Ok, call us crazy ... our journey to 1 million HH points via HGV Owner Updates ...

[dioxide45]

Is the best value in HH points for all-inclusive resorts? We had over 200,000 points from a few different presentations (non owners) and used them to book two nights at the Hilton Cancun Mar Caribe all inclusive. Those two nights would have cost over $1500 paying with cash. Are they offering good values on AI stays because the bigger hotel brands are relatively new to all-inclusive and they want to entice people to try it out and when they get hooked they devalue using them at AIs?

 

[rickandcindy23]

I am here to help anyone use up their points. I am also an expert at spending money especially gifted at someone else’s money.

This is so funny that I laughed out loud.

I called a few days ago to book the Hampton Inn on Maui with my free night, and it was only worth $364 or something like that, so I am going to cancel the Hilton Aspire card because I never get the value out of it that I should. It's funny because Rick and I talked about the Clear benefit and maybe he should get that card. So here I am thinking I should cancel it (I cannot use Clear without Rick) and I tell him maybe he should also have the card. Indecision should be my middle name.

We needed a night to fly cheaper on a Monday (our Westin is over Sunday night). The kids had points to use for their free night, so we are staying at the same hotel. So they chose it, which is fine because I like Hampton Inn's, but the area of the hotel is familiar to us and not really a great use of my free night. It's all okay.

I was asked to hold to connect to a person for 500 points, and of course it was HGVC. She kept saying, "We want you to brag on a free stay." She offered several locations, all of which I can get through exchange or points. I would have taken Maui Bay Villas, but that was not one she offered. I kept saying no, and Rick said, "Hang up."

If she'd offered 125,000 Hilton points for a tour somewhere, I would have said, "Okay, I will do it."

Ironically, we have never been to a Hilton presentation. We have been to every other hotel-branded timeshare presentation, but never a Hilton.

 

[Eric B]

Is the best value in HH points for all-inclusive resorts? We had over 200,000 points from a few different presentations (non owners) and used them to book two nights at the Hilton Cancun Mar Caribe all inclusive. Those two nights would have cost over $1500 paying with cash. Are they offering good values on AI stays because the bigger hotel brands are relatively new to all-inclusive and they want to entice people to try it out and when they get hooked they devalue using them at AIs?

There probably isn’t a universal answer for that. For us, the value of the AI is not all that attractive because we’d have to skip going out to local restaurants to use it. We would never choose to pay for an AI stay because of that, but might go to one if done using HH points.

We are diamond with Hilton, which figures into our preferences here because we already get breakfast free even with a points booking.

Our preference is the SLHs. South Bank in Turks & Caicos was essentially a fully equipped house for a hotel cost, with breakfast in the restaurant thrown in. We’re unlikely to go back there, though, because the island was a bit boring. The other SLHs we’ve stayed at have all been outstanding.

I wouldn’t call Pedregal a great use of points after the last devaluation, but it’s one of the best uses of FNCs.

 

[dioxide45]

There probably isn’t a universal answer for that. For us, the value of the AI is not all that attractive because we’d have to skip going out to local restaurants to use it. We would never choose to pay for an AI stay because of that, but might go to one if done using HH points.

We are diamond with Hilton, which figures into our preferences here because we already get breakfast free even with a points booking.

Our preference is the SLHs. South Bank in Turks & Caicos was essentially a fully equipped house for a hotel cost, with breakfast in the restaurant thrown in. We’re unlikely to go back there, though, because the island was a bit boring. The other SLHs we’ve stayed at have all been outstanding.

I wouldn’t call Pedregal a great use of points after the last devaluation, but it’s one of the best uses of FNCs.

We normally wouldn't do an AI stay either, but it's two nights prior to a six night stay at the Westin Lagunamar. So, we can still get our fill of local restaurants. AIs just seem to be so expensive when paying cash that I don't think I would ever actually book one unless I could use points of some kind. We aren't accumulators of HH points, so no elite status, but we accumulate Bonvoy and Wyndham Rewards. Bonvoy we usually just earn, burn and churn with nights to fill in gaps between stays. So we aren't maximizing Bonvoy points as much as we could be, but that might change in the future.

 

[brp]

We are diamond with Hilton, which figures into our preferences here because we already get breakfast free even with a points booking.

