# New HHonors Reward Options to rollout in 2011



## alwysonvac (Apr 24, 2011)

HHonors Demo - http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/landing/redemptiondemo/index.do


*Flyertalk Discussions* 
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilton-hhonors/1200885-points-money-rewards.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilton-hhonors/1200806-new-reward-booking-screens.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilton-hhonors/1207774-cash-points-rewards.html



> From http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/rewards/freenight.do
> 
> _"*Points & Money Rewards™ - New!*__
> With new Points & Money Rewards, you can redeem points more quickly than with our Standard Room Rewards. This is because if you don't have enough Hilton HHonors™ points to book a room using Standard Room Rewards, or simply if you prefer to use fewer points, then you can combine points with money to book a standard room. Availability of Points & Money Rewards varies by participating hotels and stay dates at time of booking.
> ...


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## alwysonvac (Apr 24, 2011)

FAQ on new Hotel Rewards



> From http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/landing/expandedrewards_faq/index.do
> 
> _FAQ on Hotel Rewards
> 
> ...


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## itradehilton (Apr 24, 2011)

This sounds great as we prefer a larger room or better view. Hopefully this will also include picking the bedding types too.


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## fillde (Apr 24, 2011)

So, I see one of the biggest benefits being the waldorf  collection. Instead of needing 80,000 points, I can now use/need 30,000 points plus 100 bucks. I don't know if it's cost effective but it sounds great.


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## dvc_john (Apr 24, 2011)

Looks interesting. Of course, for every stay you would have to calculate the room as money, points, and points and money to see the best value.
But according the the FAQ's, it looks like on a points and money stay, you don't earn Hhonors points for the money portion. So I would guess that you don't earn stay credit either.
I wonder if you earn points and stay credit on a money stay with a points upgrade.


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## ricoba (Apr 24, 2011)

Thanks! 

As always, another informative post.


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## night0wl (Apr 24, 2011)

Dont know if I like this.  As a status holder (Hilton Diamond), this makes it seem like non-status folks with a lot of points in the bank can scarf up all upgradeable inventory.  I travel a *TON* with Hilton, and one of the reasons is that I get moved to better rooms based on my loyalty.  This seems like it will take away much of that upgradeable inventory. 

Sure, its great use of HHonors points, but its coming at the expense of the most loyal and highest paying Hilton customers - business travelers that stay many many nights with Hilton a year.

As for redemption of Honors for "premium" room...seems like they've now created a class of "Category 7 plus" or "Category 8" rooms that were previously attainable if you played the system.  Now, if you book at Category 7 hotel...you probably have to play even more points to get ocean or high floor rooms that previously would have been granted with a friendly phone call or good conversation with the agent at checkin time.

These "enhancements" simply seem like I'm now paying for things that were free or part of the program before...downright Orwellian move Hilton. Grrr....


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## MichaelColey (Apr 24, 2011)

dvc_john said:


> But according the the FAQ's, it looks like on a points and money stay, you don't earn Hhonors points for the money portion. So I would guess that you don't earn stay credit either.


Points stays currently count towards status, so I would suspect that points + cash stays would, too.


night0wl said:


> Dont know if I like this. As a status holder (Hilton Diamond), this makes it seem like non-status folks with a lot of points in the bank can scarf up all upgradeable inventory.


I agree.  (I'm also a Diamond.)  Looks like upgrade inventory will be a little more scarce.  They've already been heading that way with NOR1 upgrades, though.

I do like the fact that I can CONFIRM upgrades to suites by using more points, though.  Sometimes I really need a bigger room and don't want to leave it to chance and don't want to pay the cash price.

I also like cash + points.  I use that quite a bit with Starwood, and it's a great value there.


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## pianodinosaur (Apr 24, 2011)

I have been at HHonors Gold status the past two years and had been at Diamond status the previous four years.  I anticipate remaining at Gold status next year.

First, I would like to thank Awaysonvac for educating on on the recent developements.

Secondly, this reminds me a great deal of SPG's Cash & Points option.  I am pleased that we will now have this option with HHonors.  I do not think that SPG is as flexible or as user friendly as HHonors but I do anticipate my first SPG redemption next year.  However, if I want to spend one or two nights a hotel rather than take a six or seven day vacation at a hotel, this looks like a good way to save some money and stretch my HHonors points.


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## NJDave (Apr 24, 2011)

Thanks for posting.

This is great news.  I almost always try to reserve with cash and points with SPG and the Hilton cash prices appear to be more reasonable than SPG's.  I hope there is good availabilty wiht this option.  With SPG, it is hit or miss in trying to reserve with cash and points.


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## Talent312 (Apr 24, 2011)

As others have said, this may be a sneaky way of selling upgrades that would have been taken for free, or soaking up additional points. But hey, how many of us picked up upgrades at check-in, anyway.


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## Steve (Apr 24, 2011)

I like these new options.  It will be nice to have the option to guarantee better rooms.  It will also be nice to be able to mix points and cash on reservations.

I think this is a positive move by Hilton.

Steve


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