Hilton Worldwide has a three day sale for 50,000 rooms beginning today for select hotels in Europe, Middle East and Africa for weekend stays from October 14 to December 16, 2011. These rates qualify for Hilton’s Q4 promotion of a free night after four stays. Bookings must be made by Wednesday October 12.

Both room only rates and Bed & Breakfast discount rates are offered. FlyerTalk members report finding some good rate discounts with these prepaid, nonrefundable rates.

• Weekend = Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Europe.
• Weekend = Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Middle East and Africa as defined by local law.
• Rates are prepaid and nonrefundable. No changes allowed.
• Book by October 12 (UK time?)
• Terms & Conditions link.

5,000 HHonors bonus points new member enrollment bonus for two night stay by Dec 31, 2011.

• New HHonors members who enroll with this link and complete a two night stay by December 31, 2011 will receive 5,000 bonus HHonors points.

Non-participating hotels

• Hilton Frankfurt Airport,
• Hilton Garden Inn Frankfurt Airport,
• Hilton Garden Inn Perm,
• Doubletree by Hilton Milton Keynes,
• Hilton Doha,
• Hilton Garden Inn Lecce,
• Hilton Bursa,
• Hilton Glasgow Grosvenor,
• Hilton Garden Inn Mardin,
• Hilton Dalaman Resort & Spa,
• Hilton Bodrum Turkbuku Resort & Spa,
• Hilton Coylumbridge, Aviemore,
• Hilton Brighton Metropole,
• Doubletree by Hilton Cambridge,
• Hilton London Kensington,
• Hilton London Olympia,
• Hilton Blackpool,
• Hilton York.

Hilton HHonors has a promotion for Delta SkyMiles offering double miles and 250 Medallion elite status qualifying miles (MQM) for every stay of two nights or longer from October 1 to December 11, 2011. There is no list of nonparticipating hotels so this appears to be a worldwide offer across the Hilton Worldwide chain.

HHonors-Delta Skymiles Registration is required here.

The best part is this offer may be combined with probably the most lucrative hotel loyalty promotion for this quarter with a free night at any Hilton Worldwide hotel after four stays or ten nights at any participating Hilton Worldwide hotel brand. There are over 200 hotels in the U.S. not participating so be sure to check the non-participating hotels list for the free night offer.

Hilton also has a promotion with United Mileage Plus for 1,000 bonus miles for two-night stays in same period (UA promo is redeemable miles only and not elite qualifying miles) that I posted yesterday. And this offer is combinable with HHonors Free Nights offer. You can only earn frequent flyer miles with one airline per hotel stay, so no UA bonus and DL bonus for same hotel stays.

Please leave a comment on this post if you see other Hilton HHonors airline partners offering a bonus during this same promotion period and I will share the information in a blog post.

HHonors Delta SkyMiles 250 MQM and Double miles Oct 1-Dec 11, 2011

What does Double SkyMiles mean with Hilton HHonors?

Hilton HHonors has a complicated system for miles earning that factors in hotel brand and HHonors member earning preference of Fixed Miles or Variable Miles.

Fixed Miles Earning (Regular earning rate = 500 miles per stay; double Skymiles = 1,000 miles per stay)

• Hilton
• DoubleTree
• Hilton Garden Inn
• Hilton Grand Vacations
• Embassy Suites
• Conrad
• Waldorf Astoria Collection

Fixed Miles Earning (Regular earning rate = 250 miles per stay; double Skymiles = 500 miles per stay)

• Hampton Inn
• Homewood Suites
• Note: Home2 Suites only allows HHonors Points & Variable Miles earning.

Variable Miles Earning (1 mile per U.S. Dollar; Double Skymiles = 2 miles per dollar.)

• All Hilton Worldwide brands earn 1 mile per U.S. Dollar.
• Home2 Suites  has 100 miles per stay maximum limit; double Skymiles = 200 miles max.

