Studying the hotel rewards available for HHonors points in five U.S. cities of Boston, Charlotte, Minneapolis, New York and San Francisco revealed some trends and standard practices for HHonors based on my analysis of about 100 or so hotels.
Standard Rewards in the USA typically offer redemption value in the range of $4.00 to $6.00 per 1,000 points. This means 100,000 HHonors points will buy about $400 to $600 in Hilton-brand hotel room stays based on the Best Flexible Rate (BAR). Standard Reward value in the USA is more likely to fall below $4.00 per 1,000 points (e.g. 50,000 points for a $200 room rate) than above $6.00 rate (e.g. 50,000 points for a $300 room rate).
In my survey of Hilton-brand hotels I generally found 90% or more hotels offered Standard Rewards.
Premium Room Rewards have fixed rates for points.
The two most commonly used values for HHonors Premium Rewards are $2.78 and $3.57 per 1,000 points. This means a room that is $278 will cost 100,000 points as a Premium Room Reward when the hotel uses the $2.78 rate. A hotel using the $3.57 rate will charge 1,000 points for every $3.57 in the published BAR room rate. A $300 room will cost 84,034 HHonors points.
Premium Room Rewards commonly choose from three fixed rates: $2.78, $3.57 and $5.00. Hotels using the $5.00 rate approach the average value of Standard Rewards. These hotels are less common. It might be a decent value to splurge in your room upgrade spend at a hotel offering upgrades at the rate of $5 for every 1,000 HHonors points. 100,000 points buys $500 room rate (BAR). Premium Room Rewards using $5.00 rate is least common of these three rates.
The Premium Room Reward rate is fixed at one value for all Premium Rewards at that specific hotel. A hotel using $2.78/1,000 points will charge 50,000 points for a $139 room or 500,000 points for a $1,390 Presidential Suite. The redemption rate for any Premium Room Reward will be 1,000 points for every $2.78 in published room rate (BAR) for that room type at that specific Hilton brand hotel.
Premium Room Rewards sometimes are applied to a base level category room on a higher floor or a base level category room with two beds. New York was a location with some hotels where two double beds priced at Premium Room Reward rates, whereas, the same type of room with one King or Queen bed prices as a Standard Reward.
Occasionally there are hotels where Premium Room Rewards are special rates and actually lower cost than Standard Room Rewards. These are a great find. In my hotel checks I found the DoubleTree Minneapolis Park Place offered Premium Room Rewards at lower cost than Standard Room Reward and better redemption value than Points & Money reward.
Points & Money Rewards
Points & Money Rewards are priced at 40% points of a HHonors Standard Reward with a copay.
HHonors Standard Reward rates in ten hotel categories.PM = Points & Money Reward rate.
- Hotel Category 1 – 5,000 points (PM 2,000 + $30)
- Hotel Category 2 – 10,000 points (PM 4,000 + $35)
- Hotel Category 3 – 20,000 points (PM 8,000 + $40)
- Hotel Category 4 – 30,000 points (PM 12,000 + $50)
- Hotel Category 5 – 40,000 points (PM 16,000 + $65)
- Hotel Category 6 – 50,000 points (PM 20,000 + $85)
- Hotel Category 7 – 60,000 points (PM 24,000 +100)
- Hotel Category 8 – 70,000 points (PM 28,000 + $125)
- Hotel Category 9 – 80,000 points (PM 32,000 + $150)
- Hotel Category 10 – 95,000 points (PM 38,000 + $200)
P&M cash portion in U.S. dollars varies slightly at hotels priced in foreign currencies.
Points & Money Rewardswere offered at fewer than 10% of hotels surveyed. Several cities with 30 or more Hilton brand properties only offered P&M Rewards at one or two hotels.
Points & Money Rewards are generally the only hotel rewards where the value of HHonors points approaches $10 per 1,000 points. The value of Points & Money Rewards was actually lower than I expected for the hotels where I found these rewards.
An HHonors member with 200,000 points can redeem these points for as little as $560 with Premium Room Rewards where the rate is set at 1,000 points for every $2.78 in room rate.
An HHonors member with 200,000 points can expect to get about $600 to $1,200 in room value with Standard Rewards. The savvy redeemer will aim for the $1,200 + value. A decade ago I used to get about $2,500 to $3,000 in room rate value for 200,000 HHonors points. That is still possible, but unlikely.
An HHonors member with 200,000 points might get $2,000 in room value using Points & Money Rewards. This is possible in the USA, however, my preliminary checks show this value is easier to find when booking Points & Money Rewards for hotels outside the USA.
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