Hilton HHonors

Dear Annabelle,

So as part of our recent app-o-rama, which I will write more about later, we both applied for the Citi Hilton HHonors Visa Signature Card which currently has a 75K sign up bonus and no annual fees.  Andrew has been approved and I will have some paperwork to do (coming in the mail) and then we will see.

The question I am pondering is whether it is worth taking advantage of the offer to "Fast track to Gold after four stays within your first 90 days of account opening."  Normally we don't stay in hotels much so I am not sure Gold status really matters but I am wondering if we might more in the next year if we do go on a Europe trip or do more local travel.  I am also really itching to do some shorter local trips this fall so the idea of making some one night stays in our general area of the country is actually kind of appealing.  Travel is Free has made a great map of all the Hilton Properties by level.  There are actually quite a few near us.

The thing is that both the Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve card ($95 annual fee; 2 free weekend nights) and the Hilton HHonors Surpass from AMEX ($75 annual fee; 60K bonus points) give you Gold Status for as long as you have the card.  So that appears to be a much cheaper way to acquire Gold status if we want it, than 4 one-night stays.  That said, if we want four stays in hotels anyways then two birds with one stone is OK.  One Mile At A Time summarizes which credit cards give you elite status for all the different hotel programs here.  Of note is that if you earn status in 2015, for example, you have it for the rest of 2015, all of 2016, and possibly into the beginning of 2017 (I am guessing this isn't the same for the card related status level).

Here is a review of what HHonors status is worth.  Ironically a lot of the benefits of Gold status (free breakfast, wifi, etc.) only apply when you stay in the more upscale places since they are available to everyone in the lower level sites.  How does that make any sense?  That said a bunch of the places in Europe are the more upscale side of the brand so maybe Gold would make a difference there.  Here is the Hilton summary of member benefits.  It is interesting that late check-out (which we would definitely benefit from!) is actually a benefit of the free level, you just need to ask for it.  Good thing to consider when staying at any brand of hotel.  To sign up for their program and see what rewards are included.

The main benefit I see, which is part of both the silver and the gold, is that you get the 5th night free.  Which is pretty sweet (although I think a benefit in other hotel chains as well).  So yes, looking at the list I am not sure we need the Gold status.

The only part of the HHonors program I don't really understand at the moment is that it has base points and bonus points and it appears that the bonus points can be transferred to airlines.  Or just that airline points can also be earned, in addition to hotel points.  But I don't have my head around how you earn them and how many.  The HHonors Ts&Cs are here and probably worth reading at some point.

I also realized that it is too bad that HHonors charges a fee for transferring points.  This post summarizes transfers in the different hotel programs and says that for HHonors "Transfer to anyone. Must transfer in increments of 10,000 points. Cost of $25 per 10,000 points. You can transfer a maximum of 200,000 points per year."  It is just that in order to qualify for the 5th free night you need to pay completely as an award and without our points being pooled we might not have enough to ever do that.

Hugs,
Jen