# Hilton Honors conversion rate



## ldunk99 (May 16, 2007)

I currently have 7000 points.  If I choose to convert them to Hilton honors points for hotel stays what is the conversion rate?  How many points does it cost to stay in their hotels?

Thanks,

Lori


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## Bill4728 (May 16, 2007)

Here is a quote from the HGVC advice article here on TUG 



> Further, membership in Hilton Hotel Corporation’s loyalty program, Hilton HHonors® program, at the Silver VIP level, comes with the HGVClub membership.  Every year, I have the option of converting my annual Club Points to HHonors points.  HGVClub currently charges $69 for this transaction.  The conversion values are fixed depending on the season and unit size owned, at a rate of 23 HHonors points to one Club Point.  (For example, a 1BR Gold 3400 Club Points ownership converts to 78,200 HHonors points.)  Members may use HHonors points for a variety of goods and services, including hotel stays at Hilton owned and affiliated hotels worldwide and frequent flyer miles at partner airlines.  Members may also use HHonors points for Club reservations.  In addition, members may make reservations in participating HHonors hotels using Club Points directly without converting them to HHonors points.  For more details on the HHonors program go to its website at http://www.hiltonhhonors.com/.  The Club Points to HHonors conversion benefit transfers to owners who purchase resale from sellers other than HGVC.  (In comparison, a person who buys a Marriott Vacation Club® timeshare resale through private resale not handled by Marriott Vacation Club’s resale department would not have the option of converting his timeshare week to Marriott Rewards® points.)


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## SallyMagoo (May 16, 2007)

I'm sure others will discuss this too, but as noted above, if you are a HGVC timeshare owner, you are automatically an Honors Silver.  As a Silver, you qualify to get special Honors VIP packages for points which will give you better value for the points; e.g., we stayed at the Conrad Hilton in London last Fall (a category 6 hotel) for 175,000 points for a 6-night stay; you should check out the Hilton Honors site for more information as to the VIP awards.  This stay would have probably cost us something like 230,000 points if we hadn't been silver.   

If you attain the gold status in Hilton Honors you get even more benefits; I believe there may be limited black out dates for golds, and other perks.  For example, at the Conrad, we got continental breakfast for 2 every day of our stay (over $70.00 dollars in value per day!).  You can qualify for gold by charging $20,000 anually on the AMEX Hilton honors credit card.  I highly recommend getting the AMEX credit card to supplement your Honors account.  You get 3 points for every dollar spent (and sometimes 5 points per dollar).  I really helps you achieve higher Honors points levels which you can combine with the points which have been converted from the timeshare.  You can get a good number of points (20,000?) just by getting the credit card.   

Generally, though, I think the consensus is that the timeshare point conversion to Honors points is not that great a value; but it does greatly expand the locations you can access by adding the entire Hilton hotel system to your choices.


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## AzMin (May 16, 2007)

ldunk99 said:


> How many points does it cost to stay in their hotels?



It ranges from 7500 to 40,000 Hhonors pts per night depending on the category. Go to the Hilton hotel website and find a hotel. The category and pts required is listed on the page that has the hotel description. 

Min


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## ldunk99 (May 17, 2007)

*Roadtrip in CA*

Thanks for the info.  We are looking for something fun this summer.  We typically travel to Orlando during Christmas but don't think that can happen this year.  Any good ideas for summer?  We have 7000 points and are new to this.

Lori


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## SallyMagoo (May 17, 2007)

I don't think you will be able to convert the Club points this year at a 23/1 conversion rate.  If they are 2007 points, that would have had to be done by 12/31/06.  You might be able to use the timeshare points directly for stays Hilton Hotels for which I believe the conversion rate will be about 20/1 (i.e., about 140,000 points for 7,000 timeshare points, but check with Hilton).  Even if I convert my 2008 Club points into Honors points this year, the website is telling me that the Honors points won't be available until 12/1/08.  

If you have a Hilton honors account you can log into, you can check availability for hotel rewards in any area you are interested in.  You can't book the award unless you have enough points in your account.  Availability might be limited in the hotels this summer; but might be possible.  For instance, I found reward availability in an airport hotel near Boston which would begin just a few days from now.  The best thing might be to talk to someone at Hilton about what you want to do; they can sometimes see availability that isn't shown online, and I believe they can handle the conversion from timeshare points.

Oh, and you can buy Honors points if you need some more to top off your points.


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## na2006 (May 17, 2007)

SallyMagoo said:


> Even if I convert my 2008 Club points into Honors points this year, the website is telling me that the Honors points won't be available until 12/1/08.



I just bought Surf Club Marco Island  Gold 5000 HGVC points. I plan to convert them to HHonors for both 2007 & 2008. 

So are you saying 2008 points will be not avaialable till *12/01/2008 ie Dec 01, 2008? *

I am going to call HHonors today on that.

NA


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## SallyMagoo (May 18, 2007)

I'm sorry - I meant 1/1/08 - that was a mistake.  How can you convert your 2007 points --though that would have had to be done last year.


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## BayouTraveler (May 19, 2007)

SallyMagoo said:


> How can you convert your 2007 points --though that would have had to be done last year.



You may want to check me on this but I think you can still make a reservation at a Hilton hotel with your 2007 Clubpoints, cancel it later and the hotel points are returned to your HiltonHHonors account without an expiration date.  You'll need to book a VIP package to get the full 23/1 conversion.  You can use all of your Clubpoints and dip into your hotel account for the difference.  If you only book with what is in your HGVC account, you are likely to get the 20/1 conversion rate.


