Hilton Honors loyalty program Hilton Hotels Worldwide Hotel Loyalty 2012-Q3 Promotions

Hilton HHonors Q-3 Double or Triple Points July 1–Sep 30, 2012

Hilton HHonors “Triple your Trip” 3rd quarter promotion offers double points for Monday-Thursday and triple points for Friday-Sunday nights for stays at participating hotels from July 1 to September 30, 2012.

Triple your Trip promotion registration is required prior to checkout to qualify for bonus points.

There is a huge list of nonparticipating hotels that I estimate is nearly 500 hotels in the U.S. and in California the hotels opting out are about 20% of the state’s Hilton brand properties.

I hope my promotion calculations on Loyalty Traveler are not as confusing for readers as HHonors FAQ for “Triple Your Trip”.

The HHonors Triple Your Trip promotion is pretty straight-forward until you read the HHonors Triple Your Trip FAQ about how bonus points are calculated.

I do not think the example for calculating bonus points earned is correct as shown in the HHonors promotion FAQ for the Triple your Trip promotion.

For the Triple Your Trip promotion, the Bonus Points you earn per night are calculated based on the average nightly folio of your total stay (average nightly folio is calculated by taking the total net folio of your stay during the Promotion Period, divided by the total number of nights of the stay). Triple Your Trip Double Points are awarded for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights in your stay. Triple Your Trip Triple Points are awarded for Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights in your stay.

Example:

US Net Folio: $1,038.38 x 10 pts per $1 = 10,383 BASE Points

10,383 BASE Points / 7* = 1,483 Average Points Per Night

*(replace 7 with total # of nights of the stay within the Promotion Period)

CALCULATION OF TRIPLE POINTS:

  • Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights (3 nights) will receive Triple Points
  • Triple Points is always 2 x BASE. Therefore, 2 x (BASE) 1,483 = 2,966
  • 2,966 (triple points value) x 3 (total nights that are eligible for triple points) = 8,898 (total triple points for 3 nights)

CALCULATION OF DOUBLE POINTS:

  • Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights (4 nights) will receive Double Points
  • Double Points is always 1X BASE. Therefore, 1 x (BASE) 1,483 = 1,483
  • 1,483 X 4 (total nights eligible for double points) = 5,932 (total double points for 4 nights)

CALCULATION OF TOTAL BONUS POINTS AWARDED:

  • 8,898 (total triple points) + 5,932 (total double points) = 14,830

http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/landing/tripleyourtrip_faq/index.do

Loyalty Traveler critique of HHonors FAQ

The HHonors FAQ calculation for double and triple points relative to base points makes sense.

The average nightly folio is the part of the HHonors promotion FAQ calculation that does not make sense.

What happens when there is a huge rate difference between weekday nights that earn double points and weekend nights that earn triple points?

Loyalty Traveler Example:

DoubleTree by Hilton, San Jose, California

  • Wednesday July 11 = $237 (AAA rate)
  • Thursday July 12 = $107 (AAA rate)
  • Friday July 13 = $107 (AAA rate)
  • Saturday July 14 = 107 (AAA rate)

According to the HHonors FAQ examples:

This 4-night stay folio is $558 and earns 5,580 base points (10 base points/$1).

5,580/4 nights = 1,395 average base points per night.

HHonors FAQ Calculation of double points

Wednesday and Thursday earn double points, therefore 1,395 base points for each night earns 1,395 bonus points = 2,790 total bonus points for Wednesday and Thursday nights.

HHonors FAQ Calculation of Triple Points

Friday and Saturday earn triple points, therefore 1,395 x 2 = 2,790 bonus points per night = 5,580 total bonus points for Friday and Saturday nights.

When using the HHonors promotion FAQ method:

8,370 HHonors bonus points are earned for the 4-night stay spending $558. 

 

Loyalty Traveler Calculation of Triple Your Trip Bonus Points

I highly doubt that HHonors bonus points will be calculated for the “Triple Your Trip” Promotion as shown in the HHonors FAQ example. The method of averaging the total stay folio for an average nightly rate does not make sense and is unlike any promotion bonus I have ever seen in the past decade of analyzing bonus point promotions.

Here is how I think the points will actually be calculated for this offer.

Wednesday night = $238 rate = 2,380 base points + 2,380 bonus points (double points).

Thursday night = $107 rate = 1,070 base points + 1,070 bonus points (double points).

Friday night = $107 rate = 1,070 base points + 2,140 bonus points (triple points).

Saturday night = $107 rate = 1,070 base points + 2,140 bonus points (triple points).

7,730 bonus points are earned for this 4-night stay spending $558 when the double and triple points are actually calculated by the weekday nights and weekend nights for double and triple points. points. Total bonus points earned for the 4-night stay spending $558 = 2,380 + 1,070 + 2,140 + 2,140 = 7,730 bonus points.

HHonors FAQ method shows the bonus points earned as 8,370 points while applying double and triple points to the actual room rate for each day only earns 7,730 points.

