Hilton HHonors reduced the cost of Category 1 hotel rewards to only 5,000 points earlier this year. With the current 4x points promotion, a non-elite member can earn 45 points/$1 in hotel spend. Add Amex Surpass credit card payment and this can mean 57 points/$1.
October 10-January 31, 2014: More Nights, More Points
- Double Points (20 points/$1) for 2-night stays.
- Triple Points (30 points/$1) for 3-night stays.
- Quadruple points (40 points/$1) for 4-night or longer stays.
- Registration at HHonors.com/more.
Loyalty Traveler post: Hilton HHonors More Nights, More Points Q-4 Promotion only rewards extended stays September 30, 2013.
That is a free category 1 hotel reward room night for every $88 in hotel spend.
So where are these category 1 hotels?
There are 35 Hilton HHonors category 1 hotels in 10 countries.
Egypt, Mexico and China are the main international locations, yet there are other scattered properties in Argentina, India, Malaysia, Oman, and Turkey.
The United States has 5 hotels and United Kingdom has 2 hotels.
Hilton HHonors Category 1 Hotel List
Argentina has one category 1 hotel.
Hilton Garden Inn Tucuman Rates around $100 to $115 per night.
Tucuman is in northern Argentina and the 5th largest city in the country. The city of 500,000 people is considered one of the cultural capitals of Argentina. Located 800 miles from Buenos Aires. This location sounds like a totally different experience than Buenos Aires.
Egypt has seven category 1 hotels.
- Hilton Pyramids Golf Resort, 6th of October City near Cairo
- Hilton Alexandria Corniche, city center
- Hilton Alexandria Green Plaza, business center of Alexandria
- Hilton Dahab, rates as low as $50 this month or 2,000 points + $30.
- Hilton Hurghada Resort, Red Sea Resort
- Hilton Sharm Dreams Resort, Red Sea Resort
- Hilton Sharm Waterfalls Resort, Red Sea Resort
100,000 points can provide a 3-week vacation in Egypt. A place like Hilton Pyramids Gold Resort has room rates around $200 per night in January. The Pyramids and Sphinx are ten minutes away from the resort.
Alexandria, Egypt hotels are only around $100 per night room rates.
Hilton Dahab has very low rates around $50 to $60 per night. Located on the Red Sea in a windy region known for good windsurfing.
Hilton Hurghada on the Red Sea has three pools and a private beach. There are eleven restaurants and bars on site. Hotel offers scuba diving school. Rates around $50 per night.
Hilton Sharm Dreams Resort is located in Sharm El Sheikh. Resort has nine pools and private beach access. Rates around $100 per night.
Hilton Sharm Waterfalls Resort is on the shore of the Red Sea with onsite dive center. Seven outdoor pools. Rates around $110 per night.
There are some deals to be found as a tourist in Egypt if the political and civil unrest does not frighten you to stay away.
China has six Category 1 Doubletree Hotels.
- DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Chongqing Wanzhou
- DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Langfang
- DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Wuxi
- DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Hangzhou East, opening January 1, 2014
- DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Jiaxing
- DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Wuhu (not open yet)
DoubleTree by Hilton is the growing business center hotel around China. Rates look to be around $100 per night or less at these hotels.
Malaysia has one Category 1 Hilton Hotel on the island of Borneo.
Back when I had around 1,000,000 HHonors points in 2001, I planned a trip to Borneo to stay at the Batang Ai Longhouse Resort when rates were around $30 per night. I tried to get relatives to travel to Borneo with me to stay in Kuching, the Batang Ai Longhouse and then travel to Sandakan to stay in suites at the Renaissance Resort using about $2,000 in Marriott Gift Certificates.
Even before 9-11-2001, my trip to Borneo was taken hostage by terrorism. Foreign tourist hostages taken in Sabah by Philippine guerillas made the international news headlines and everybody bailed on me for a trip to Borneo. I cancelled my trip.
Batang Ai Longhouse is in the rainforest of Borneo near the Batang Ai National Park. This is the place for jungle trekking, orangutans, snakes and bugs. Rates currently in the $50 to $70 per night range.
Oman has one category 1 hotel.
Hilton Salalah Resort rates are around $200 per night for a 450 square ft. room.
This is probably as close to Yemen as you might want to get.
Turkey has two HHonors category 1 hotels.
- Hampton by Hilton Bursa, near Istanbul.
- Hilton Garden Inn Diyarbakir, on the River Tigris in eastern Turkey, near Syria and Iraq (opening Dec 2013).
India has two HHonors Category 1 hotels.
- DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Goa – Arpora – Baga, rates around $90-$120.
- Hampton by Hilton Vadodara-Alkapuri
United Kingdom has two HHonnors Category 1 hotels.
- Hampton by Hilton Corby/Kettering 90 minutes from London by train.
- Hampton by Hilton Newport/East, South Wales
Mexico has eight HHonors category 1 hotels.
- Hampton Inn by Hilton Monterrey-Airport Rates in Jan 2014 at $80 or $30 + 2,000 points.
- Hampton Inn by Hilton Monterrey/Galerias-Obispado Rates in Jan 2014 at $110 or $30 + 2,000 points.
- Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Monterrey-Norte Rates in Nov 2013 at $80 to $100.
- Hampton Inn by Hilton Chihuahua City Rates in Jan 2014 at $100 to $120.
- Hilton Garden Inn Queretaro Rates in Jan 2014 at $80 to $90.
- Hampton Inn by Hilton Reynosa/Zona Industrial Rates in Jan 2014 at $60 to $75.
- Hilton Garden Inn Tuxtla Gutierrez Rates in Jan 2014 at $75 to $85.
- Hampton Inn by Hilton Ciudad Juarez Rates in Jan 2014 at $70 to $85.
USA has five HHonors category 1 hotels.
- Hampton Inn Florence-Midtown, Florence, Alabama Rates in Jan 2014 at $84.
- Hampton Inn Clarksville, Arkansas, Rates in Jan 2014 at $84.
- Hampton Inn Jacksonville-I-95 South, Jacksonville, Florida Rates in Jan 2014 at $70 to $85 or 2,000 points + $30
- Hampton Inn Columbus-Airport, Columbus, Georgia Rates in Jan 2014 at $62.
- Hampton Inn & Suites Cleburne, Cleburne, Texas near Fort Worth. Rates in Jan 2014 at $79.
This is the list of 35 Hilton HHonors category 1 hotels for reward nights at 5,000 points per night or 20,000 points for 5 nights for elite members.
This is kind of a reality check for loyalty program overviews pointing out the low rate of Hilton HHonors reward nights for only 5,000 points.
These properties are Hampton Inn hotels in five select southern U.S. cities and towns. Mexico has six Hampton Inn and two Hilton Garden Inn Hotels.
Northern Argentina has a Hilton Garden Inn and that location sounds like one of the more attractive locations to visit.
The Hilton Hotel in the Borneo rainforest of Malaysia is exotic and certainly a cheap vacation week for 20,000 points to stay 5 nights. That should leave plenty of cash for excursions.
Hilton Salalah Resort in Oman is probably the best value for the cost of a hotel night in points compared to cash rates.
Egypt could be a three week vacation on 100,000 points if you have the desire to vacation in a place kind of hot on many levels.
India and Goa might be a go.
All the other hotels sound like they are more business center hotels in China, Turkey and UK.
Ric Garrido of Monterey, California is writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler.
Loyalty Traveler shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. Check out my page of collated current hotel promotions.
Follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter and Facebook and RSS feed or subscribe to a daily email newsletter of Loyalty Traveler blog posts on the upper left side of this page.
12 Comments
Comments are closed.