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.

Hilton HHonors 2011 first quarter promotion is “More Nights, More Points” offering bonus points for stays of two nights or more. Earn double points on two-night stays, triple points for three-night stays and quadruple points for stays of four or more nights between January 3 and March 31, 2011.

Promotion registration is required before stays count for this offer.

Hilton brands include Hilton Hotels, Hilton Garden Inn, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn & Suites, Homewood Suites, Home2 Suites, Conrad Hotels and Waldorf Astoria Collection.

There is no earning limit on bonus points for this promotion, although there is a 100,000 base points earning limit for any single stay. So if you are planning $10,000 in eligible hotel spend, then plan to stay at least four nights at the hotel to earn the extra 300,000 bonus points along with your Diamond elite.

Hilton HHonors "More Nights, More Points" 2011 Q-1 promotion

Hilton HHonors Promotion Analysis

Double, triple and quadruple points are calculated as a multiple of 10 base points per dollar earn rate for Hilton eligible spend.

HHonors Points & Points Earning Preference

• Double Points = 25 points/$1 for two-night stays
• Triple Points = 35 points/$1 for three-night stays
• Quadruple Points = 45 points/$1 for four-night or longer stays

HHonors Points & Miles Earning Preference

• Double Points = 20 points/$1 for two-night stays
• Triple Points = 30 points/$1 for three-night stays
• Quadruple Points = 40 points/$1 for four-night or longer stays

Calculating HHonors Promotion Points

Double Points

Assume $100 per night room rate on a 2-night stay = $200 = double points.

HHonors Points & Points earns:

10 base points + 10 bonus points (2x promotion bonus) + 5 bonus points (P&P bonus) = 25 points per $1.

$200 x 25 points per dollar = 5,000 total points for this 2-night stay.

Triple Points

Assume $100 per night room rate for a 3-night stay = $300 = triple points.

HHonors Points & Points earns:

10 base points + 20 bonus points (3x promotion bonus) + 5 bonus points(P&P) = 35 points per $1

$300 x 35 points per dollar = 10,500 total points for this 3-night stay.

Quadruple Points

Assume $100 per night room rate for a 4-night stay = $400 = quadruple points.

HHonors Points & Points earns:

10 base points + 30 bonus points (3x promotion bonus) + 5 bonus points(P&P) = 45 points per $1

$400 x 45 points per dollar = 18,000 total points for this 4-night stay.

Look at HHonors “More Nights, More Points” offer in this way where the nightly rate is the same at $100 and the HHonors bonus points increase is clearly apparent for a four night stay.  Two stays at 2-nights each earn 10,000 total points compared to one stay of four nights that earns 18,000 points for the same $400 level of hotel spend.

Extended stays earn many more points although less stay credit with this offer.

Nonparticipating Hotels

Nearly 350 hotels are not participating in this Q-1 2011 promotion and most of these non-participating hotels are in the USA. The promotion page is a bit misleading when it states “Book at any of the 3,600 hotels in 82 countries (unless Hilton has grown by 350 hotels  in the past year).

http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/landing/excluded_hotels_q1/index.do

Hilton sure does not make it easy to locate nonparticipating hotels. The list of hotels is ordered by brand and hotel name with no geographic information. There is no information on the Hilton webpage for the city, state or country of the nonparticipating hotels for the member when trying to figure out if a hotel participates in this promotion.

Hilton Garden Inn Solomons.

Where the hell is that?

I figure this hotel is not in the Solomon Islands of the South Pacific since it is a Hilton Garden Inn, but I have no idea where this hotel might be located in the United States. I can see the hotels are ordered geographically by state, but is it really too much to ask that a geographically labeled list of excluded hotels be provided by HHonors when 10% of their global properties are excluded from this promotion offer?

And am I really going to remember to check the promotion list sorted by hotel brand and hotel name and notice the HGI Solomons before I book a promotion ineligible four-night hotel stay in Dowell, Maryland?

“The Hilton Garden Inn Solomons hotel is located on Dowell Road in historic Solomons, Maryland and 2.5 miles from the Patuxent Naval Air Station (Pax River), headquarters for the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD), the Navy Test Pilot School and over 150 technology firms that support Pax River. Nearby our Solomons, MD hotel are some of the finest nature and water oriented recreational activities on the East Coast. Access to the world famous Chesapeake Bay is minutes away by boat.”