I doubt HHonors will be generous enough to give members an extra 640 points for this hotel stay as shown in the promotion FAQ.

 

Another example of HHonors FAQ calculation using average nightly rate for entire hotel stay.

Assume Thursday night Hilton brand hotel rate = $238.

Friday night = $107.

Total folio = $345 = 3,450 base points/ 2 = 1,725 average nightly base points.

  • Thursday ($172.50 average rate for stay) = double points = 1,725 bonus points.
  • Friday night ($172.50 average rate for stay) = triple points = 3,450 bonus points.

According to HHonors FAQ the member earns 5,175 bonus points for this two-night stay.

My Loyalty traveler analysis is double points actually applies to Thursday night’s rate ($238) and triple points applies to Friday night’s rate ($107).

Then the HHonors member earns:

  • Thursday = double points = 2,380 bonus points.
  • Friday night = triple points = 2,140 bonus points.

Bonus points = 4,520 bonus points when the actual room rate for Thursday night earns double points and the room rate for Friday night earns triple points.

I bet that the scenario shown for this two-night stay will actually earn 4,520 bonus points for the $345 stay rather than 5,175 bonus points as calculated using the HHonors “Triple Your Trip” FAQ example.

These two examples show HHonors giving members a more favorable scenario of bonus points for these stays. Remember that my example is for a hotel rate with a higher weekday rate than weekend rate.

HHonors FAQ calculation is less favorable if weekend hotel rate is higher than weekday rate.

Reverse the rates to a hotel where the Friday to Sunday rates are higher than the weekday rates and the situation will result in the HHonors member earning fewer points by the HHonors FAQ method than by my Loyalty Traveler calculation.

Example:

5 night hotel stay.

Wednesday and Thursday = $100 hotel rate. Friday/Saturday/Sunday = $200 hotel rate.

HHonors FAQ bonus points calculation = $800 folio for 5 nights = $160 average rate.

  • Wed = 1,600 bonus points
  • Thu = 1,600 bonus points
  • Fri = 3,200 bonus points
  • Sat = 3,200 bonus points
  • Sun = 3,200 bonus points
  • Total bonus points = 12,800 bonus points.

Loyalty Traveler bonus points calculation = $800 folio for 5 nights. No average rate is used. The actual rate for each night is used to calculate bonus.

  • Wed = 1,000 bonus points
  • Thu = 1,000 bonus points
  • Fri = 4,000 bonus points
  • Sat = 4,000 bonus points
  • Sun = 4,000 bonus points
  • Total bonus points = 14,000 bonus points.

Higher weekend night rates in this example mean the HHonors FAQ method actually results in the HHonors member receiving 1,200 fewer bonus points on this $800 hotel stay than should be earned based on the promotion terms of receiving triple points for Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

Are you confused yet?

Just wait until I show you some room rate anomalies for the San Jose Doubletree I found while researching this post. In my next post I will show how one guest booking the San Jose Doubletree on a AAA rate could end up paying $400 more for the same 4-night stay as another guest booking AAA rates for the same dates.

Bottom Line: HHonors Triple your Trip promotion offers a good weekend bonus for Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights that will give members 35 points per dollar when earning Points & Points. Elite bonus points and credit card points can raise the earn rate up to nearly 50 points per dollar for this summer. That is a huge bonus offer.

If the bonus points calculation example shown in the HHonors FAQ for this promotion is correct, then this is the weirdest calculation of bonus points I have seen in all my years of analyzing hotel loyalty promotions.

P.S. P.S.

Post shower, post script (15 minutes after publishing this post)

As often happens after publishing my first post of the day I took a shower and came up with an additional thought.

I’ll assume the FAQ example is accurate in calculating the average nightly rate to determine bonus points earned with the Triple Your Trip promotion.

The reason to come up with an average nightly rate for a stay is to simplify the calculation of bonus points for HHonors and not for the member’s benefit. The HHonors program can take the total  eligible spend for a 6-night stay and come up with an average nightly spend rate and easily apply double or triple points based on the hotel stay dates.

Average nightly rate is a benefit to Hilton HHonors to simplify the calculation of bonus points.

For the consumer who has a stay where both weekday and weekend nights are part of the stay it is important to remember that if your weekday spend is higher than your weekend spend, then you will benefit from average nightly rate in calculating bonus points. But if your weekend spend is higher than your weekday spend, then you will actually earn fewer points than you should for double or triple bonus points when the average nightly rate is calculated for your total stay.

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16 Comments

  • Aarash June 20, 2012

    The question I have, is – will I earn my diamond bonus, and my double dip bonus on top of this promo? In theory then, earning an extra 10pts per dollar, on top of my base 10 and my double/triple nights?

  • Pointsloverrrr June 20, 2012

    What about any incidental purchases? I know i can really rack up some room service bills. Will that spend not be counted for double or triple points?

  • Ric Garrido June 20, 2012

    @Aarash – I think you earn all the regular elite bonus points and elite amenity points.

    @Pointloverrrr – Incidental spend will be counted for 2x and 3x points.

