News in brief:
Nine days left to claim your Hilton Honors Diamond extension
One of the new features brought in by Hilton Honors recently is the ability for Diamond members to extend their membership if they have had a slow travel year.
If you dropped from Diamond to Gold, you can request a one-off bounce back to Diamond. The conditions are:
- You have current Diamond status
- You have three total years at Diamond status (years do not have to be consecutive, status-matched years do count)
- You have at least 250 nights (paid or reward) OR 500,000+ earned Base Points since joining Hilton Honors
This is a ‘once per lifetime’ opportunity so you may want to think twice before asking.
Requests must be made by 28th March so that your extension can kick in from 31st March. You can find more details here on the Hilton website.
Hilton’s three global flash sales end today
Here is your final reminder that the three current Hilton flash sales all end today, Monday 19th.
Remember that many American Express cardholders have a new offer of £50 cashback on £250 of spend at selected hotels in Europe – click here for details. This should combine with the sale. Here are the three sales and the relevant stay dates and discounts:
UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa – book here
Save 25% on Best Available Rate at Conrad, Waldorf Astoria, DoubleTree, Hilton, Canopy and Curio. A smaller discount of 15% off Best Available Rate is available at Hampton and Hilton Garden Inn. You must stay between 16th March and 31st August. Three day advanced purchase required.
US, Canada and Latin America – book here
Save 20% on Best Available Rate, except at Conrad and Waldorf Astoria where a lower 15% discount is available. You must stay between 25th March and 9th September. Three day advanced purchase required.
South East Asia and Australasia – book here
Save 35% on Best Available Rate or Bed & Breakfast rates. You must stay between 18th March and 31st December. Five day advanced purchase required.
Remember that rooms booked under this offer are non-refundable. This means that, whilst it is correct to say that the discount is based on Best Flexible Rate, this is not your actual saving. Non-refundable rooms are generally 10% cheaper than Best Flexible Rate so the genuine sale discount is probably around 10% – 25%.
The sale will combine with the current Hilton Honors promotion for 2,000 bonus points per stay plus an extra 10,000 points if you can manage five stays (and for every 5th stay thereafter). This is valid for stays until 30th April. The main Head for Points article and registration link is here.
If you collect Lufthansa miles, see this article for an excellent Miles & More bonus offer which works alongside the 2,000 bonus points deal if you change your earnings setting to ‘points and miles’. It ends on 25th March.
YOTEL launches a non-loyalty scheme
YOTEL has launched My YOTEL. This is advertised as a ‘membership scheme’ but, oddly, has no benefits whatsoever for frequent guests.
What you can get is a discount of ‘at least’ 10% when you stay at the Yotel New York (pictured above), Yotel Boston or Yotel Singapore hotels. No other properties are included.
If you thinking about staying at any of these hotels then it is worth registering – the link is here.
(Want to earn more hotel points? Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Promos’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)
About Head for Points
Hey, O/T but thought people might want to hear this. My Lufthansa M&M MBNA cards were due to expire in September – I just received a new set in the post. That suggests to me that they don’t intend to cancel existing accounts, at least until after September. Possibly. Which is good, because I’m 15,000 miles away from a one way redemption in first to N America (or possibly Southern Africa or India), and if my >3 y.o. miles start disappearing, I’ll cry!
Any more info on the M&M family accounts BTW?
The expiry date doesn’t mean anything when it comes to closing the card for everyone.
May for family accounts
I had new diamond club cards issued about 6 weeks before they killed the card. Not sure you can draw any conclusion.
Same here for my Virgin MBNA cards, I also had a September expiry date.
I hope that’s true. The main reason for holding the cards is to prevent the hard expiry of miles as the only other way to do that is to have status, which is easier said than done in a scheme like Miles and More (very poor earnings in general and stupidly high qualifying thresholds).
The message above was intended as a reply to Cat’s comment about MBNA M&M cards.
I will have the same issue if the card is pulled.
Get in quick for the south east Asia/ Australia sale.it ends at 0800 GMT today, 19th. I am not sure about the times for the other regional sales.
The Hilton 2k bonus points are coming through for me straight away on 10k reward nights (Sheffield Hampton – not glamorous but I need it for work and the free breakfast is pretty decent) without spending a thing in the hotel.
5 stays for an effective 30k points is pretty nice anyway, but if the Miles & More points also turn up then I’ll be very pleased. What a bargain.
The miles have been turning up promptly for me. They post to my M&M account before the points folio even appears on my Hilton account page.
Such a terrific deal while it lasts!
Do we not get just the 2k per stay and 10k for every 5? What’s the Miles and More strategy?
It’s a separate promo whereby if you select Points and Miles and choose LH Miles & More as the frequent flyer scheme you will get 1500 miles for the 1st stay, 2000 miles for the 2nd and 2500 miles for the 3rd stay, plus 2500 miles for each subsequent stay (cash stays only)
Unfortunately this promo runs out on March 25 as Hilton is getting rid of double dip.
Note that you still get the 2K HHonors bonus points anyway, as that’s a separate promo (and lasts till April 30). With the 2K bonus promo you even get the points for award stays.
Both are no brainers while they last.
