Amex Hilton Aspire

[brp]

Remy,

I'm curious about this. What is the point cost, and minimum available dollar cost for your stay in the Maldives? 1.7 cents/point is a great value, so I want to see how that works out in this case.

Cheers.

 

[Remy]

Remy,

I'm curious about this. What is the point cost, and minimum available dollar cost for your stay in the Maldives? 1.7 cents/point is a great value, so I want to see how that works out in this case.

Cheers.

With the 5th night free, 5 nights cost 480,000 points, or 96,000 per night. It is the only Hilton in the portfolio pricing at 120,000 per night but the standard room is an overwater reef villa with a private pool. At the lowest rate currently visible with tax and fees included, ~$1,580 per night.

If you want to dive into the math, spending roughly $25k at Hilton and adding the sign up bonus on the card, you’ll get 11 nights at the Waldorf in the Maldives (add in the free night cert) at a “value” of about $16k in return for that spending.

The trip over there is a hike, so I aim for really long stays to acclimate and spend time diving. Others may prefer to look at a 6 night stay with the same math.


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[Tamaradarann]

A lot of folks assign a value to points, and in the case of Hilton points it’s in the half cent area. Which can be true if that’s how one chooses to redeem them. But there are properties, with the fifth night free, where one can get an outsize value. 34 points per dollar on Hilton spend can be very lucrative if you have a specific redemption in mind. I’m planning 11 nights at the new Waldorf Maldives. After I book that I’ll likely not earn Hilton points on purpose until I have another valuable redemption in the works. Because, as others have noted, at most properties Hilton points aren’t very valuable.


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Yes, I always try to do 5 night increments when I can to get the 5th night free. That does make the points worth more. I usually use my points to extend a timeshare vacation or go to a special place as you are.

 

[hurnik]

With the 5th night free, 5 nights cost 480,000 points, or 96,000 per night. It is the only Hilton in the portfolio pricing at 120,000 per night but the standard room is an overwater reef villa with a private pool. At the lowest rate currently visible with tax and fees included, ~$1,580 per night.

If you want to dive into the math, spending roughly $25k at Hilton and adding the sign up bonus on the card, you’ll get 11 nights at the Waldorf in the Maldives (add in the free night cert) at a “value” of about $16k in return for that spending.

The trip over there is a hike, so I aim for really long stays to acclimate and spend time diving. Others may prefer to look at a 6 night stay with the same math.


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In regards to the Maldives (this isn't unique to Hilton, either):

While those redemptions will probably get you a very very good "return", those resorts are non-AI. By the time you factor in food/beverage costs, you probably could've gotten an AI package for less via some of the maldives agents that specialize in travel (simplymaldives, purelymaldives, etc.)

We were thinking of using our Hilton or Marriott points to save money on our trip to the maldives, but by the time (even with 5th night free and the free weekend/whatever night) it still added up to about $400/day for food/drinks for 2 people (plus the resort transfers of about $1200 or more).

Although we like to prioritize the snorkeling so only the W really has the good snorkeling (conrad does not have good snorkeling by most accounts).

But may use the points for Tahiti instead--LOL!

 

[Remy]

In regards to the Maldives (this isn't unique to Hilton, either):

While those redemptions will probably get you a very very good "return", those resorts are non-AI. By the time you factor in food/beverage costs, you probably could've gotten an AI package for less via some of the maldives agents that specialize in travel (simplymaldives, purelymaldives, etc.)

We were thinking of using our Hilton or Marriott points to save money on our trip to the maldives, but by the time (even with 5th night free and the free weekend/whatever night) it still added up to about $400/day for food/drinks for 2 people (plus the resort transfers of about $1200 or more).

Although we like to prioritize the snorkeling so only the W really has the good snorkeling (conrad does not have good snorkeling by most accounts).

But may use the points for Tahiti instead--LOL!

I’ve looked into that. And into full board at the Park Hyatt. The cost wasn’t justified at the resorts I want to visit. And I definitely want to visit the brand-new (still not open) Waldorf. With free breakfast, full board makes even less sense. In the past, all of our excursions and dives had lunch served so we would have skipped more than half the lunch hour meals anyway. Across 9 days at the Park Hyatt we paid under $500 for food. Others may have different math for their habits, but in keeping with the topic of the thread, Waldorf has offered free breakfast to Diamond members since 2018.

