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HGVC to HHonors Conversion gotcha (well sort of)

UWSurfer

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I subscribe to the school of using one points a year ahead, borrowing from the upcoming year(s) so as not to need to rescue or convert points in the current year. This frankly has come about more from borrowing to take trips in larger units than we own, hence using up all of 2009 and all but 2600 points from 2010.

I've got a trip this April to Orlando and hit upon a plan to convert those 2010 year points to HHonors to use to book a room at a Double Tree in Key West a few days prior to the Orlando stay. HOWEVER, as I was on-line putting in the credit card info to pay the conversion fee, a note was on the screen advising that these 2010 points would be applied to my HHonors account in the year 2010!!!

So although you can borrow HGVC points from year or two out, you don't get the benefit from coverting them into Hhonors until the year begins from where they come from! I'm glad they put the note there and that I noticed it before converting them!! It would have made for a very unhappy "me" as I then would have been looking for them to show up in my Hhonors account.

Time to look for cheap digs in or near Key West for a couple nights!!!
 

Talent312

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... as I was on-line putting in the credit card info to pay the conversion fee, a note was on the screen advising that these 2010 points would be applied to my HHonors account in the year 2010!!!...

Whoa! That's a hell of a note, but it does kind'a make sense, at least from the H-Honors side of things... The hotel wouldn't want is rooms eaten up by a bunch of freeloaders a year prematurely, without some sort of say over when that would be.
 

pianodinosaur

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Blues is once again correct.

I have done numerous HHonors redemptions. HHonors points accumulate very quickly if you use the HHonors AmEx. I would suggest that if you do not already have an HHonors AmEx, to get one. If you book your reservation online via the Hilton Family Website, you get an additional 500 HHonors points just because you booked it online using your HHonors AmEx.

It may be to your advantage to book your preliminary hotel reservation in this fashion. The HHonors Going Global rewards are an outstanding value.
 

UWSurfer

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Yeah...funny thing...

I have the Hhonors Visa. I use a Costco Amex for CASH back which is going to be very timely for this trip. You're right that the points accumulate pretty quickly...BUT...I have 10K points now and would need 70K to book my two nights in Key West. That's a lot of spending, even at the quickest rate.

I'm now working on Plan B.

Plan C is to forget it and just do the week in Orlando which is proving to be pricey enough without the Key West component! :eek:
 

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One advantage of The Hilton Club New York is that you can call the reservation line and get a hotel reservation with your points at any time. They do the conversion themselves--25 HH points for each Hilton Club point. So you don't have to figure out a year in advance that you want to convert to HH. I'm pretty much a planner, so I've always done this in plenty of time--in November I booked 3 nights in Barbados, 1 night in Madrid, and 6 nights in Barcelona for next October and November. In kind of the reverse of what you're talking about, the Club Points converted have to be from the year you're going to use them. So although I made these reservations in '08, they used '09 points for the reservations.
 

Talent312

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Ellis2ca

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Madrid? Barcelona ?

One advantage of The Hilton Club New York is that you can call the reservation line and get a hotel reservation with your points at any time. They do the conversion themselves--25 HH points for each Hilton Club point. So you don't have to figure out a year in advance that you want to convert to HH. I'm pretty much a planner, so I've always done this in plenty of time--in November I booked 3 nights in Barbados, 1 night in Madrid, and 6 nights in Barcelona for next October and November. In kind of the reverse of what you're talking about, the Club Points converted have to be from the year you're going to use them. So although I made these reservations in '08, they used '09 points for the reservations.

Madrid? Barcelona? That's great! I didn't know there were Hilton Clubs in Madrid or Barcelona... How can I find out more about this? Where else in Europe can we go? How expensive is a night in Madrid or Barcelona?
 

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Madrid and Barcelona are Hilton hotels, not clubs. With The Hilton Club New York,you can exchange your points for any Hilton Hotel or Club. I don't think that's the case with HGVC itself. It cost me 7000 City Club Points for 6 nights in Barcelona. 7000 City Club K Hilton Honors points. The Hilton Club takes care of the transfer of points and the reservation.
 

alwysonvac

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I subscribe to the school of using one points a year ahead, borrowing from the upcoming year(s) so as not to need to rescue or convert points in the current year. This frankly has come about more from borrowing to take trips in larger units than we own, hence using up all of 2009 and all but 2600 points from 2010.

