I find it very difficult to use my Hilton Honors points because at most places that I dream about staying (like the Waldorf in the Canyons, Utah), the redemption amounts are exorbitant. I used a bunch of Hilton Honors points this past fall at an Embassy Suites in Philly. Although the location of that property wasn’t ideal, the hotel was sufficient for a city stay. After all, when we go to a city, we are barely in the hotel room anyway, we are too busy doing “city touristy things”. I only require a clean, roomy place to crash.
I am trying another Embassy Suites for three nights in Chicago this summer. The redemption amount for this stay was 60,000 points per night for 3 nights. I actually had to book one night from Rob’s account and 2 nights from my account because neither account had enough points for the three night stay. I then called the hotel and had them note that the 2 reservations were for the same family so we will not have to move. (i Hope!). This all went down before Hilton Honors allowed points pooling.
Also, even in my Hilton Honors account I was short about 12,000 points. I easily transferred 8,000 American Express Membership Rewards points into my Hilton Honors account which yielded me the additional 12,000 points I was short. (Amex pts transfer to Hilton Honors at a 1 : 1.5 exchange rate).
The rooms would have been $279 per night for a total of $837. I ended up using 180,000 Hilton Honors points. Recent valuations peg these points at about .6 of a cent per point. So in terms of the value of these points, I used $1,080 in value. So I lost about $243 in “value”. But as I have said in the past, there is value in what it is worth to you to get a free trip. For me, I happily used these points. I find them so hard to use anyway because I never have a big balance and I did not want to pay for our stay. That is added value for me!