Transfers are transfers, but I’d note the Waldorf is almost half the rate noted. It’s closer to Male and prices round trip at $350 on their private yacht.


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[Remy]

There’s a new rule taking effect August 1 on the $250 resort credit. It’s no longer eligible for advance purchase rates. I’m curious to see if that has an impact on MF for certain resorts triggering the credit.


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[brp]

There’s a new rule taking effect August 1 on the $250 resort credit. It’s no longer eligible for advance purchase rates. I’m curious to see if that has an impact on MF for certain resorts triggering the credit.

Do you have a reference for this? I just looked in the relevant Flyertalk thread and, with a quick search, did not find anything about this.

Edit: Just found a reference with a different search:

https://travelingformiles.com/small-devaluation-coming-to-the-amex-hilton-honors-aspire-credit-card/

Cheers.

 

[hurnik]

Do you have a reference for this? I just looked in the relevant Flyertalk thread and, with a quick search, did not find anything about this.

Edit: Just found a reference with a different search:

https://travelingformiles.com/small-devaluation-coming-to-the-amex-hilton-honors-aspire-credit-card/

Cheers.

Yeah, viewfromthewing had it as well.

For me, not a big deal as I never used the advance rate for that. But since we're not really sure how the MF trigger the credit, no telling what'll happen, IMO.

 

[brp]

Hadn't gotten my email from Gary (viewfromthewing) yet

Well, it did say that "all other rates" are eligible. I wonder if AP rates show as AP in the statement. If so, someone can just look at how the MF charge posted and see if it "looks" different. But we haven't done the AP rate, so nothing to compare against.

We typically plan to go to Waikoloa once a year. However, while we did stay at Kohala this time (and that worked very well), we usually like Bay Club...and that one doesn't quality.

Of course, there's always W. 57th cleaning fees

Cheers.

 

[Tamaradarann]

There’s a new rule taking effect August 1 on the $250 resort credit. It’s no longer eligible for advance purchase rates. I’m curious to see if that has an impact on MF for certain resorts triggering the credit.


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First of all, how did you find out about this NEW RULE and everyone who has the card doesn't know!!!! Second what is advanced purchase rates? If they change the rule so that you can't charge MF or room charges at HGVC resorts I will be done with the card.

 

[Tamaradarann]

In regards to the Maldives (this isn't unique to Hilton, either):

While those redemptions will probably get you a very very good "return", those resorts are non-AI. By the time you factor in food/beverage costs, you probably could've gotten an AI package for less via some of the maldives agents that specialize in travel (simplymaldives, purelymaldives, etc.)

We were thinking of using our Hilton or Marriott points to save money on our trip to the maldives, but by the time (even with 5th night free and the free weekend/whatever night) it still added up to about $400/day for food/drinks for 2 people (plus the resort transfers of about $1200 or more).

Although we like to prioritize the snorkeling so only the W really has the good snorkeling (conrad does not have good snorkeling by most accounts).

But may use the points for Tahiti instead--LOL!

I was looking at going to Tahiti and using points. The amount of points they wanted when I wanted to go was prohibitive. If I went I would just leave from Honolulu in the middle of a winter stay for a week and pay cash (about $500/night USD). I would get 7000 about points per night to use somewhere else.

 

[brp]

First of all, how did you find out about this NEW RULE and everyone who has the card doesn't know!!!!

See the sources posted above for travel bloggers who know these things before they're formally announced.

Cheers.

 

[Remy]

First of all, how did you find out about this NEW RULE and everyone who has the card doesn't know!!!! Second what is advanced purchase rates? If they change the rule so that you can't charge MF or room charges at HGVC resorts I will be done with the card.

Twitter.

Advanced purchase are typically the lowest rates offered. Prepay in full or partial, no cancels/refunds.

 

[1Kflyerguy]

First of all, how did you find out about this NEW RULE and everyone who has the card doesn't know!!!! Second what is advanced purchase rates? If they change the rule so that you can't charge MF or room charges at HGVC resorts I will be done with the card.

I had not heard of this change, but it does not surprise me.

Advance purchase rates are special discounted rates for the hotels. They require you to prepay the nightly charge for the hotel at the time of booking, and are non-refundable. I don't typically book these, as i find them kind of hassle and not worth the discount.

