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.

Earn 250 Hilton HHonors bonus points when you “Like” the Hilton Garden Inn Facebook page. This also enters you in a sweepstakes for 10,000 bonus points going to five winners who enter by May 3, 2011. This bonus points offer is open to 80,000 entries and the Facebook page for HGI only has 30,037 fans at the time of this post.

1. Go to Hilton Garden Inn Facebook page.
2. “Like” HGI.
3. Look for the “Like us for Points” link on left side of page.
4. Enter Sweepstakes with email address, name and HHonors membership number.
5. Receive 250 HHonors bonus points.

Homewood Suites 2-night stay Sweepstakes

While you are visiting Facebook pages there is another opportunity to win a daily prize and 2-night stay at Homewood Suites through their Facebook sweepstakes. This is actually the last three days of a month-long sweepstakes for Hilton’s extended stay brand that began March 22 and ends April 22.

Enter the Homewood Suites Facebook sweepstakes here.

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.

HHonors Point Stretcher rewards reduce the nightly cost in points for a hotel reward by 40%. The new list of hotels has been posted for dates through May 2011. This is the most hotels and dates I recall seeing in several years. HHonors is stepping up their game.

But then again, this is Hilton HHonors so just ignore the message that states “No Point Stretcher Dates available for Hilton Family Hotels” when you click the Point Stretchers link and select a hotel brand to actually see the hotels and dates for Point Stretcher Rewards.

There are even four Conrad Hotels listed. Although Belgium in February may not be the best weather, the Conrad Brussels will give you a fine place to stay in from the cold.

Hilton Scotts Valley/Santa Cruz is about ten miles from the beach in redwood country above Monterey Bay, but at least there is a good chance of getting a 75-degree beach day at some point during December and January when this hotel is available for 24,000 points per night booking a Point Stretcher reward, rather than the normal 40,000 points as an HHonors Category 6 reward.

The Drake Hotel and Palmer House in Chicago have Point Stretcher dates this winter reducing these 50,000 point Category 7 hotels down to 30,000 points per night.  I posted my impressions of these hotels on Loyalty Traveler blog a couple of weeks ago.

Drake Hotel and Palmer House Chicago Points Stretcher Reward Dates-January 2011

Starting today is a five day 50% off rate sale at more than 50 hotels operated by Sage Hotels for stays from December 1 through January 9, 2011. Sage Hospitality is a major U.S. hotel management company that operates hotels across several hotel chains including Marriott, Hilton, Starwood, Radisson and IHG.

Book between November 17-21 for hotels stays from December 1 through January 9, 2011 to receive 50% discount rates.

There is no special rate code to enter. Finding the sale rates is hit and miss. I have had many more search misses than hits. But there are some deals. These hotels book through the hotel branded website so loyalty program credit will be applicable for these bookings.

Westin Westminster, Colorado is generally one of the more expensive Starwood Hotels in the Denver area. Rates at $69 (Dec 10) are the lowest I have ever seen for this property.

Hilton San Diego Del Mar $65 Dec 4-7. Prepaid and nonrefundable.

The Nines, Starwood Luxury Collection, Portland Oregon $99 Jan 3, 2011. Prepaid, nonrefundable.

Try your luck and maybe you will score an incredible deal in a place you want to stay.

Sage Hotels participating in 50% sale

Alabama
Courtyard Mobile Spanish Fort/Eastern Shore

Fairfield Inn & Suites Mobile Spanish Fort/Eastern Shore

Arizona
Sheraton Airport Hotel Tempe in Tempe, Ariz.

Sheraton Tucson Hotel and Suites in Tucson, Ariz.

