Hilton HHonors Points & Money Awards have variable cash payments even for the same category hotels. Where you stay can result in a large difference between cash amounts paid for each night.The hotels surveyed for this post found HHonors category 6 Points & Money award nights ranging from $68 to $150 per night, in addition to 50% points of Standard award nights.

Hilton HHonors Points & Money awards require only 50% points compared to HHonors Standard award nights. There is not a published table for the cash portion for this award type. There are prevailing rates, however, some hotels have a higher cash portion than typical for the hotel category. Read More…

Hilton HHonors Asia Pacific hotels have a 20 to 25% discount on Best Available Rate and Bed & Breakfast rate that includes a double stay elite credit offer for prepaid, nonrefundable bookings by February 14, 2013. Two-night stays earn double stay credit for HHonors elite status. This sale allows hotel stays through December 31, 2013 and an opportunity to earn HHonors double elite credit for stays later in the year.

This sale is the only remaining portion of Hilton’s Any Weekend Anywhere advance purchase, nonrefundable global sale for 2013 stays. The Americas and EMEA regions ended bookings over a week ago during the same Any Weekend Anywhere global sale from November 19-January 31. Read More…

From January 7 through March 31, 2013 HHonors members can register to earn double base points or double base miles. Promotion bonus applies to existing reservations for stays and nights within the promotion period, however, bonus only applies for stays completed after promotion registration.

‘Double Your HHonors’ promotion registration page.

Bonus points or miles apply to up to two rooms per reservation when both rooms are booked and paid for by the HHonors member.

HHonors Points Earning Analysis

Double points means a Points & Points member earns at least 25 points/$1 for all Hilton brands except 12.5 points/$1 for Home2 Suites stays.

HHonors Points Calculator

• 10 base points per dollar
• 5 bonus points points per dollar (Points & Points earner)
• 10 bonus points per dollar (Double Your HHonors promotion)
• Elite bonus points if applicable (1.5 to 5 points/$1)
• HHonors credit card bonus points if applicable (up to 12 points per dollar with HHonors American Express Surpass)

If you have all the right stuff and stay at a participating hotel, Double Your HHonors promotion can pull in 42 points per dollar.

That is a decent rebate on hotel spend.

Non-Participating HHonors Hotels (link to hotel list)

The major drawback of Double Your HHonors is there are about 600 nonparticipating hotels in the USA. That is almost 1 in 5 hotels in the USA opting out of this offer.

There are only 14 hotels outside the USA not participating, so not too much of a concern for international travelers.

Over 600 hotels opted out of Double Your HHonors 2013 Q-1 promotion with 97% of those in USA.

Here are some comparative statistics to other HHonors quarterly promotions.

• HHonors 2011 Q-4 fewer than 300 opted out.
• HHonors 2012 Q-2 about 350 hotels opted out.
• HHonors 2012 Q-3 about 550 hotels opted out.
• HHonors 2012 Q-4 only about 250 hotels opted out.

The vast majority of hotels opting out of HHonors promotions are in the USA.

Earning Double Miles

In general, I do not think earning double miles is nearly as valuable as earning double points.

Remember you can keep your profile preference at Points and Fixed Miles or Points & Variable Miles and still earn double points with this offer and standard base miles. Your earning is only reduced by 5 points/$1 (Points & Points bonus) by choosing Double Points for this promotion with fixed or variable miles.

If your travel includes many stays at Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites or Home2 Suites, then poor fixed miles earning rates, typically 100 miles per stay, make Double Miles a poor promotion choice for Double Your HHonors. Many international airlines do not even earn miles for stays at these three brands.

Another advantage of choosing Double Points is award stays will earn double points for incidental charges, however, award stays will not earn double miles.

Double Your HHonors FAQ.

Conrad Miami bar balcony view.

Ric Garrido, writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler, shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. You can follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter and Facebook and RSS feed.

Several people have asked me about good hotel deals over the New Year’s holiday period. In city after city the Hilton Holiday Season Sale for stays from December 14 through January 7, 2013 is by far the best hotel rate deal happening.

Full-service hotels like Hilton, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Conrad, Waldorf-Astoria and Hilton Grand Vacations are 50% off. Other Hilton brands of Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites and Home2 Suites are 30% off.

These rate discounts are not available December 31.

The discount rates are even available for high category rooms, including suites at many participating hotels.

For many hotels I checked the cancellation policy is generally day before arrival with no penalty.

http://hhonors3.hilton.com/en/offers/100040020.htm

Related Post:

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/loyaltytraveler/2012/12/10/hilton-thank-you-50-sale-is-real-deal/

Hilton Thank You Sale offers 50% off Best Flexible Rate at participating full-service Hilton brand hotels worldwide for stays from December 14-January 7. December 31 is a blackout date for this sale.

