Hilton HHonors revised the list of elite benefits for Hilton, Doubletree, Conrad and Waldorf Astoria hotel stays. For Diamond members it appears to be an upgrade. Hilton HHonors Gold elites are less assured the changes are an enhancement to the former room upgrade policy.

Basically the wording states Gold and Diamond members will receive an upgrade if available for the entire stay to at least the next higher category room, but the type of upgrade is solely at the discretion of the hotel. Diamond members have the word “suite” as a room type possibility, but there is no language compelling a hotel to give a member a suite.

New HHonors Diamond Elite Benefits Policy:

Conrad® Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Hotels & Resorts and DoubleTree by Hilton™ Benefits

All Hilton HHonors Diamond guests will receive each of the following:

Read More…

Elite status is the primary way to earn more points and benefits from hotel loyalty programs. Elite members earn 10% to 50% more bonus points per dollar in hotel spend. High elite status brings many additional benefits with hotel stays including complimentary breakfast, free room upgrades, welcome gifts and free internet.

Hilton HHonors and Marriott Rewards have a high bar for reaching top elite status. Most frequent guest travelers will only spend sufficient nights in a hotel to earn either Hilton HHonors Diamond (28 stays or 60 nights) or Marriott Rewards Platinum (75 nights).

Elite Membership Tiers

Marriott Rewards (Marriott Rewards membership levels link)

• Silver = 10 nights (20% elite bonus points).
• Gold = 50 nights (25% elite bonus points).
• Platinum = 75 nights (50% elite bonus points).
• Marriott offers elite rollover nights for 2012 hotel stays to make 2013 qualification easier.

Hilton HHonors (HHonors membership levels link)

• Silver = 4 stays or 10 nights (15% elite bonus points).
• Gold = 16 stays or 36 nights or earn 60,000 base points in a calendar year (25% elite bonus points).
• Diamond = 28 stays or 60 nights or earn 100,000 base points in a calendar year (50% elite bonus points).
• Award stays and nights count for elite credit. “The number of Reward Stays and the number of nights during a Reward Stay will count towards the number of stays and/or nights required for Elite tier qualification.” – HHonors T&C.
• 60,000 and 100,000 base points are equivalent to $6,000 and $10,000 in hotel spend at 10 base points/$1.

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club Rewards (Priority Club membership levels link)

• Gold = 15 nights or purchase for $50 or earn 20,000 qualifying points in a calendar year (10% elite bonus points).
• Platinum = 50 nights or earn 60,000 qualifying points in a calendar year (50% elite bonus points).
• InterContinental Ambassador = $200 membership fee or32,000 Priority Club points. InterContinental Ambassador benefits apply only to stays at InterContinental Hotels.(Ambassador FAQ)
• InterContinental Royal Ambassador = by invitation only for select Ambassador members (top 1%) based on factors of total number of nights stayed and revenue. Unpublished qualification criteria estimated to be around 60 hotel nights in IHG properties with stays in several InterContinental Hotels.  FlyerTalk has a thread where members attempt to determine the criteria for Royal Ambassador membership.

Elite Qualification Routes Compared

There are differences in the way each hotel loyalty program qualifies elite members. This post will compare the routes to elite membership in Hilton HHonors, IHG Priority Club and Marriott Rewards. The specific benefits an elite member receives at different membership levels in each hotel program will be discussed in separate Loyalty Traveler posts.

Priority Club Elite

Priority Club is one of the easiest hotel loyalty programs to qualify for high elite Platinum status despite showing the qualification level as 50 nights. And these are 50 paid nights not counting reward stays using points or Points & Cash stays. Only Hilton HHonors, Starwood Preferred Guest and Choice Privileges credit reward stays for annual elite tier qualification.

60,000 qualifying Priority Club points is an easy to reach threshold for guests staying far fewer than 50 nights in a calendar year at IHG hotels. Priority Club counts almost any point earned in your account as an elite qualifying point. About the only Priority Club points that do not count as elite qualifying are points purchased for Points & Cash stays when paying $40 for 5,000 points or $60 for 10,000 points as part of a Points & Cash reward booking. Qualifying points include base points and bonus points earned from hotel stays, bonus points earned from promotions and points earned from partner activities.

Example of earning 60,000 points for Priority Club Platinum elite membership

• Purchase 20,000 Priority Club points for $230 = 20,000 points.
• Hotel stays = 20 nights at Holiday Inn and HI Express @$100/night rate = 20,000 base points.
• Priority Club Double Points Promotion (Jan 23-Apr 30, 2012)  = 20,000 bonus points.
• Gold elite 10% bonus points = 5 nights at $100/night rate = 500 points.
• Total = 60,500 qualifying Priority Club points with 20 hotel nights to earn Platinum elite.

These two activities of buying points and hotel stays during the Priority Club Double Points promotion qualify the Priority Club member for Platinum elite after only 20 hotel nights rather than 50 nights. This is just one example of how easy it is to reach Priority Club Platinum and start earning 50% bonus points.

InterContinental Ambassador lets you buy your way to elite

InterContinental Ambassador is a $200 initial membership ($100 renewal) annually paid program if you are looking for complimentary luxury hotel benefits to supplement those $300 per night stays at InterContinental Hotels. There are many InterContinental Hotels with rates below $150 night many nights of the year, yet there are other IC properties where $300 per night would be quite a discount rate at any time of the year.

InterContinental Royal Ambassador members receive a certificate in their membership packet to gift membership to one other.

Marriott Rewards Elite

Marriott Rewards is consistently voted the best hotel loyalty program in business surveys and even the Freddie Awards in recent years. Marriott Rewards has maintained the toughest elite qualification criteria of any major hotel loyalty program for many years. Mid-tier Gold elite at 50 nights and high-tier Platinum elite at 75 nights far exceed other programs. Hilton, Starwood and Hyatt have hotel stays as an alternative route to elite membership. Stays are a far more favorable qualification route for guests who typically stay one night at a time.

Hilton HHonors Diamond requires 60 nights and Marriott Rewards at 75 nights is 25% more nights than HHonors.  And HHonors counts hotel nights on rewards.

Hilton HHonors takes only 28 stays for HHonors Diamond elite as a different elite qualification route. This means a member can earn HHonors Diamond elite with as few as 28 one-night stays and some of those stays can even be reward stays using points.

Marriott Rewards Elite Rollover Nights is a competitive edge

Elite Rollover Nights appeared in 2009 when the hotel industry was severely impacted by a sudden cutback in global travel.  Marriott Rewards did not alter its stringent elite qualification criteria, but instead lowered the elite qualification threshold in one way, while providing incentive to continue staying with Marriott even after attaining elite status for the calendar year.

