-to-miles exchange.

There is an argument for increasing all calculations for Hilton exchanges by 50%. Assume a person chooses Points & Points earning, receiving 15 points per $1, and converts bonus points to miles. In practice, a person will earn more miles choosing Points & Miles (Fixed Miles or Variable Miles) over Points & Points for hotel stays.

Miles earning is highly variable with Hilton. Other programs, especially Hyatt Gold Passport, have increasingly offered both airline miles and hotel points for a hotel stay through promotions in 2009. This makes Hilton HHonors poor conversion rates even less competitive as other major hotel programs move in the direction of offering both points and miles for a hotel stay.