Over the weekend I wrote a post asking how you Hilton Diamond members approach suite upgrades. I’m a new Hilton Diamond member thanks to credit card spend on the Citi® Hilton HHonors™ Reserve Card (affiliate link), and while the rules on suite upgrades are clearly published with Hyatt and Starwood (the two chains I’m primarily loyal too), Hilton isn’t quite as straightforward. Their policy is simply that suite upgrades “may be offered” to Diamond members by the hotel. Based on the comments on that post it seems like for the most part Diamond members don’t proactively get upgraded to suites, but with a bit of begging they’ll sometimes get suite upgrades.

I’m staying at the Hilton Budapest Castle District right now, and booked one night on points and one night with cash, so I had two separate reservations. I actually only locked in the reservation a day before my arrival, and didn’t inform the hotel I had two reservations, so figured I’d have some explaining to do at check-in to have the reservations linked.

Fast forward to yesterday, when I arrived at the hotel at around 7PM.

I decided to head straight up to the club lounge for check-in, and the agent there couldn’t have been nicer. She pointed out that they noticed I had two reservations and took the liberty of linking them and blocking off the same room for me both nights. She also said that they noticed I was a new Hilton Diamond member, and thanked me for my “loyalty” (hah hah), and said they had upgraded me to a top floor suite with great views of the Danube. She then explained internet was free, the club lounge hours, and that I could choose to have breakfast in either the restaurant or club lounge.

She further proactively offered recommendations for what to see in Budapest, and said I could come back to see her any time if I wanted more suggestions.

Then waiting for me in my room was a small arrival amenity, consisting of some chocolate and fruit.

I was simply shocked. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a proactive and friendly check-in experience in my life. Ever.

As far as the room goes, it was huge and the views were amazing. This is an older hotel in the castle district and I realized it wasn’t renovated going in, so it was furnished as I had expected. If a cruise ship and 1986 had a baby, this hotel would be it, down to the towel art.

But the views…. the views… have you ever seen anything like that? Definitely ranks in the top five views I’ve ever had from a hotel room.

If all my Hilton stays were like this I’d probably just be loyal to them, given how many properties they have.

But I’m guessing this can just be chalked up to beginner’s luck, and it’ll be the last suite upgrade I see from them…

Now if you guys will excuse me, it’s almost dinner time and I’m hungary. Not that you guys have a stake in this, but any food tips? Whatever you think, just don’t give me too much of a ribbing, please.

While Hyatt and Starwood do a lot to differentiate between mid-tier and top-tier status, Hilton and Marriott are kind of the opposite — they don’t do enough to differentiate between mid-tier and top-tier status.

Last year I got the Citi® Hilton HHonors™ Reserve Card (affiliate link), which comes with Hilton HHonors Gold status for as long as you have the card. That’s a huge benefit for a $95 annual fee, given that Gold status gets you complimentary internet and breakfast/lounge access. As far as I’m concerned those are the single most valuable hotel benefits, and justify the annual fee after just one or two stays.

Conrad Singapore Executive Lounge

But the card also offers Diamond status after spending $40,000 on the card in a year. While having the card for Gold status is a no brainer, for the better part of a year I’ve been pondering whether it makes sense to put $40,000 of spend on the card for Diamond status. As far as I’m concerned the two most valuable benefits of Diamond status are as follows:

• Gold members only get access to the club lounge if they get upgraded to a club room, while Diamond members are guaranteed lounge access (though it’s worth noting that if you don’t get upgraded to the club level as a Gold member you get restaurant breakfast, which many would consider superior).
• The terms & conditions of the program give Diamond members suite upgrades at the hotel’s discretion. This is different than Starwood where Platinum members get guaranteed suite upgrades based on availability at arrival, but instead with Hilton it’s entirely at the hotel’s discretion. I don’t think there are many Hilton Diamond members getting suite upgrades anywhere close to a majority of the time, though.

In retrospect I should have probably just been happy with Gold status, though I had started working towards the $40,000 of spend before the HHonors devaluation was announced, and at that point figured I might as well go all the way, and now I’m a Diamond member. If it proves worthwhile, great. If it doesn’t, at least I can report back and suggest others don’t go for Diamond status.