Have you tried Doubletree Sheffield Park for 10,000 Excellent hotel on edge of city and good breakfast as Gold (which I assume you are if you are staying for work).
Any interesting stuff to do in Sheffield area folks? We are planing a driving tour south from Edinburgh to London and want to make eight one night stays to get back to Hilton Diamond via a challenge.
Peak District National Park. Use it is a base to visit Bakewell etc. The DoubleTree is probably better as in the right direction.
Thanks Rob. One of the great things about Hilton points and promotions for us has been taking the opportunity to get to know places all over the UK we have not been before.
When I did something similar on the opposite direction, I stayed in the Newcastle Airport doubletree and the liverpool airport hampton and the Corby Hampton (I believe the first Hampton in the UK!)…it all depends on what you want to spend, I was trying to keep it really low…(though I did also stay at the Calley in Edinburgh (Waldorf Astoria) and that set off a turn on events which meant I got married there later that year!)…enjoy it!
We will keep it cheap too as it will just be beds for the night. Might do 3 or 4 stops down the East, find best compromise of convenience and parking for 2 nights in London and then do 3 or 4 stops back up the West. Did your status come through ok? There has been a few comments here and on FT at times thaf Hilton didn’t honour the challenge.
Never seen a comment on here that Hilton did not honour the challenge for anyone who did the nights (I got my Diamond confirmed within a few days of the 8th stay, and half of those were reward nights). No idea if they are being picky over who they accept though.
I thought I clearly remembered it to be challenges but concede it might have been unsuccessful status matches, wouldn’t be thefirst or only timeI misread a comment 🙂
As an alternative, I recommend St Georges Park as a stay on your route. Great hotel with nice rooms, always been upgraded as Gold & Diamond over the years, but had to prompt sometimes. Greatleisure facilities, and a nice space/calm hotel in general. Exec ‘lounge’ open for a couple hours in the evening is good for a substitute meal, but can be busy at weekend.
I have reviewed StG Park on here, very impressive.
OT. I am a low end points collector as I don’t travel frequently, but my wife and I have managed to accumulate enough Avios and a 241 to get return Business flights. We are planning to use these for a trip to San Diego in 2019. My question is, which is the best way for us to get some free mid range hotel nights to use when we are there. I currently have the Amex Preferred Rewards Gold and working my way to the sign up bonus. Which card should I go for next. I am thinking the SPG is the best option, but would be interested in others thoughts.
Suggest you refer your wife from Gold to SPG for 9,000 MR =13,500 Marriott. Then spend £1,000 on SPG for 11,000 points and she refers you from SPG for 5,000 + your 11,000 from spend. It soon mounts up. Cancel both cards and get unused portion of £75 back. Do again in six months.
All subject to spend, get gold companion credit card for 5,000 MR for £500 spend. Refer wife for Gold then cancel yours. In 2019 upgrade gold to platinum to get hotel/ car hire status then cancel platinum (statuses remain).
BUT look on the hotel web sites to see which hotels in the area you would like to stay at. The footprint of the various hotel groups varies, but S. California should have them all.
All this is subject to changes in the terms and conditions of the schemes.
Mark, thanks for your response, I will look at everything you suggest. Hadn’t thought about me referring wife from my gold. I also like the idea of the Platinum upgrade to get the hotel and car hire status. I need to work out a campaign plan for the next 12 months. Cheers Ian.
Good suggestions from Mark for building a useful balance but check the Hilton properties in the area for any peaches on points. If you find some, you might want to consider doubling the MR points to Hilton as opposed to Marriott giving you a diversified porfolio. And Rob favours MR-3xCarlson so best check those in the area too before making a decision. If you feel strongly about staying in the same hotel throughout then folliw Marks suggestion. It would be worthwhile upgrading, even if just for a month or so, that PRG to Platinum before your second round of referrals on SPG to get higher referral bonuses and the free hotel status upgrades which gets you breakfast as Marriott or Hilton gold..
I took a roadtrip using ihg 10k and 20k hotels last autumn for 2 weeks. For mid market i dont think you should go far wrong with IHG. If you are renting a car (and you should in san diego) its a no brainer.
If you are close to hitting your 2K Gold spend target i would suggest upgrading to platinum immediately. You can then refer your wife to SPG and Gold for 18K MR points each. You will also have longer to make sure your SPG status (as a benefit of platinum) actually gets processed. The timeline for this is variable (e.g. my OH has applied for SPG status upgrade twice & it has never come through!)
The various % discounts at Hilton are still running on BoS and Halifax sites.
Today, a 10% discount at Waitrose has appeared. Single use maximum saving £30. Check the Offers area on your app or website to see if you have had targetted offer.
O/T – is there a limit as to how many cards you can have with Amex? I remember a while ago seeing something abou only being able to have a certain number of charge and credit cards?
People tend to say 2 credit and 2 charge but a) I have never seen that written down and b) I know people who have exceeded it, so who knows?!
Thanks Rob!
Have you heard anything further about amex churn changes Rob, the rumour mill seems to have died down in the comments?