Internationally only, of course, Then again, who would stay in a Hilton domestically except if the location required it?

Cheers,

 

[Zenichiro]

We like the AI but understand the food is not always the best however it is free. Staying at Zemi Miches now and it remind me of Conrad Tulum. Although Conrad had a few more resturants this one is pretty great overall.

 

[brp]

We like the AI but understand the food is not always the best however it is free. Staying at Zemi Miches now and it remind me of Conrad Tulum. Although Conrad had a few more resturants this one is pretty great overall.

We stayed at an AI in Cozumel last year and the food was quite nice. It was a Hyatt, not a Hilton, but it is possible to have very good food at the nicer AI locations.

Cheers.

 

[Zenichiro]

We stayed at an AI in Cozumel last year and the food was quite nice. It was a Hyatt, not a Hilton, but it is possible to have very good food at the nicer AI locations.

Cheers.

Totally agree. We’ve also used them as an exploration point. We stayed at the Mangrove Beach Curaçao and I would give the food and service a 6.5/7 but we knew this going into it. We rented a jeep and explored the island each day and ate in town most of the nights but obviously had the resort to fall back on for breakfast lunch and drinks.

 

[Eric B]

Internationally only, of course, Then again, who would stay in a Hilton domestically except if the location required it?

Cheers,

True, but most of my stays are international. I do occasionally use the Waldorf Astoria in DC, where there’s a food and beverage credit that doesn’t quite cover breakfast. I think the US SLHs give a free breakfast but haven’t tried one yet.

 

[brp]

True, but most of my stays are international. I do occasionally use the Waldorf Astoria in DC, where there’s a food and beverage credit that doesn’t quite cover breakfast. I think the US SLHs give a free breakfast but haven’t tried one yet.

We used our FNC for a 170K point SLH in Napa (Carneros Resort and Spa) and it lists "Continental Breakfast.' It's not until June, but we'll see what that translates to.

International Hilton is great. We had a couple of nights in Helsinki on either end of a larger excursion and the breakfast buffet was great. Later this year we have 3 nights in Dubrovnik and 3 at Tower Bridge in London bracketing another excursion. Tower Bridge is great. I expect Dubrovnik to be nice as well.

Cheers.

 

[Eric B]

Thinking about trying the Furore Grand Hotel on the Amalfi Coast next year. It's 240K points but looks quite nice. Already have 5 nights at Boho Prague booked for that trip along with some ThirdHome stays. We've got several nights at the Todos Santos Boutique Hotel booked in the late fall.

We did stay at the Hilton Molino Stucky in Venice a few years ago. It was nice but still felt like just a hotel. The SLHs we've stayed at (South Bank, Los Altos, and Hotel Norman) have seemed a notch better.

 

[jp10558]

We normally wouldn't do an AI stay either, but it's two nights prior to a six night stay at the Westin Lagunamar. So, we can still get our fill of local restaurants. AIs just seem to be so expensive when paying cash that I don't think I would ever actually book one unless I could use points of some kind. We aren't accumulators of HH points, so no elite status, but we accumulate Bonvoy and Wyndham Rewards. Bonvoy we usually just earn, burn and churn with nights to fill in gaps between stays. So we aren't maximizing Bonvoy points as much as we could be, but that might change in the future.

I do wonder who's really buying all these insanely expensive AI for cash.

 

[brp]

We did stay at the Hilton Molino Stucky in Venice a few years ago. It was nice but still felt like just a hotel.

We've stayed at Molino Stucky a few times (back when we were actually Hilton people) and, as you say, it is OK. It is huge and out of the way. Definitely better options exist for Venice. We had a trip planned some years back where we were going to spend one of the nights on Murano in a Hyatt. But this was when testing was still required to fly ba1ck to the US, so we cancelled that one.

Cheers.

 

[mountainboy]

I called a few days ago to book the Hampton Inn on Maui with my free night, and it was only worth $364 or something like that, so I am going to cancel the Hilton Aspire card because I never get the value out of it that I should.