Double SkyMiles MQM

• a two-night or longer stay at any Hilton brand from October 1 and December 11, 2011 after promotion registration earns 250 Medallion Qualifying Miles.

Bonus Skymiles and Medallion Qualifying Miles will be added after the end of the promotion. I assume these MQM will post and apply to 2011 MQM total for 2012 Medallion qualification.

Hilton HHonors released the highest value hotel loyalty promotion of all the major chains for a free night every 4 stays or 10 nights October 1 – December 31, 2011. There is no limit to the number of free night certificates a member may earn during the promotion period. Free night certificates are valid at any Hilton brand hotel worldwide. Free night certificates expire six months after issuance.

Members must choose between earning free nights or an alternate promotion earning double points. There are about 270 properties opting out of this promotion, almost all in the U.S.

HHonors Fast Ways to Free Stays promotion registration is required.

Free Nights or Double Points?

HHonors Fast Ways to Free Stays 2011-Q4 promotion offers the choice of double points or a free night every 4 stays or 10 nights.

Double points is only a better offer if you think you will not qualify for a free night during the promotion period or perhaps you are a really big spender. Considering a person needs to spend $5,000 to earn 50,000 bonus points with the double points offer, most HHonors members will likely have four stays or ten nights and earn a free night certificate long before spending $5,000.

HHonors ‘Fast Ways to Free Stays’ Basics

• Promotion period = October 1-December 31, 2011
• Promotion available for HHonors members worldwide
• About 270 hotels opted out promotion among 3,700 hotels worldwide. Almost all hotels opting out are located in U.S.
• List of non-participating Hilton Hotels.
• Member must select either double points or free nights version of promotion.
• No changing promotion preference from double points or free nights after member registers.
• Double points = 10 bonus points per $1 above regular earning rate for Points & Points or Points & Miles earners.
• Free Night certificate may be redeemed at any Hilton brand property worldwide (even the hotels that have opted out of the promotion for earning free nights.)
• Ten nights qualification does not need to be consecutive nights.
• HHonors members earn regular points and miles during this promotion.
• HHonors reward stays do not count for free night qualification.
• HHonors free night certificates expire 6 months after issuance. (Assuming all certificates are issued by January 31, 2012, this means that the latest date is likely July 2012 for redeeming free nights.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis

This is a 5-key promotion and the most lucrative offer for 2011-Q4 hotel stays.

Hotel hopping for one-night stays means this offer is like getting 12,500 to 15,000 or even 20,000 bonus points per hotel stay when a free night certificate is redeemed for a category 7 HHonors hotel reward night or Waldorf-Astoria Collection where reward nights can be as high as 80,000 points per night.

I am definitely looking to take advantage of this HHonors ‘Fast Ways to Free Stays’ offer as my primary high value rebate for hotel stays over the next three months.

HHonors 2011-Q4 Fast Ways to Free Stays

Hilton HHonors Promotion non-participating hotels 

News that Las Vegas Sands Macau unit signed a franchise deal to brand its resort project on Macau’s Cotai Strip as a 600-room luxury Hilton-brand Conrad Hotel caught my eye this week. I have found it a curious development decision by Hilton Worldwide to expand Waldorf Astoria Collection over the past few years while Conrad Hotels, Hilton’s other luxury brand,  didn’t grow much in the past decade.

All that is about to change as the Conrad Hotel brand expands rapidly through half a dozen properties opening in China, and several more Conrad hotels opening in India, Indonesia and South Korea over the next couple of years. The list of Conrad Hotels will grow by more than a dozen. Conrad Hotels locator.

Hotel Owners are not Brand Exclusive

The interesting aspect of the Conrad Hotel signing is the franchising of different hotel properties with three different major hotel brands – Hilton Worldwide, InterContinental Hotels Group and Starwood Hotels for the $4 billion Sands Cotai Central project in Macau by Sands China, a development company of Las Vegas Sands that also owns The Venetian Macau and Macau Sands.