Conclusion

This is a good value Hilton HHonors promotion for the member who needs extended hotel stays and typically qualifies for elite by nights. This promotion has no bonus value for the one-night stay Hilton HHonors member.  

Loyalty Traveler Promotion Key Rank =

Hilton HHonors triple and quadruple bonus points is 4 out of 5 keys on three and four night stays;

3 keys for two night stays; and  

1 key for one night stays (no promotion bonus).

Save up to 50% Any Weekend Anywhere is accurate at some hotels, though hardly representative of the 20% savings for the vast majority of hotels in the U.S.A. Stays at Doubletree hotels get you 30% off in U.S. A.

International promotion link

Prepayment and full nonrefundable terms.  Use it just as you booked it or lose it. No changes allowed.

Booking Any Weekend Anywhere Offer

• Book December 6 through January 31, 2011 for weekend hotel stays through the entire 2011 year.
• Hotel stays are allowed between December 17, 2010 and December 31, 2011.
• Must book at least 7 days in advance.

Any Weekend Discount is 20% to 50% BAR depending on region

Europe, Middle East and Africa – EMEA looks to be the primary promotion region and best value based on up to a 50% discount for Best Available Rate (BAR) or Breakfast Rate with no hotel brand limitations. Hampton Inn normally includes breakfast, so rate is discount on BAR only.

Asia-Pacific up to 25% discount on Best Available Rate (BAR) and Breakfast Rate with no brand limitations.

Americas 20% off Best Available Rate (BAR) for all brands, except Doubletree with 30% discount. Brands where breakfast is not complimentary also offer same percentage discount on Breakfast Rate: Doubletree, Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Conrad, Waldorf-Astoria.

Arrival Requirements for Hilton Any Weekend Anywhere Offer

These are important terms when planning travel for this offer.

Arrival Requirements for Participating Hotels:

Middle East and Egypt: Must arrive on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday. Wednesday arrivals are allowed with a two (2) night minimal length of stay. 

Europe, Africa, and Asia Pacific region: Must arrive on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Thursday arrivals are allowed with a two (2) night minimal length of stay. 

North and South America: Must arrive on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Thursday arrivals are allowed with a two (2) night minimal length of stay. Embassy Suites provides this exemption: Arrivals on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday are allowed at participating Embassy Suites hotels with a four (4) night minimal length of stay.

Other Restrictions:

Hilton Grand Vacations: Participating hotels require a three (3) night minimal length of stay regardless the day of arrival. “Breakfast included” offer applies to all participating hotels except Hilton Grand Vacations hotels.

Homewood Suites and Home2 Suites: Maximum length of stay is four (4) nights.

Double Base Points looks like an afterthought to this analyst. The only reference to double base points comes at the end of the Hilton offer Terms & Conditions page.

There is no reference to Double Base Points in the images for the promotion as the three image slideshow for this offer opens with London hotels as the default page.

The Americas tab has a different image and also does not mention double base points.

Promotion image for Hilton’s USA webpage for Any Weekend Anywhere

Loyalty Traveler opinion:

Prepaid, full nonrefundable travel deals are gambling on life events with a bet that everything goes as planned. I have lost a couple of thousand dollars on those bets.  

Consider trip insurance if investing more than a few hundred dollars on a single trip just in case you have to cancel due to circumstances like illness, injury, death, disasters and strikes.

Promotion Rate Sample:

Hilton Sorrento Palace, Sorrento, Italy (May 13-15, 2011)

High category room

• King Executive Top Floor (includes breakfast buffet)  
• BAR = 419 EUR/night
• Any Weekend Anywhere Rate = 209.50 EUR/night (US$278/night)

Budget category room (includes breakfast buffet)

• Quadruple Family Room for 2 adults and 2 kids with King Bed and two twins.
• BAR = 284 EUR/night
• Any Weekend Anywhere Rate = 142 EUR/night (US$189/night)

Hilton Sorrento Palace Hotel Webpage

The “quadruple family room” is actually a good size room for a family at nearly 500 square feet and a rate under $200 per night.  This category 6 hotel at a desirable Hilton location in Italy is 80,000 points for a two night stay reward. This Any Weekend Anywhere 50% BAR promotional rate with breakfast may be a better value than spending points.

Hilton settled with the U.S. Department of Justice on charges of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act for accessible hotels. The settlement includes a $50,000 civil penalty and Hilton is ordered to bring hotels built after January 26, 1993 in compliance with ADA requirements for accessible facilities and rooms.

