Searching HHonors award rates using the Hilton HHonors Standard Room Rewards Point Pricing Tool today revealed to me the tool was not showing the correct award rates for some hotels. Barcelona, Spain reveals how whacked out HHonors reward night pricing has become and the difficulty of finding the accurate award rate without searching the specific hotels.
Writing this post today on Hilton HHonors July 9 reward category changes, I accidentally inserted the wrong table for hotels decreasing in HHonors award category on July 9, 2014. I inserted the table from April 2014 of hotels decreasing and I started an analysis on Barcelona hotels to show how the Hilton HHonors Standard Room Rewards Point Pricing Tool is necessary to find the correct reward night rate for points.
I noticed something extremely odd as I analyzed the HHonors award night pricing for three Barcelona hotels that decreased from category 7 hotels on April 15, 2014 in the last hotel award category reassignment posted by HHonors.
Barcelona, Spain saw three hotels drop in HHonors category.
- Hilton Barcelona decreased from category 7 to category 5.
- Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona decreased from category 7 to category 5.
- Alexandra Barcelona DoubleTree decreased from category 7 to category 6.
Hilton HHonors category 5 hotels show a range from 30,000 to 40,000 points.
HHonors Standard Room Rewards Chart in HHonors 10 Category system.
Yet, the award pricing tool does not reflect the category 5 award status of the two Barcelona hotels.
Hilton Barcelona shows award rate at 50,000 points for October 2014 through January 2015 and rising to 60,000 points in February 2015. The maximum award rate for a category 5 hotel is 40,000 points.
I made a sample award booking and found the February 2015 rate is actually 30,000 points per night, not 60,000 points as shown in the Hilton HHonors Standard Room Rewards Point Pricing Tool.
Hilton Barcelona is 30,000 points per award night in February 2015. The HHonors Standard Room Reward Pricing Tool shows the February 2015 award rate as 60,000 points per night.
Bottom line is Hilton HHonors Seasonal Pricing requires checking HHonors Standard Room Reward Pricing Tool to find the award rate for any specific month, yet this tool is inaccurate as shown for Hilton Barcelona in this award rate analysis.
The only way to know for sure how much a hotel award night will cost with Hilton HHonors is to check the specific hotel with a sample award booking using points.
How common are these errors in Hilton HHonors Standard Room Rewards Point Pricing Tool? Did I find the one anomaly with Barcelona hotels or is this a systemic problem in the HHonors Point Pricing Tool?
Thanks Hilton HHonors for the award price confusion with the seasonal pricing discrepancies.
Related Post: Hilton HHonors 39 award category changes and 56 new hotels (July 3, 2014)
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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 current hotel loyalty program offers across all the major chains in Loyalty Traveler’s monthly hotel promotions guide.
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