I just booked several nights using this sale. The hotels I booked have a no penalty policy for cancellation up to one day before arrival.

Hilton Thank You Sale link:

Save up to 50% off the Best Available Rate at participating hotels and resorts throughout the Hilton Worldwide portfolio. All stays are eligible to earn Hilton HHonors™ Points. Whether you’re traveling near or far, make this the best holiday yet by booking a room for yourself or your loved ones.

Save 50% at these participating hotels and resorts:

• Waldorf Astoria
• Conrad
• Hilton
• DoubleTree by Hilton
• Embassy Suites 
• Hilton Grand Vacations

Save 30% at these participating hotels and resorts:

• Hilton Garden Inn
• Hampton
• Homewood Suites
• Home2 Suites

Help us spread the light and warmth of hospitality this holiday season by sharing this special offer with your friends and family.

Offer available exclusively through this webpage.

*Offer not available on December 31, 2012.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Thank You Rate is valid at participating hotels worldwide for stays booked between December 5, 2012 and January 7, 2013, and completed between December 14, 2012 and January 7, 2013. Rates are subject to availability and are not available on December 31, 2012. Be sure to review the hotel’s cancellation/change policy at time of booking. This offer may not be combined with other select promotions, offer or discounts and is not valid for existing reservations or groups. All reservations for this rate must be made on the website.

Analysis:

This is the best Hilton sale I have seen in some time that also coincided with my need for hotel rooms in San Francisco, Las Vegas and Miami over the next month.

Sample Rates:

San Francisco Friday Dec 14

San Francisco Tuesday Dec 18

Under $100 for downtown San Francisco on a weeknight are insanely low rates for 2012.

Las Vegas January 3 Hilton Grand Vacations Suites on the Strip $64.

Conrad Miami at $114 during December 2012 holiday week. Hilton Miami at $84.

Remember that high category rooms like suites are also 50% off Best Flexible Rates with this sale. I even applied for low cost Nor1 e-upgrades on my bookings to get a shot at discounted upgrades for the stays.

Hilton Mom Voyage is casting for 15 Mommy bloggers (and possibly even a Daddy or two) who can write and share family travel content on a new site to launch January 2013.

A 2-week nationwide search for Moms who can write about family travel experiences for Hilton Hotels & Resorts launched this week and continues through September 25, 2012.

Looks like an 18-month gig with Hilton that includes:

• Hilton HHonors Diamond status (Hear that SPG? SPG Amex Stars for 2012 were only comped Gold status which I already held.)
• Receive 5 “Be My Guest” certificates for a free night at any Hilton.
• Receive a 5-night Hilton all expenses paid stay that “matches” your family travel style. Read More…

Extended stays at a hotel create more opportunity for hotel revenue managers to play with room rates. Often this can work in your favor with a discount rate for a free or reduced night. Other times this can work against you for easily finding the lowest room rate for your hotel stay.

Yesterday, I came across a rate anomaly at the DoubleTree by Hilton San Jose, California hotel when checking rates for a 4-night stay. This rate search shows an example where your quick rate search might result in paying about $100 per night too much for the same room and dates.

DoubleTree by Hilton, San Jose, California Read More…

Hilton has a Twitter promotion running from today April 19 through Friday, April 27 10am ET –3pm ET daily for a chance to win two Tribeca Film Festival tickets in New York.

@HiltonOnline will post a tweet at or around 10am ET each day.

Today’s tweet: Read More…

The 117 hotels dropping reward category April 30, 2012 are mostly from the two mid-tier HHonors categories 3 and 4. 49 category-4 hotels currently at 30,000 points per reward night will drop to category-3 at 25,000 points per reward night. Another 47 hotels will drop from category 3 to category-2. These new category-2 hotels will require only 50% points at 12,500 points per standard reward night in May 2012 compared to the reward rate now. Read More…

Hilton HHonors is bumping 330 hotels up one hotel reward category on April 30, 2012. One of the biggest impacts for members is going to be the change of 38 hotels rising from category 2 to category 3 which doubles the points required for a standard reward from 12,500 points per night to 25,000 points per night.

In all fairness to Hilton HHonors, 47 hotels are dropping down to category 2 from category 3 and will be half the points from April 30. Also, 49 hotels are dropping from category 4 to category 3, however, 77 hotels are rising from category 3 to category 4.

This post shows the current category 2 hotels rising to category 3 hotel rewards on April 30 by location. All but two of these hotels are located in the USA. Read More…