I've got a trip this April to Orlando and hit upon a plan to convert those 2010 year points to HHonors to use to book a room at a Double Tree in Key West a few days prior to the Orlando stay. HOWEVER, as I was on-line putting in the credit card info to pay the conversion fee, a note was on the screen advising that these 2010 points would be applied to my HHonors account in the year 2010!!!

So although you can borrow HGVC points from year or two out, you don't get the benefit from coverting them into Hhonors until the year begins from where they come from! I'm glad they put the note there and that I noticed it before converting them!! It would have made for a very unhappy "me" as I then would have been looking for them to show up in my Hhonors account.

Time to look for cheap digs in or near Key West for a couple nights!!!


You should be able to use borrow points for a hilton hotel reservation in the current year (at a conversion rate of 20 to 1).

It states under ClubPoint Stretching: Borrow (page 142) - "Members may borrow any number of their next year's ClubPoints or previously deposited points, to make Home Resort, Club, ClubPartner Perk or RCI exchange reservations in the current year. Borrowed points may not be used to make a Home Week Reservation.".


Generally there are two ways to use Club points for Hilton Hotel reservations.

(1) Request a hilton hotel reservation for the current year using HGVC points (at a conversion rate of 20 to 1) via HGVC Club Member Services. (see pages 18-19 and 142-143) of the 2009 Member's Guide. NOTE: Clubpoints can not be returned to your HGVC account if you cancel your hotel reservations. They will be refunded as HHonors points.

(2) Request a conversion of your HGVC points the year before (at a conversion rate of 25 to 1) which "will be deposited into the Member's HHonors account during the first week of January of the year for which the points were converted" (see "Convert to HHonors" on page 142-143 of the 2009 Member's Guide). Once the HHonors points are in your HHonor account you can make reservations online via the Hilton website or a call to the HHonors desk.
 

UWSurfer

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You should be able to use borrow points for a hilton hotel reservation in the current year (at a conversion rate of 20 to 1).

It states under ClubPoint Stretching: Borrow (page 142) - "Members may borrow any number of their next year's ClubPoints or previously deposited points, to make Home Resort, Club, ClubPartner Perk or RCI exchange reservations in the current year. Borrowed points may not be used to make a Home Week Reservation.".


Generally there are two ways to use Club points for Hilton Hotel reservations.

(1) Request a hilton hotel reservation for the current year using HGVC points (at a conversion rate of 20 to 1) via HGVC Club Member Services. (see pages 18-19 and 142-143) of the 2009 Member's Guide. NOTE: Clubpoints can not be returned to your HGVC account if you cancel your hotel reservations. They will be refunded as HHonors points.

(2) Request a conversion of your HGVC points the year before (at a conversion rate of 25 to 1) which "will be deposited into the Member's HHonors account during the first week of January of the year for which the points were converted" (see "Convert to HHonors" on page 142-143 of the 2009 Member's Guide). Once the HHonors points are in your HHonor account you can make reservations online via the Hilton website or a call to the HHonors desk.

You are close, but missing a bridging statement which would permit you to borrow next years points to make an HHonors stay this year. The club point stretching section you cite doesn't make any mention of HHonors.
 

alwysonvac

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You are close, but missing a bridging statement which would permit you to borrow next years points to make an HHonors stay this year. The club point stretching section you cite doesn't make any mention of HHonors.

But it doesn't say you can't either...the only exclusion that was clearly stated was that borrow points can't be used for home week reservations.
I assumed HHonors was included under ClubPartner Perks since the previous section in the Members Guide stated "ClubPartner Perks including Hilton Hotel Reservations".

Did you confirm with HGVC Club Member Services that you couldn't use borrow points for a Hotel reservation for 2009? If you really want to use your 2010 points for a room at a Double Tree in Key West in 2009 I would ask.

UPDATE: For the ClubPoint Stretching Rules, HHonors is included under ClubPartner Perk.
See the Club Fee Schedule chart, the fee for HHonors Hotel and VIP Reward Reservation using Club Points is listed under "CLUBPARTNER PERK TRANSACTIONS".
 
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......Did you confirm with HGVC Club Member Services that you couldn't use borrow points for a Hotel reservation for 2009? If you really want to use your 2010 points for a room at a Double Tree in Key West in 2009 I would ask.

