PointBreaks are one of the best hotel loyalty program discount room offers available. For just 5,000 points per reward night an InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club member can book a free night.  And even if you don’t have points, the cost to buy 5,000 points is as low as $57.50 to purchase directly from Priority Club. Within 24 hours you can have up to 40,000 points to book a room.

The primary condition to keep in mind with PointBreaks is the list of hotels dwindles down as the available rooms at properties are reserved and hotels are removed from the list.

This new list of properties went online on Monday and already the InterContinental Vienna has been removed from the list. Not surprising since this hotel offered a $200 per night savings with the PointsBreak free night. This is the first week the updated PointBreaks hotels have been posted, so more than 160 hotels are still available for reservations.

PointBreaks Links:

United States Hotels (88 hotels)

Canada (12 hotels)

Mexico (all IHG hotels in Mexico are 50% discount on free nights using points thru December 1, 2009)

Central and South America (7 hotels)

Europe  (27 hotels)

Africa/Middle East  (11 hotels)

Asia (10 hotels)

Oceania (6 hotels)

Priority Club Points Purchase link: https://priorityclub.points.com/purchase/index.jsp

Mexico Reward Nights are 50% points thru December 1, 2009

This PointBreaks offer has one different feature from past offers. All award nights in Mexico are offered as 50% off award nights for all IHG member hotels rather than the regular 5,000 points per night PointsBreak offers.

Mexico Reward Nights Points Discount

Many of the hotels in Mexico will be more than 5,000 points, however, all hotels in Mexico are available for a 50% free night redemption with points through December 1, 2009.

Priority Club 50% Off Mexico Reward Nights

Some notable IHG member hotels still on the list today:

InterContinental Mauritius – Balaclava Fort

Oct.12-17 room rate is 144€/night = $203/night. This hotel is available for a 5-night stay at 25,000 points =$1,015 USD room rate value.

InterContinental Fiji

October 12-17, 2009 $158USD per night, 25,000 points = $790 value

InterContinental Wellington, New Zealand

October 12-17, 2009 248NZD = $160USD per night. 25,000 points = $800 value.

These are probably not even the highest value hotels. They are just samples of the bargains available at upper-upscale and resort hotels in the list of more than 160 PointBreaks hotel offers currently listed.  Mexico is an additional offer with its 50% discount on free nights using points at all IHG hotels.

Part three of Europe Vacation Planning is a look at InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) properties around London for April 10-18, 2009 room rate deals. Hotel search strategies I am using to find low cost, upscale hotel lodging for London is applicable to much of Europe.

European Vacation Travel Planning Part 1 is an example of the low airfare deals to Europe currently available in this tough economic climate.  Europe is cheap right now.

London Calling, but can I afford the charges? Europe Travel Planning Part 2 is about finding a hotel with Starwood Preferred Guest hotel options. Starwood options are upper upscale hotels at a total cost of about $1,500 for 8 paid nights. SPG Cash & Points awards could bring the total cost for 8 nights to $600 and 30,000 Starpoints. 30,000 starpoints in lieu of $900 is a fair exchange, however, paid nights would also earn thousands of Starpoints and receive elite credit to my account. I like to receive at least 3.5 cents per Starpoint redeemed and the Starwood hotels plan using 30,000 points does not achieve that objective.

Part 3 Planning a London Vacation: The IHG Factor in London

There are loads of InterContinental Hotel Group hotels, 60 or so in the greater London area. With a dozen or so properties in the central London tourist area, there are plenty of options to consider.

First, I checked for IHG PointBreaks hotel award for 5,000 points per night.  These are basically $60US room rates if you are around a participating hotel.  You can buy 40,000 points for $460 from Priority Club. There is one participating Holiday Inn at Stevenage, about 13 miles east of Luton Airport, north of London. Stevenage sounds like a nice place to visit for a boring sod like me.  No Pointbreaks properties in London.

Next, I checked www.frequentflyerbonuses.com for Priority Club links and that site showed me a 2 nights for Price of 1 link for Europe hotels.  The promotion states for two night stays through March 31, 2009 and for mostly Friday to Sunday stays, however, over the past two years this “2 nights for the price of 1” offer typically allows mid-week bookings at many hotels and allows bookings for dates past the stated deadline.

