alwaysonvac:
Your points are well taken. I have yet to convert HGVC points to HHonors. However, I have done numerous HHonors redemptions. We will be staying in Barecelona next year and our room was secured with an HHonors redemption. The HHonors program accumulates most quickly when the Hilton AmEx is used to pay for a Hilton family hotel booked online. There is a 500 point bonus just for booking online. There are 10 HHonors base points for every dollar spent at the hotel and 5 bonus points for every dollar paid with the Hilton AmEx. Then you get the additional bonus depending upon if you are at the silver, gold, or platinum level. If the Hilton AmEx is used for non hotel related charges, there are 3 bonus points for every dollar spent.
Clearly, not everyone accumulates HHonors points at the same rate. We have been at the platinum level the past three years and will most likely revert to the gold level next year. However, the HHonors program is so user friendly in its own right, that in my personal opinion, many of us would not need to convert HGVC points to HHonors points.
Lets say you spent $15000 per year on the HHonors AmEx. That means you would accumulate a minimum of 45,000 HHonors points that year. If you were to spend $1000 at a Hilton Family hotel, you would get 500 HHonors points for booking online. You would get 10,000 HHonors base points for you hotel stay. You would get 5,000 bonus points because you charged it to your Hilton AmEx. If you are at the gold level, you would get an additional 2,500 bonus points just because you are at the gold level. That would give you 18,000 points just for spending $1000 at a Hilton Family hotel if you are at the gold level. I would currently get 20,500 points because I am currently at the platinum level. You would get 1500 bonus points at the silver level giving you a total of 17,000 points.
I would think that accumulating 150,000 to 200,000 points in three years is not an unreasonable expectation if the HHonors program is used in conjunction with the Hilton AmEx. That would cover a week in Paris without converting HGVC points. On the other hand, if your goal is stay in a level 6 European hotel and you are not utilizing HHonors in the course of your normal behavior, then the conversion would be very useful.
Now, lets say you convert 7000 HGVC points into 175,000 HHonors points. You should still use your Hilton Amex and charge everything to the room. Consider:
roundtrip airline tickets to Paris for two: about $1800 earns 5400 HHonors points
hotel meals and incidentals for two: about $800 earns 8000 HHonors base points and 4000 AmEX bonus points and 2000 bonus points at the gold level.
This is about 14000 points eventhough you are staying in Paris on a redemption.
Therefore, it would still be very easy to pick up about 18,000 to 20,000 HHonors points even when you are doing a redemption.