Elite Rollover Nights carry any nights in excess of the elite level for the current year to the next calendar year. In 2012 a member who stays 33 nights in Marriott brand hotels earns Silver elite for 2013 after 10 nights, but fails to reach 50 nights for Gold elite. This member starts 2013 as Silver elite and the 23 nights stayed in 2012 above the Silver elite qualification level rollover to 2013 elite qualifying nights. The member starts 2013 with 23 elite qualifying nights and only needs 27 nights in 2013 to reach Gold elite rather than 50 nights. The member will earn Gold elite after 27 nights in 2013.

Elite rollover nights are a powerful incentive for staying with Marriott Rewards as a Silver elite, even if Gold elite is not achievable in 2012.

Marriott Rewards offers Elite Rollover Nights as a promotional benefit to members. 2012 will be the fourth year this benefit has been offered, however, the announcement to extend elite rollover nights did not come until late December 2011. Hotel nights in 2012 will automatically rollover to 2013. There is no guarantee the elite rollover nights benefit will be repeated again for hotel nights stayed in 2013.

Club Carlson set elite rollover nights as a standard program benefit when the new hotel loyalty program launched April 2011. This is the only other hotel loyalty program to offer elite rollover nights.

Hilton HHonors Elite

Hilton has several routes to high elite Diamond status.

• 28 stays can be as few as 28 one-night stays in a year and reward stays count too.
• 60 nights including reward stays.
• 100,000 base points = $10,000 in spend. That might be one wedding or company party.
• HHonors Surpass American Express gives cardmember Diamond elite after $40,000 annual spend.

The multiple routes to reach elite are a competitive advantage of Hilton HHonors over Marriott Rewards.

In my opinion Hilton HHonors Gold (16 stays or 36 nights) is one of the best mid-tier elite levels to have for any hotel loyalty program. HHonors Gold elite is frequently offered in fast-track promotions for as few as four stays in 90 days. A new or returning HHonors member can receive benefits of free internet and free breakfast on hotel stays through 2013 after just four stays.

Elite Status Promotion: Hilton HHonors Gold elite fast-track for Carlson Wagonlit Travel customers. Earn HHonors Gold elite after four stays within 90 days of promotion registration.  Loyalty Traveler post Sep 6.

Elite Status Promotion: HHonors Gold VIP elite after 4 stays or 9 nights in 90 days at U.S. hotels with Hilton HHonors MVP. Promotion registration required.

HHonors Reward Stays are Elite Qualifying Stays and Nights

Hilton HHonors was also a pioneer in elite status qualification when it became the first hotel loyalty program to count reward nights and stays several years ago. Choice Privileges and Starwood Preferred Guest are two other hotel loyalty programs that changed in the past couple of years to count reward stays for elite status.

The introduction of HHonors Points & Money Rewards in 2011 means counting reward stays for elite qualification is even more rewarding. Points & Money rewards require only 50% standard reward points. A member with 100,000 points can buy two category-7 standard reward nights at 50,000 points each.  Points & Money rewards allow the same 100,000 points to buy four separate category-7 reward nights with a cash supplement ($85/night) and earn up to 4 elite qualifying stays and 4 nights.

HHonors Points & Money are a 2011 reward enhancement, even though the program also introduced HHonors Premium Rewards that seems to have negatively impacted Diamond level members with decreased access to room rewards at the standard rate.

Elite Challenges

Marriott offers a Gold Challenge for 12 nights in 90 days or Platinum Challenge with 18 nights in 90 days. You receive gold or Platinum elite level for 90 days and drop back to earned status if challenge not successful. You must be enrolled in either Gold or Platinum Challenge. You do not earn Gold elite if you fall 3 nights short on a Platinum Challenge with only 15 nights even though that would have been sufficient for the Gold Challenge.

Elite level membership after completing the challenge is maintained at Gold or Platinum elite through February 2013, unless you requalify for the same or higher tier. So you need to have 50 or 75 nights in 2012 to retain elite level through 2013. Challenges starting in July 2012 may last through Feb 2014. FlyerTalk thread on Marriott Platinum and Gold Challenges from last six months and Dec 2011 thread.

Hilton offers Diamond Challenge for 19 to 21 nights in a 90 day period. FlyerTalk thread.

HHonors status match discussed in this FlyerTalk thread. Remember that status match is generally a once-in-a-lifetime match when granted by a hotel loyalty program. Challenges can be periodically repeated. Do not waste a status match unless you plan to use it. You may regret it a couple of years from now when you could really use the instant elite status and that long expired top elite member card is sitting in your drawer.

Marriott elite status match FlyerTalk thread.

You can generally get a status match if you truly have the potential of a high-revenue guest with frequent hotel stays. The people getting instant status through a hotel loyalty promotion and no record of frequent stays might find it more difficult to get a hotel loyalty status match.

The Credit Card Route to Elite

Marriott, Hilton and IHG Priority Club offer an easy route to low tier elite simply by enrolling as a credit card member with Hilton HHonors Visa or American Express, Marriott Rewards Visa or Priority Club Visa.  Hilton HHonors is the winner for credit card benefits.

• All HHonors credit cards confer complimentary HHonors Silver elite. HHonors Diamond membership is achievable through HHonors Surpass American Express after $40,000 annual card spend.
• Marriott Rewards Visa gives either 10 or 15 elite nights annually for instant Silver elite status.
• Priority Club Visa gives complimentary Gold elite.
• This Loyalty Traveler post from March 2011 is still fairly accurate on the elite benefits available through hotel points credit cards.
• Disclosure: I do not partner affiliate with any credit card providers. The links in my posts where I discuss credit cards are not affiliate marketing links for my Loyalty Traveler business.

Loyalty Traveler series: Comparison of Hilton HHonors, Marriott Rewards and IHG Priority Club hotel loyalty programs

1. Hilton, Marriott and IHG Hotel Brand Market Segments (Jan 15, 2012) – this post lists the different hotel brands, number of hotels in the brand, percentage of hotels in each brand and brand’s hotel market segment.

2. Hilton, IHG Marriott: Earning Base Points and Miles (Jan 17, 2012).

3. Making Elite with Marriott, IHG, Hilton (Jan 18, 2012) – Discussion of elite qualification requirements, elite status challenges and status matches.

This series will continue with a look at the redemption options using points and comparative analysis of these three programs.

IHG Priority Club has major changes taking effect in reward tiers for free nights January 18, 2012. I will compare reward cost for Hilton, Marriott and IHG free nights after the Priority Club changes are published and the new higher rates are in effect.

Carlson Wagonlit Travel customers can register to earn a fast-track to Hilton HHonors Gold elite membership after four stays within 90 days of promotion registration. HHonors Gold normally requires 16 stays or 36 nights in a calendar year. This offer is exclusively for Carlson Wagonlit Travel customers, but I am posting this fast-track HHonors Gold offer since there are millions of you out there across the globe who book travel with CWT.

