Book a Points & Money or a Premium Room Reward by January 31, 2012 for a stay by June 30, 2012 and receive a rebate of 30% points. This offer gives members the opportunity for a lower cost hotel stay buying HHonors points and redeeming points for a reward stay rather than pay the published hotel rate.
HHonors new rewards 30% Rebate Promotion offer requires HHonors member registration.
Points & Money Rewards are one of the new reward options Hilton HHonors launched in Q1-2011. The cost of a hotel reward is a fixed cash price and 50% points per night. HHonors category-7 hotels with a standard reward rate of 50,000 points per night are 25,000 points + $85 per night when Points & Money rewards are available. These are capacity controlled rewards and many hotels I checked for places like New York and Paris did not appear to offer any Points & Money rewards during this promotion period through June 30, 2012.
Premium Room Rewards are a great concept for the option to buy any hotel room for HHonors points regardless of the rate. The main disadvantage of this reward is the relatively low value rate of exchange for HHonors points-to-dollars for these rewards. My analysis of dozens of hotels shows a rate around $3 to $6 per 1,000 points is the typical redemption value. This means you will pay 100,000 HHonors points for a room with a published Hilton rate (BAR-Best Available Rate) of $300 to $600. You will typically pay 10,000 points for every $30 in room rate at many hotels using a Premium Room Reward. A good value Premium Room Reward may offer $60 value on every 10,000 points.
Premium Room Rewards do have some good value opportunities at the regular price point. This six month offer for a 30% rebate makes even more Premium Room Reward opportunities – even if you do not have any HHonors points at the moment.
Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Resort by Hilton, Santa Barbara, California
This is a hotel that caught my eye a decade ago, yet I have not stayed overnight here. Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Resort is a beachfront resort in Santa Barbara is Hilton HHonors category 7 at 50,000 points per standard reward night.
Santa Barbara is as far south as I care to drive along the California coast from Monterey. Highway Hell of southern California starts about 25 miles south of Santa Barbara with too many cars and that’s a stress I can go without when wanting to enjoy the beach.
A two night stay February 10-12, 2012, the weekend before Valentine’s Day is 25,000 points + $85 per night. The two night rate after tax is $194.57 + 50,000 points for the HHonors Points & Money reward.
Doubletree Fess Parker Ranch Resort AAA published rate for these two nights after tax = $719.20.
Points & Money Reward rate for this stay after the 30% rebate is 35,000 points + $195.
HHonors Points & Money redemption value:
$719 published room rate – $195 Points & Money cash
= $524 cash saved for 35,000 points.
This reward stay achieves $15 per 1,000 points in redemption value. That is a really high redemption value for HHonors points which typically fall in the range of $4 to $8 per 1,000 points.
Buy Points at $10 per 1,000 points if you need them for a high value reward stay
Hilton allows a member to buy 40,000 points in a calendar year. This means you can buy 40,000 points in December 2011 if you have not made purchases this year and you can buy another 40,000 points in January 2012.
You pay $400 for 40,000 points.
The DoubleTree Resort Points & Money reward example shows a redemption value of $15 per 1,000 points. You can buy points for $10 per 1,000 points from HHonors.
Another rule of Hilton HHonors is a member can buy the points needed for a reward at the time of booking the reward with no limit. Two nights at Santa Barbara DoubleTree Resort takes $195 and 50,000 points using a Points & Money Reward. You can book this entire stay for $695 buying 50,000 points and the rate is still $24 less than paying the AAA rate for the same room.
And you will get back 15,000 points with the 30% Points & Money Reward rebate in 4 to 6 weeks after the reward stay.
HHonors Premium Room Reward 30% Rebate Analysis
The same DoubleTree Resort Santa Barbara shows the value of a Premium Room reward with the 30% rebate offer.
Room rate for a flexible cancellation rate is $406 after tax.
The redemption value for this hotel night is $6.44 per 1,000 points before the 30% rebate. The rebate of 18,900 points makes the net redemption value 44,100 points to save $406.   [update Dec 8 10:05am: the original post incorrectly stated rebate of 13,900 points and $8.27 rebate value.]
HHonors points final redemption value = $9.21 per 1,000 points which is a decent deal for Hilton HHonors points on this Premium Room Reward for the DoubleTree Santa Barbara.
This is a good value for your HHonors points if you already have them, but this redemption rules out the use of buying points at $10 per 1,000 points to redeem for $9.21 value. You might as well pay the published room rate.
There are certainly many hotels with good value redemption opportunities with this HHonors Points & Money and Premium Room Rewards rebate offer. You need to search for them though.
Related posts: Do HHonors Premium Room Rewards Prevent AXON/GLON Rewards at some Hilton Resorts? (Oct 13, 2011)
HHonors Premium Room Reward Analysis and Flexible Dates Search Tool (Oct 10, 2011) – this post shows how to search flexible dates for reward cost and availability.
HHonors Points & Money Rewards Analysis (Oct 3, 2011)
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