The lawsuit stemmed from Hilton failing to provide accessible rooms with roll-in showers and tubs to people with disabilities and not having a sufficient supply of rooms at its hotels. The difficulty of reserving an accessible room was also mentioned.

Hilton is required to ensure franchise properties are in compliance with the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act to remain branded with Hilton.

Here is the full U.S. Department of Justice statement from November 9, 2010.

Justice Department Reaches Agreement with Hilton Worldwide Inc. Over ADA Violations at Hilton Hotels and Major Hotel Chains Owned by Hilton

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department and Hilton Worldwide Inc. today announced a comprehensive, precedent-setting agreement under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that will make state-of-the-art accessibility changes to approximately 900 hotels nationwide. The agreement is in the form of a proposed consent decree filed today in federal court to resolve a simultaneously filed lawsuit under the ADA.

The department’s complaint alleges that Hilton’s hotels designed and constructed after Jan. 26, 1993, fail to comply with the ADA and Department of Justice regulations. Hilton operates a system of hotels throughout the United States under the trade and service names of “Hilton,” “Conrad Hotels & Resorts,” “Doubletree,” “Embassy Suites,” “Hampton Inn,” “Hilton Garden Inn,” “Hilton Grand Vacations,” “Homewood Suites,” “the Waldorf Astoria” and “Home2Suites.” Hilton Worldwide Inc. (HWI), owns, operates, or has entered into and maintains franchise license agreements for each hotel in the HWI system.

“The ADA protects the right of people with disabilities to stay in accessible hotel rooms, and to reserve those hotel rooms through the same convenient systems as everyone else,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division. “Persons with disabilities who travel for pleasure or business must be able to count on getting the accessible room they reserved, and the hotel must provide the choice of amenities that everyone comes to expect from a major national hotel chain like Hilton.”

The agreement is the result of a lengthy investigation and negotiation. Hilton officials cooperated with the department throughout the process. Allegations in the department’s complaint include failure to provide the required number of accessible rooms, failure to disperse accessible rooms among the various categories of available accommodations, failure to provide individuals with disabilities the ability to reserve accessible rooms through Hilton’s central reservations system on-line or by telephone, and failure to provide individuals with disabilities with the accessible sleeping accommodations that they reserved.

Today’s settlement represents the first time the Department of Justice has required a franchisor to require all franchised or managed hotels that enter into a new franchise or management agreement, experience a change in ownership, or renew or extend a franchise agreement, to conduct a survey of its facilities and to certify that the hotel complies with the ADA. It is also the first time that an agreement under the ADA has specifically detailed how a hotel reservations system should be made accessible. The agreement also represents the first time that a hotel chain has been required to make its online reservations system accessible and to provide on its website current data about accessible features in guest rooms throughout the chain.

Under the agreement:

• All owned and joint venture hotels built after Jan. 26, 1993 will be surveyed and brought into compliance with Department of Justice ADA title III regulations, including dispersing accessible rooms among the various classes of available accommodations, providing accessible rooms with roll-in showers and tub seats, and providing accessible rooms for guests with hearing impairments;
• For franchised and managed hotels built after Jan. 26, 1993, where Hilton enters into a new franchise or management agreement, renews or extends an agreement for more than six months, or agrees to a change of ownership, Hilton will require the owners to survey their hotels for compliance with specified provisions of the ADA, and where necessary, bring their hotels into compliance;
• Hotels constructed in the future will be required to comply with the ADA;
• Specific ADA training will be provided for staff;
• Hilton’s reservations system will be improved so individuals with disabilities can reserve accessible rooms with specific available options and amenities, and have the same opportunity to guarantee a reservation for an accessible room as that offered for any other reservation;
• Hilton will improve the accessibility of its websites;
• Hilton will appoint a national ADA compliance officer responsible for Hilton’s compliance with the ADA and the consent decree;
• Hilton will appoint ADA on-site contact persons at each hotel responsible for resolving ADA-related complaints at the local level; and
• Hilton will pay a civil penalty of $50,000 to the United States.

People interested in finding out more about the ADA or this consent decree can call the toll-free ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 or 800-514-0383 (TDD), or access the ADA website at www.ada.gov.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/November/10-crt-1268.html

Accessible Bathroom in Suite at Westin Market Street San Francisco

Hilton HHonors 2010-Q4 promotion is Double Base Points for all stays, and 4x Base Points for the entire stay if it includes a Sunday night, completed between October 12 and December 30, 2010.

