(EDIT: This promotion has now been extended to August 31st 2015)
Hilton HHonors has announced that it is cutting back on global promotions and spending more effort on individual targeted deals for specific customer segments. The slightly clumsily executed ‘100,000 free points for some but by no means all Diamond members’ offer was part of this.
Global promotions are not dead and buried, however. ‘Double Your HHonors’ launched on Sunday and will run until the end of May.
You need to register to take part and this can be done via the Hilton website here.
It is a simple offer:
You will earn EITHER double base points or double airline miles for every Hilton Family stay you make during the promotional period, after registration.
If you select double miles, you need to switch your earnings preference to ‘points and miles’ in your Hilton HHonors account.
You can earn credit for up to two rooms per stay. Existing reservations count.
A long list of hotels are not taking part in this offer. Here is the full list – check before you book.
Which option should I choose?
The standard earnings package is 10 base points per $1 plus either 5 bonus points or 1 bonus airline mile per $1. Some brands – more importantly Hampton – earn less.
However, both Iberia Plus and Virgin Flying Club are exceptions to the ‘1 mile per £1’ rule. Here is the list of Hilton airline partners. You will see that:
British Airways earns 1 Avios point per $1
Iberia Plus earns 15 Avios points per $10 (a better deal)
Virgin Flying Club earns 2 miles per $1
Let’s assume a 0.75p valuation per airline mile and 0.33p valuation per Hilton HHonors point.
Double Points means double base points (20 per $1) plus 5 bonus points per $1. That is total earnings of 25 points per $1 with a value of 8.3p.
Double Miles means single base points (10 per $1) plus 3 Avios in Iberia or 4 miles in Virgin. I would value that at 5.5p per $1 with Avios or 6.3p per $1 with Virgin. With any other airline earning the standard 2 miles per $1 when doubled, the return is even worse at 4.8p per $1.
Double Points wins out. Except when it doesn’t.
Hilton is running two excellent airline promotions at the moment which I have covered before:
Earn 1,500 British Airways Avios on your first stay before April 15th and 2,000 Avios on your 2nd stay (article)
Earn 300%-400% bonus Virgin miles on stays before March 31st (article)
Similar offers are also available for Lufthansa and Flying Blue.
The two offers above will work alongside the main ‘Double Your HHonors’ promotion. This changes the maths entirely.
There is no correct answer for everyone. I apologise if you were looking for the definitive answer!
This is because ‘Double Your HHonors’ runs until May 31st and you cannot change your double points or double miles selection once made. The two additional airline offers above expire by mid April.
All you can do is think about the Hilton Family stays you may have between now and May 31st and decide which option is best for you.
What I can say is that, for stays before March 31st, anyone collecting Virgin miles could be laughing. ‘Double Your HHonors’ would you give you 10 Hilton points (3.3p of value) plus 4 Virgin miles (3p of value) per $1. You would get a further 4 Virgin miles (3p of value) from the Virgin ‘300% bonus’ promotion. That is 9.3p of value per $1 and more if you value Virgin miles higher than 0.75p.
Remember that you MUST register. ‘Double Your HHonors’ registration can be done here. The two airline promotions can be registered via the links in the articles I reference above.
(Want to earn more hotel points? To see our complete list of promotions from the major chains, click here to visit our ‘Hotel Promos’ page or use the link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)
About Head for Points
What are the chances of Hilton sorting their 1000 points password change promo just after the 8 March deadline?!
I honestly can’t see what the problem is? Surely they can track who has changed their password and who hasn’t?!
Currently at the Conrad Rangali Maldices staying on points.
Do HH point redemption stays qualify for any of these promos???? (Spending on Seaplanes, meals, diving, etc)
Just off for 2nd coral reef snorkel of the day, before drinks at happy hour (free for HH Gold/Diamonds)
(btw – A detailed review to possibly feature on HFP in near future)
From the FAQs: http://hhonors3.hilton.com/en/promotions/double-your-hhonors/faq/english-uk.html
Do Reward Stays count towards this promotion?
Members who select “Double Points” may earn Double Points (not miles) for incidental charges at participating hotels within the Hilton Worldwide portfolio during a Reward Stay, provided such charges are deemed eligible folio charges, this does not apply to incidental charges for stays at Hampton, Home2 Suites or Homewood Suites. For a complete explanation see Accrual of Points within the HHonors Terms & Conditions by clicking here: http://hhonors3.hilton.com/en/terms/index.html#accrual_of_points
Is the ‘Double Your HHonors’ offer selection (points) choice not independent of the Virgin/BA promos? The T&C don’t make it totally clear.
e.g. Could one choose ‘Double Points’ which would apply to all base points March through May, but for stays until 15th April set your double dip preference to miles, thus receiving double base points AND Virgin/BA bonus miles through the two different offers. Then set your double dip preference to points+points after 15th April?