I have followed Europe hotel rates through this IHG promotion for the past couple years and this most recent survey of London hotels just has me saying WOW!

Rates are so incredibly low for London hotels.

Per night rate using 2 Nights for Price of 1 booking link for London:

There are actually Holiday Inn Express hotels in the greater London area for under $35 per night using the 2-for-1 reservation link.  Holiday Inn Slough-Windsor has rates at 21GBP.  I’m thinking Ricky Gervais and The Office.

I’ll take a hotel in central London please.  I still remember being 14 in 1974 and commuting an hour each way by train to travel from the campground in north London where our family slept to the city center during our week in and around the city.

From my travel experience, the rule of thumb I developed is get as close to the city center or in the vicinity of places you want to see.  Travel is costing you money and spending your time transiting from the place you sleep to the place you want to see can be a lot of wasted time.

Hotel Recommendations Anyone?

I am not IHG Priority Club elite and aside from the Crowne Plaza St. James where I stayed for my honeymoon in 1989, before it was a Crowne Plaza, I am not familiar with the IHG properties in London.

TripAdvisor was too daunting.  I searched and there are over 1,000 hotels in the database for London.

I quickly moved on to FlyerTalk where I could get the IHG experts’ opinions on the benefits of particular hotels.

Within 30 minutes I found a consensus for the InterContinental as the top choice for London. Crowne Plaza The City seems to be a popular choice.  The main complaint is the closure of the Tube station by the hotel this month for two years means a five to ten minute walk to the next station.

Crowne Plaza-The City has standard rooms for $86 and a Club room for $152 per night. TripAdvisor.com shows the Crowne Plaza-The City as having a $362 average rate. The hotel has an overall four star customer rating with 123 reviews. 80% of the TripAdvisor reviews are at least a 4 and mostly 5 star ratings.

The Holiday Inn Kensington Forum also is a popular choice for one of the best IHG hotels and the 2-for-1 offer has standard rooms for $73 or even a suite for $131 per night. TripAdvisor has 440 reviews for Holiday Inn Kensington Forum and mostly 4 and 5 star ratings, but more 4 star than 5 star.  Average price is listed at $209.

Crowne Plaza Shoreditch at $90 per night including Club lounge access with free breakfast sounds like a great deal. According to FlyerTalk posters this hotel would put me in the clubbing district. There was also the comment the club lounge is closed on weekends and guests receive vouchers for a much better breakfast at the hotel restaurant. That sounds good to me.  Looking for breakfast on Easter Sunday and Easter Monday holidays is not as easy as you might think in a major city like London.

TripAdvisor.com gave Crowne Plaza Shoreditch the highest popularity rating (#71 of 1,169 London hotels) of the three hotels.  Guests have supplied 153 hotel reviews, although the Crowne Plaza-The City has overall higher guest rating. Average price is listed at $205.

Conclusion

IHG can place me in central London for under $100 per night with a choice of hotels.  I can even book a suite at a popular hotel like the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum for $130 per night. A Crowne Plaza Club Room in central London (CP-The City) for $150 per night can easily save $50 a day or more in breakfast, snacks, and drinks for a couple.

My initial budget allows about $900 for my hotel and transportation for the week.  The closer I am to the central London sites, the less I spend on transportation around London. 

The IHG “Stay 2 Nights, Pay 1” special rates allow me to stay in central London hotels for under $600 for eight nights.  Counting on an elite status upgrade with Starwood or Hyatt is not so important when I can just pay for a suite.

Priority Club’s current 3,000 points for 3 nights along with the regular base points earned for $500+ in room spending for IHG stays will add another $100 value to the paid rooms through points received. 

Another advantage of the IHG plan for this April trip to London is my Starwood points can be saved for another vacation destination where there may not be such a good alternative like the IHG 2-nights-for-1 rates.

Note on IHG 2 for 1 London rates: Rates vary depending on the dates selected for two day stays.  I only included a sample of the rates for comparative purposes.  Rates during the April 10-18 period vary by as much as $50 per night or more depending on the dates selected.

Priority Club Rewards Buy Points 10% bonus

Buying points is a good way to top off the points in your hotel loyalty account for that free hotel stay award.  Until November 6, 2008 Priority Club will add a 10% points bonus to all purchases.  Priority Club raised the price of points this past year to $11.50 per 1,000 points on purchases of 20,000 to 40,000 points. 