Sands Cotai Central will open the 5-star Conrad Macau with 600 rooms and a 4-star Holiday Inn with over 1,200 rooms in early 2012. Sheraton Macau with over 4,000 rooms is a project that halted construction a couple of years ago and is now scheduled for June 2012 opening to be followed with Sheraton Towers opening in 2013. This will be the largest hotel property in the Starwood chain.

A side note for Priority Club members is in 2011 The Venetian and The Palazzo Resort Las Vegas were cobranded as an InterContinental Alliance Resort with the ability for guests to earn and burn Priority Club points. These two InterContinental Alliance Resorts were soon joined by The Montelucia Scottsdale which had been an InterContinental Hotel and then was sold and rebranded in May 2011 as Montelucia InterContinental Alliance Resort.

Macau is actually the premier gambling destination in the world surpassing Las Vegas where gambling revenues yield only about one-third of the US$20 billion gambling revenue  of Asia’s premier casino resort destination. The Venetian Macau is a 3,000 suite property not associated with a major hotel brand – yet.

Wall Street Journal (August 5, 2011)

Hilton HHonors Q3 promotion offers double points or double miles for hotel stays from July 1 to September 30, 2011. There are about 250 hotels excluded for this promotion, with almost all the non-participating hotels located in the USA, so check the participating hotels link carefully.

• Register for “Double Your HHonors” promotion before your first stay.
• Choose earning preference of Points & Points to earn Double Points. Only 10 base points per $1 count for double points. Elite bonuses are not doubled.
• Choose either Points & Fixed Miles or Points & Variable Miles to earn Double Miles.
• Reservations may be booked before promotion registration.
• Promotion registration during an eligible stay will make the entire stay eligible for double points/miles if registered before checkout and entire stay is within promotion dates.
• Offer applies for up to two rooms per stay.
• Reward stays are only eligible for Double Points for incidental spend, except at Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites. No double miles will be earned on reward stays.

Hilton HHonors Double Points or Double Miles Promotion July 1-Sep 30, 2011.

Earning with Hilton HHonors

HHonors Points & Points

Usually I favor HHonors Points & Points where a general non-elite HHonors member will earn 25 points per $1 with this double points promotion and a Diamond elite member can earn 30 points/$1.

Reward stays are eligible for double points on incidental spend which might be a consideration for choosing Double Points this summer if you are planning a high spend reward stay.

• Double Points = 25 points/$1 at most hotels (10 base points + 10 double points + 5 Points & Points preference).
• $200 hotel stay = 5,000 HHonors points.

HHonors Points & Miles

Points & Miles is a good value offer that may exceed the value of collecting only HHonors points if stays put you close to a frequent flyer award ticket or upgrade.

Double Miles with Points & Fixed Miles spending $200 at a Hilton Garden Inn and earning American Airlines:

• Points & Double Miles = 10 base points/$1 + 1,000 miles (double fixed miles).
• $200 hotel stay = 2,000 HHonors points + 1,000 AAdvantage miles.

Double Miles with Points & Variable Miles spending $200 at Hampton Inn and earning United Mileage Plus miles:

• Points & Double Miles = 10 base points/$1 + 400 miles (double variable miles = 2 miles/$1).
• $200 hotel stay = 2,000 HHonors points + 400 United Mileage Plus miles.

HHonors offers a comparatively low exchange rate for HHonors points-to-miles transfers compared with other hotel loyalty programs at 10,000 points = 1,000 miles for most airlines or 10,000 points = 1,500 miles for American and a select few airline partners.

1,000 miles is generally a $15 to $20 rebate value on a frequent flyer award ticket. 10,000 points will generally have more value when used for hotel stays.

Fixed or Variable Miles?

Choosing Points & Fixed Miles is generally the best option for low spend stays.

7 of the 10 Hilton hotel brands earn 500 miles per stay with most airline partners. Double miles are 1,000 frequent flyer miles per stay. Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites and Home2 Suites offer only 20% miles with most airline partners.