We stayed there a few months ago for 1 day; decent place but the night time shuttle driver to the airport was really rude. Everyone else was excellent. Nice view of the cuise ships; canoe club next door. Ok for 65k HH pts/night for a Saturday night...Upgraded to OV room, top floor, as HH diamond.
We use our HH FNC at WA loxns usually & excellent value (rack rate 1500+/nt). Have used at Grand Wailea many times (pre my HGV ownership journey); also at WA Monarch Beach. Numerous other excellent suggestions from folks...
Best!

 

[tsingyuan]

Is the best value in HH points for all-inclusive resorts? We had over 200,000 points from a few different presentations (non owners) and used them to book two nights at the Hilton Cancun Mar Caribe all inclusive. Those two nights would have cost over $1500 paying with cash. Are they offering good values on AI stays because the bigger hotel brands are relatively new to all-inclusive and they want to entice people to try it out and when they get hooked they devalue using them at AIs?

I do the same thing. I use Hilton Free Night Certificate and HHonor points in all inclusive resorts. There is another advantage you should take. If you use HH points to book 4 nights in a row, you will get the fifth night free. It is like a 20% off. I booked Tulum Maya using 400k points for 100k per night, and got 5 nights.

Another place you should consider to use HHonor is some high end Hilton resort at some high demanding season. Such as booking a Conrad or Waldorf in Orlando in New Year Eve. It will easily save you 1000 bucks.

 

[brp]

I do the same thing. I use Hilton Free Night Certificate and HHonor points in all inclusive resorts. There is another advantage you should take. If you use HH points to book 4 nights in a row, you will get the fifth night free. It is like a 20% off. I booked Tulum Maya using 400k points for 100k per night, and got 5 nights.

Another place you should consider to use HHonor is some high end Hilton resort at some high demanding season. Such as booking a Conrad or Waldorf in Orlando in New Year Eve. It will easily save you 1000 bucks.

We generally just use the points for places we're already going, and just do that math against the point value of $0.05/point. For example, we have a bike trip in Croatia later this year. We're spending 3 nights in Dubrovnik Hilton beforehand (80K/night) and 3 nights at London Tower Bridge at the back end (70K/night). Based on the cash rates, we used points. Not high end locations at all. But now they're free and getting better than $0.05/point. We just don't go out of our way for the high end and focus on things we're doing anyway.

The 5th night free is really nice!

Cheers.

 

[tsingyuan]

We generally just use the points for places we're already going, and just do that math against the point value of $0.05/point. For example, we have a bike trip in Croatia later this year. We're spending 3 nights in Dubrovnik Hilton beforehand (80K/night) and 3 nights at London Tower Bridge at the back end (70K/night). Based on the cash rates, we used points. Not high end locations at all. But now they're free and getting better than $0.05/point. We just don't go out of our way for the high end and focus on things we're doing anyway.

The 5th night free is really nice!

Cheers.

It’s great that you don't deliberately go out of your way to maximize the point value, but rather focus on keeping travel simple and organic. I have to confess that I am still in the stage of optimizing everything. My fun comes from two parts: the actual trip, and the strategic process of maximizing the available tools to make that trip happen.

 

[jp10558]

It’s great that you don't deliberately go out of your way to maximize the point value, but rather focus on keeping travel simple and organic. I have to confess that I am still in the stage of optimizing everything. My fun comes from two parts: the actual trip, and the strategic process of maximizing the available tools to make that trip happen.

I do like strategizing as possible, but I also basically compare if my free nights makes up for my annual fee, and also would compare against the $0.005 a point value. What I usually don't have the energy to do (but might try in the future) is compare the Hilton apps pricing against hotels.com. I did just add that app to my phone to go along with VRBO for places I feel warrant comparisons. When I tried to compare to the Interval Priceline Partners, I found direct comparisons often impossible as the hotel wasn't in the system, and many other times the savings was basically around the point value I'd get from Hilton plus the Aspire card bonuses. The other hotels that were a savings were... sketchy as shown in some of my Youtube videos.

 

[brp]

It’s great that you don't deliberately go out of your way to maximize the point value, but rather focus on keeping travel simple and organic. I have to confess that I am still in the stage of optimizing everything. My fun comes from two parts: the actual trip, and the strategic process of maximizing the available tools to make that trip happen.

