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Good uses of Hilton Aspire Annual Free Night Certificate

Sandy VDH

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I am always looking for better than average uses of the FNC awards. I am liking the one I did today, but I am always looking for good suggestions going forward.

International does yield better opportunities. I used this years for 1 night at Inverlochy Castle for my summer visit to Scotland. https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/inviclx-inverlochy-castle/

Reward is equal to 110,000 HH points, cash rate would be 637 GBP or about 784 USD per night.

That completely covers the annual cost of the card. All other perks are just gravy now.

What good use have you found and want to share?
 
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HuskerATL

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We have booked four nights in a 1 bedroom suite at the Embassy Suites Resort in Aruba for next month using 4 FNCs from our Aspire and Surpass cards. Those more than cover the cost of the card.
 

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Used two Aspire FNCs last month to stay at the Waldorf Astoria in Orlando. Also ate for "free" at Bull & Bear using the $200 resort credits from the two cards (don't own HGVC so no MF to use them on). I just asked them to split the bill between the two Aspires when we checked out. Probably my favorite card.
 

1Kflyerguy

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We are using FNC for three nights at the Waldorf Astoria in Dana Point CA. The cash rate is $806 per night, or 95K points per night.
 

HuskerATL

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For Aruba, they were about $700/night so those four nights would have been $2,800 plus we used the Delta companion ticket and ecredits... So that made the flight cheap.
 

Eric B

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3 nights at South Bank on Turks & Caicos coming up this year. Was able to get a 2 BR Boat House that would cost ~$1,800 per night.
 

HuskerATL

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3 nights at South Bank on Turks & Caicos coming up this year. Was able to get a 2 BR Boat House that would cost ~$1,800 per night.
We looked at Turks but couldn't coordinate the Delta companion ticket
 

Reddart

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Stayed at the Conrad NYC last year, ~$670, have The Reach Key West reserved next month ~$850. Both were 95K HH pt values, before the recent devaluation.
 

jp10558

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My sister once used a FNC for the Times Square Hilton on NYE - cash rate $2500. This was almost a decade ago so even better then. She quickly decided she was happy to watch on TV in the future - it's kind of hell down there in person.
 

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For a number of years we’ve combined two FNC’s with a Fifth Night Free points stay In the Palm Beach area. End up using 240,000 points worth about $1200 for a 7 night stay when cash rates are in the $400-500/night range. Just the savings in taxes alone is staggering.
 

Sandy VDH

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3 nights at South Bank on Turks & Caicos coming up this year. Was able to get a 2 BR Boat House that would cost ~$1,800 per night.

Haven't been back to T&C in a while. That looks like an interesting option. Let us know how it is, when you return, @Eric B .
 

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Will do. It’s a fully equipped villa w/ kitchen. Cost in posts is 130K.
 

GT75

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I haven't been able to take advantage of this but several TUG members have used their FNCs at Waldorf Cabo Pedregal.
 

Eric B

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I've used a bunch of them at the WA Washington DC. Often get upgraded there.
 

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We use them for places where we happen to be going where the rates are higher than we want to pay in cash. We don't do the "let's get the maximum value out of this" game with these.* We use them where they already make sense for us.

*I did have an 85K night award from Marriott and we picked the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay to use this because it was > $1K/night and we had nowhere specific to go :)

Cheers.
 

jp10558

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We use them for places where we happen to be going where the rates are higher than we want to pay in cash. We don't do the "let's get the maximum value out of this" game with these.* We use them where they already make sense for us.

*I did have an 85K night award from Marriott and we picked the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay to use this because it was > $1K/night and we had nowhere specific to go :)

Cheers.
At this point I agree - it's easy to calculate value for me when I'm already on the trip and just saving the cash rate. It's harder when I'm making a special trip to "get the best value" out of a FNC. First, I have little interest since TS to travel somewhere for 2-3 nights (the most FNC I'm likely to have on hand), and while there's devaluation on points, I don't tend to burn points just cause. Whatever loss I might take (and I don't usually do top end Hilton, so more mid range) on once a decade+ devaluation is overwhelmed by making stays much cheaper when I do go, and is generally overwhelmed by the 5th night free if I have that many points. IDK, while I could use all of them semi regularly for $150 nights and still be ahead on the annual fee for the card just to not have any on hand to devalue ... I think doing 5 nights points and 2 nights FNC on average costs still works out in my favor in most city stays, which is where I use Hilton hotels now. Also, when it's a $150 night place, I prefer to pay that and get the 14x points on it.

Of course, like on my trip down to Orlando, I did burn a FNC that was going to otherwise expire on a $150 Embassy Suites in Jacksonville.
 

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We use them for places where we happen to be going where the rates are higher than we want to pay in cash. We don't do the "let's get the maximum value out of this" game with these.* We use them where they already make sense for us.
This. Exactly. This thread in general is classic example of Behavioral Economics kicking the bleep out of Rational Man Economics. brp being the Rational Man here.
R Thaler and D Kahneman would go wild on this thread. They'd love Love LOVE it.
"let's get the maximum value out of this"
even though that supposed "value" isn't relevant to us, because we either wouldn't have wanted to go there at that price otherwise or if we had thought of going there we wouldn't have booked that "class" of room

Exec Summary: if you would not book that "thing" at "mkt value" then that Asking Price is not relevant to YOUR "value" ... but behaviors are wild
 

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I agree I would never stay at these room for full price. I know never say never, but seriously never. Some of these places even have ancillary fees that make the decision a bit harder for some to justify.

This is hedonistic consumption. Same as timeshares. We are taking more and better vacations.

Having been upgraded at two properties with the Diamond Status, I feel it does make stays more comfortable, and the brand affinity is much stronger that it would be without this perk.

The cost for Hilton to offer this is quite small as they have room inventory that is not rented and the “Free Night” is only officially for a “Standard Room,” which does not exist during many peak times.
 

Sandy VDH

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I using them because I am going somewhere already, and I'm trying to get max value. I generally don't go somewhere for a single night. But I could combine the FNC along with the pay 4 get 5 nights points program, like I did when I went to Maldives and to Tahiti.
 

HuskerATL

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we use them to go somewhere that we want to go but would not pay the cash price. For instance, I would not pay for a WA...but I will go visit a location that we would like to be at and use it...but we typically have multiple to use, like this upcoming trip we used 4.
 

SNS02

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I have gotten some crazy good values. I like to use them at high point per night places 110k to 150k typically but normally weigh the point value to decide to use a certificate or points. Assuming you use the resort and flight credit, really the FNC could be used for anything and have value! sometimes I just need to use a certificate because of expiration. So it just depends on timing. A few years ago I got a hotel Super Bowl weekend with our certificates. It was a bit of a gamble, we have a deal if the Titans go to the Super Bowl we go and I saw a standard reward available at the LXR Oceana Santa Monica. My take was we were either going for the game or we could enjoy the weekend. The nightly rate was crazy like around $6000/night. I booked it and We went and enjoyed the weekend 🤣. I recently had one expiring and they let me extend it a week and I used it for a Disneyland trip. which was like $356/night. We like to use them at the Waldorf Astoria Park City, I’ve done that a few times over the years. coming up in Feb I used 5 certificates for our ski trip which was around $2000ish/night. I also used certificates in combo with points in October for Taylor Swift concert at the Conrad Ft. Lauderdale, that was $700/night. I opted to use the certificates in Miami because the point nightly rate was 95k. I had another trip in November for Taylor swift and The Conrad at Indy the nightly rate was $3500, but points were 75k/night. So opted for points there.
 
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