Priority Club points purchase link and rules:

Points must be purchased in 1,000 point increments

·         Only 40,000 points may be purchased in a rolling 12-month period (this favors buying points sooner rather than later if you plan to buy 40,000 points so you can repeat purchase in another 12 months).

·         Price:    

o   $13.50 per 1,000 points for 1,000 to 9,000 points

o   $12.50 per 1,000 points for 10,000 to 19,000 points

o   $11.50 per 1,000 points for 20,000 to 40,000 points

·         Points will appear in account within 48 hours.

The current promotional bonus deal allows the Priority Club member to purchase 44,000 points for $460.  And if you think buying 44,000 points seems like a waste of money, keep reading.

Holiday Inn Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco

Buying points can be a great hotel cost savings

No other program offers the opportunity to get a high value room for so few points as InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) Priority Club Rewards with their PointBreaks for 5,000 points award nights.  The challenge with PointBreaks is getting your reservation in as soon as new hotels are listed.  The list changes every couple of months and as hotel reservations are booked the PointBreaks hotel list dwindles in size.

Current offers for PointBreaks are valid for hotel stays through November 30, 2008. 

Consider the Hotel Indigo Columbus Architectural Center in Columbus, Indiana, one of the new boutique brand hotels of IHG.  (I realized there is a Columbus, Indiana after several minutes searching for this hotel in Ohio.) 

A four night stay at the Hotel Indigo Architectural Center from Monday, November 3 to Friday, November 7, 2008 will cost 20,000 points using the PointBreaks special offer.  A Priority Club member can buy 22,000 points with the current bonus points promotion and book this four night stay for $230.

This same hotel stay will run $153 per night + 12% tax for a nonrefundable room rate of $171 per night.  A four night fully paid stay will cost $684. 

Just buying Priority Club Rewards points and booking a PointBreaks stay will reduce the four night hotel stay at the Hotel Indigo, Columbus, Indiana by $450.

 Now that is a discount!

Wanted: Affordable Luxury Hotel Vacation

Solution: Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Cash and Points Awards

Last April I took a road trip from Monterey, California to Phoenix, Arizona and booked two of my hotel stays using Starwood Preferred Guest’s Cash & Points option for resorts in the Palm Springs and Scottsdale area.   In Palm Springs I stayed at the Westin Mission Hills Resort and Spa in Rancho Mirage and posted about the experience here, in “Wanted: Room with a View”.  In Scottsdale I was upgraded to a suite at the Westin Kierland Resort on my Cash & Points award stay.  I had a great view at the Westin Mission Hills, but I suspect there are hundreds of people every year disappointed with their parking lot view rooms.  A hotel loyalty plan for travel could prevent that let-down.

Cash and Points is a type of hotel loyalty program award allowing the frequent guest member to substitute a fixed amount of cash for a portion of the hotel points normally required for a free hotel stay.  This payment strategy can be one of the highest value ways to use your hard-earned hotel points.

Westin Kierland Resort & Spa, Scottsdale, Arizona

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

SPG Category 5 Hotel

Payment Option 1 – Best Available Rate: $479 per night ($538 per night with 12.27% taxes)

Payment Option 2 – Free Night Using Points: 12,000 Starpoints per night

Payment Option 3 – SPG Cash & Points award: $90 + 4,800 Starpoints per night

All Cash Payment:  Out of the three payment options for the Westin Kierland I toss option 1 out at first glance as it is $479/night.  That is the lowest rate, nonrefundable, and another 12.27% tax is on top of the $479 base room rate to reach $538 per night. 

All Points Payment: Payment option 2 using 12,000 points for a free night is commonly the only other choice for a one night hotel stay.  An advantage of the Starwood hotel loyalty program is the easy redemption of points when and where you want to stay.  You can even buy 12,000 Starpoints from the SPG website for $35/1,000 points or $420 for 12,000 points if you needed to stay at the Westin Kierland.  The all points option will save $118 compared to the fully paid rate if you have to buy all 12,000 points.  Awards on points generally do not have additional taxes, which is a significant savings to consider. 

Cash & Points Payment:  Payment Option 3 uses a combination of $90 cash + 12.27% tax ($11.05), plus 4,800 points.  Cash & Points Hotel Night costs 4,800 points + $101.05 per night.

