Hilton Honors increases some hotel points redemption rates with no notice

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• BJ says:

  11 Jun11 June 12:35

  Interesting to read all the comments on Hilton increases. It seems Hilton, like IHG, is now overpricing reward nights at properties at the lower end of their portfolio. A bit of an issue in Europe including the UK as DT and Hampton are often better than the more premium brands excepting newer openings for the latter. Going forward it looks like it might be better value to redeem Honors points on aspirational and high end properties as opposed to bread and butter properties.

  • Colin MacKinnon says:

    11 Jun11 June 12:43

    The cheap properties don’t sell cans of Coke for 10 euros!

    You can make more money from additional spend at high end properties, so better to fill the empty rooms with points hounds!

    • Rob says:

      11 Jun11 June 13:56

      Even at 20,000 points, you’re looking at a cash equivalent of £66 based on my 0.33p valuation. You will pay substantially more than that in, say, Vienna in the Summer so I think there is still value there.

      What is amusing is that Salalah in Oman, which was 5000 points for year, is now 30,000!

  • Anna says:

    11 Jun11 June 13:41

    Agreed. Apart from 2 nights at the HGI Vienna South (booked while it was still 10k points per night), I’m saving all my HH points for a high end 5 for 4 redemption. Now where’s that list of the best properties to go for on points…?!

• Freddy says:

  11 Jun11 June 12:37

  OT does anyone know whether I can get the virgin+ card if I’ve got the basic one from the previous promotion.

  • Abhi says:

    11 Jun11 June 12:39

    I tried and it didnt work. Quite silly really. Virgin missing out on £160 per existing customer.

    • Rob says:

      11 Jun11 June 13:57

      I flagged this with VA again today. They are going to discuss it with VM at their next monthly meeting.

      I am also, behind the scenes, continuing to push for the 241 to be valid in Upper regardless of status.

      • Young L says:

        11 Jun11 June 14:19

        Thanks for the work, Rob.
        I will be happy even if the 241 works for pre-eco regardless of status.

      • Brian Stevens says:

        11 Jun11 June 14:38

        If there allow the 2-4-1 to be used in UC regardless of status that would be a driver for me to get the card.

      • David says:

        11 Jun11 June 14:47

        Get the PE upgrade to work from PE to Upper too please.

        • jimA says:

          11 Jun11 June 16:33

          yes either allow status free 241 or PE-UC upgrade – or both if we are being greedy I will also be cancelling my plus card without one of these. As noted the signup bonus is worth the fee for the frst year but without that change I wont be taking out a second year

      • Doug M says:

        11 Jun11 June 15:23

        Well you can offer the anecdote that this reader is about to cancel his Virgin Paid card, partly as the voucher is no particular use. The 2nd year fee is due, and whilst in the first year the bonus FC miles easily offset that, moving forward the voucher doesn’t. I never used the old MBNA vouchers either. I get the earning rate is good, but it doesn’t swing it for me among too many other cards.
        I’m going to stick to Amex SPG and IHG+ for non-Amex. I earn plenty of Avios through flying so not chasing those at the moment, and I’ve literally never redeemed a FC mile yet, maybe that will change if short haul options appear. I just can justify the Avios/FC miles with £600+ fees to the USA, when I can pickup an ex-EU for £1000 to £1400 and earn a shed load of Avios and TPs.

      • stevenhp1987 says:

        11 Jun11 June 15:38

        Right now the upgrade voucher sits in my account unused, and presumably will expire year-on-year unless this changes!

        While having it work in upper class regardless of status would be great… There are simply not enough routes, and therefore reward seats, to satisfy the customer base. It would still be difficult to use the voucher unless they opened up more reward seats!

      • Freddy says:

        11 Jun11 June 16:32

        The 2for1 change would put the card on par with BA. At the minute virgin is like the ugly sister.

        Looks like I’ll be cancelling the basic card and applying in 6 months+ for the paid card. In the meantime ploughing alot of general and business spend through amex

        • The Savage Squirrel says:

          11 Jun11 June 16:58

          +1 for about to cancel the paid card as the reward voucher is worthless. Conversely, as a carrot to the company – if they allowed anyone to use the 2for1 in UC then it suddenly becomes MUCH more valuable – they could implement and I (and probably the rest of the customer base) would tolerate either an increase to the annual fee, or an increase in the target spend.

      • George says:

        11 Jun11 June 16:54

        Thanks, Rob – 2-4-1 above economy would be a huge driver for me to use the card more too (in case VM are watching!)

      • Harry T says:

        11 Jun11 June 18:29

        Thanks, Rob. I would definitely consider keeping my Rewards Plus long term if they allowed a 241 in Upper Tier.