Points & Variable Miles earns more miles when spending more than $500 during a single hotel stay or more than $100 at Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites where most airlines limit fixed earn miles to 100 miles per stay.

Highest HHonors Earning Airline Partners

The most favorable airlines for Points & Fixed Miles when staying at a Hampton Inn or Homewood Suites are bmi, FinnAir, Olympic and Southwest where there is no reduction in earning for these hotel brands.

Virgin Atlantic = 1,000 miles per stay is normal earn rate with 2,000 miles per stay for double fixed miles for all brands except Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites and Home2 Suites.

British Midland International (bmi) = 1,000 miles per night (up to 3 nights) at any brand, except Home2 Suites is 1,000 miles per stay. Double miles mean 2,000 miles per night or up to 6,000 miles per 3-night stay at Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites when earning bmi miles.

FinnAir = 500 points per night regularly (up to 5 nights) at any brand, except Home2Suites earns 500 points per stay. Double miles mean 1000 points per night, up to 5,000 points per stay at all brands except Home2 Suites.

Southwest Airlines is one of the best airlines for HHonors miles earning since Rapid Rewards points are earned at the same rate regardless of Hilton hotel brand, except for Home2 Suites stays are not eligible for Rapid Rewards points. It is hard to be a Hilton HHonors frequent guest and avoid Hampton Inn. Either HHonors points or Southwest Rapid Rewards points are good earner options for Hampton Inn stays for the person who prefers to collect airline miles since 100 miles per stay (200 miles during double miles) for Points & Fixed Miles earners is a low value rebate when collecting miles in another program.

Loyalty Traveler Note: It is disappointing to see Hilton HHonors launch its new 10^th hotel brand Home2 Suites in 2011 with diminished Hilton HHonors benefits for the HHonors member.

Changing Your HHonors Earning Preference:

You can change your preferred HHonors airline partner for earning airline miles between HHonors hotel stays to maximize the best airline earning option for each hotel stay.

The FAQ state you can’t register for both double miles and double points.

The option you choose during promotion registration is set for the duration of this promotion, so choosing miles mean all your hotel stays will be for double miles and you will not be able to earn double points, even if your earning preference is changed to points over the summer.

Personally I advise going for the high value free night offers this summer from Starwood Preferred Guest (to July 31: 3 stays = 1 resort night), Marriott Rewards (to August 31: 2 stays = 1 free night) and Best Western Rewards (to Aug 14: 3 stays = 1 free night) for the best value hotel stay rebates. This is a decent offer from Hilton HHonors, but there are better promotions available.

The Great Getaway offer is advertised as up to 40% off Hilton brand hotel rates this summer. My searches for U.S. hotels indicate 15% or 20% off is most prevalent and even those discounts at several brands are based on the Bed & Breakfast rate.

Keep in mind these are prepaid room rates that do not allow changes or refunds. Also, keep in mind that AAA rates generally offer at least 10% off and tend to be flexible with no penalty for cancellation until just before arrival date.

The Great Getaway Hilton Terms

• Book May 13 to August 22
• Stay May 27 to September 5
• Hotels worldwide participating
• Must book at least 14 days before arrival
• Rates are prepaid at time of booking and nonrefundable
• Discounts are 15% to 40%.

This offer might be a good savings if you are not HHonors elite with breakfast privileges and breakfast is a valued component for your stay. Embassy Suites and Hampton Inn, where breakfast is complimentary for all guests, look to have better rates where the discount is tied to the Best Available Rate rather than the higher Bed & Breakfast rate for a Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton or Doubletree. The rates tend to be 15% discount for Embassy Suites and Hampton Inn in the U.S. and 20% for Hilton, HGI and Doubletree.

London rates actually look like a decent value discount with 40% off Bed & Breakfast rates at several hotels. London did not even make the Trivago list of top 10 cities for most expensive 5-star hotel rooms. That honor goes to New York.