The T&C restriction seems to be having to select points+miles to receive the double miles offer. It doesn’t say you won’t receive double points if your double dip is set to miles?
I think that this is an option.
I have registered for the BA bonus and so far had one stay. I have another stay booked in a couple of weeks time, where I will get the 2,000 Avios.
The next day, I am starting a run of stays in the US (all seemingly in hotels that are participating, amazingly). My plan is to change my earning preference after the stay at Heathrow back to points and points, so I should hopefully then get the bonus points.
On a very quick reading of the T&C’s and knowledge of previous offers, I don’t see why this shouldn’t work. I’ve just got to get my timing right.
I may wait until I’ve checked out of the Heathrow hotel, then change my earnings preference and then register for this offer. That way, at the point I register my earnings preference will be correct.
AIUI you will still receive double points, just nothing like as many as if you’d selected points+points.
Personally I’ve gone for double points, but will be on points+miles until the Virgin promo ends. (I’d already done my two BA stays before the Virgin promo was launched)
From Above: “AIUI you will still receive double points, just nothing like as many as if you’d selected points+points.”
I believe that you are correct here. Good spot.
From the FAQ’s it looks like to get double miles you obviously need to have your preferences set to points and miles, as otherwise there are no miles to double.
However, if you select double points then your earning preference doesn’t make any difference, as it is the base points that are doubled and you get them regardless of your earnings preference. You don’t earn any additional double miles even if your preference is double points because its just the base points which are doubled.
Therefore, for those people in my position (who want double points but still have airline offers to use up), it is simple. Register for double points and keep the earnings preference at points and miles until the airline deal is finished (or you’ve used up all your stays that qualify for that deal). Then change your preference to points and points if that is your preference.
Thanks.
Yes, this is how these promos from Hilton have always worked (in recent years anyway), I can see why this would be any different. However if changing earning preference remember to wait until 23:59 US Central time on the day you check out before doing so, otherwise the change to earning preference will apply to the stay you’ve just completed!
We are planning a one night stay in Gatwick in April. Am I better booking with hotels.com or direct with Hilton?
I only have silver status with hilton.
If I do book with hilton, am I right in thinking the virgin offer would have “expired” as it is only valid til march 31st?
Yes, Virgin offer will have expired. You would 1,500 Avios if it is before April 15th plus double points or double Avios via this promotion. Given that you’d be getting £20 or so of Avios back it would seem sensible to book via Hilton.
I use single nights like that to hit “targets” for things like rocket miles 1st stay. 3k avios beats 1.5k plus a small number of HH points (the earn rate at silver is horrible….)
This looks interesting.
I had a paid night last week (signed up to the BA promotion and set my preference to points and miles), and the 1,500 Avios posted last week.
My next stay is 4 nights, paid for, and ideally I’d prefer to sign up to this offer (and change my preference to points and points), rather than trigger the second Avios bonus.
Following that, I have a reward night which I would prefer to earn the second Avios bonus of 2,000 from the BA offer (changing my preference back to points and miles).
Any suggestions as to whether this is likely to work would be appreciated!
You will be fine – what you are planning is OK as I understand it.
A few brief Hilton related things.
I was excited about the 1500/2000 Avios promo until I saw that no London properties are included – v unhelpful. Don’t know if others were aware of this already but didn’t see anyone else mention it so just wanted to point it out.
Additionally it looks like the £50 back on £250 AmEx Hilton spend can be used more than once. I used it once already at the Conrad London and the offer is still showing in my account and the wording says nothing to suggest it is single use. I may be wrong so would be interesting if anyone could confirm.
Finally just want to vent my frustration that my Barcelona DoubleTree for next weekend is one of the very few Europe opt-outs for double points!! How annoying!!
I did a mattress run about 3 years ago to hit a promo target at Hilton Kensington. It turned out to be the ONLY Hilton in the whole of the UK not participating! My own fault for not checking of course. I also got soaking wet walking to the hotel from the tube!
The Virgin promo gives a 400% bonus on London hotels so that is clearly the way to go!
I think most London Hotels are included, as I stayed at the Hilton Docklands Riverside (soon to be re-launched as a Doubletree) and Hilton Croydon last month and got the 1500/2000 Avios respectively.
Would be great if the 50 off 250 worked more than once per card but previous iterations of this offer have not allowed this…. Let me know if you manage another stay (I had a doubletree last week over 250 in the UK but it didnt credit 🙁
Just talked to Amex cust services and Doubletree bookings should credit and they are getting back to me on an official answer re: can we use this offer more than once. There isn’t anything in the extended terms that would suggest not.