I feel much more comfortable parting with 4,800 Starpoints rather than 12,000 points for a hotel stay.  And financially the Cash & Points award is a fantastic savings on the nightly rate.

Purchasing Starpoints from SPG (link to SPG)

Assume you have zero Starpoints.  You can enroll for free in Starwood Preferred Guest if you are not a current member.  As soon as you are a member you can buy Starpoints.

You simply purchase 5,000 Starpoints for $175 from the SPG website link shown above.

Total cost for the Westin Kierland has been reduced from $538 for a fully paid one night stay down to $276.05 per night for a Cash & Points award stay. 

You can book a two-night stay using the SPG Cash & Points option for just a few dollars more than a one-night fully paid cash stay. 

SPG Cash & Points is one of the best hotel discount strategies available.

Another Sample Hotel Cash & Points Savings

W Mexico City, November 10-13

SPG Category 5

Lowest nightly rate: $394 (+17% tax) = $466.83/night or $1,400.49 for 3-night stay.

Cash & Points $90 + 4,800 points  = $105.30 (after tax) + 4,800 points per night.

You can purchase 15,000 Starpoints for $525 and the cash portion of the 3-night award stay will be $315.90 for a total cost of $840.90 at the Starwood Hotels W Mexico City.

W Mexico City, a 3-night stay will be at least $560 less using Cash & Points Award nights compared to the regular paid rate for the sample date searched.  And if you have SPG elite status you can anticipate an upgrade to an even better category room.

Important to remember

Cash&Points awards are capacity controlled and many Starwood hotels will not have this award option during peak seasons. 

I searched a couple of weekends in San Diego for October 2008 and there were no Cash & Points options for any of the San Diego area Starwood hotels. 

I did not see any Cash & Points options for New York City hotels over several dates I searched. 

Starwood Preferred Guest Category 5 and 6 hotels, the properties that trend toward a luxury and resort clientele, generally will have the high average room rates to make Cash & Points a lucrative savings opportunity. 

Cash & Points are a hotel savings strategy to consider when you want a luxury getaway at an affordable price.

Priority Club increased the purchase limit for Priority Club points from 20,000 in a 12-month period to 40,000 points in a rolling 12-month period. Unfortunately, the price also increased from $10/1,000 points to $11.50 per 1,000 points, a 15% increase.

This still means a Priority Club member can just buy points for a PointsBreak room for about $57.50 per night. On the flip side, an InterContinental Hotel reward room for 40,000 points may sometimes be a better deal at $460 cash to purchase 40,000 points.

A side benefit of purchasing Priority Club points is the eligibility of purchased points to count towards elite status. Priority Club requires 50 nights or 60,000 points earned to qualify for platinum membership. Purchased points can take you two-thirds of the way to Priority Club Platinum Elite and a few well-planned stays with promotional bonus points can easily put a member over 60,000 points.

I was looking back at an article I wrote in October and I used the JW Marriott Ihilani as my example hotel for saving cash by just buying marriott Rewards points. This is text from my article in Hotels-and-Points October 2007. The 12-page newsletter can be downloaded as an Adobe PDF file. It is about 3 MB size so takes a a little bit to download and open. The focus of my October report was purchasing hotel points for room discounts.

[from Hotels-and-Points, October 2007-Ric Garrido]
“Marriott Rewards Points Purchase ― Prices Too High, Just Buy

Marriott Rewards members may buy or receive up to 50,000 purchased points per calendar year ( Jan 1-Dec 31) at the price $12.50/1,000 points. Another program rule allows spouses to transfer points, free of charge, between their accounts at the time of reward stay redemption. These rules mean spouses can buy a combined total of 100,000 points per calendar year and opens up the pos-sibility of buying the best high-value reward stays.

See the possibilities:
$1,250 = 100,000 Marriott Rewards points in 2007.
$1,250 = 100,000 Marriott Rewards points in 2008.

In practical terms, a couple can buy 200,000 Rewards points over the next three months for a vacation goal.

Marriott Buy Points link: http://www.marriott.com/rewards/usepoints/tranpurc.mi

The bottom line is:

Does buying points save money overall?

Hawaii Resorts on Marriott Rewards Hotel Points

Example of how to use a “buy points” strategy for Hawaii hotel savings:

JW Marriott Ihilani Resort and Spa at Ko Olina, Kopolei, Oahu, Hawaii
Marriott Rewards Category 7 hotel. 150,000 hotel points for a 7-night Rewards Stay.

