Hilton Explains Why They Increased Reward Prices at Tons of Properties and Didn’t Tell You

Earlier I wrote that tons of Hilton Honors redemptions appeared to go up 10,000 points per night indeed the bulk of 10,000 Honors point per night properties have become 20,000 points.

Under Hilton’s system they do not tell members that this is happening. I asked Hilton about it and here’s what they shared,

Since the launch of Points & Money two years ago, our team regularly monitors the performance of the program and makes necessary tweaks along the way. Points & Money is performing very well and we’re thrilled so many members are taking advantage of it.

A few days ago we made a slight shift in the program and as we previously shared, while we won’t be sending updates for each and every shift, we are fully committed to delivering the best value to our members, and will carefully consider any adjustments for Hilton Honors properties.

As Points can flex depending on the hotel and date, visit https://pointsexplorer.hiltonhonors.com/ to search desired hotels, destinations and preferred dates to book your next stay at over 5,000 Hilton hotels. Hilton Honors is the only program that allows members to make use of ANY combination of Points and money starting at just 5,000 points to redeem at one of our properties.

Hilton effectively got rid of its award chart in 2013 when they introduced price ‘ranges’. They varied the price of hotel awards based largely on the price of a room. This used to be the Hilton Honors award chart:

Hilton promised that eliminating award charts wouldn’t mean raising prices but I think everyone knew that wasn’t true. The elimination of award charts serves only one purpose, to keep information out of the hands of members.

After 2013’s major gutting of the program Hilton moved away from an annual shift in hotel categories to moving fewer properties around at a time quarterly but published those changes on a static website, because they said it would improve transparency. Now there’s no transparency.

Remind me why you think Hilton Honors is a better program than Marriott Rewards?

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Pingbacks

  1. […] 【2019.6 更新】现在Hilton点数并没有一个公开的兑换表,所以他们说贬值就贬值。就在这几天很多人发现有些酒店兑换所需的Hilton点数涨了,很多原来10k的便宜酒店现在变成20k了。随后VFTW也从Hilton官方那里得到了确认:”we made a slight shift in the program”. 前些天我们更新点数估值的时候把Hilton定为 0.4 cents/point,有部分读者觉得有点低了,现在看来0.4一点也不冤枉Hilton啊。 […]

Comments

  1. Users are not financial experts, but its all about the company’s financial statements. Points/Miles/rewards must be listed as liabilities in financial statements. Negative financial statements impact stock prices and executive pay packages. Devaluing points/miles/rewards enhances the companies financials statements … lowers liabilities … better stock prices … better executive comp plans. Hilton, Hertz, Airlines all do it. Hertz had low quarterly earnings and next was big devaluation in their program. It’s that simple.

  2. Well, I also do whatever I want, which turned out that I have not been in a Hilton for a year.

  3. Remind me why you think Hilton Honors is a better program than Marriott Rewards?

    Answer: Hilton Aspire is the best hotel card out there and it’s not even close. Easily 600-700 dollars in net value without factoring in the point earning and you also get the highest level of status instantly. Hotel loyalty usually follows one’s hotel card.

  4. Well I guess we had to expect devaluation following all of these big 150k signup bonuses they’ve been throwing around. At this rate, Hilton cards will be offering 1 million point sign up bonuses 3 years from now and an airport Hampton Inn will be 800k points for a night.

  5. Sure Hilton is a declining loyalty program, but as someone who jumped ship to Hyatt last year, I need Hilton to remain at least *somewhat* competitive to keep the pressure on Hyatt to not devalue too much. While Hyatt does need to maintain a more generous loyalty program due to its smaller footprint, all of these competitor devaluations are causing World of Hyatt to be so lopsidedly better that I’m worried it’s only a matter of time…

  6. “…the best value to our members” . What the sleazy people mean by members is: top executives and property owners! NOT the customers. No where in their statement did it refer to the hotel guests. So naturally, raising prices is the best values to the members who are top executives and property owners.

  7. “Remind me why you think Hilton Honors is a better program than Marriott Rewards?”

    LOL, of course, it’s not. Hilton Honors is a crooked, deceitful and shameful program. Per my research, there are properties that have jumped 300% since the spring 2018. But it’s in human nature to believe that they can vote with their feet. Well, in the world where there are only 3 big airlines, 3 large hotel chains, and zero regulatory oversight — where is that shoulder to cry on?

  8. Because the vast majority of people don’t have a choice. Their companies dictate where they stay.

  9. Poor form, Gary. You are trying to show how bad Hilton Honors is, so why compare it to the abysmal Marriott Bonvoy? Hilton is bad, but it is _less bad_ than Marriott.

    Another pseudo-complaint: You did not tell us the most important thing: where to contact Hilton to complain!

    Some observations: Is this a surprise? “New” Hilton management has been public for years that they think Hilton elites are “over compensated” for their loyalty.

    In fact, I thought this was so obviously coming that I used up all my remaining HH points a few weeks ago, making speculative future reservations, and then I did NOT buy HH points during Daily Getaways, but the rubes did.

    BTW, does anyone think that this devaluation came just days after both Daily Getaways and a Hilton 2 for 1 points, by coincidence? Coincidence my ass. They deliberately held this until they had fleeced their own loyal customers.

    Gary, I think you have missed a crucial angle. Hilton does not pay franchisees more if they are in a higher category, a big difference from other chains. So the low category hotels are simply “teasers” to advertise to the rubes. When the hotels are full, the suits no longer feel they need to market to us.

    At this point, there are so many corporate travelers locked into the Hilton ecosystem that Hilton is happy cutting their benefits. The rest of us can pound sand.

  10. DCS is an effing one-note troll…nothing to see here, move along…

    His “blog” (2 posts in 1.5 months) is nothing but a Hilton vs. the world rant. He is pathetic.

  11. When you get charged $265+ or 70K HH per night (5-star rates) at a Hampton Inn or DT property, and they are not up to par or no recognition, use social media, call, and/or email Hilton Honors in protest. Document, document, document (including photos) to get comped and when appropriate demand a full refund.

Comments are closed.