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Hilton HHonors Category 6 and 7 Reward changes April 30, 2012

Hilton HHonors released its list of hotels changing reward category on April 30, 2012. There are 330 hotels going up one category level. There are 117 hotels moving down one category.

HHonors has seven categories of hotels used to designate the hotel reward level for all Hilton brand hotels except Waldorf Astoria Hotels.

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Category 6 and 7 hotels will receive 123 new hotels into the ranks of the top tiers. Only three hotels will drop in category with the Hilton Beverly Hills dropping to category 6 from category 7. Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing in Branson, Missouri drops from category 6 to category 5 as does Hilton Mumbai International Airport India.

The 123 hotels rising to the cream of the HHonors reward chart include 95 hotels moving up to category 6 at 40,000 points per night and 28 hotels rising to category 7 reward status at 50,000 points.

Sucks to Travel the USA with Hilton

These changes wouldn’t be so shocking if it were not for the large proportion of hotels in the USA increasing relative to international hotels.

Category 6 additions include 11 international hotels like Hilton Sao Paulo, Brazil and Doubletree Gold Resort in Acaya, Italy and Hilton Sanya Resort & Spa in the beach resort getaway of China.

Contrast these world-class cities and resort destinations with the typical change for the USA where there will be 84 new hotels in Category 6 from the USA, including these California Hampton Inns.

  • Hampton San Francisco Airport, South San Francisco -Daly City = Category 6 = 40,000 points.
  • Hampton Inn & Suites Goleta = Category 6 = 40,000 points.
  • Hampton Inn Santa Cruz = Category 6 = 40,000 points.

[Update 4-10-12 11:30am PT: The Hilton HHonors list simply stated Hampton San Francisco and there is no Hampton Inn in the city of San Francisco. I thought it meant Hampton Inn Daly City, the town next to San Francisco. Then I found Hampton Daly City on the Category 5 list. I now assume Hampton San Francisco means Hampton San Francisco Airport in South San Francisco is rising from category 5 to category 6.

This is the problem with a poorly constructed list of hotel names from Hilton HHonors. Several hotels left off complete identifying names to accurately determine the specific hotel changing category.

Also, Hampton Inn Fredericksburg, Texas was misidentified as being Virginia in an earlier version of the category 6 list.]

Category 7 changes include six London hotels and four other hotels in the UK. I wonder if the hotels outside of London may drop down again after this Olympics year.

Hilton Buenos Aires and Hilton Perth are locations where a category 7 hotel is to be expected.

But, Embassy Suites San Luis Obispo, in a shopping center, beside Highway 101, in the lovely central coast, but not on the coast college town of San Luis Obispo, California now joins the ranks of the vaulted HHonors Category 7 elite properties around the world!

I’ll take London with my points please!

 

Hilton HHonors Does Not Care Much about Geography (or Members?)

One of the most annoying aspects of the Hilton HHonors list of hotels changing reward category April 30, 2012 is the absence of hotel order by Country, State, or Hotel Reward Category. The list is organized by brand.

a table with text on itHere is my contribution to the effort to make the Hilton HHonors list of hotels more consumer-friendly since Hilton HHonors apparently does not care how difficult the list is to read for people interested in the hotel category changes.

This graphic only shows the 123 hotels moving up to Category 6 and 7 for Hilton HHonors Rewards on April 30, 2012.

 

 

 

 

 

International Hotels rising to Hilton HHonors Category 7 Rewards

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 USA Hotels rising to Hilton HHonors Category 7 Rewards

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International Hotels rising to Hilton HHonors Category 6 Rewards

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USA Hotels rising to Hilton HHonors Category 6 Rewards

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Loyalty Traveler post:

Hilton HHonors Category 5 Hotel Changes listed by location (April 10, 2012).

Loyalty Traveler Category 4 hotels by location (April 10, 2012)

Loyalty Traveler Category 3 hotels by location (April 11, 2012)

17 Comments

  • Jamison April 10, 2012

    it seems like Hilton did this to inflate the values of the hotel this year so that next year they can decrease more than increasing hotel reward categories…

  • […] Hilton HHonors Category 6 and 7 Reward changes April 30, 2012 […]

  • PatMike April 10, 2012

    Sorry, but any Hampton Inn as a cat 6 just isn’t right. I’ll stick with SPG and Priority Club points and cash…

  • james April 10, 2012

    There are other Cat 6’s equally as puzzling. Are there any other hotels in Sandusky, OH?

    Has Hilton decided to reimburse points stays at such low rates as to force franchisees to raise the requirements?

  • […] Hilton HHonors Category 6 and 7 Reward changes April 30, 2012 […]

  • nulle April 11, 2012

    having the embassey suites as a cat 7 is a joke…you can’t equate an embassey suites in PDX to conrad at cities like NRT and HKG…

  • Colin April 11, 2012

    HGI Montreal Centre-Ville is becoming a Category 6 but is misidentified in your chart as in the USA buried between Puerto Rico and Rhode Island.

    Thanks for the great work!

    Colin

  • Ric Garrido April 11, 2012

    @Colin – Thanks for pointing out the error. I will correct that today.

  • […] Hilton HHonors Category 6 and 7 Reward changes April 30, 2012 […]

  • Robert Hanson April 11, 2012

    Paris La Defense, a 7 minute 1 stop commuter train ride from the Arc De Triumph, AAA rate $460, is category 6. Embassy Suites San Luis Obispo, AAA rate $163, is category 7. Is Hilton trying to tell us something?

    Lucky for me, I’m going to be in Europe this summer. But if I only stayed at hotels in the US, I’d forget about collecting Hilton points.

  • […] Hilton HHonors Category 6 and 7 Reward changes April 30, 2012 […]

  • Charles Clarke April 13, 2012

    http://www.doubletreefranchise.com/SF/HHonors/HHonors_OwnersFAQs.asp#9 explains how categories are determined. So the question is, is the ADR rising that much or are the redemptions? Maybe the reason redemptions in other countries are so favorable compared to the US is that it is so much easier for folks to redeem their points close to home.

  • Debbie April 23, 2012

    I called Hilton to verify that the Embassy Suites in Flagstaff would change to category 6 after 4/30/12. They told me no changes to categories are taking place?? So I called the hotel to see if they could shed some light and was told by the manager that they were not increasing from a category 5 to a 6. So I am confused?? We only had enough points for a category 5 booking.

  • Ric Garrido April 24, 2012

    @Debbie – This is a frequence occurrence with hotel reward catgory reassignment that some of the announced changes end up not changing.

    Thanks for sharing the Embassy Suites Flagstaff remains category 5.

    Great news for travelers on Interstate 40.

  • Laurie October 14, 2012

    Wow, thank you for making this list; it is sooooo much easier than the HHonors website. It’s funny, Hilton says there are no black out dates nor limitations, but when I checked six hotels in Waikiki, there is zero availability for a year; so then I checked Beverly Hills, same thing. I am contemplating changing my awards program to something I can use.

  • Ric Garrido October 15, 2012

    @Laurie – when I used HHonors frequently for reward stays I found being Diamond elite made many properties available that otherwise were not available for dates I wanted.

  • LivedinItaly March 29, 2013

    Why is the Hampton Inn Manhattan/Times Square South listed as HHonors Reward Category 8 (http://hamptoninn3.hilton.com/en_US/hp/hotel/popup/hotelDetails.htm?ctyhocn=NYCMAHX)?

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