JW Marriott Ihilani Resort, Oahu, Hawaii

Regular Hotel Rates
July 10-17, 2008 (Search conducted Oct 2007)
$341 (AAA rate) Quality Room-Mountain View
$389 (AAA rate) Ocean View
$436 (AAA rate) Deluxe Ocean View

When booking Marriott Rewards stay, the website offers an upgrade at JW Marriott Ihilani to Deluxe Ocean View room for an additional $100/night or upgrade to Ocean View room for additional $50/night.

Cost to buy 150,000 Marriott Rewards points = $1,875 = $268 per Reward night

Cost of upgrade to Deluxe Ocean View room is additional $100 per night or an additional $700 for a 7-night Marriott hotel points stay at Ihilani Resort.

Total Hawaii vacation cost is $2,575 for 7-night Marriott Rewards stay with a paid upgrade to a Deluxe Ocean View room at JW Marriott Ihilani.

This is $368/night to buy points compared to AAA rate of $436/night.

JW Marriott Ihilani Resort Deluxe Ocean View room, July 10-17, 2008 (search made Oct 2007)

AAA Paid Rate $436 ($488 with 12% tax) x 7 nights = $3,417

Senior Paid Rate $373 ($418 with tax) x 7 = $2,926 (great savings if you qualify)

Marriott 7-night Reward Stay (Buy Points and upgrade with $700 cash) = $2,575.

Save $842 on this 7-night hotel stay. This hotel savings covers other travel expenses for the week. ”

This points purchase vacation option I wrote about in October 2007 is still the best deal for a Deluxe Ocean View room at JW Marriott Ihilani considering my analysis of the Marriott Hawaiian Sand Dollar Vacation value this morning.

Look at the numbers and see the dollars washing away in the sand dollar vacation.

An article appeared today in PR Newswire for Journalists, Economy Foreclosing on Spring Break?, based on a survey by AccessAmerica, a travel insurance company. “Access America survey finds half of American families scaling back spring break plans…or forgoing their vacations altogether”

The not-so-surprising conclusion of the data is poorer families are cutting back on vacation spending this March 2008. The website says the full report is available upon request.

My observation, as someone who has traveled nearly every Easter to Europe for the past ten years, is airfare to Europe is dirt cheap right now for long-haul travel this Spring 2008. The fares are comparable or lower than commonly available fares at Easter time since 2000. Airfare is probably near a record low right now for purchasing trans-Atlantic travel in just 14 days or so from today.

I have seen fares from Monterey, San Francisco, and Los Angeles hovering around $500 all-in to Frankfurt and London. The fare was $541 Monterey to Frankfurt last week, 21 days before Easter travel. I think that airfare has to be near the record low over the past five years for a ticket purchase from Monterey this close to Easter. There were flights costing less from Monterey to Europe than San Francisco to Europe. The flights route from Monterey to San Francisco and then on to Europe. $100/barrel oil doesn’t seem to have much of an impact on airfare prices.

I commented a couple of months ago that trans-Atlantic travel was down 2006 to 2007 year-over-year. American Airlines reports February passenger loads have increased to Europe. The low prices are getting people across the ocean, but are you prepared for the $7.00 Coca-Cola and $18 fishs & chips pub tab?

Hotel Tips from the Loyalty Traveler –
Planning a Spring Break European hotel stay?

Here are links to some of the best hotel opportunities for a lower-cost trip. I provide a hotel sample, but there are many choices of hotels and locations offering these reduced hotel stay awards. And there is good news for those of you not banking enough points at the moment for a free hotel stay this Spring trip. Hotel points can be purchased and there is a possibility you can save money by just purchasing the hotel points you need to book a free hotel stay.

Hilton Point Stretchers and London.

Hilton London Canary Wharf has PointStretcher dates from March 16-28 and May 1-7. This 40,000 HHonors point/night Category 6 hotel can be booked for 24,000/points/night with an HHonors Point Stretcher reservation.

HHonors members can buy 40,000 HHonors points in a calendar year. Purchases of 10,000 points reduce the price to $10/1,000 points.

Hilton London Canary Wharf can be booked for 24,000 points. If you don’t already have the points, you can buy 24,000 points for $240.

