No Choice, Hilton Honors points are my Daily Getaways backup

U.S. Travel Association’s Daily Getaways 2017 edition is not helping me much with hotel discount points for my travel needs over the next year.

This week there are three good hotel discount offers. My sights are set on Hilton Honors points Tuesday, May 2.

After only securing 36,000 Choice Privileges points on Friday, I shifted my outlook to the opportunities available for hotel rate discounts with Hilton Honors points.

There are several airport and city hotels in Poland, where I see great value with Hilton Honors points. Last year I had great value using Hilton Honors points in Slovakia too. I will be heading to both these countries again during the next three months.

Hilton Honors points at $4.80/1,000 points.

Tuesday May 2 – 1pm eastern time

$144 for 30,000 points (450 sets for sale; max. purchase = 3; $4.80/1,000 points).

$480 for 100,000 points (275 sets for sale; max. purchase = 1; $4.80/1,000 points).

$1,200 for 250,000 points (236 sets for sale; max. purchase = 1; $4.80/1,000 points.

 

Marriott Rewards Travel Cards 20% off

Thursday May 4 –  1pm eastern time

$80 for $100 Travel Card (1,070 for sale; max. purchase = 3).

$200 for $250 Travel Card (252 for sale; max. purchase = 2).

$400 for $500 Travel Card (200 for sale; max purchase = 1).

 

Orbitz.com 35% off $1,000 Hotel Card

Friday May 5 –  1pm eastern time

$650 for $1,000 Orbitz Hotel Booking Credit (55 for sale; max. purchase = 1).

 

Marriott Travel Cards are a good deal since you save 20% on hotel rates and the discount hotel stays count for promotions.

I was annoyed to realize as I analyzed my hotel stays and spend for 2016 this month for taxes, I bought $200 in Marriott cards in last year’s Daily Getaways for two hotel stays in May 2016. Those two nights earned a free category 5 hotel reward night.

I completely forgot to use my Marriott free night credit before it expired.

Orbitz hotel travel card is a great discount, but with so few available, that will be luck of the click to get the deal.

 

The Sell-Out of Daily Getaways

I placed my hopes and budget on spending as much as $1,000 on Choice Privileges points Friday April 28. Those items were booked up in the first two seconds of the sale. Working on three browsers only landed me one purchase page for 36,000 points. That does not even cover the 60,000 points in Choice Privileges reward nights I need over the next three months for hotel stays I planned in Stockholm and Prague. My back-up plan for Choice is acquiring points through Points + Cash rewards at $7.50 per 1,000. That will cost $280 more than if I had been able to buy 80,000 points in Friday’s Daily Getaways and raises the cost of reward nights from $40 to $75 for hotels I planned to stay at in July. But, even $75 is still a $50 to $100 discount rate per night compared to published room rates.

Turns out 1,030 sets of Choice Privileges points offered in Daily Getaways 2017 edition was a significant reduction to the 2,040 sets of points sold in 2016.

No Choice, Hilton Honors points are my Daily Getaways back-up plan

100,000 or 250,000 points are high purchase items that can be a good deal if you have a specific high redemption hotel stay in mind.

For me, 30,000 Honors points for $144 is the deal I want.

I have had good value redemptions in the past year using Honors Points & Money in Bratislava, Slovakia where I stayed at the Double Tree for 4,000 points + 26 EUR when standard rates were 10,000 points and published rates were over 100EUR per night.

Loyalty Traveler -  Hotel Review DoubleTree Bratislava Slovakia (Sep 26, 2016).

Poland on Hilton Honors points

Planning summer 2017 travel in Poland revealed some real Hilton Honors hotel discount deals to be found for reward nights in Warsaw, Krakow and Gdansk for both city and airport hotels.

There is a Wizz Air nonstop flight from Barcelona to Gdansk with a 12:40am arrival at GDN. That is so late and getting to a city hotel at that time of night can be a transportation pain.

I was in Gdansk, Poland in February and the Hampton Inn Gdansk is about 300 meters walk through the airport parking lot from the terminal.

Hampton Inn Gdansk Airport GDN, Poland

July 11, 2017

10,000 Honors points award night or $102/$112 lowest rates.

Hampton Inn Gdansk Airport photo taken from public bus stop outside terminal for transportation into city on my visit in February 2017.

The price to buy 10,000 points in Daily Getaways is $48 and a good savings on the $102 lowest room rate for Hampton Gdansk Airport.

Krakow Airport KRK has a Hilton Garden Inn and Warsaw Airport WAW has a Hampton Inn, both with 10,000 points reward nights.

Hampton Inn Krakow Category 1 Hotel at 5,000 points ($24) per night.

Hampton Krakow is a category 1 Hilton Honors property at 5,000 points per night. I was discouraged from staying there last summer by readers due to its location 2 miles from Old Town.

I have been to Krakow twice since then and I have a fairly good feel for the city center. A taxi ride is only $5 to go two miles in Krakow. A 20 minute tram ride is less than $1.

I can pay for a couple of taxi rides or Uber and still save $50 to $100 per day compared to Krakow Old Town location hotels.

Krakow, Poland  4 night stay  Monday July 17 – Friday July 21

• Hilton Garden Inn Krakow 19,000 points (76,000)
• DoubleTree Krakow Convention Center 17,000 points (68,000)
• Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport 10,000 points (40,000)
• Hampton Inn Krakow 5,000 points (20,000)

There is a mismatch between Honors reward rates and published rates for these Hilton brand hotels in Krakow with all four hotels within $17 per night room rate range.

• Hilton Garden Inn Krakow 349 PLN = $90.22 USD
• DoubleTree Krakow Convention Center 308 PLN = $79.62 USD
• Hilton Garden Inn Krakow Airport 374 PLN = $96.68 USD
• Hampton Inn Krakow 5,000 points 349 PLN = $90.22 USD.

A 4-night stay at Hampton Inn Krakow for 20,000 points is only $96 for $361 in room rates when buying Hilton Honors points in Daily Getaways. $24 room nights are a deal hard to best.

That is why Hilton Honors has become my back-up plan for Daily Getaways points purchases since missing out on Choice Privileges. There are some good value Hilton Honors points redemptions to be found. It all depends on where you travel.