Register by phone with Hilton Reservations and Customer Care by requesting Promotion Code ‘CFTE’.

Online registration is here.

HHonors member must complete the four qualifying stays within 90 days of enrollment to earn HHonors Gold membership. Elite membership status will be valid for the year earned and the subsequent year.

Loyalty Traveler analysis:

This is an offer targeted exclusively to Carlson Wagonlit Travel customers. The wording of this offer states member will have Gold elite after four stays within 90 days of promotion enrollment and maintain that status for the calendar year Gold elite is earned and the following year. This means you can earn Gold elite after four stays in early 2012 and maintain that status for two years through end of March 2014.

HHonors Gold Member Benefits

Benefits include:

• Complimentary breakfast at all brands except Waldorf-Astoria. Hilton’s breakfast benefit unmatched by any other mid-tier level except Marriott Rewards Gold (50 nights) and that benefit does not apply to 800 hotels in Courtyard by Marriott brand or at Marriott resorts.
• Room upgrades (as available) and when given Executive Floor room upgrade, lounge access included.
• Free in-room internet.
• 25% bonus on all HHonors Base Points earned.
• Complimentary access to hotel-owned-and-operated health clubs.
• Access to VIP Elite only rewards like 4 to 14 night reward stay discounts of 15% to 25% off standard free night rate.

Carlson Wagonlit Travel customers can register to earn a fast-track to Hilton HHonors Gold elite membership after four stays within 90 days of promotion registration. HHonors Gold normally requires 16 stays or 36 nights in a calendar year. This offer is exclusively for Carlson Wagonlit Travel customers, but I am posting this fast-track HHonors Gold offer since there are millions of you out there across the globe who book travel with CWT.

Register by phone with Hilton Reservations and Customer Care by requesting Promotion Code ‘CFTE’.

Online registration is here.

HHonors member must complete the four qualifying stays within 90 days of enrollment to earn HHonors Gold membership. Elite membership status will be valid for the year earned and the subsequent year.

Loyalty Traveler analysis:

This is an offer targeted exclusively to Carlson Wagonlit Travel customers. The wording of this offer states member will have Gold elite after four stays within 90 days of promotion enrollment and maintain that status for the calendar year Gold elite is earned and the following year.

Promotion registration dilemma

This leaves eligible HHonors members with a dilemma for when to register for this targeted CWT promotion.

1. Sign up now and you will have 90 days in 2011 to complete four stays and earn HHonors Gold for the remainder of 2011 and 2012. Signing up in 2011 is fine if you plan to use Hilton Hotels in 2012 and retain Gold status with 16 stays or 36 nights. You will maintain Gold elite through 2013 if you meet the normal Hilton HHonors Gold stays or nights in 2012.

2. If you wait and register for this CWT fast-track offer in early 2012, then you have 90 days to make four stays and you will have HHonors Gold elite membership for all of 2012 and 2013, even if you have few stays after qualifying for HHonors Gold. This promotion states it runs through 12/31/2013, but may be terminated without notice. These fast-track offers sometimes disappear before their scheduled end date.

HHonors Gold Member Benefits

On-property benefits include:

• Room upgrades (as available), Bonus Points, eCheck-in and other comforts

• Free access to Wi-Fi

• A 25% bonus on all HHonors Base Points earned

• Complimentary access to hotel-owned-and-operated health clubs

• Access to VIP Elite only rewards like 4 to 14 night reward stay discounts of 15% to 25% off standard free night rate.

Complimentary HHonors Diamond for Virgin Australia Velocity Platinum members in Australia.

Australians might want to look into this HHonors fast-track elite offer from Virgin Australia.

Gary Leff blogged a couple days ago on View from the Wing about getting a status match to Virgin Australia to take advantage of the Velocity frequent flier elite benefit for limited-time complimentary HHonors Gold or Diamond elite status.

Visa Signature cardmembers can register for instant Hilton HHonors Gold membership through August 31, 2011. After promotion registration just complete three stays at any Hilton brand hotel worldwide by August 31 and pay with a Visa Signature card to retain HHonors Gold elite through March 31, 2013.

Current HHonors Gold and Diamond members receive 5,000 points for Visa Signature card registration.

FlyerTalk members report this offer works with many airline and hotel credit cards besides HHonors Visa such as Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Hyatt Gold Passport, Marriott Rewards, Priority Club, and Canada Infinite Visa. Here is the HHonors Gold elite Visa Signature thread on Milepoint.com.

HHonors Gold elite includes complimentary high-speed internet, 25% bonus points and possibly hotel lounge benefits. Benefits vary by Hilton brand. Here is the link for HHonors Gold benefits.

HHonors Visa Signature promotion FAQ.

HHonors Visa Signature terms and conditions.

Hilton brand hotels offering Point Stretcher rewards posted dates through November 2011. Hilton HHonors Point Stretcher rewards offer a 40% discount on the standard reward night. There are several hundred participating hotels in this set from Hilton, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites and Conrad.

The reward dates at most properties give the appearance of Point Stretcher rewards being a weekend stay discount program. Most hotels offer these rewards only for Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

New Zealand caught my attention as a location offering full months of Point Stretcher availability for their winter months at the Hilton Queenstown, Kawarau Hotel in Queenstown on the South Island and Hilton Lake Taupo on the North Island. June, July and August are winter days and nights in New Zealand.

Hilton Cape Town City Centre South Africa also has full month Point Stretcher dates for June through August. I read a travel piece a couple years back by a writer who hung out in Cape Town during the winter and described the tranquility of the off-season while working on a book and the terrific storms that hit the Cape.

Point Stretchers are great value rewards for one to three night stays where no other discount option is available. HHonors VIP elites have regular access to VIP Rewards for 15% discount on 4-night stays, 20% on 5-night stays, and 25% on stays of 6 to 14 nights.

American Express cardmembers also have the option of Hilton AXON reward stays of 4 nights at category 6 and 7 hotels.

AXON category 6 reward = 125,000 points (regular cost = 160,000 points) = 21.9% discount.

AXON category 7 reward = 145,000 points (regular cost = 200,000 points) = 27.5% discount.

Point Stretcher rewards can be a great value. The best hotel room upgrade Kelley and I ever had with Hilton was on a Point Stretcher stay in July 2002 at the Hilton Budapest in the King Duna Suite overlooking the Danube River.

Hilton Budapest is on the current Point Stretcher list. Pack your coat though since dates are only available for November 2011 stays at 21,000 points per night for this category 5 HHonors hotel.

Hilton Budapest view (this photo is lifted from Hilton website since I didn't bring a camera on our trip with the spectacular room views).

Hilton Budapest hotel photos. 