I’ve actually had very good luck as an HHonors Gold member. I’ve never been denied lounge access. That being said, I can appreciate the peace of mind of knowing it’s guaranteed. But the suite upgrade benefit is what confuses me, and what I’d love to hear from existing Diamond members about. I also have top tier status with Hyatt and Starwood, and their room upgrade policies are straightforward. Hyatt upgrades you to the best available non-suite, though also gives you four confirmed suite upgrades annually that can be used to lock in a suite at the time of booking. Meanwhile Starwood upgrades you to the best available standard suite at check-in, meaning if a suite is available you’re entitled to it (not saying it always goes that smoothly, but that’s the policy). If you get 50 elite night credits with them, they also give you 10 suite night awards, which can confirm a suite upgrade five days out.

Then you have Hilton, which has this confusing benefit (bolding mine):

Complimentary room upgrades for Gold and Diamond HHonors members may include the next-best available room from the room type booked. Upgrades may also be rooms with desirable views, corner rooms, rooms on high floors, rooms with special amenities, or rooms on Executive Floors, as identified by each property. Room upgrades, for Diamond members only, may also include suites.

The suite upgrade benefit is actually new as of last year. So if my interpretation is correct you receive suite upgrades at the hotel’s discretion. It doesn’t matter whether there are 100 suites available, what matters is the mood of the front desk agent. So, Diamond members, how do you approach suite upgrades at Hilton hotels. Do you:

a) Not care and let them assign you whatever they want?
b) Ask nicely at check-in whether they might have any suite upgrades available?
c) Be a bit more suggestive and say “I noticed online that you’re still selling suites for tonight, do you have any suite upgrades available?”
d) Pull out your Diamond card and pet giraffe, and refuse to move until they give you the presidential suite and waive the pet cleanup fee?

And how often do you actually get suite upgrades?

Staying at my first Hilton abroad as a Diamond member next week, so I want to be sure I’m using the right approach.

Introduction
Aloft San Francisco Airport
Cathay Pacific Lounge San Francisco
Cathay Pacific First Class San Francisco to Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific First Class Hong Kong to Singapore
St. Regis Singapore
Singapore Airlines Silver Kris Lounge Singapore
SilkAir Business Class Singapore to Koh Samui
Conrad Koh Samui
Bangkok Airways Economy Class Koh Samui to Bangkok
Le Meridien Bangkok
Royal Jordanian Business Class Bangkok to Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific “The Wing” First Class Lounge Hong Kong
Cathay Pacific First Class Hong Kong to San Francisco

I have a confession to make. Even though I (in part) plan other peoples’ travel for a living, I suck at planning my own trips. This is probably because I’m both a perfectionist and have tried just about every premium cabin product out there, so I’m always looking for a new “high,” though I’ve come to realize there are very few new “highs” out there.

The trip planning started innocently enough. Last April I booked a Cathay Pacific first class ticket to Bali for this March. As an Executive Platinum member with American I can always make changes or even cancel as the departure date approaches at no cost, and the fact is that Cathay Pacific first class award space is outrageously good, especially out of San Francisco. They usually release two first class award seats per flight, and at 135,000 AAdvantage miles per passenger it’s an absolute bargain.

But as the departure date approached my trip changed completely. Not only that, but I dragged someone along with me thanks to how good last minute space is. As a matter of fact not a single segment remained the same as I originally planned, and I made changes literally up until two hours before departure for the outbound, and changes to the return while in Asia.

Initially the idea was to go to Bali, but once the Hilton devaluation was announced I figured going to the Conrad Koh Samui would make more sense given how much it’s going up in price. The issue is that OneWorld doesn’t fly to Koh Samui, so it’s not quite that straightforward. You really have a few options for getting there. You can book Cathay Pacific as far as Singapore and then grab a SilkAir flight from Singapore to Koh Samui, you can fly Cathay Pacific as far as Bangkok and then grab a Thai Airways or Bangkok Airways flight from Bangkok to Koh Samui, or you can fly Dragonair as far as Phuket and grab a Bangkok Airways flight from there to Koh Samui. There are other ways too, but those are the easiest.