I agree! I borrowed HGVC points from year 2010 to upgrade to a larger unit and had left over points. I didn't have enough HHonors points to make a Hilton hotel reservations so I called member services and asked could i convert the left over HGVC points to HHonors. She was able to convert the points to HHonors for a $49 fee. So yes, if i were you i'll call member services to ask.
 

alwysonvac

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I agree! I borrowed HGVC points from year 2010 to upgrade to a larger unit and had left over points. I didn't have enough HHonors points to make a Hilton hotel reservations so I called member services and asked could i convert the left over HGVC points to HHonors. She was able to convert the points to HHonors for a $49 fee. So yes, if i were you i'll call member services to ask.

Thanks for the confirmation. :hi:

The key difference to remember is that the HGVC Club Member Services desk must make the hotel reservation for the conversion. You can use any combination of HGVC points and HHonors points towards the hotel reservation.
 

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Interesting. I knew there was a reason I make these posts...I always can learn something.

I'll give them a call. (Plan A1a)
 

Sandy VDH

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(Plan A1a)

How many different plans do you have at this points? Have you actually executed a plan yet. When we emailed you were on plan D.

Happy Planning
 

Talent312

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This is making my head hurt. I'm going to take some aspirin...

Back to the OP's issue:
"I was on-line putting in the credit card info to pay the conversion fee, a note was on the screen advising that these 2010 points would be applied to my HHonors account in the year 2010!!!"

While its nice to know that 2010 points could be "borrowed" for HH use in 2009, I'd think it preferable to leave 2010 points in 2010... unless that is, I knew that I would not be using them at all, otherwise. IMHO, using club points for "perks" is far less efficacious than using them for their primary purpose of TS-stays.
 

UWSurfer

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How many different plans do you have at this points? Have you actually executed a plan yet. When we emailed you were on plan D.

Wow...Sandy are you really my wife who's logged on separately from me? :rofl:

Plan A: Convert 2010 pts to Hhonors, book Key West Dbltree
Plan A1a: Call HGVC call center to execute plan A
Plan B: Find Cheap place to stay in Key west...no points, no exchanges
Plan C: Forget Key West and just do Orlando as booked, no extra's.
Plan D: Drive down to Ft. Laurdale/Pompano Beach & dive, stay on RCI Points (idea planted in my head by Sandy).

I've presented plan D to my wife (not Sandy) who is reluctant to have me go off and go diving during our Orlando week. I'm still watching RCI for availability and waiting to see if my wife will warm up to plan D. (This is getting confusing).

Plan D1d: A variation of plan D where I'd fly out ahead a day or two early and get in dives at Pompano Beach. I'm reluctant as it add's airline change fee, plus additional rental car plus dive costs.

At this time Plan C is my wife's favorite. (sigh....):crash: :p
 

UWSurfer

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Wow...Sandy are you really my wife who's logged on separately from me? :rofl:

Plan A: Convert 2010 pts to Hhonors, book Key West Dbltree
Plan A1a: Call HGVC call center to execute plan A
Plan B: Find Cheap place to stay in Key west...no points, no exchanges
Plan C: Forget Key West and just do Orlando as booked, no extra's.
Plan D: Drive down to Ft. Laurdale/Pompano Beach & dive, stay on RCI Points (idea planted in my head by Sandy).

I've presented plan D to my wife (not Sandy) who is reluctant to have me go off and go diving during our Orlando week. I'm still watching RCI for availability and waiting to see if my wife will warm up to plan D. (This is getting confusing).

Plan D1d: A variation of plan D where I'd fly out ahead a day or two early and get in dives at Pompano Beach. I'm reluctant as it add's airline change fee, plus additional rental car plus dive costs.

At this time Plan C is my wife's favorite. (sigh....):crash: :p

For those following this saga, it appears Plan D wins.

I had to verify that our young adult son's whom we'd be abandoning for a day and a half could get around to the Disney parks in Orlando from HGVC I-Drive, and then booked Ft. Laurdale Beach Club (VRI resort booked with RCI points) for one night. We'll drive down and dive either the afternoon or a night dive on Tuesday, spend the night and turn around and dive Wednesday morning, driving back up in the afternoon. Dive operator has many dives to choose from so could even do a combined dive/snorkling trip if my wife is interested in getting wet.

I love it when I can make it all work together!!!
 
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