Related Post: Loyalty Traveler’s Hilton HHonors Comprehensive Reward Charts for HHonors Standard Rewards, HHonors VIP rewards, Waldorf Astoria Collection rewards, Hilton Grand Vacations rewards, American Express AXON rewards, and Point Stretcher rewards. (September 13, 2010)

A Hilton HHonors member spends 80,000 points for a two-night hotel stay at Conrad Brussels, Belgium this week. Next week Conrad Brussels is available for 24,000 points per night on HHonors Point Stretcher Rewards. The guest next week experiences the same hotel, same room comfort, same amenities, same staff and same restaurant. And the prospect of receiving a complimentary upgrade is increased during a low occupancy hotel period.

A shift of one week in hotel stay dates results in 32,000 points savings on a normally 80,000 points two-night reward stay. Even a three night Point Stretcher stay requires just 72,000 points for the HHonors hotel category 6 Conrad Brussels.

I burned over 2 million Hilton HHonors points in the past 12 years. More than 90% of those reward nights were reduced points rewards – either Point Stretcher nights or HHonors VIP discounted 6-night rewards. Singapore, Germany, Spain, Ireland, and Belgium are a few of the locations I stayed on Point Stretcher nights. These discounts allowed me to stay about 50 more nights at Hilton properties than if I had redeemed using standard rewards like 40,000 points for the HHonors category 6 Conrad Brussels.

Discount Hotel Rewards

Several hotel programs offer discount hotel reward nights. Marriott Rewards calls them PointSavers, Hilton HHonors trademarked Point Stretcher and Priority Club has PointBreaks.

Starwood Preferred Guest has Cash & Points and a similar reduced points and cash component offer is available for Priority Club at IHG properties and Goldpoints Plus for Carlson Hotels’ Radisson and Country Inn.

There are differences in each of these program’s offers. Here is a summary of how each offer works and what you can reasonably expect to find.

Three categories of hotel reward discounts.

Limited Date Discounts

• IHG PointBreaks = 5,000 points per free reward night. (IHG reward nights are normally 10,000 to 40,000 points per night.)
• Marriott Rewards PointSavers = discount to next lower hotel category reward level; for example, category 5 hotel (25,000 points/night) requires category 4 points (20,000 points/night) for free nights. 5^th night free does apply to PointSavers rate.
• Hilton HHonors Point Stretcher  = Pay 60% of standard reward points per night (40% discount); for example, category 6 hotel at 40,000 points is 24,000 points per night with PointStretchers. HHonors VIP Extended stay discount (4 or more nights) does not apply to Point Stretcher rewards. 

Extended Stay Reward Discounts

• Marriott Rewards =  5^th night free (pay hotel category level points for four nights)
• Starwood Preferred Guest =  5^th night free (pay hotel category level points for four nights)
• HHonors VIP rewards for stays 4 nights (15% discount); 5 nights (20% discount); 6 to 14 nights (25% discount). VIP discount rewards are restricted to HHonors elite members Silver and higher.
• Goldpoints plus = 10% fewer points for additional reward nights after first night.

Cash and Points Rewards

• Starwood Preferred Guest Cash and Points nights require 40% normal points and cash portion ranging from $15 to $150 depending on SPG hotel category level from 1 to 6. Not applicable to SPG category 7 hotels. Cash & Points have the potential for very high savings and points value. There are opportunities to save more than $200 on published room rates and receive a very high redemption value for your points, particularly at the category 4 ($60 + 4,000 points) and category 5 ($90 + 4,800 points) award level.
• SPG Cash & Points awards are capacity controlled.   

SPG Cash & Points chart

• Category 1 = $25 + 1,200 points (only in U.S., Canada, Asia-Pacific)
• Category 2 = $30 + 1,600 points (only in U.S., Canada, Asia-Pacific)
• Category 3 = $45 + 2,800 points
• Category 4 = $60 + 4,000 points
• Category 5 = $90 + 4,800 points
• Category 6 = $150 + 8,000 points
• Category 7 = N/A

Priority Club – Points + Cash is a system for buying points to complete a hotel reward stay booking. Two options: Pay $40 for 5,000 points or $60 for 10,000 points. This option is available even if you have sufficient points for the hotel reward stay. This is a way to buy points at a huge discount and save Priority Club points for more hotel free nights. Buying points directly from Priority Club costs $230 for 20,000 points.

Goldpoints Plus Cash & Points offers the option to pay a cash supplement for reduced points reward nights. Category 1 to 3 hotels require 5,000 points and category 4 to 6 hotels require 10,000 points. Cash portion determined at time of hotel booking.  

Important to Remember: Reward stays, including Cash and Points rewards, do not earn hotel stay credit for annual elite qualification, with the exception of Hilton HHonors and Choice Privileges where reward stays earn elite qualification credit.

IHG PointBreaks

These are the cheapest hotels available in hotel loyalty world at 5,000 Priority Club points per night, but I am wondering if Prioity Club members have seen the best days pass for this incredible reward discount. The last two PointBreaks lists may indicate a new pattern for PointBreaks with mid-month release in December and January for hotel stays through the end of the following month. The list released this week does not include a single InterContinental Hotel which I hope does not become a new trend.

June 7, 2010 – 118 hotels (79 US, 39 international) – stay through August 30, 2010.

August 2, 2010 – 130 hotels (79 US, 51 international) – stay through October 30, 2010.

October 4, 2010 – 126 hotels (77 US, 49 international) – stay through December 30, 2010.

December 13, 2010 – 35 hotels (15 US, 20 international) – stay through January 30, 2011.

January 24, 2011 – 55 hotels (31 US, 24 international) – stay through February 28, 2011.

The deal here is any hotel on the list is available for 5,000 points. All Crowne Plaza hotels have a standard reward cost of 25,000 points per night. A PointBreaks reward night for a hotel like Crowne Plaza Denver International Airport is an 80% discount.

InterContinental Hotels have standard rates at 30,000 points or 40,000 points per night. Landing a PointBreaks vacation at an InterContinental Hotel like IC Budapest (October 2010 PointBreaks hotel) means your 40,000 points can put you in a hotel room for an eight night Pointbreaks vacation rather than just a one night stay using a standard 40,000 points reward.

PointBreaks reward nights were an 87.5% discount at the normally 40,000 points per night InterContinental Budapest luxury hotel for stays October through December 2010.

Marriott Rewards PointSavers (Loyalty Traveler post 1/26 Marriott PointSavers)

Marriott Rewards PointSavers reduce the cost of an award night by one category level. A great feature of these rewards is the 5^th night free is still offered with PointSavers. A category 6 hotel reward is normally 30,000 points per night or five nights for 120,000 points. PointSavers reduce the nightly cost of a category 6 reward down to the rate for a category 5 reward at 25,000 points per night or 100,000 points for five nights.

Biggest savings is 33% and results at Marriott category 3 level where a 15,000 points per night reward is just 10,000 points when paying the category 2 hotel reward rate. Five nights at a category 3 hotel for 40,000 points with a PointSavers reservation will likely have a high redemption value for your points in excess of $10 per 1,000 points (this occurs when the published rate of the hotel is more than $80 per night or $400 for five nights).