March 20, 2008 rate check of Hilton London Canary Wharf
The nightly rate ranges from $454 low to $500+ for most rooms. This would be a high value use of a PointStretcher night, if you could get a reservation. In contrast, the Friday night rate at the London Canary Wharf is under $175/night.
S
ample trip for a couple: Each person purchase 24,000 Hilton HHonors points and redeem for one free Point Stretcher night ($480 total cost). Pay for two weekend nights when rates drop to about $175/night from the $400 to $500 midweek rates. Friday and Saturday night will cost $350. Four nights at the Hilton Canary Wharf London for a little over $200/night.

Other HHonors Point Stretcher hotel opportunities

Marriott PointSavers
Marriott has several UK hotel properties available for Spring break trips at reduced points rates.

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club PointBreaks

These awards are an unbeatable deal if you have a trip to a hotel location where IHG Priority Club is offering a PointBreaks award. The cost is only 5,000 points per night. Priority Club members can purchase 10,000 points for $100, up to 20,000 points per calendar year.

Sample Award night:
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Caserta, Italy (near Naples)
March 19-21, 2008 for 10,000 points (=$100 for 2-night stay)
Paid rate for a 2-night stay March 19-21, 2008 = 77EUR/night or $230 for 2-night stay.

Another incredible deal with IHG Priority Club is their Pay 2 Nights, Get 1 Free offer. Dozens of hotels in Europe are participating this Spring season. Check the link and search for a hotel.
Naples, Italy Holiday Inn for March 19-21 is only 45EUR/night. That is a budget saver.
If you are lucky you may save hundreds of dollars between this offer and a PointBreaks stay.

An integrated loyalty program travel plan provides numerous opportunities to use airline miles and hotel points for travel savings. The knowledge of equivalent exchange values for points and miles between loyalty programs allows the traveler to save money on travel. This loyalty traveler is always looking for a good exchange of hotel points and airline miles for an economical 5-star vacation.

Hilton HHonors advertises itself as the only program letting members earn both hotel points and airline miles for a hotel stay. This feature is what HHonors calls “Double Dipping”. Starwood, Marriott, IHG, and Hyatt loyalty programs all allow the member to select in the member’s guest profile an earning preference for either hotel points or airline miles.

An even more impressive feature of Hilton HHonors is the ability to exchange airline miles into HHonors points. Airline miles to points exchange can be done with the following airlines: American, Hawaiian, Mexicana, Midwest, South African Airways, and Virgin Atlantic Airways.
http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/points/milesforpoints.do

Exchange rate is 5,000 frequent flier miles = 10,000 HHonors points for all these airlines except Virgin Atlantic which has an even exchange of 5,000 miles = 5,000 HHonors points.

Over the past ten years I have exchanged nearly 1,000,000 airline miles from American Airlines, LatinPass, and TWA into hotel points with Marriott Rewards and Hilton HHonors. The option to transfer airline miles into Marriott points was discontinued several years ago.

I discovered the value of this strategy for exchanging airline miles into hotel points when I planned a trip to Spain and the Netherlands in 1999. Hotel prices were about $150/night at the Hilton hotels in Amsterdam and Barcelona. I exchanged 50,000 TWA miles into 100,000 Hilton HHonors points. The miles could have been exchanged for an economy class airline ticket to Europe ($500 value) whereas the 100,000 HHonors points were good for 9 hotel nights ($1,300 value).

Currently in 2008 it  is also possible to purchase up to 40,000 points in a calendar year for $400. http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/points/purchase.do

If you purchase more than 10,000 points at one time the price is $0.01/point and $0.0125/point if less than 10,000 points are purchased. Points will appear in account in about 30 minutes.

Extending Frequent Flier Mile Accounts with Hilton Stays

A strategy I have frequently used for stays at Hilton Hotels was to change my airline miles earning preference to frequent flier programs holding miles in accounts I might not use for the year. Losing your frequent flier miles for inactivity is cheaply avoidable. A Hilton-brand hotel stay allows the guest to maintain an active account with 500-miles earned for most Hilton-brand hotel stays. And, you also get HHonors points for your stay.