• Promotion dates: October 12 – December 30, 2010
• Double Base Points for all stays (20 points per dollar) or
• 4x Base Points for the entire stay if a Sunday night included (40 points per dollar)
• Points & Points (5 points/dollar) and elite bonuses are additional to promotion bonus
• Registration is required first before stays count:  www.HHonors.com/Sunday 

A wag of the finger to say once again Hilton HHonors is showing a poor promotion roll-out. This offer was printed on a full-page advertisement of the InsideFlyer magazine October issue, page19. Yet, it is now October 8 and the promotion registration link has not gone live as of this writing. (Update Oct. 11 – Registration page went live Monday, October 11)

(UPDATE OCT. 13 – Here is a link to Hilton Worldwide Excluded Properties for this promotion. I wrote this post before the promotion page was uploaded on October 11. It turns out the Hilton New York used in the analysis below is a non-participating hotel for the 4x Sundays promotion. There are about 240 excluded hotels.

And in typical Hilton HHonors fashion the exclusion list is not ordered geographically. Even determining if a hotel is  on the exclusion list is difficult since you have to scroll through each name by brand.)

Loyalty Traveler analysis:

• Sunday October 17 – Friday October 22, 2010
• Hilton New York – Queen Bed ($399 Sunday; $429 Mon-Thur)
• $2,115
• $2,115 x 40 points/$1 = 84,600 points  (21,150 base points + 63,450 bonus points)
• $2,115 x 5 points/$1 = 10,575 points (Points & Points earning preference)
• Total = 95,175 points for non-elite member

HHonors blue member (no elite status) will earn 95,175 points from this very expensive 5-night stay at the New York Hilton. The same hotel spend without a Sunday night stay will only earn 52,875 points.

HHonors Diamond member will receive over 105,000 points with a Sunday night in this stay and probably receive a nice upgrade from the cheapest priced Queen Bed Basic Room.

Hilton Newark/Fremont (San Francisco Bay area)

• Sunday October 17 – Monday, October 18, 2010
• Hilton Newark/Fremont – King Bed with balcony/patio  ($101.15 Sunday rate)
• $101.15 x 40 points/$1 = 4,040 points (1,010 base points + 3,030 bonus points)
• $101.15 x 5 points/$1 = 505 points (Points & Points earning preference)
• Total = 4,545 points for non-elite member for a one-night Sunday stay.

This Hilton HHonors 2010 end-of-year promotion has great points-earning potential for high spenders and good opportunities for the Sunday night guest.

Loyalty traveler promotion rating: 3 keys of 5; (4 keys for Sunday stays)

Excluded Hotels

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 hotels are shown as being the same VIP reward cost as Category 4 hotels. This actually changed in 2011 even though the chart was never changed to give the standard discount rate of 15% points on 4-night stays, 20% on 5-nights and 25% on 6 nights or more.

Category 3 VIP reward cost

• 25,000 points = Standard Reward rate
• 85,000 points = VIP 4-night reward
• 100,000 points = VIP 5-night reward
• 112,500 points = VIP 6-night reward.
• 18,750 points per night (25% discount) for 7 or more nights.

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.)

The good news is this is the largest HHonors Point Stretcher list I have seen in years. There are hundreds of hotels. Hilton HHonors Point Stretcher Rewards discount the regular rate 40%. Hotels are grouped by brand. The link loads Conrad Hotels and the dropdown menu leads to the list of participating hotels in other Hilton brands. You need to check each hotel since Point Stretcher dates does not mean there is Point Stretcher reward availability during those dates.

There have been special Gulf Coast Point Stretcher Reward dates for July through September at about 50 hotels in Florida and one hotel in Louisiana.

Conrad Istanbul, Turkey illustrates the value of Point Stretcher rewards.

Conrad Istanbul - HHonors Category 6 - Point Stretcher Reward 24,000 points per night

xe.com currency conversion

Conrad Istanbul on a two-night Point Stretcher Reward for 48,000 points saves $603 for the stay.

$603/48,000 = $12.56/1,000 points. That is a high value Hilton redemption considering most hotel rewards fall in the $3 to $7 range for Hilton HHonors. And you can buy 40,000 HHonors points in a calendar year for $400.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There are two ways to tackle this problem.