I’ll spare you guys the gory planning details, but in the end the routing looked as follows:

3/22 AS328 Seattle to San Francisco departing 2:00PM arriving 4:19PM
3/23 CX873 San Francisco to Hong Kong departing 12:05AM arriving 6:00AM (+1 day)
3/24 CX691 Hong Kong to Singapore departing 8:00AM arriving 11:50AM
3/25 MI772 Singapore to Koh Samui departing 9:00AM arriving 9:50AM
3/29 PG1172 Koh Samui to Bangkok departing 6:50PM arriving 7:55PM
3/30 RJ182 Bangkok to Hong Kong departing 3:25PM arriving 7:00PM
3/31 CX872 Hong Kong to San Francisco departing 12:30AM and arriving 10:10PM (-1 day)
3/31 AS311 San Francisco to Seattle departing 9:15AM and arriving 11:17AM

As I mentioned earlier, the “shell” of the trip was taken care of with 135,000 AAdvantage miles per person in first class, which included the segments between Seattle and San Francisco, San Francisco and Hong Kong, Hong Kong and Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong, Hong Kong and San Francisco, and San Francisco and Seattle. The total taxes on that ticket were about $100.

Cathay Pacific first class

Then in Singapore I decided to book the St. Regis. As I wrote about in this blog post, I find Singapore to be one of the most frustrating hotel markets for those trying to redeem points. I’ve stayed at the Conrad, Crowne Plaza, Grand Hyatt, InterContinental, Marina Bay Sands, and Shangri-La. So I figured it was finally time to try the St. Regis, especially given we were there for just a night. The rate was 360SGD (~$290USD), which seemed like a better deal than redeeming for a free night or cash & points, given that this is a category six hotel.

St. Regis Singapore suite

Then I used Singapore KrisFlyer miles (transferred from American Express Membership Rewards) for the tickets between Singapore and Koh Samui, which cost 17,000 miles per person (ordinarily 20,000, but there’s a 15% discount for booking online), plus about $80 in taxes and fuel surcharges.

SilkAir business class

The Conrad Koh Samui cost a cool 145,000 HHonors points for the four nights, compared to the paid rates of over $1,000USD per night. Not a bad value, if you ask me!

Then we paid for coach tickets on Bangkok Airways from Koh Samui to Bangkok, which cost about $100USD per person. I would have paid for business class (which retails for just a modest premium), though the only flight available was one of their aircraft with just one cabin.

“Meal” on 50 minute Bangkok Airways coach flight

In Bangkok we booked the Le Meridien, which I have stayed at before. It was $100USD per night and close to where we wanted to be for a quick overnight in Bangkok.

Le Meridien Bangkok

Anyway, since I have lots of upcoming travel (though fortunately not much this month) I’ll try to post this trip report pretty efficiently. If you have any questions or comments just let me know!

Introduction
American Airlines Flagship Lounge New York
American Airlines Business Class New York to London
American Airlines Arrivals Lounge London
Malaysia Airlines First Class Golden Lounge London
Malaysia Airlines First Class London to Kuala Lumpur
Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia Airlines First Class Golden Lounge Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia Airlines First Class Kuala Lumpur to London
Hilton London Heathrow Terminal 4
American Airlines Flagship Lounge & British Airways Galleries First Lounge Terminal 3 London Heathrow
American Airlines Business Class London to New York

The only thing worse than transiting Heathrow is having to overnight there. While the hotels aren’t all that far from the airport, almost none of them have complimentary shuttles, so you end up having to take the paid Hotel Hoppa bus (speaking of which, how do you say the name of that bus service without sounding like a complete dumbass?), which is an absolute pain. How impractical are the airport hotels? The “Hilton Heathrow T5″ sounds convenient, right? I mean, the terminal is in the name, so it must have a shuttle or be walkable. Nope, instead you still have to buy a ticket and take the Hotel Hoppa to get there.

Though I think we had the ideal set of circumstances, since we were landing at terminal four and our connection was leaving from terminal three the following day. Perhaps one of the few practical airport hotels at Heathrow, the Hilton T4 is actually connected to the terminal via a covered walkway. Then the following day to get to terminal three we’d just have to walk to terminal four and take the complimentary Heathrow Express connector to terminal three. Not super-easy, but as easy as it gets at Heathrow.

Unfortunately the rate wasn’t cheap, though at least I was able to book using a cash & points award, which cost 25,000 HHonors points plus £53 for the night, including all VAT.