Marriott Rewards PointSavers Chart

PointSavers Free Nights

• Category 1 – Standard =  7,500 points; PointSavers = 6,000
• Category 2 – Standard = 10,000 points; PointSavers = 7,500
• Category 3 – Standard = 15,000 points; PointSavers = 10,000
• Category 4 – Standard = 20,000 points; PointSavers = 15,000
• Category 5 – Standard = 25,000 points; PointSavers = 20,000
• Category 6 – Standard = 30,000 points; PointSavers = 25,000
• Category 7 – Standard = 35,000 points; PointSavers = 30,000
• Category 8 – Standard = 40,000 points; PointSavers = 35,000

PointSavers are also available for select Ritz-Carlton Hotels offering 10,000 points per night discount. 

Hilton HHonors Point Stretcher (Loyalty traveler Dec 3 post HHonors Point Stretcher)

Hilton HHonors published a long list of hotels in early December offering Point Stretcher reward dates through May 2011. This is a welcome change for a program feature that languished a couple of years with very weak offerings. The hundreds of hotels on the current Point Stretcher list make Marriott Rewards, at just 25 hotels currently posted as PointSavers, look like the Hilton HHonors of old.

But don’t count on finding a Hilton HHonors Point Stretcher Category 1 Reward anytime soon.

Point Stretcher Free Nights Chart

• Category 1 – Standard =  7,500 points; Point Stretcher = 4,500
• Category 2 – Standard = 12,500 points; Point Stretcher = 7,500
• Category 3 – Standard = 25,000 points; Point Stretcher = 15,000
• Category 4 – Standard = 30,000 points; Point Stretcher = 18,000
• Category 5 – Standard = 35,000 points; Point Stretcher = 21,000
• Category 6 – Standard = 40,000 points; Point Stretcher = 24,000
• Category 7 – Standard = 50,000 points; Point Stretcher = 30,000

Extended Hotel Stay Rewards

Carlson Hotels goldpoints plus (Radisson, Park Inn and Country Inn) discount every reward night after the first night by 10%. This is the best standard discount available for two or three night stays in hotel loyalty world.

Four night stays: Hilton HHonors steps in with a 15% total points discount available as an elite member VIP reward.

Five night stays: Hilton, Marriott and Starwood all discount five night stays by 20%. Hilton restricts all VIP discount rewards to elite members.

Hilton HHonors unquestionably wins the biggest discount contest with 25% off the reward cost for stays of 6 to 14 nights. Marriott Rewards was the best discount until they went to 5^th night free in 2009. That being said, there is still competitiveness for Marriott with Hilton in that the hotel category reward distribution is much more skewed to lower categories for Marriott than Hilton. For example, there are many places where Marriott Rewards category 4 and 5 hotels are the same hotel market segment class as Hilton HHonors category 5, 6 and 7 hotels.

Marriott Rewards category 5 = 25,000 points per night or 7 nights = 150,000 points (5^th night free).

Hilton HHonors category 6 = 40,000 points or 7 nights = 210,000 points (25% discount).

HHonors Points & Points earner at 15 points/$1 compared to Marriott Rewards at 10 points/$1 makes these two rewards nearly comparable in points cost for the respective programs. The promotions make all the difference for the member (or credit card earning).

Hilton, Marriott, SPG and goldpoints have the advantage over all the other hotel loyalty programs offering no discount for extended night hotel stays.

Conclusion: The value of your points increases when you take advantage of discount rewards. There are many hotels offering discount reward rates at any given time.

The HHonors website fails to provide easy to find links to the HHonors reward charts. Here are the various HHonors reward charts with website links.

Hilton HHonors made major changes to its standard and VIP reward charts with the January 15, 2010 hotel category changes when about 83% of the 3,500 or so hotels in HHonors increased by one hotel reward category.

Hilton HHonors Standard Rewards Chart

link to HHonors reward charts

Hilton HHonors VIP Rewards Chart

HHonors VIP elite members (Silver, Gold, Diamond) have access to discounted rewards. The discount is a fixed rate for HHonors category 4, 5, 6 and 7 hotels.

4-nights VIP reward = 15% discount on standard nightly reward rate (HHonors is only program to discount 4-night stays)

5-nights VIP reward = 20% discount on standard nightly reward rate  (Marriott and Starwood Preferred Guest also give a 20% points discount on 5-night rewards.)

6-nights or longer VIP reward = 25% discount on standard nightly reward rate (biggest standard discount for hotel loyalty programs)

link to HHonors VIP Rewards charts

Note on HHonors Category 3 hotel VIP rewards: Since category 3 uses same VIP rewards as category 4 hotels, there is a smaller discount when VIP rewards are used for category 3 hotels.

Category 3 hotel standard reward is 25,000 points per night. The category 3 hotel 4-night VIP reward at 102,000 is a 15% discount on the cost of a standard 4-night category 4 hotel reward (saves 18,000 points on the 120,000 points standard reward). The category 3 VIP 4-night reward actually costs 2,000 points more than the standard reward for a category 3 hotel which is only 100,000 points using the standard reward chart.

There is a maximum 10% discount on points for VIP category 3 hotel rewards compared to standard nightly rate.

Loyalty traveler HHonors category 3 VIP Rewards comparison

American Express AXON Rewards

(HHonors American Express card members have complimentary HHonors Silver VIP elite membership.)

Loyalty Traveler Chart for HHonors American Express AXON Rewards

The net effect of category shift in 2010 (category 6 hotels moving up to category 7 hotels) is zero for American Express card members. The AXON6 in 2009 cost 145,000 points. These same hotels are almost all category 7 hotels in 2010 and the AXON7 in 2010 still costs 145,000 points.

Hilton HHonors Point Stretcher Reward Chart

HHonors Point Stretcher rewards give a 40% discount on the standard reward rate. This reward option had faded out over the past couple of years and these rewards were unavailable for much of the past year. In September 2010 the participating hotels in the Point Stretcher reward list was the largest selection of hotels I recall seeing in several years with several hundred hotels.

link to HHonors reward charts

Hilton HHonors Waldorf Astoria Collection Rewards Chart

Waldorf Astoria Collection is Hilton’s fast growing luxury brand. There are currently 23 WAC properties. Most of these hotels use the same reward chart. Waldorf Astoria Park City, Utah; Beach House, Maldives; and Grand Wailea use different reward charts.

Las Casitas are WAC villas associated with the El Conquistador Resort in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. I am not sure where these fall in the 2010 reward chart. In 2009 the rates were listed as 125,000 points per night (2-bedroom ocean view); 150,000 points per night for 3-bedroom garden view and 180,000 points per night for 3-bedroom villa ocean view.