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## na2006 (May 20, 2007)

BayouTraveler said:


> You may want to check me on this but I think you can still make a reservation at a Hilton hotel with your 2007 Clubpoints, cancel it later and the hotel points are returned to your HiltonHHonors account without an expiration date.  You'll need to book a VIP package to get the full 23/1 conversion.  You can use all of your Clubpoints and dip into your hotel account for the difference.  If you only book with what is in your HGVC account, you are likely to get the 20/1 conversion rate.



Who does the VIP package booking - HGVC/Hilton Honors?

I think there is a $69 conversion fee? Is there any cancellation fee for canceling the VIP package?

Last year they let rescue the HGVC points for 2006. There is thread about that - http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37168

Also founf HGVC members guide - http://www.hgvc.com/mg/ which will tell you everything you need.

NA


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## BayouTraveler (May 28, 2007)

na2006 said:


> Who does the VIP package booking - HGVC/Hilton Honors?
> 
> I think there is a $69 conversion fee? Is there any cancellation fee for canceling the VIP package?
> NA



Booking is through HGVC with the standard reservation charge ($49) and no fee for conversion or cancellation.  The conversion rate applies when you are moving points from HGVC to HiltonHHonors outside of a reservation.


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## Yung (May 31, 2007)

> Who does the VIP package booking - HGVC/Hilton Honors?
> 
> I think there is a $69 conversion fee? Is there any cancellation fee for canceling the VIP package?



It cost $69 to convert from HGVC Club points to HHonors points. You can only convert the points of the next year before the end of the current year.

For example, you have up until 12/31 this year to convent your 2008 HGVC Club points to HHonors points (at the rate of 23/1). Either you convert 1 week or 5 week worth of points, the conversion fee is the same.

Once you have the HHonors points, you would want to check on the Hilton website for the Hilton hotel (or the Hilton family of hotels) that you would like to stay for availability. You would need to click on the "Book Reward" button (on the top right corner) and plug in your check in and check out dates. 

If what you are looking for is available for you to redeem, the system will tell you what kind of room you may reserve and for how many HHonors points needed. 

After you filled out all the details and make your reservation, the system will send you a confirmation for the reservation to your email address on file and also issue you a certificate, which you need to print out and present both of these documents when you check in at the HHonors desk at the hotel.

The reservation will tell you when you need to cancel your reservation by without penalty. Sometimes it's 24 hours, sometimes it's 72 hours depends on the hotel. 

If you cancel before the deadline, there is no cost to you, and your points deducted would be put back to your account. If you don't cancel before the deadline, you will be charged for one night at the current room rate to you credit card on file.  (It could be a very costly mistake if your reservation happens to be at one of the category 6 hotel.)

One tip: if your stay is 6 nights or longer at category 6 hotel, you do not have to pay the points being displayed on the screen. There are special VIP packages that you could call up the HHonors and ask for, instead. 

For example, for a 6-night stay at category 6 hotel, the system would show 240,000 points as the cost, certificate type: C606. After you got your reservation confirmation #, just call up the HHonors and ask for the GLONP2 that costs only 175,000 points, to replace the C606. You will save 65,000 points  

I hope this help you enjoying your HGVC t/s ownership as much as we do.


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## na2006 (May 31, 2007)

BayouTraveler said:


> Booking is through HGVC with the standard reservation charge ($49) and no fee for conversion or cancellation.  The conversion rate applies when you are moving points from HGVC to HiltonHHonors outside of a reservation.



Thanks all,
So the only way to convert them to HHonors points is then to book the VIP package and then cancel it? 

Does HGVC allows HHonors conversion for midyear buyers like me?

I know I can convert them to RCI points or use them in 2008. 

In case I transfer HGVC points to 2008, can I use VIP reward in 2008 ?

NA


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## AzMin (May 31, 2007)

Yung said:


> If you cancel before the deadline, there is no cost to you, *and your points deducted would be put back to your account*. If you don't cancel before the deadline, you will be charged for one night at the current room rate to you credit card on file.  (It could be a very costly mistake if your reservation happens to be at one of the category 6 hotel.)



I've cancelled two Hilton reward reservations recently - a two-night stay using 70,000 Honors pts and a three-night stay using 120,000 Honors - and the 190,000 pts have not been returned to my account. 

The Reward Certificates give me one year to use those points on future reservations. I assume I'd have to use them on the same hotel category and nights as the original reservations. 

I made all the reservations and cancellations on the website so I suppose (and I don't have any experience doing this) I could probably call Hilton and have them void the certificates and put the points back in my account. I know they don't automatically do it. 

Min


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## Yung (May 31, 2007)

> I've cancelled two Hilton reward reservations recently - a two-night stay using 70,000 Honors pts and a three-night stay using 120,000 Honors - and the 190,000 pts have not been returned to my account.



That is because you did your cancelations online. If you call up HHonors and speak with the rep, requesting him/her to cancel your resrvastion # xxxxxxx, the rep would take care of the cancelation and at the same time, cancel the certificate that was attached to that particular reservation for you. That way you won't have to worry about keeping track of the (many) un-used, un-attatched certificate(s) that will expire one year after the issue date(s).  

I prefer keeping the reservation and the certificate paired up together. When I need to cancel my reservation, I want my deducted points restored right away. That's why I always call in for my cancelations instead of going online.


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