This would not impact room charges or MF payments, as those are not prepaid.

For the hotels, i think that even if you book the prepaid rate, anything you charge to room, like meals, drinks, activities etc would still trigger the credit.

For me this change is total non-issue.

 

[brp]

This would not impact room charges or MF payments, as those are not prepaid.

I tend to agree with you, but the latter all depends upon what they define in their system as "prepaid." If it's anything not paid at time of stay, MFs could end up classified that way. Not saying I agree, but I could see it happening.

Cheers.

 

[terces]

Is the Hilton Amex Aspire available in Canada with the same benefits?

 

[1Kflyerguy]

I tend to agree with you, but the latter all depends upon what they define in their system as "prepaid." If it's anything not paid at time of stay, MFs could end up classified that way. Not saying I agree, but I could see it happening.

Cheers.

The main issue for Amex with the prepaid rates is that these are not usually processed by the hotel / resort. For Hilton these charges are processed under a Hilton corporate merchant account. Amex has no way of systematically knowing which resort the prepayment charge is for.

In actual practice i don't think you would automatically received the credit for prepaid rates in the past. I think this is more of situation where they realized they can't deliver the credits automatically, so they clarify the policy to match the way the system works.

Since Amex generally has good customer service, i assume in the past if you called to complain they would process the credit manually.

 

[4Sunsets]

Really like the Aspire card, better than Marriott's card I think.

 

[brp]

Really like the Aspire card, better than Marriott's card I think.

I have both, and each serves its purpose. I just got my Aspire card a few weeks ago, haven't even been charged the Annual Fee yet and I've already maxed out my $500 in (Airline, Resort) credits. No point in waiting

Cheers.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

I have the Aspire and love it. Thinking of getting another for my DH so we can have two free rooms (a weekend) at a Waldorf/Conrad. May downgrade or dump the Bonvoy Brilliant that DH currently has because benefits are not that good (although we get fee credit with Vistana/Marriott MF so card AF is lower but not free like Hilton card. Plus the free room is not top of the line and don't get more points than lower card.

 

[4Sunsets]

I have the Aspire and love it. Thinking of getting another for my DH so we can have two free rooms (a weekend) at a Waldorf/Conrad. May downgrade or dump the Bonvoy Brilliant that DH currently has because benefits are not that good (although we get fee credit with Vistana/Marriott MF so card AF is lower but not free like Hilton card. Plus the free room is not top of the line and don't get more points than lower card.

VERY disappointed with what Marriot has done with Bonvoy and the whole transition after merger, taking away so many benefits then making us work for suite nights, etc. Something strange recently as well, only 1 night of a 6 night stay counted as one of our nightly stays this year (meaning we'll likely not be able to get suite upgrade this year because they also took away the 15 nights credits x 2).

If Marriott wanted to build loyalty they really bungled it.

 

[frank808]

I have both, and each serves its purpose. I just got my Aspire card a few weeks ago, haven't even been charged the Annual Fee yet and I've already maxed out my $500 in (Airline, Resort) credits. No point in waiting

Cheers.

How did you use the resort credit so soon? I use them at HHV when I stay to pay the taxes and this takes care of wife's and I resort credit easily.

I fly United, so not able to use the airline credit unless I upgrade my seats in advance. I take it you fly with AA, Delta or SW?

I just got an offer to upgrade my Ascend card to Aspire and get the 150k HH points. Says I am eligible even though I got the 100k Ascend bonus when I completed my required spend. Thinking of carrying two Aspire cards for the resort credits. Now I dont know if I would really upgrade seats with the third $250 credit.

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[brp]

How did you use the resort credit so soon? I use them at HHV when I stay to pay the taxes and this takes care of wife's and I resort credit easily.

Stayed at Kohala shortly after I got the card. Used it there and got the credit within 2 days. [/quote]

I fly United, so not able to use the airline credit unless I upgrade my seats in advance. I take it you fly with AA, Delta or SW?

AA is our primary, but AA no longer works for Gift Cards (as of a couple years back). AS tickes < $100 work, though...even if refunded

 

[Sandy VDH]

How long does it take to get the card. I have a trip in about a month, but I have not applied yet.

 

[frank808]

How long does it take to get the card. I have a trip in about a month, but I have not applied yet.

I applied one night and got the card within 5 business days. My wife's was about the same time period to get her card.

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