Oh, I like to maximize things. I have multiple spreadsheets where I track everything travel. But I optimize within where we want to go. I don't pick destinations based on best value. The destinations pick themselves and then I try to optimize the crap out of things within that constraint. This includes checking airfare and hotel (usually Hyatt) reservations regularly to see if prices have gone down. The tracking and planning is a big part of it for me as well. The multiple spreadsheets attest to that.

I just won't pick a destination that I'd otherwise not go to just to use a credit at an aspirational location.

Cheers.

 

[Eric B]

Oh, I like to maximize things. I have multiple spreadsheets where I track everything travel. But I optimize within where we want to go. I don't pick destinations based on best value. The destinations pick themselves and then I try to optimize the crap out of things within that constraint. This includes checking airfare and hotel (usually Hyatt) reservations regularly to see if prices have gone down. The tracking and planning is a big part of it for me as well. The multiple spreadsheets attest to that.

I just won't pick a destination that I'd otherwise not go to just to use a credit at an aspirational location.

Cheers.

Well said. The Maldives are probably quite nice but I don’t feel a great need to maximize the value I get out of my points by going that far.

 

[Zenichiro]

I’m happy getting virtually free flights with my airline miles and combining HGV & HH point stays.

 

[brp]

Well said. The Maldives are probably quite nice but I don’t feel a great need to maximize the value I get out of my points by going that far.

Funny, I was talking to mrs. brp about this thread and specifically mentioned The Maldives as an example of what I was talking about

I’m happy getting virtually free flights with my airline miles and combining HGV & HH point stays.

We need to purchase flights for our status each year, but free nights from Hyatt (and a few from Hilton) make the rest of the trip cheap.

Cheers.

 

[Reddart]

We also aren’t into aspirational trips just for the location sake, but we were purposely hoarding HH points the past couple years for our Japan trip this summer. ~650K points and a FNC for some very nice accommodations during our trip…and x 2 for some relatives who are supposed to join us…

 

[JohnnyO]

Well said. The Maldives are probably quite nice but I don’t feel a great need to maximize the value I get out of my points by going that far.

Maldives has always been on the bucket list. Great diving location. If it has great diving and warm water (especially for the DW) we consider it a potential destination. And of course we will maximize our value no matter. Everyone seems to have some great travel goals. To each their own ... Enjoy.

 

[jp10558]

Oh, I like to maximize things. I have multiple spreadsheets where I track everything travel. But I optimize within where we want to go. I don't pick destinations based on best value. The destinations pick themselves and then I try to optimize the crap out of things within that constraint. This includes checking airfare and hotel (usually Hyatt) reservations regularly to see if prices have gone down. The tracking and planning is a big part of it for me as well. The multiple spreadsheets attest to that.

I just won't pick a destination that I'd otherwise not go to just to use a credit at an aspirational location.

Cheers.

What's so interesting is since Timeshares (and now TUG in general with these HHonors hints) I've gone the other way - I have general interests like "Go to Europe again" that combined with my sister who wanted to do Spain, we then looked at TS that we could get as an exchange for a good rate, and narrowed it down to wanting to also go to Barcelona and will use Hilton properties there (Most likely). Inside the US I've basically already gone to most "I really want to go to this specific location" places, so have used TS to pick where else to go. I never would have gone to Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head Island or Miami Beach or Destin or San Diego or Las Vegas and probably wouldn't have gone to Stowe or VT or the Berkshires at all without the TS, and New Orleans is a maybe. The only places I sort of regret going because of the TS were Branson and Villa Roma.

So taking inspiration from the deal locations is generally working out for me, and I've actually enjoyed going south to Florida a lot more than I ever would have before without the TS. What's cool about this thread (which maybe is turning into a version of the FNC good use thread, but I'm enjoying this one more I guess) is it's helping me see that I could (and maybe should) pick some locations based on the Hiltons to maximize my rewards. I used to burn rewards and points going to NYC each year before Christmas for shopping, but COVID broke that tradition for me, and TS took the place of that going to FL and generally travelling enough that NYC isn't the draw for me it once was. I get lots of "interesting shopping possibilities" throughout the year now on my travels. So now I'm wondering what to do with the nights, and perhaps trying to use at fancier places will be a good idea. I did use a bunch filling in dates on my CA trip last year between TS.