While I agree an inside track would be nice and a deserved courtesy, at the end of the day it seems not really necessary. There have been few real surprises from either of them that you have not predicted and shared with us on HFP. In this respect official contacts would make no difference anyway as they simply wouldn’t tell you anything they didn’t want you to know. What I do think would be appropriate though is both advertising on HFP and the odd exclusive competition or promotion for readers.
Agreed. They miss a lot of opportunities, eg if they have us comp spots at Platinum events then we would do reports on them which in turn leads to more applications. Instead they get coverage like this – https://www.headforpoints.com/2017/11/25/american-express-centurion-lounge-the-hospital-club-london/ – because they couldn’t market their way out of a paper bag.
I’ve got 3 credit cards and one charge card. Before I applied for the third card, I contacted Amex Chat and they confirmed there is no 2 card limit.
OT – there was a (very) targeted Avios.com promo around December time giving bonus points for earning Avios with a new partner. My wife got this offer and took advantage of it but no bonus points have hit yet and I think they were due end of February? Does anyone have the terms of the offer to hand and any advice on how to chase please?
Thanks.
There’s a form on the avios.com website to fill in for enquiring about missing points. Go to your account and it’s on one of the pages. You can also check your visit history as this should show when you have clicked through to the partner website. I always put this reference number on the form when chasing up avios as sometimes their CS tries to argue that I didn’t use the correct link. Also, which earning partner was it, they have different time scales for posting avios?
We had a similar offer back in August and had to claim for 5 lots of 250 Avios. Currently have a claim in for 500 Avios for an Avios/AerClub promo from Dec which should have paid out by 23/2 and didn’t. Seems to be a regular pattern of wait till the promo date ends then claim then wait a further 28 days for a reply.
Love Hilton
OT – has anyone received their 1000 Avios from the Laithwaites promotion from January?
https://www.headforpoints.com/2018/01/25/get-1000-avios-new-ba-wine-deal-laithwaites/
OT – Curve Card. I’m struggling with the limits on the Curve card (have increased my limits as much as possible) . I wondered if I get a second Curve in my wife’s name can this be linked to the same AA visa as my Curve card? (ie can two curves in different names link to the same Visa credit) . Any knowledge / thoughts welcome.
Can’t have the same underlying card in two different curve accounts. Supplementary cards do work though
Thanks. So can get SUpp credit card in wife’s name, Curve in wife’s name and link the two?
Yes. That’s what we do.
OT. I have the Amex plat card. I haven’t used the status benefits at any hotel chains yet as I don’t have any upcoming stays. Is there any benefit to waiting to signing up? Will the expiry date line up with when I first get status or the anniversary of the card date?
Thanks in advance.
If you think you may use them, you should sign up. Some can be a bit slow to process – it can be 2-3 weeks at worse – so if there is a risk that your employer may send you to a Hilton / Melia / Starwood / Shangri-La etc with less than 3 weeks notice you should do it now.
I have not done Melia or Shangri-La as I know it is unlikely I will be at one at short notice.
Thanks Rob.
I wont be using Hilton/Starwood/Marriott at all until later in the year earliest. Probably more next year. Thats why i was wonderingnwhen the expiry is, aligned with platinum renewal or a year from when you activate?
Likely to cancel card in July so was thinking of holding off. As long as SPG/Marriott dont change to 2019.
Hotel status is not like BA status. The schemes all run on a calendar year basis and status is on a calendar year. You can only be downgraded at the end of the calendar year (possibly with a stub period like Hilton, where you are downgraded on 1st Jan but your old card still works until 31st March).
OT – Received a IHG email offering 100% bonus. Not sure if targeted.
When you purchase a minimum of 5,000 or more IHG® Rewards Club points through March 22, we’ll match it with a 100% bonus!
So double your earnings and reach rewards twice as fast — but hurry. This offer ends Thursday.
We have it on both our accounts! I always buy when it’s 100% bonus and redeem for better value in the USA.
[email protected], I prepaid my EDF energy for the year with amex. It went through ok and helped me hit 270k for a Marriott travel package in perfect timing so thanks again for tip 🙂
That’s great! I would love to try one of the Marriott travel packages but we never stay long enough in one place! I have 45k SPG pts so far but will probably just redeem for hotels in the USA next year.
Plan at the moment is to tour Spain next spring so will probably use the 7 nights as an add on for some sun in the Canaries. Not the best use I guess but works for us and keeps it within cat 1-5.
Actually the full amount is $90 less than last year.
And the £ has gone up 🙂
OT, but Iberia gift cards on sale again, must purchase by today, book by 31/3, travel between now and 31/5 or after 31/8:
https://www.iberia.com/tarjeta-regalo/
€500 gift card for €250 is pretty lucrative.
Any idea if these gift cards are valid for any airline booked through their website? Is if a book a BA flight on Iberia.com, is it valid? Having trouble deciphering the T’s and C’s
The 500€ gift card has pretty strict rules: One leg must be on Iberia, connections on Iberia Express and Air Nostrum, you need to start in Spain, you can only make one booking per voucher, high demand routes are excluded and you can‘t pay in cash and avios.
…. which is why I’m giving it a miss.
+1. Can’t understand Spanish and doesn’t seem to appear on the Iberia website