I won’t just parrot what every other blogger has already said here, but suffice it to say that Hilton has announced a pretty major devaluation of the Hilton HHonors program effective March 28, 2013. The highlights:
- A new award chart
- 5th night free for elite members
- Seasonal award pricing
- And award prices for the highest category as high as 95,000 points per night
There’s been enough analysis of the meaning of this change all over the blogs, and I have nothing of great difference to add. My favorite comment was from New Girl in the Air who said “I’ll be re-evaluating this year’s hotel strategy – including whether or not it even still makes sense to stick with chain hotels for my personal needs.” That speaks to me. I’ve dithered with Marriott again this year after a long hiatus, and frankly, the hotel stays have been great, which is just as I expected. Marriott Rewards is a bit of a snoozer though. Starwood continues to be my favorite of the big hotel loyalty programs, but Kimpton and their InTouch program are starting to call my name. Any outfit that offers an evening hosted wine hour is one I’m likely to get along with.
-MJ, February 19, 2013
[…] others have already said for the sake of tossing up a blog post” but I’ve had Kimpton on my mind for a while now. I’m not the only one as Scott at HackMyTrip had some thoughts on Kimpton […]
While I understand the need for devaluation, the extent to which Hilton devalued their points is too much for me to stick with them going forward. Guess I’ll finally be losing my Diamond status after 9 years. What a blow to those of us who have been extremely loyal to them. Hilton has the “suite” and upgraded rooms available on points, but to book one of those causes me to spend all of my points. It’s a shame they couldn’t gradually implement this.
Hilton is still my hotel chain choice for the type of business travel I do. Since for personal reasons I can’t redeem miles and points for true first class international travel, this year I switched from chasing miles to chasing cash back. Sure cash devalues, but it seems not as quickly as airline miles and hotel points. Very happy with my decision so far.
Plus Kimpton will status match too!:)
@Alex, that’s good to know.:)
Yes. Ty. I hate it the bloggers here repeat things over and over again. Its basically spam to me.