Upon arrival from Kuala Lumpur we followed the signs towards the Hilton, which led to an outdoor walkway that was about a six minute walk to the hotel.

Terminal four arrivals area

Four minutes to go

Two minutes to go

The end of the walkway let out near the front entrance of the hotel, right near the reception desk.

End of walkway Read More…

Hello from the stunning Conrad Koh Samui! With the massive Hilton devaluation kicking in on Thursday, I figured I’d briefly share my thoughts of the Conrad Koh Samui, where I’m staying at the moment, given that this is one of the most aspirational Hilton properties out there. I just finished my first day, so these are just my initial impressions.

I booked a four night stay on an AXON award, which cost 145,000 HHonors points for all four nights. As of Thursday the same stay will cost a whopping 95,000 HHonors points per night, or 380,000 HHonors points total. That’s right, the cost for this stay is nearly tripling.

In looking at revenue rates for the Conrad for tonight, for example, it’s going for 40,000THB for the night plus tax, for a total of 47,480THB (a whopping $1,600USD+ per night).

With that in mind, here are my initial impressions:

The Rooms

Simply stunning. Aside from the resdiences, all the rooms at this hotel are one bedroom villas with plunge pools. And these aren’t rinky dinky plunge pools, but good size pools you can actually swim in.

The villas consist of one main room with a king bed, desk, and sofa facing a TV.

Bedroom

Bedroom

The bathroom is probably the same size as the rest of the room, with a massive tub, double sinks, walk-in shower, and partitioned off toilet.

Bathroom

Bathroom

The highlight of the room, though, is probably the patio, with two lounge chairs, a table with more chairs, and an infinity pool.

Patio

Pool with a view

Physically this is a stunning property. The rooms are in amazing shape, modern, and the (free) wifi is even fast, which I find to be extremely rare for resorts in Thailand. And the views from the rooms have to be among the best of anywhere I’ve ever stayed at. Usually I’m not a huge fan of villas or plunge pools since I’d usually rather hang out in the main resort area, but this is one property where I love just hanging around my room and on my patio.

The Resort

The resort is interesting. It’s built on the side of a hill, and to some degree you really have to wonder who came up with the idea of constructing a resort here. There are several “levels” of villas so that they all have unobstructed views. It’s actually kind of impressive how tall the columns holding up each villa are. Some must be 40 or 50 feet tall. This creates dramatic and unobstructed views from every villa.

View of the resort

View from lobby

The resort is the ultimate place to relax, which is to say there’s not all that much to do. There’s a pool and an artificial beach, but that’s about it. There’s one restaurant open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, one restaurant by the pool, and one fine dining restaurant that’s open five days a week for dinner. So the food options are somewhat limited, and the resort is in an isolated part of Koh Samui, so options to dine outside of the resort seem somewhat limited unless you want to drive for 30 or so minutes.

Pool

One thing that has been mentioned in the past about the resort that I never fully appreciated is the lack of stairs. As you can see in the picture above you have “rows” of villas, and the only way to get from one level to the other is by the extremely steep pathways connecting them. And we’re talking about really steep pathways. There are no stairs between levels, so it’s quite a haul. Fortunately they have buggies that drive you on demand, so don’t expect to do much walking around the resort.

The Food

While the other aspects of the resort have a “wow” factor to them, the food is mediocre. It’s not that it’s bad, really, it’s just not especially good. Prices are high, as you’d expect for a property like this, though I don’t think the quality is quite there. While the breakfast buffet featured a good variety of items, I didn’t find a lot of the stuff to be especially fresh. I’d be surprised if the croissants or pastries weren’t from the previous day’s buffet. Since the resort is isolated dining options outside of the resort are also quite limited. So I don’t think the food will disappoint, though I doubt it will delight either.

The Service

The service is friendly and well intentioned. The English skills of some employees are lacking a bit, though they’re all friendly. They’re also not especially polished, at least not as polished as you’d expect at a property that sells villas for over $1,000 per night. But in my opinion their friendliness more than makes up for any shortcomings in how polished they are.

Overall

This is a great place to spend 3-4 days (anything more than that would get boring for me). You can’t beat the pre-March 28 value you get on points staying here. Could I ever imagine spending the revenue rates to stay here? No way. But this is a really nice place nonetheless.