Paradise with an Ocean View

In 1995, when I worked as a special education teacher in Maine, I received my classroom’s first Mac computer. The desktop picture I selected for the monitor was a beautiful white sand island with palm trees. The island paradise was my fantasy image when the day-to-day grind of behaviorally impaired special education students had me feeling whipped. The picture title named the location as the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, a thousand miles off the coast of Africa.

My dream of an Indian Ocean resort getaway has eluded me to this date. I have had opportunities to fly British Airways using miles and stay for free at the Hilton Mauritius on points, but my vacation fantasy was not my wife’s ideal vacation. The resorts of the Maldives, the Seychelles, and Mauritius in the Indian Ocean are still a trophy travel dream of mine. These locations are about as far as a person can travel from the USA.

Nearly every year the resorts in these island locations go up in price (at least for Americans exchanging devalued dollars) and the Category rating for many of these hotels continues to rise in various loyalty programs.

Which brings this discussion around to Hilton HHonors PointStretcher discounted hotel stay awards.

Hilton HHonors PointStretcher Award Chart
http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/rewards/pointstretcher.do

HHonors PointStretcher Participating Hotels for 2008
http://hhonors.hilton.com/en/hhonors/rewards/stretchers/

Hilton Mauritius Resort, [Pointstretcher dates: May 25-June 30, 2008]
Category 6 HHonors hotel = 40,000 points/night or 175,000 points/6-night GLON2P award
PointStretcher Award is available for 24,000 points/night
Monday, June 16 –Sunday, June 22
King Deluxe room = 144,000 points/6-nights

Cash price is 13,696 MUR/night = $472/night for the nonrefundable internet only lowest rate or 17,120 MUR/night flexible rate. In this instance, 24,000 HHonors points can be redeemed at a value of almost 2 cents each for a $472/night room.
A complimentary upgrade for an elite status member may be even more rewarding with a PointStretcher stay in a Corner Suite = $772/night or Deluxe Suite = $868/night.

Other PointStretcher Opportunities:
Hilton Prague, Czech Republic, PointStretcher dates: March 8-14, 22-28; April 20-26
HHonors Category 4 hotel, standard award = 30,000 points/night or 150,000 points/6-nights GLON2 award.
PointStretcher Award = 18,000 points/night
March 22-28 PointStretcher award is available for 108,000 points/6-nights.
Pointstretcher saves 42,000 points on regular GLON2 award.
Paid rate = 158€/night = $235/night compared to 18,000 points/night ($180 value)

Hilton Waikiki Prince Kuhio, Hawaii- Rated #11 of 85 Honolulu hotels on TripAdvisor.
HHonors Category 6 = 40,000 points/night
PointStretcher dates = April 1-7, 2008
24,000 points/night and 5 night award available for 120,000 points. This saves 80,000 points on regular award rate.
Internet only paid rate = $172/night.
Even at a pointstretcher award rate the value of points redeemed is worth less than one cent each and is a low redemption value for hotel points compared to other hotel options. This hotel may be a better value for a paid stay and save your points for a higher value redemption.

Hilton Waikiki Prince Kuhio - $172 night vs. 24,000 points/night ($240 value)
Hilton Prague - $235/night vs. 18,000 points/night ($180 value)
Hilton Mauritius - $472/night vs. 24,000 points/night ($240 value)

Also, for a more accurate comparison, the traveler needs to calculate the points not earned on award stay that would be “added value” for the cost of a paid stay. (Another outstanding and unique feature of Hilton HHonors is an award stay counts as a stay for elite status qualification – terrific added value for elite status seekers.)

Hilton Prague $235 night = 2,350 points + 1,175 points = 3,525 HHonors points for non-elite with Points&Points preference selection) = $35.25

The value of points not earned for a PointStretcher stay compared to a paid stay at Hilton Prague is about $35.00. A comparison of the value of using a free hotel award must include the “added value” that would have been earned if paying for the room. The 18,000 points for a free night have a $180 purchase value. The “added value of a paid stay would be $35. Together, $180 + $35 = $215, the points value and the missed opportunity for “added value” from a paid stay, can be compared to the going room rate for a comparison of award value to paid stay value.

$180 + $35(added value, if paid stay) = $215 value of using PointStretcher Award. Even considering the “added value” of the HHonors points notearned for an award stay, the PointStretcher award option is still a higher value alternative than a paid stay.
Hilton Prague PointStretcher = $215/night
Hilton Paid Stay Nonrefundable internet-only rate = $235/night