For those who have been reading the blog over the years. you must’ve seen that I primarily book a lot of my hotel stays with Hilton. After Hilton removed their award chart in 2017, they’ve become increasingly unpredictable with their award pricing. Last week, Hilton enforced more unannounced devaluations. So what’s going on with the latest Hilton devaluation and why do I think it could get worse. Let’s have a look.
Hilton Devaluation: Massive Increases in redemption values
When Hilton used to still have an award chart, one had to pay anywhere between 70,000-90,000 points per night in the top category. View from the Wing posted this list of properties that have been devalued massively.
- Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi 200K (+50k)
- Calala Island, Nicaragua 200K (+50k)
- RiverView Ranch Retreat, Montana 200K (+50k)
- Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal 190K (+50k)
- Hermitage Bay, Antigua 190K (+60k)
- Canaves Oia Suites, Santorini 190K (+60k)
- South Bank, Turks & Caicos 180K (+50k)
- Conrad Maldives Rangali Island 140K (+20k)
- Waldorf Astoria Seychelles Platte Island 150K (+20k)
However, these are just the properties that we know about, there are other properties that we don’t about, yet.
Why This Could Get Worse
Over the last few years, we’ve seen airlines copy each other’s loyalty programs. Unfortunately, they’ve largely copied changes that are a net negative for customers. This devolution with some aspirational properties around the world suddenly puts the focus on Hilton’s free night certificates.
At the moment, Hilton’s free night certificates offer you a free night at a Hilton property as long as a standard room is available. Marriott has already set the precedent and I won’t be surprised if Hilton changes the terms to cap redemptions of free night certificates with points values in the same way as Marriott Bonvoy does.
Co-branded Credit Cards
If that indeed were to happen, then that would be a massive blow to Hilton’s co-branded credit card offering. Suddenly, the Aspire card would drop in value and the Surpass card would’ve be worth enough to spend $15,000/year on.
Membership Rewards Points
With this most recent devluation, where does that leave Amex’s Membership Rewards points? I’d say that if you have a huge Amex points balance, it may have just lost a bit of value since one of the major hotel transfer partners increased the number of points required at multiple aspirational properties around the world.
If you have a lot of Amex points, then I’d suggest that you hold your horses and not transfer points to Hilton in advance, unless you have a stay coming up soon.
The Pundit’s Mantra
I was actually a bit amused after seeing the Waldorf Astoria Platte island in this list. I’m in Seychelles as I write this post and was considering booking the property. However, I ended up booking the Hilton Labriz Seychelles Resort and Spa. It was priced at 90,000 points per night and we could book a 5 night stay for a total of 360,000 points, with the 5th night free benefit.
As I said at the outset, these unannounced devaluations are the worst. Unfortunately, these seem to be a trend off late. I won’t be surprised if it gets worse. I’n just keeping my expectations low.
Also, isn’t it great coincidence that we’re seeing these devaluations right after the limited time welcome bonus offers on Hilton’ credit cards ended last month?
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