London Syon Park is opening in December 2010 adjacent to a historic manor house estate.

Qasr al Sharq in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia is a Waldorf Astoria Hotel not shown in these reward charts. This hotel was listed at 120,000 points per night for a junior suite and 160,000 points per night for an executive suite in the 2009 charts and in this 2008 InsideFlyer article, however, I can’t find a current link to reward nights. Anyone else know?

The Waldorf Astoria Reward Codes and Points (links go to hotel site pages)

1.  Arizona Biltmore | Phoenix, Arizona
2.  Boca Beach Club, The Waldorf Astoria Collection | Boca Raton, Florida
3.  Boca Raton Resort, The Waldorf Astoria Collection | Boca Raton, Florida
4.  Casa Marina Resort, The Waldorf Astoria Collection | Key West, Florida
5.  Edgewater Beach Hotel | Naples, Florida
6.  El Conquistador Resort, The Waldorf Astoria Collection | Fajardo, Puerto Rico
7.  El San Juan Hotel & Casino, The Waldorf Astoria Collection | San Juan, Puerto Rico
8.  La Quinta Resort & Club | La Quinta, California (Palm Springs area)
9.  Naples Grande Beach Resort, The Waldorf Astoria Collection | Naples, Florida
10.  Rome Cavalieri | Rome, Italy
11.  The Bentley, London | London, UK
12.  The Boulders Resort, The Waldorf Astoria Collection | Scottsdale, Arizona
13. The Reach Resort, The Waldorf Astoria Collection | Key West, Florida
14.  The Roosevelt Hotel New Orleans, The Waldorf Astoria Collection | New Orleans, Louisiana
15.  The Waldorf=Astoria® | New York, New York
16. Trianon Palace Versailles, Waldorf Astoria Collection | Versailles, France
17. Waldorf Astoria Orlando | Orlando, Florida
18. Waldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund  | Shanghai, China

link to HHonors reward charts

19. Waldorf Astoria Park City | Park City, Utah

20. The Beach House Maldives, Manafaru Island, Maldives

link to HHonors reward charts

21. Grand Wailea, Waldorf Astoria Collection | Wailea, Maui, Hawaii

Waldorf Astoria Collection VIP Rewards

When the HHonors changes were first announced in October 2009 there was a link to the WAC rewards. The url for that page is still listed on the HHonors site, but now loads a blank page. Here is what the chart looked like before.

Group A should be the main group of hotels shown as #1-18 above. The VIP Reward discount for Waldorf Astoria Collection hotels is still 15% on 4-night VIP Rewards; 20% on 5-night rewards; 25% on 6-night or longer (up to 14 nights) rewards.

Group B was the Dakota Mountain Lodge in 2009, renamed in 2010 as the Waldorf Astoria Park City. The Beach House Maldives should also be in group B.

Group C was the Grand Wailea and the Bentley London in the original list. It looks like the Bentley London reduced its rates for 2010 and is now a Group A property.

High season dates need to be checked for each hotel. I do not see this information posted on HHonors or hotel pages.

Again, this WAC chart is from a Hilton webpage posted in October 2009 regarding the 2010 changes. The page was removed from the Hilton site and there does not appear to be a current link to a  Waldorf Astoria Collection VIP Rewards chart.

Hilton Grand Vacations Club

Hilton has a feature similar to Hyatt with the option to use reward nights for stays in timeshare resort rentals for less cost than a typical hotel reward. These Vacation Club properties are often located adjacent to hotel properties.

Hilton HHonors Standard/Point Stretcher/WAC/Vacation Club Reward Charts link

Hilton HHonors VIP Rewards chart link

Hilton HHonors Standard Hotel Rewards (only shows single night rate)

Hilton HHonors All-Inclusive Resorts (two resorts in Costa Rica and two in Egypt)

Hilton HHonors Reward Categories (HHonors requires search of specific hotels by country, and in the US the list can be narrowed down by state. Highly inefficient search engine compared to Hyatt, Marriott and SPG which allow all hotels globally in any specific category to be displayed in one list.)

Many frequent guests save their hotel points for week-long vacation stays. Carlson goldpoints plus, Hilton HHonors, Marriott Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest offer discounted award nights on multi-night stays, but the terms vary between programs. Certain programs offer bigger discounts and the amount of the discount off per night rates depends on your length of stay.

Carlson Gold Points gives a 10% point discount off the per night award rate for every additional night of a hotel stay award. A category 6 hotel at 60,000 points per night for the first night of an award stay will cost 54,000 points for every additional night. The longer your stay the closer you come to an overall 10% point savings on the award.

Goldpoints Plus has the competitive advantage of being the only hotel loyalty program to offer a discount on two and three night award stays, but the trade-off is a lower overall discount compared to Hilton four night or longer stays or to Marriott or Starwood for stays of five nights or longer.

But also remember that IHG Priority Club, Hyatt Gold Passport, Best Western, Choice, and Wyndham do not offer any discounts for multi-night award stays. Goldpoints plus offers a step in the right direction for guests staying multiple nights on an award.

Marriott Rewards had a progressive discount until the 2009 program changes to a simple 5^th night free award program. The former award table priced hotel stays with each additional award night up to seven nights receiving a greater discount on the per night rate. A seven night category-7 hotel award was discounted 39% on the per night rate. This was Marriott rewards most distinctive hotel loyalty program competitive advantage. This feature was changed in 2009, although Marriott Rewards still offers a progressive discount for Ritz-Carlton award stays.

Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) currently offer 5^th night free awards. This is a nice 20% discount if you have a five night hotel planned. Stay one to four nights and you receive no award stay discount. The full per night right means a four night award stay is the same cost as a five night stay.

The 5^th night free award structure offers a maximum savings of 20% if your hotel stay is 5 or 10 nights. The overall savings is less when your hotel stay is six to nine nights, which is typical for a weekend to weekend vacation that can run from Friday night of one week through Saturday night of the following week and require a nine night hotel stay or an extra day off work.

The table below shows how the overall 20% discount for a five night stay (or multiple of 5 nights) drops for stays longer than 5 nights.

The overall discount percentages are the same regardless of hotel award category and these same discount percentages shown for Marriott award stays apply to Starwood Hotel awards using 5^th night free. A category 3 Starwood hotel at 7,000 points per night will be an overall discount of 12.5% on the points required for an eight night hotel stay award.

Hilton HHonors has the competitive advantage on multi-night award stay discount

Hilton HHonors actually made an enhancement to its hotel awards when it started offering four and five night VIP awards at a discount. Prior to the January 15, 2010 change, Hilton only offered a discount on award points for elite members when a stay was six nights or longer. American Express HHonors card members had a four and five night AXON award option, but these awards were not offered through Hilton HHonors.