Hilton Great Getaway 2011

Hotel Brands: Hilton, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood Suites, Conrad, Waldorf-Astoria Collection, Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn, Home2Suites. 

* Hilton HHonors Triple Miles with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club for stays April 1-June 30. This is a 4-key promotion allowing 3,000 miles per Hilton brand hotel stay. LT post March 29.

** Hilton HHonors has triple bonus miles offers with 8 airlines for stays April 1 – June 30. My blog post has promotion registration links for  Alitalia, Air France/KLM Flying Blue, British Airways, Emirates, Miles & More, Olympic, Turkish Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. LT post April 28.

* Hilton HHonors 2011-Q2 promotion for 1,000 bonus points per night April 1-June 30.  Registration is required. All  Hilton brand hotels worldwide participate. 2-key promotion.  Loyalty Traveler post March 25.

Hilton HHonors takes double dipping to a new level this quarter with combinable promotions for triple miles per stay and 1,000 bonus points per night. I have written about British Airways 5,000 bonus miles and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club’s 3,000 miles per stay in previous posts over the past month.

Here are 6 other airlines offering triple miles through June 30. You must set your HHonors earning preference to Points and Fixed Miles (1,500 miles per stay for most airlines and brands) or Points & Variable Miles (3 miles per $1 for most airlines and brands) for these bonus miles offers.

Alitalia (Skyteam) 600 base miles + 1,200 bonus miles. Hampton Inn = 120 base miles + 240 bonus miles. Homewood Suites stays are ineligible for Alitalia miles. Alitalia only allows Points & Fixed Miles. Registration page in Italian.

Air France/KLM Flying Blue (Skyteam) (1,500 miles per stay or 3 miles per $1 for most brands)

British Airways (oneworld) – earn up to 5,000 bonus miles (1,500 miles per stay or 3 miles per $1 for most brands). 1,000 bonus miles per stay allows bonus on 5 stays.

Emirates Skywards – 1,500 miles per stay or 3 miles per $1 for most brands. Homewood Suites earn 100 base miles and 200 bonus miles for Fixed Miles. Hampton Inn stays are not eligible for earning Emirates miles.

Miles & More (Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, LOT Polish – Star Alliance) – 1,500 miles per stay. Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites stays are ineligible for miles. Miles & More only allows Points & Fixed Miles. Registration page in German.

Olympic Air  – Registration page is in Greek.

Turkish Airlines – (Star Alliance) – 1,500 miles per stay for most brands. Hampton Inn earns 300 miles per stay. Homewood Suites stays are ineligible for miles. Miles & Smiles only allows Points & Fixed Miles.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club  – 3,000 miles or 6 miles/$1 per stay for most brands. Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites earn 600 fixed miles or 6 miles/$1 per stay.

A free night is available at Conrad Hotels for guests who meet the minimum paid stay requirement of two to six nights depending on location during the 25^th Anniversary limited time offer.  Bookings must be made by June 12^th for hotel stays completed by June 30, 2011. 

Rate must be booked 3 days in advance of stay.

Conrad free night promotion link: www.conradhotels.com/25. 

Free night must be consumed on the last night of the stay. This term indicates there may be some opportunity for finding a rate where the third night is more expensive. This could particularly be a savings for a Friday-Sunday night stay where Sunday is higher priced room rate. I did not check for this kind of rate savings with the Conrad promotion, but I have seen this work in other promotions. 

Rates I checked were equivalent to Best Available Rate and may offer a 25% to 33% discount on BAR for 13 of the 16 Conrad Hotels.