  • […] The Wandering Aramean spills the beans on Hilton’s sneak peek into this summer’s promotion. Earn 3X points on weekend nights and 2X points weekdays. A pretty good deal given what I’m faced with from Hyatt right now (really? airline miles? and the 48-hour sale doesn’t even have a list of participating hotels???) Ric from Loyalty Traveler shares his usual in-depth analysis. […]

  • chitownflyer June 21, 2012

    Hilton should have offered triple points on all nights for stays of 4 nights and longer as it did during one of its previous promos and then double points for stays of 1-3 nights. This would make things less complicated, but the promo is pretty good nonetheless.

  • […] (Tip of the hat to Loyalty Traveler) […]

  • mspswede June 21, 2012

    After registering for the 3x/2x promo, I decided to check on a few reservations I have for an upcoming trip to India with en route overnight in AMS.

    First, I had had a Standard Twin booked at the AMS Schiphol Hilton for 40k points. When I looked again, it was only 37,008 points (interesting number in itself!) for an Executive Twin, so I rebooked and got nearly 3k points back for a better room.

    Next, I checked availability in New Delhi and found a screaming rate at a new Doubletree kind of near the airport for equivalent of $88 USD–only $22 less than the points/miles + taxes I was paying at a Hilton Garden Inn, with likely upgrade to Exec Floor. So, I saved points and will get points + stay credit and a better room. And my wife will love me even more 🙂

    The moral of the story: individual hotels may vary their paid and point rates as you get closer to your arrival date. Check, check and check agin.

  • Mark June 22, 2012

    Sometimes it pays to wait to make your reservation. I have been planning a trip to Scottsdale and was planning everything out and had planned on making my Doubletree reservation with a prepaid rate. I almost made the reservation the day before this promotion was announced. Now I will get triple points.

  • Ric Garrido June 22, 2012

    @Mark – Existing reservations count for this promotion as long as you register for 2x/3x points prior to checkout.

    “What if I already have a reservation, is it eligible for the promotion?

    Yes, as long as the member is registered for the promotion prior to check-out of the stay and the reservation is for an eligible stay. Regardless of when a reservation was booked, any nights within the Promotion Period will receive the promotion bonus.”

    HHonors Promotion FAQ
    http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/landing/tripleyourtrip_faq/index.do

  • Eddy June 26, 2012

    I’m looking for a back-up to SPG (where I am Plat) and this post got me thinking. I had discounted Hilton because it doesn’t allow transfers from Membership Rewards or Ultimate Rewards. I was trying to decide between Hyatt (generally nicer higher end properties, but fewer) and Marriott or Priorty (which have properties on every street corner). Any thoughts? Thanks Ric!

  • Ric Garrido June 27, 2012

    Hyatt has great benefits if you make it to Diamond with breakfast and suite upgrades.

    Generally working either Priority Club or Hilton or Marriott is a good second program for SPG and Hyatt members due to the geographic coverage of these larger hotel chains with 4,000+ properties.

    Hilton is a good choice if you have American Express Surpass for high points earning and discounted 4-night rewards for category 6 and 7 hotels at 125,000/145,000 points.

    Marriott is good for its recurring two stays earn a free night promotion. Also Marriott is the best of the three programs for reward night pricing. Marriott hotels tend to require fewer points compared to HHonors and Priority Club within its earn and burn points structure for similar quality hotels.

    Priority Club offers 10% rebate on points redemptions for its Visa card members. Priority Club has big discount rewards for some high value opportunities. And I think Priority Club has the overall lower rates compared to HHonors or Marriott, but that depends more on where you travel. The ability to earn multiple bonus on a single hotel stay can mean 5,000 or so points per stay for infrequent guests who stay just a few times a year.

  • aarash@ I think you will receive your elite bonus on the base points only and the points from the promotion will not get a Diamond bonus. Let’s say your stay costed you 100$ and you stayed at Monday (double points) you’ll get 2500 points:
    100*10=1000(base points)+
    100*10=1000(the bonus)+
    (100*10)*0.5=500 (Diamond bonus on base points)

    Cheers,
    and visit my site at:
    the-international-reviews.blogspot.com

  • […] Triple your Trip promotion registration required prior to completing your first hotel stay. This offer applies to up to two rooms per stay paid by the member. There are about 500 hotels, nearly all in U.S. not participating in this promotion so check the exclusion properties carefully. Loyalty Traveler June 20 post on HHonors Triple your Trip. […]

  • […] Triple your Trip promotion registration required prior to completing your first hotel stay. This offer applies to up to two rooms per stay paid by the member. There are about 500 hotels, nearly all in U.S. not participating in this promotion so check the exclusion properties carefully. Loyalty Traveler June 20 post on HHonors Triple your Trip. […]

  • […] Triple your Trip promotion registration required prior to completing your first hotel stay. This offer applies to up to two rooms per stay paid by the member. There are about 500 hotels, nearly all in U.S. not participating in this promotion so check the exclusion properties carefully. Loyalty Traveler June 20 post on HHonors Triple your Trip. […]

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