The 2010 HHonors award structure has a set discount rate for stays of four nights or longer. A four night award will save 15% points on the per night rate. The VIP 5 night award offers a 20% discount on the per night rate. Six nights or longer and the discount is 25%.

HHonors offers the frequent guest a competitive advantage for stays of six nights to nine nights with a 25% discount whereas Carlson awards are discounted just 8 to 9% , and the Starwood or Marriott discount drops from a 20% discount on five nights to 16.7% for six nights and only 11.1% for a nine night hotel stay award.

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.

Hilton v. Marriott Downtown San Francisco Hotels

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.

Hilton HHonors v Marriott Rewards at San Francisco Airport Hotels

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.

Hilton HHonors v Marriott Rewards East of San Francisco Bay area

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. 

USA Today’s Barbara DeLollis, writer of the Hotel Check-In column, published an interview November 24 discussing the Hilton HHonors loyalty program changes with Jeff Diskin, Senior Vice President, Customer Marketing, Hilton Hotels Corporation.

She asked Mr. Diskin for a response to members who are upset over the coming changes. I particularly like this quote, “We offer one of the fastest if not the fastest track to elite-level status in the industry and members can earn more points faster with Hilton.”

As an aside, let me start out by telling you a comment made in a travel track forum at Blog World Expo 2009 by a hotel industry person when asked what hotel marketing people look for when deciding whether to work with a travel blogger. He said he looks for multi-paragraph comments in response to blog posts. I chuckled when I heard that standard.

I comment frequently on other people’s blogs and I often feel like I am hijacking a blog since I am one of the few people I ever see writing a lengthy comment. I hijacked Barb DeLollis’ blog with two lengthy analyses of Hilton HHonors that are probably longer than the entire Jeff Diskin interview. And I cut out several points I wanted to make.

I suggest you read the Jeff Diskin HHonors interview in USA Today.

And then read my analysis of certain comments made with regard to a comparative analysis of HHonors to the other major loyalty programs of Hyatt Gold Passport, IHG Priority Club, Marriott Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest.

Hilton Hotels has a good product on par with the other major hotel loyalty programs.  There are many facets to the HHonors loyalty program and things like Miles & Points, discounts on award stays of 6 nights or more, and the ability to convert airline miles into HHonors points are admirable attributes benefitting members.

My concern is that Hilton HHonors is pushing the bar higher towards a devaluation of points across hotel loyalty programs. These changes push Hilton farther outside the norm with regard to other hotel loyalty programs.  At the upper end hotels, currently Category 5 and 6, and soon to be Categories 6 and 7,  the Hilton HHonors program is still competitive with regard to hotel free nights using points, but the Hilton chain is allocating a much larger proportion of their hotels to the upper tier categories relative to the other four hotel chains’ loyalty programs. Starwood Preferred Guest is really a poor value at the high end Category 6 and 7 hotels in terms of how much spending is required to earn a free night, but a relatively small number of hotels are in the top two categories. I would argue the quality of a Starwood Category 6 hotel is much higher than a Hilton Category 6 – soon to be Category 7 property.

I think Hilton HHonors is not as good a value as the other hotel chains at the mid-level and low-level category hotels. Increasing PointStretcher award availability would go a long way to improving that aspect of the program. The past several years have seen hotels available for PointStretcher awards, a 40% discount using points for a free night, dwindle down to no hotels at all for the last six months of 2009.

The primary objection to the Hilton HHonors changes, in my opinion, is not the addition of a new higher category 7 to the Hilton HHonors reward table. The hint from HHonors representatives that the changes will result in a large scale shift of hotels upward within the new categories is the truly objectionable aspect of the changes if they turn out to be true.

The distribution of hotels within the hotel categories is the primary concern around the proposed restructuring of HHonors category changes.

Basically the hotel chain is renumbering categories from the current HHonors system of Opportunity at the lowest end, along with Categories 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.  HHonors Category 6 is currently populated by some of the high end Hilton and Conrad hotels. Waldorf-Astoria Collection is a separate high end category within the HHonors program.

Hilton HHonors will still have the same number of hotel categories in 2010. There is no change in the points required for Category 3, 4, 5, and 6 hotels in 2010. The change we are awaiting is what proportion of hotels will be moved from their current category placement to a higher category.

Essentially, the HHonors hotel category labeled Opportunity is becoming Category 1 in the new 2010 system and these hotels will remain at 7,500 points for a free night. Currently, there are only 1% of the 3,300 Hilton Hotels in the Opportunity category and these hotels will likely be almost the same set of hotels in the new HHonors Category 1.

The real impact of the changes becomes apparent when looking at the current Category 1 to Category 5 hotels.

Here is a breakdown of 2009 Hilton HHonors hotels by category which is not precise, but probably accurate to 1 or 2% based on my Loyalty Traveler research. Hilton HHonors website makes it difficult to quickly determine what hotels are in each category. Hyatt, Starwood, and Marriott provide lists of hotels in each hotel reward category. Hilton requires a search by country. I attempted to update my Hilton spreadsheet last December, but stopped after two weeks due to time constraints. FlyerTalk member BlondeBomber has tracked Hilton Hotels category placement over several years and I used his spreadsheet for a quick estimate of how many hotels are located in each Hilton HHonors reward category.

HHonors Category Shift for 2010 Could be 20% Across the Chain

Here are my comments I posted on USA Today in response to the Barbara DeLollis’ Hotel Check-In interview with Jeff Diskin, along with additional tables I made showing comparisons of the hotel programs.

November 28 comment by Ric Garrido:

My readers at Loyalty traveler know I am a numbers person. There are some numerical errors in this piece.

Hilton, Marriott, and IHG award 10 base points per $1 spent at hotels. Starwood awards 2 base points per $1 hotel spend and Hyatt awards 5 points per $1 hotel spend. The article should state 2 and 5 points rather than $2 and $5.

In that same paragraph I understand the calculations used for the comparison of money spent to earn a free night. Apparently Mr. Diskin is comparing earning for highest elite members. These dollar amount calculations equate to the estimated earning for Hilton HHonors Diamond (28 stays or 60 nights in calendar year), Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond (25 stays or 50 nights), Marriott Rewards Platinum (75 nights), IHG Platinum (50 nights or 60,000 points earned), and Starwood Platinum (25 stays or 50 nights). [Note: SPG does not appear to be calculated correctly]

Hilton HHonors is based on a member choosing a “points & points” earning preference instead of “points & miles”. HHonors member earns 10 base points per $1 in hotel spending + 5 Diamond elite bonus points + 5 points per $1 for “points & points” for a total of 20 points per $1.