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

Inconvenient – Yeah!

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

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

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

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

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

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

http://www.hiltonhhonors.com/lufthansatriplemiles

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

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

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

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

Ineligible Rate Plans for Fast Ways to Free Stays Promotion:

There are excluded Special Rate Plans listed below.

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

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

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

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

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

FlyerTalk member BlondeBomber has posted his spreadsheet of Hilton HHonors properties with 2010 category updates for all 3,500+ hotels. The spreadsheet can be viewed online and is available for download. The spreadsheet also shows HHonors hotel reward category levels from the past several years.  This has been an annual record maintained by BlondeBomber. There are several other good resources available through his links including Starwood and Marriott hotel award categories, and Star Alliance information.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/13365657-post116.html

And if you didn’t already know, Loyalty Traveler and satori are one and the same person – me.

It’s January 7 and the Hilton HHonors “Have a Free Night on Us” promotion registration is a working link. Already there is confusion and disappointment being expressed on FlyerTalk. There are non-participating properties in the USA and Canada, but the hotel exclusion list is relatively small. There is no restriction mentioned in the promotion terms regarding property redemption exclusions with the free night certificate . There is a list of non-eligible room rates which is already creating confusion among members.

The basic promotion offer is a certificate for a free night at any Hilton brand in the system after every four stays or 10 nights through March 31, 2010. The certificate is valid for one year from issue date. You must register for the promotion before your hotel stays. There is a maximum of three free night certificates per member during the promotion.

Here is my initial Loyalty traveler post from Jan 3 on the Hilton free night promotion.

My initial take on the free night promotion rules is the January Sale rates in the Americas will count as eligible stays for the free night promotion, but the international 50% off January Sale rate will not count as eligible stays for the free night promotion.

What appears to be clear is the January Weekend Sale for 50% off international properties in Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia/Pacific in 2010 is a rate plan not eligible for the Free Night Promotion. Rates I checked in London show this rate plan as PRO9SW. The rate plan exclusion list shows PRO9SW as ineligible for the free night promotion.

*********

Update: HHonorsRepresentative posted on FlyerTalk, January 7, the international January Sale 50% rates, PRO9SW rate will be eligible for the free night promotion and these are the points made by HHonorsRepresentative today.

1. All eligible stays from January 1 – March 31, 2010 will qualify for the offer regardless of when you register for the offer.
2. You do not have to book your stay during the offer period.
3. The January Sale & the Night on Us offers are combinable. The SRP code PR09SW for the Q1 Free Night offer was inadvertently included on the SRP exclusion list. We are working with the appropriate parties to have this removed from the exclusion list.
4. Third party rates do not apply.
5. The hotels that are listed as non participating, are the only properties that you will not received promotional credit for. All other properties worldwide are participating.
6. Reward stays will not count towards this offer this quarter.

************************

My checks of USA rates for the January Sale showed rate plan PGJS01 and this rate plan is not on the rate exclusion list for the free night promotion. A search of Hilton Colon Quito, Ecuador showed a rate plan PGJS02.

Advance Purchase rate plans I checked on Hilton.com are different codes than shown on the rate exclusion list as A01 and A41. It appears normal advance purchase rates found on Hilton reservations are eligible for the promotion. I am not a Hilton rate expert and these are just my initial findings from rate searches in the Americas and London.

This is a fluid situation with the details for the Free Night Promotion and live registration link only becoming active a few hours ago.

This story is subject to change as details and clarification from Hilton become available.

January Sale in the Americas Terms: (Hilton January Sale link)

I wrote about the January International Sale for 50% off at 220 hotels for 2010 weekends in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia/Pacific regions on Dec. 24.

Since then, Hilton rolled out a January sale for room discounts in the Americas. The good news is these rates appear eligible for the Free Night promotion. The bad news is rate discounts are not 50% like the international January sale.

• The sale includes Hilton brand hotels in North America, Caribbean, Central and South America.

• This is a nonrefundable, prepayment rate charged at time of booking.

• Purchase must be made at least 3 days prior to stay.

• Discount is based on Best Available Bed & Breakfast rate and varies by hotel brand.

• 33% Hilton and Doubletree Hotels.

• 30% Hilton Grand Vacations Hotels

• 20% Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites hotels

• 15% Embassy Suites

• No Conrad Hotels or Waldorf Astoria Collection January Sale discounts.