California

Courtyard Los Angeles Pasadena/Monrovia – Monrovia
(Not Available Dec. 30 – Jan. 1)

Courtyard by Marriott San Diego Downtown – San Diego
(Not Available Dec. 3-4, 10-11 and Jan. 7-9)

Homewood Suites by Hilton SFO Airport North – Brisbane
(Not Available Dec. 31)

San Diego Del Mar Hilton – Del Mar
(Not Available Dec. 26-31and Jan. 7-9)

Colorado

The Curtis, a Doubletree Hotel – Denver
(Not Available Dec. 3-4, 12, Dec. 30-31 and Jan. 2-9)

Courtyard by Marriott Denver Downtown – Denver

(Not Available Dec. 3-4, Dec. 31, and Jan. 6-8)

Hilton Garden Inn Denver South/Meridian – Englewood

JW Marriott Denver at Cherry Creek – Denver

The Oxford Hotel – Denver
(Not Available Dec. 3-5, 12, Dec. 30-31, and Jan. 2-9)

Pueblo Marriott at the Convention Center – Pueblo
(Not Available Dec. 31)

Denver Airport Marriott at Gateway Park – Denver

Residence Inn by Marriott Denver City Center – Denver

(Not Available Dec. 30-31 and Jan. 6-7)

TownePlace Suites by Marriott Boulder Broomfield – Broomfield

TownePlace Suites by Marriott Colorado Springss –Colorado Springs

TownePlace Suites by Marriott
Denver Downtown – Denver

TownePlace Suites by Marriott Denver Southeast – Denver
(Not Available Dec. 20-22,27-29, and Jan. 3-5)

TownePlace Suites by Marriott Littleton Southwest – Littleton

TownePlace Suites by Marriott Denver Tech Center – Englewood

TownePlace Suites by Marriott Denver West Federal Center- Golden

The Westin Westminster- Westminster

Florida
Hilton Garden Inn Orlando at SeaWorld International Center – Orlando
(Not Available Dec. 3-5, Dec. 26-31, Jan. 1-2)

Georgia
Doubletree Hotel Northlake- Atlanta

Hilton Garden Inn Atlanta Perimeter Center- Atlanta
(Not Available Dec. 28 – Jan. 1, 3-6)

The Glenn Hotel-Atlanta
(Not Available Dec. 3-4, 26-27, Dec. 31 – Jan. 3)

Illinois

Renaissance Blackstone Chicago Hotel — Chicago

Hilton Garden Inn Hoffman Estates – Hoffman Estates

Michigan
Courtyard by Marriott– Brighton

Courtyard by Marriott– Lansing

The Baronette – Novi
(Not Available Dec. 31) Minnesota

Fairfield Inn by Marriott – Duluth
(Not Available Dec. 3-11, 17- 18)

Mississippi
Courtyard Biloxi North/D’lberville – D’lberville

Nevada
Fairfield Inn by Marriott Las Vegas Airport – Las Vegas
(Not Available Dec. 30 – Jan. 1, 4-8)

North Carolina
Charlotte Marriott Executive Park – Charlotte
(Not Available Jan. 7-8)

Ohio

The Crowne Plaza Cleveland City Centre – Cleveland
(Not Available Dec. 3-4, 25-26 and Jan. 1-2)

Oregon

The Nines, The Luxury Collection, Starwood Hotel & Resorts – Portland

Courtyard by Marriott – Portland City Center – Portland
(Not Available Dec.31)
Pennsylvania
Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel – Pittsburgh

(Not Available Dec. 3-23, Dec. 31 – Jan. 6 and Jan. 9)

Rhode Island
Renaissance Providence Hotel – Providence
(Not Available Dec. 31)

Tennessee
Radisson Hotel Memphis Airport – Memphis

Texas
Hilton College Station and Conference Center – College Station
(Not Available Dec. 3-4, 10-11, 17-18, 27-28 and Jan. 3-9)

Hampton Inn Six Flags – San Antonio

Houston Holiday Inn South Loop – Houston

Utah
Marriott Ogden Hotel – Ogden
(Not Available Dec. 31)

Washington
Courtyard Seattle – Seattle

Holiday Inn Renton – Renton

Hawthorn Suites – Kent

Wisconsin

Residence Inn by Marriott Milwaukee Downtown- Milwaukee

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

Try out the online suite selection feature using Homewood Suites eCheck-in and earn 500 HHonors bonus points per stay through December 31, 2010. HHonors members are limited to 10,000 bonus points with this promotion.

I googled “Homewood Suites 500 points” and came up with my own Loyalty Traveler story of a similar Homewood Suites promotion in 2008. The brand has grown in the past 24 months from 220 hotels in 2008 to its 300^th hotel opening just last week in the Austin suburb of Round Rock.

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.)