HHonors Diamond member = 20 points per $1 (Category 7 hotel = 50,000 points)
Marriott Rewards Platinum member = 15 points per $1 (Category 8 hotel = 40,000 points)
Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond = 6.5 points per $1 (category 5 hotel = 18,000 points)
IHG Priority Club Platinum = 15 points per $1 (InterContinental high tier = 40,000 points)
Starwood Preferred Guest Platinum = 3 points per $1 (Category 7 = 30,000 points)

The money spent to earn a free night in each chain:
HHonors 50,000/20 = $2,500
Marriott 40,000/15 = $2,667
IHG 40,000/15 = $2,667
Hyatt 18,000/6.5 = $2,769
SPG 30,000/3 = $10,000

The $4,000 for Starwood spending used in the article comparison looks incorrect to me. $4,000 would be correct for a Category 5 free night at a Starwood hotel, but the highest category hotel was used for the other 4 chains.

SPG always looks very bad in these comparisons, but SPG loyalty program members know most of the points earned are from promotions and elite bonuses rather than base hotel spending. Hilton is opposite in that most points are earned from base hotel spending.

As an SPG Platinum on a $100 stay I earn far more than 300 points. I typically receive 500 bonus points for a platinum amenity and almost always at least 1,000 points for a promotional bonus. 1,800 points for a $100 stay is far more earning power than indicated from a comparison of base spending.

The main point I make when evaluating hotel claims for the best earning potential is the “promotions make all the difference”.

The points earning potential of Hilton HHonors looks highly favorable when only base spending is compared. Hilton HHonors lags behind the other four chains compared here when it comes to points earning potential and free night offers through promotions.

IHG, Hyatt, Starwood and Marriott all ran earn a free night promotions in 2009 which made a free night possible for under $250 in total hotel spending with the other chains.

Where was Hilton?

November 29 comment by Ric Garrido

Here are some other relevant points to the HHonors changes and your article.

Mr. Diskin rationalizes the HHonors increase in points due to hotel rates increasing 30% over the past few years. The logic here is that Hilton HHonors is playing catch-up to changes other hotel chain loyalty programs have already made.

Here is my analysis comparing Hilton HHonors to other hotel loyalty programs.

A shift of almost all hotels upward in the categories, which I believe is what Hilton representatives implied might happen with the changes, will mean only 1% of hotels will be the same price in 2010 for a free night. Only the bottom level of hotels in the Hilton chain, the current Opportunity Category hotels moving to Category 1 level hotels in 2010 will be available at the same cost as 2009. Hilton’s other 3,300 or so hotels, around 98% of the global properties will increase in points for a free night in 2010 if Hilton HHonors increases the hotel category across the system for hotel rewards.

On average the increase is 20% across the 3,300 hotel chain based on the points needed to spend one free night at every Hilton-brand property in the world in 2009 compared to 2010 if all hotels move up one category in the 2010 realignment.

Hotel Competitive Sets

The other side of this argument is the issue of ‘hotel competitive sets” within any specific location. Mr. Diskin claims Hilton HHonors will still require the least spending to earn a free night at a top level Category 7 hotel even after the 25% increase next year compared to spending for a free night in the top hotel level for other major hotel chains. That argument is essentially correct, however, the comparison disregards the issue of a comparable competitive hotel set for most locations.

A hotel competitive set must be used when comparing hotel reward nights across different hotel chains. Comparing a Hampton Inn to an InterContinental or JW Marriott is not really meaningful since they are different market segments and different price segments.

Mr. Diskin uses the highest tier hotels in each chain as a competitive set to make his point that Hilton requires less spending for a free night. But aside from a few locations in the world like New York, Paris, London, Tokyo, Sydney, and Rome, the competitive set is not going to be based on the highest category hotels for most cities.

I’ll show the concept of a hotel competitive set using San Francisco hotels.

San Francisco has several hotel brands from each major hotel chain within close proximity of each other and also close in price. Hilton operates the Hilton Union Square and Hilton Financial District.

A competitive set of comparable hotels in the Central Business District of San Francisco to the two Hilton Hotels are Hyatt Regency San Francisco, Grand Hyatt San Francisco, Marriott Marquis, Marriott Union Square, Starwood Westin St. Francis, Starwood Westin Market Street, Starwood Luxury Collection Palace Hotel, Starwood Le Meridien, InterContinental San Francisco, and InterContinental Mark Hopkins.

Using the same variables from the article for hotel spending the comparison works out like this if the two San Francisco Hilton Hotels go from their current Category 6 to the new Category 7 for free nights:

Hilton Union Square, 50,000 points = $2,500
Hilton Financial District (Category 6 in 2009) Cat 7 = $2,500

Hyatt Regency San Francisco Category 4 = 15,000 points = $2,307
Grand Hyatt San Francisco Category 3 = 12,000 points = $1,846

Marriott Marquis, Category 6 = 30,000 points = $2,000
Renaissance Stanford Court, Category 6 = 30,000 points = $2,000
JW Marriott San Francisco, Category 6 = 30,000 points = $2,000
Marriott Union Square, Category 6 = 30,000 points = $2,000

Starwood Westin St. Francis, Category 4 = 10,000 points = $3,333
Starwood Westin Market Street, Category 4 = 10,000 points = $3,333
Starwood Luxury Collection Palace Hotel, Category 5 = 12,000 points = $4,000
Starwood Le Meridien, Category 5 = 12,000 points = $4,000
Starwood W Hotel, Category 5 = 12,000 points = $4,000

InterContinental San Francisco, 40,000 points = $2,667
InterContinental Mark Hopkins, 40,000 points = $2,667

San Francisco Hotel Competitive Set for Comparison of Hotel Spending by High Elite member to Earn a Free Night

The amount of spending to earn a free night using points at a San Francisco hotel will be less for Hyatt and Marriott than Hilton within this comparable competitive set. And there is a good argument to be made that the JW Marriott may be in a higher level hotel set for San Francisco.

In my opinion, based on detailed analysis of hotel loyalty program promotion bonuses over the past few years, Hyatt Gold Passport, Starwood Preferred Guest, and IHG Priority Club allow a loyalty program member the ability to earn promotional bonuses at a much higher percentage to base spending than is typical with Hilton HHonors, thereby reducing the total spending required to earn a free hotel night from those chains.

There is one other point to make regarding the highest categories for the different hotel chains.

Hilton HHonors currently has over 100 hotels in the highest Category 6 level. Assuming most of these current HHonors category 6 hotels are recategorized in the new HHonors category 7, a comparison across chains may look like this in 2010.

Hilton Category 7 = 100 hotels worldwide
Hilton Category 6 = 200 hotels

Marriott Category 8 = 12 hotels worldwide
Marriott Category 7 = 19 hotels worldwide

Starwood Category 7 = 16 hotels worldwide
Starwood Category 6 = 45 hotels worldwide

Hyatt Hotels Category 5 = 25 hotels worldwide

Marriott is the hotel chain most comparable to Hilton. The data shows Hilton will have 6x as many hotels in its two highest categories compared to Marriott.