 3rd night free Conrad Hotels  

• Rates are published minimum rate for this deal. Rates can be higher.
• Brussels (199EUR  = $281USD)
• Cairo ($169USD)
• Dublin (159EUR = $225USD)
• Hong Kong (3,850HKD = $494USD)
• Sanya, China (2,450RMB = $374USD)  

4th night free Conrad Hotels  

• Chicago ($195)
• Indianapolis ($229)
• Miami ($299)
• Punta del Este, Uruguay ($240USD)
• San Juan Puerto Rico ($199USD)
• Bangkok (6,100THB = $202USD)
• Singapore ($316USD)
• Tokyo (45,000 Yen = $556USD) 

5th night free Conrad Hotels    

• Istanbul (535TRY = $344USD) 

7th night free Conrad Hotels  

• Bali ($215USD)
• Maldives ($815USD)

Loyalty Traveler rate analysis:

Conrad Chicago (4^th night free) Monday May 16 – Friday May 20

Rates are same as Best Available rate. Cancellation policy without penalty = 1 day in advance.

• 25^th Anniversary Rate = $225 King Bed Deluxe or $1038.60 total after tax for 4-night stay.
• 4^th night rebate = $259.65.
• Total = $778.95 or $194.74 per night.
• Advance Purchase rate = $215/night or $251.00 per night after tax. ($1003.98 for 4 nights).
• 25^th Anniversary free night rate is a 22% discount on advance purchase for this stay at Conrad Chicago.

Conrad Chicago bed

Many of the prices shown for this 25^th Anniversary rate look rather high to me. The Conrad Dublin looks like one of the more reasonable rates. An interesting result reveals two good rate offers when I checked Conrad Dublin.

Conrad Dublin (3^rd night free) Tuesday April 12 – Friday May 15

Rates are same as Best Available rate. Cancellation policy without penalty = 4pm day of arrival.

• 25^th Anniversary Rate = 215EUR ($304USD) Junior Suite or 645EUR ($911USD) total with tax for 3-night stay.
• 3^rd night rebate = 215EUR ($304USD).
• Final rate after 3rd night rebate = 430EUR or $608USD for 3 nights = 144EUR or $203USD per night.
• Spring B&B offer = 154EUR/night or $217.52USD per night and includes breakfast. This rate is prepaid and nonrefundable, but offers breakfast for an additional 10EUR or $15USD per night.
• Advance Purchase rate is 205EUR night. This is no deal.
• 25^th Anniversary free night rate is a 33% discount on the best unrestricted rate for this 3-night stay at Conrad Dublin.

Conrad Chicago sign

Loyalty Traveler and Wikipedia  About Conrad Hotels

I was kind of curious what exactly is the 25^th anniversary of Conrad Hotels? Where was the first Conrad?

According to Wikipedia, the first Conrad Hotel opened in 1985 with the Conrad Jupiters Gold Coast in Australia.

So why 25 years in 2011? Apparently the hotel had a soft partial opening in November 1985 (start of summer season in Australia) and the hotel officially opened in February 1986 – 25 years ago.

Conrad Hotels is celebrating its 25^th Anniversary since the opening of the first Conrad Jupiters Gold Coast, Australia in 1986, yet this Hilton Worldwide hotel brand currently has just 16 hotel locations after a quarter century.

Conrad was Hilton’s flagship luxury hotel brand until Waldorf-Astoria Collection developed into a Hilton brand in 2006. The emphasis, it seems to me, has been on Waldorf-Astoria Collection marketing over the past five years while Conrad has added very few properties and lost a couple of hotels.

Conrad Sanya in China’s southeastern beach resort location just opened December 2010. Conrad Bali (2004), Conrad Miami (2004) and Conrad Maldives (2007) opened in the past seven years.

I tried to book a hotel stay at the Conrad Treasury Brisbane in 2003. That was the only hotel I never succeeded in getting a reward stay for nights on points, even with HHonors Diamond Desk support. The two Australian Conrad hotels rebranded in April 2010 after a 20-year management contract expired and are no longer part of Conrad Hotels and Hilton Worldwide. Treasury Brisbane and Jupiters Gold Coast are casino hotels and Jupiters is affiliated with 450 global independent hotels in World Hotels.

