HOTEL TRAVEL: Tips and Tricks for cheap Hilton nights and Hilton HHonors Gold status
Today I am going to talk about some of current promotions from the Hilton HHonors program, and how to exploit them for cheap/free hotel nights and earn HHonors Gold status along the way.
Joining the HHonors program is free, and allows you to earn HHonors points to redeem for nights at hotels in the Hilton family brand.
PROMOTION 1: Until December 31st, you can buy 10,000+ HHonors points for half price. I bought 10,000 points for $50
PROMOTION 2: Earn 5,000 points for each stay booked with the Hilton HHonors app until January 31, 2017 when paying with a Visa card (debit card ok!)
PROMOTION 3: HHonors is offering a Gold status fast-track challenge. This challenge awards Gold status after 4 stays within 90 days of signing up for the Challenge. Gold benefits include increased points earning, free access to health clubs, room upgrades, and more
So how to maximize these promotions?
Here is a list of Category 1 hotels which require only 5,000 points for an award night. If you purchase 10,000 points for $50 (see Promotion 1) and use the points for 2 different one night stays at a Category 1, you'll be half-way to Gold (see Promotion 3), and you'll get those 10,000 points back from the Visa promotion (see Promotion 2). Sounds to good to be true? It kinda is, because of all the 540 Hilton hotels worldwide, only 60 are category 1 and they are in far off places. Amazing deal, but not achievable for most. But...
Here is a list of Category 2 hotels which require only 10,000 points for an award night. There are 140 of these and I think this is the sweet spot of these stackable promotions. I was able to book the Hilton Garden Inn Vienna for a night when I'll be in Vienna and need a room. The published rate is 80 euro pre-paid, but I booked a night for the 10,000 points for which I paid $50 (see Promotion 1). Another gem of a benefit is since it's an award night, I can cancel up to 24-hours before checkin and get my points back. And since I signed up for Promotion 2 and I booked within the Hilton HHonors app, I'll get 5,000 points back after my stay.
THE FINE PRINT:
In order to get the 5,000 points back from the Visa promotion, you must spend something. So for an award night, you should order a drink at the hotel bar, or buy a candy bar in the hotel store, and charge it to room, to be settled upon checkout. And don't forget to pay with a Visa card!