      • Mr(s) Entitled says:

        11 Jun11 June 20:12

        Do Virgin have redemption capacity for all the people offering to keep their cards on the basis of a non-status 2-4-1 in UC? Careful what you wish for.

        • rams1981 says:

          11 Jun11 June 20:30

          If virgin card could be booked for upper class without being gold, Amex customers will be switching surely?

• johnny_c-l says:

  11 Jun11 June 12:39

  OT does anyone know if the Gold companion (credit) card is still available for applications?

• David Butcher says:

  11 Jun11 June 12:53

  Frustratingly, following all the complaints about the London focus of Amex, the AL “first ride” terms and conditions state that the offer applies to “London rides only”. And I’ve had an offer on my Platinum card for the usual Shop Small offer but only in postcodes NW6, SW6 and SW19. Not much use when you live in Leicestershire.,

  • SimonW says:

    11 Jun11 June 13:14

    Come on Butch, dont get frustrated….Have you considered moving home to make the most of these deals?

  • Anna says:

    11 Jun11 June 13:43

    You’re still nearer than I am!

  • Rob Walker says:

    11 Jun11 June 13:54

    Virtually every single event/offer in their monthly email is also London based. I mean, I get it. London is our capital city and a centre of wealth. But it’s still very annoying when you barely visit the place from one year to the next.

    It’s clear from the fee increase and the type of offers/events, that I’m not Amex Platinum material and this is what I’ll tell them when I cancel.

  • Mr(s) Entitled says:

    11 Jun11 June 20:14

    Leicestershire? Amex will probably tell you that you are in the commuter belt.

  • ADS says:

    12 Jun12 June 00:41

    tbh the Amex shop small offer is pretty rubbish even if you live near SW6 and SW19 – you’re not missing out !

• Roy says:

  11 Jun11 June 14:04

  O/T IHG apparently experimenting with dynamically pricing the cash component of “points and cash” stays.

  https://loyaltytraveler.boardingarea.com/2019/05/07/ihg-points-and-cash-variable-pricing-is-here/

  • Charlieface says:

    11 Jun11 June 14:36

    Which is hilarious because the book and cancel trick still works, so you can just buy the points via a different hotel/date

• Keith says:

  11 Jun11 June 15:42

  OT:

  Is there such a site as a Airport Timetable site?

  If I want to look at a list of every flight leaving Edinburgh over the course of a week in September for example – how would I do that?

  Thanks

  • Shoestring says:

    11 Jun11 June 15:52

    you can get 24hr chunks of departures on flights such as https://www.flightradar24.com/data/airports/edi/departures

    • Shoestring says:

      11 Jun11 June 15:54

      …and ‘load later flights’ lets you extend to much more than 24hrs

  • Anna says:

    11 Jun11 June 16:06

    MAN’s website lists its departures, so Edinburgh might have something similar.

  • Craig says:

    11 Jun11 June 16:09

    Try flight connections.

  • Russ says:

    11 Jun11 June 16:09

    Another alternative is Google flights but the weekly info is hit and miss. Put Edinburgh or wherever as your departure point and enter Europe as the destination. Enter the dates you’re interested in and then flip over to map mode and it shows you all destinations and prices from Edinburgh. Works better on monthly. Shoestring’s idea is probably better for short notices though.

  • John says:

    11 Jun11 June 16:34

    Wikipedia gives you a list of destinations which may help to provide ideas.

• sal says:

  11 Jun11 June 17:09

  Does anyone know whats up with the hertz website? Its unreadable when you get through to quotes. how is it possible to make a reservation?

  • Peter K says:

    11 Jun11 June 20:53

    If that’s on your phone then try the desktop site. Or vice versa of you are using a desktop site. Or a different browser.

• Shoestring says:

  11 Jun11 June 18:02

  O/T looks like Thomas Cook isn’t a complete basket case. Possibly Fosun will take over the tour operator business at a knockdown price, with the airline businesses getting sold off separately, probably in 3 bits. Currently its quoted market value is £300m or so, which means shareholders have suffered badly but could get something back after all. Thomas Cook to limp on as a bespoke tour operator with some hotel interests.

  • Rob says:

    11 Jun11 June 18:06

    I’d look at the debt before you start predicting shareholder returns!

    • Shoestring says:

      11 Jun11 June 18:24

      I thought shareholders would be wiped out – currently they can get *something* back which is much better than a couple of weeks ago – they might still get wiped out if bondholders say no, I guess

  • Lady London says:

    12 Jun12 June 00:01

    It’s a carve-up for the bankers now.

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