Conrad Centennial Singapore is a hotel where I stayed several times in the past ten years and a place I considered a luxury hotel. This is a hotel where I would leave my room and go to the Club lounge and have breakfast and come back to find the room had been serviced with towels replaced and bed made and papers straightened. One time I went down to the lobby and strolled around the pool area and after ten minutes remembered I had forgotten something in my room. I returned to the room to see it had been cleaned. The place was like having a Harry Potter wand for room maintenance, yet they never bothered me while I was relaxing in my room.

BoardingArea blogger Jason of MilesQuest is currently at the Conrad Maldives and wrote a blog post today on an employee strike that has taken hold of the resort this week.  

Trouble in paradise is not what you want on a dream trip vacation.

Hilton has a Spring Sale offer for hotels in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Book by April 7 for hotel stays between March 18 and June 30, 2011. These are prepaid, nonrefundable rates. Must book these rates at least 7 days in advance of hotel stay.

The discount is up to 33% on the standard Bed & Breakfast rate and includes daily breakfast. Hampton Hotels are discounted 20% off BAR B&B rate.

Some hotels restrict stays to midweek and others weekend.

A second room for children under 18 is available at 50% off through Hilton Minibreaks. The two rooms must be same room category type.

UK/Ireland hotels also include dinner on first night of stay with a minimum two-night stay.

Sample Rates: Central Europe seems to have some of the best deals. Germany, France, Finland.

According to the promotion rates posted on the Hilton ad, an average rate of 100EUR may get you hotel rooms in Munich (100), Mainz City (88), Dusseldorf (93), Cologne or Köln (114) as you will see the city on maps in Deutschland, Nuremberg (79), Dresden (117), and Berlin Hilton (143) or Berlin Hampton Inn (87).

Now even in Germany there is Hilton brand choice.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis of Dresden Hilton

Tue 10 May – Fri 13 May

Double Guest Room

• Advance Purchase = 111EUR
• Advance Purchase with breakfast = 130 EUR
• Spring Sale = Not Available
• Bed and Breakfast Flexible Rate = 155 EUR
• Advance Purchase Dinner/Bed and breakfast = 160 EUR

Breakfast has a price of 19 EUR according to the difference between Advance Purchase (AP) rate and AP breakfast rate.

The ability to book a nonrefundable rate with breakfast is basically the Spring Sale offer. Although, this specific hotel showed the promotion rate unavailable in a couple of searches.

25 EUR is the price placed on making a flexible booking that can be cancelled compared to a prepaid, nonrefundable booking.

30 EUR is the price for dinner.

As a consumer you need to consider whether these prices for breakfast (19 EUR), dinner (30 EUR) and flexible cancellation (25 EUR) are worth the extra expense. One person can likely go elsewhere and eat for less. A couple will likely save or at least not spend any more eating at the hotel.

The toughest decision for me is whether to go prepaid or not. 25 EUR is about US$40 per night.

You lose all your money if you go prepaid and have to cancel.

Trip insurance?  

Short travel story: I stayed in Dresden in 2000 and 2007. I can vouch that Dresden Hilton has a prime old town geographic location right by the Dresden Frauenkirche, one of the most important churches in Martin Luther and German Protestant reformation history. The church was devastated in a bombing at the end of WWII that created a major firestorm and destroyed the historic city of Dresden. The church is now rebuilt. Dresden is a trip to see where some places have blackened walls of stone, but much less prevalent now than ten years ago. They have been doing lots of cleaning and restoration of historic artifacts.

Dresden Frauenkirche (Martin Luther statue in foreground), Dresden, Germany

Non participating hotels include:

• Hampton by Hilton Liverpool John Lennon Airport,
• Doubletree by Hilton Cambridge,
• Glasgow Grosvenor,
• Hilton Coylumbridge,
• Hilton Dalaman Resort & Spa,
• Hilton Dunkeld, HGI Milan-Malpensa,
• HGI Perm and
• Doubletree by Hilton Ras Al Khaimah. 

