In 2013 (and in prior years) I was a Hilton HHonors Diamond member by virtue of spending $40,000 on their premium co-brand credit card. I had somehow internalized that Hilton offers their elites soft landings. I figured I would be a Gold in 2014 without any spending or credit card membership. I was recently downgraded to Silver. Here’s why I care. In general the smaller hotel chains are more rewarding. I love Hyatt Gold Passport and I think that Starwood Preferred Guest is pretty good too (albeit somewhat ungenerous with earning for in-hotel spend). But they aren’t everywhere and so I need another program — like Marriott, Hilton, or IHG Rewards Club. Of those, Hilton offers the most generous and easy to reach mid-tier status level as a ‘backup’ to receive decent treatment on those…
Hilton HHonors American Express
Search Results for "Hilton HHonors American Express".
Final Day for 50,000 Signup Bonus for the No Fee Hilton Visa
Citi® Hilton HHonorsTM Visa Signature® Card 50,000 points after spending $1,000 in the first four months $50 statement credit after you spend $50 or more on your first hotel stay within the Hilton HHonors Portfolio during the first six months of cardmembership This is the best offer for the no annual fee Hilton card that I’ve seen and it expires tomorrow. This free card gives you free Hilton Silver status. Better to walk into Hilton as a silver than as a base member. First, because of the bonus points and in some cases free bottled water. But second and more importantly is that it serves as a reason not to be given the worst room on property, the one above the HVAC system or overlooking construction. That’s not a guarantee, but it helps. It also…
Hilton HHonors Visa 50,000 Point Bonus Expires April 18
Citi® Hilton HHonorsTM Visa Signature® Card 50,000 points after spending $1,000 in the first four months $50 statement credit after you spend $50 or more on your first hotel stay within the Hilton HHonors Portfolio during the first six months of cardmembership This is the best offer for the no annual fee Hilton card that I’ve seen. I didn’t write about it when it first came out, but since it expires April 18th I thought it worthwhile to give some attention for those that can benefit from it. This free card gives you free Hilton Silver status. Better to walk into Hilton as a silver than as a base member. First, because of the bonus points and in some cases free bottled water. But second and more importantly is that it serves as a reason…
Virgin Atlantic Transfers to Hilton Will Devalue on February 6
Effective February 6, transfers from Virgin Atlantic to Hilton HHonors will be at a rate of 1 mile to 1.5 points instead of the current 1 mile to 2 points. Please note from 6 February 2014 the exchange miles to points rate is changing. Flying Club members will be able to exchange miles at the following rate: 2 Flying Club miles for 3 Hilton HHonors points. You can currently exchange miles at a rate of (up until 5 February 2014): 1 Flying Club mile for 2 HHonors point. Minimum Level: 10,000 miles and then in increments of 5,000. Just call the Flying Club Helpline with your HHonors account number. *Please note your name on your Flying Club membership account must match exactly with the name on your Hilton HHonors account for a successful transfer. Your…
American Express 33% Transfer Bonus to Hilton — And the One Time it Makes Sense to Do It
American Express Membership Rewards is running a 33% bonus on transfers to Hilton HHonors through January 31. This means that instead of transfer at a ratio of 1:1.5 you transfer at a ratio of 1:2. Frankly, you can normally get a 1:2 transfer ratio by transferring American Express points to Virgin Atlantic at 1:1 and from there to Hilton at 1:2. (And for that matter you can do the same with Chase Ultimate Rewards points, making Hilton a stealth transfer partner of Chase.) It’s even better to make the Hilton transfers when American Express is running a transfer bonus to Virgin. (One ended yesterday.) Of course, transferring directly to Hilton is faster and involves one less step. That said, I do not recommend it. I wasn’t even a huge fan of transferring to Hilton before…
Have a Citibank Hilton Visa? Earn 2500 Bonus HHonors Points Per Stay
This offer appears to be for holders of the free Citi Hilton HHonors Visa card and not for folks with the $95 Citi Hilton Reserve Card (those folks already earn more points for their Hilton stays) and also not for holders of American Express co-branded Hilton cards. Registration is required prior to check-out to qualify, you must pay for your stay with the Citi Hilton HHonors Visa card, and the offer is valid for stays between November 25 and February 28. You can join the 30,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
30% Bonus on Transfers from American Express to Virgin Atlantic
The U.S. American Express Membership Rewards program is offering a 30% bonus on transfers to Virgin Atlantic through November 30. One of the popular uses for Virgin miles in the past was converting to Hilton at one-to-two, 50,000 Virgin miles would yield 100,000 Hilton points. But since the March 28th Hilton devaluation that doesn’t appeal nearly as much. A 100,000 point HHonors balance to me is now just two nights at the Embassy Suites Portland instead of the Conrad Koh Samui. Still, it’s better even normally to transfer American Express points to Virgin to Hilton than it is to transfer straight to Hilton. This bonus makes it better still. Just like British Airways, award travel entails paying fuel surcharge on itineraries where a paid ticket would also — although they’ve reduced fuel surcharges on economy…
Up to 2000 Singapore Airlines Miles Per Hilton Stay
Hilton’s points-earning value proposition has long been known for double dipping, the ability to earn both points and miles for your stays. They’ve made things much more complicated though since now you can earn points and extra points instead of miles. Or if you earn miles you can pick between ‘fixed miles’ (a set number of points per night or per stay) or ‘variable miles’ (a number of miles based on your spending. This gets super complicated because you’re best off switching your preferences from stay to stay — short cheap stays are best earning fixed miles, long and expensive stays variable miles (or points and points). And on award stays you can earn points and points or points and variable miles but you will not earn fixed miles. So setting your preference to fixed…
Delta Actually Runs a Promotion! Hilton Stays Help Towards Delta Elite Status
Delta used to have one of the most aggressive programs for mileage accumulation. Their constant promotions, either directly inside the Skymiles program or for converting points into Skymiles, made the currency a drug on the market. While Delta awards can be truly outrageously priced, some would argue that the ease with which miles are accumulated in the program more or less netted that out. In other words, it’s okay to spend double or more miles on an award when accumulate rates are similarly inflated. This year though Delta has been almost absent in the promotion space. That follows 2012 where the dearth of promotions was similar. Roughly speaking Delta bonused only a few small things like Hilton stays and responded to major competitor promotions such as offering big miles for full fare and premium cabin…
Preparing for the Dreaded American Express Financial Review
American Express ‘financial reviews’ send shudders down the spines of frequent flyers (and Amex cardholders) everywhere. But in my opinion they shouldn’t. So I’m going to explain what a financial review is, what we know about what triggers a financial review, and why financial reviews don’t worry me a bit. Your opinion may differ on whether these are a big deal — and that’s fair — so hopefully this explanation helps you prepare in case you’re faced with one. This past weekend at Frequent Traveler University I answered an audience question, and Frequent Miler offered by way of followup that I should highlight the risk of an American Express Financial Review as part of my answer. I did, because I agree it’s something that is helpful for cardholders to understand — even if it doesn’t…