Promotion available midweek nights (nights of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) only at:

• Hilton Bath City,
• Doubletree by Hilton Dunblane,
• Hilton Craigendarroch,
• Hilton Puckrup Hall Tewkesbury
• Hilton York.

London Date Exclusions:

(1) 29th April 2011 (Royal Wedding)

(2) 22-29 May 2011 and

(3) 9-12 June 2011 

• Hilton Canary Wharf,
• Hilton Docklands Riverside,
• Hilton Euston,
• Hilton Green Park,
• Hilton Hyde Park,
• Hilton Islington,
• Hilton Kensington,
• Hilton Metropole,
• Hilton Olympia,
• Hilton Paddington,
• Hilton Tower Bridge,
• Hilton on Park Lane,
• Hilton The Trafalgar London,
• The Waldorf Hilton
• Hilton Wembley Plaza

Full Terms & Conditions for Hilton Spring Sale

One of the places on my bucket list of travel destinations for several years now is Sanya, China.

Any Sanya department of tourism officials reading this blog want to bring me to China on a press trip?

A number of international hotel chains opened new resorts over the past decade in the tropical Sanya Beach coastline region stretching east to west over 100 km on Hainan Island.  This is the southernmost point of China, closer to Vietnam than Hong Kong. The best weather of the year is December through March when temperatures are lowest (lows 66-72; highs 79-84) and rainfall is lightest (3 or 4 days; <1 inch).

The Sanya  region has been extensively developed for tourists with dozens of upper-upscale and luxury resorts including:

• Marriott Resort & Spa Sanya (Marriott Rewards category 5 = 25,000 points/night)
• Ritz-Carlton Hotel Sanya (Marriott Rewards/Ritz-Carlton Tier 3 = 50,000 points/night) 
• Mandarin Oriental Sanya
• Hilton Resort & Spa Sanya (HHonors category 5 = 35,000 points/night),
• Pullman Sanya Yalong Bay (Accor),
• Pullman Oceanview Sanya Bay Resort,
• Sheraton Sanya (SPG category 5 = 12,000 points/night)
• InterContinental Sanya
• Howard Johnson Resort Sanya Bay

Conrad Sanya Haitang Bay opened last week. This is the first luxury hotel built for a new development project in the beach resort region of Haitang Bay, about 45 km east of Sanya, China. The resort consists of 101 villas and suites, many with private plunge pools. The basic room is 60 sq. m. which is about 645 sq. ft. and larger than the average luxury class hotel room which comes in around 500 sq. ft.

Finding decent photos of this new hotel is rather difficult on the hotel’s website.

Conrad Haitang Bay Resort, Sanya, China - view of villas (photo courtesy of Conrad Hotels)

Conrad Sanya Haitang Bay is currently listed as HHonors category 6 hotel reward at 40,000 points per night. Room rates starting over US$400 per night for February 2011 make this property a great redemption value for HHonors points. Getting more than $10 per 1,000 points is a challenge with HHonors, except for select luxury resorts in the category 6 and category 7 categories.

HHonors VIP discount rewards are available to Silver, Gold and Diamond VIP elite members.

• 4-night stay (15% points discount; category 6 reward @160,000 points = 136,000 points)
• 5-night stay (20% points discount; category 6 reward @200,000 points = 160,000 points)
• 6-night or more stay (25% points discount; category 6 reward @240,000 points = 180,000 points)

180,000 points for a $2,400 6-night stay is extremely high redemption value for HHonors points.

American Express cardmembers can get even more than 15% reduction of points rate on four night stays with a 4-night reward AXON6 for just 125,000 points.

Conrad Haitang Bay, Sanya, China room rates Feb 19-23, 2011

Doubletree Resort Sanya Haitang Bay is another recently opened Hilton brand hotel on December 28, 2010. The 463-room Doubletree Resort is HHonors category 5. Rates at the Doubletree appear to be about 40% the cost of the Conrad Haitang Bay Resort.

Doubletree Haitang Bay, Sanya, China Room Rates Feb 18, 2011