what's going on everyone Aaron here or a a Ron for the substitute teachers among
us today we're going over Hilton Honors to be honest I wasn't actually going to
make this video because previous hotel award currency videos haven't done that
well however according to Google Trends Hilton Honors seems to be the most
searched for loyalty program so I didn't expect that as per usual I'll try and
keep this organized and easy to understand because if I can figure out
the points in miles game you can figure out the points in miles game
Hilton Honors we're going to break this down into a few parts first we're going
to take a look at how much each point is worth and where that number comes from
next we'll compare that to the value of competing award currencies take a look
at our best and worst hypothetical redemptions and go over the award
currencies bell curve or normal distribution we'll then move on to a
program structure overview rundown of their elite status tiers and means by
which to acquire points finally we'll close her out with some alternative
Redemption opportunities getting right to it I'm assigning an ACRV of just
0.35 cents per Hilton Honors point pretty terrible really so I haven't
touched on it in a while but ACRV stands for average consumers redemption
value it's a phrase I made up with the intention of hopefully driving home
the idea that my valuations aren't meant to represent a best-case scenario I come
up with a Redemption value that I believe anyone specifically the
non-points and miles game players could reasonably expect to see this number is
derived by looking at the cash and points cost for week-long stays in New
York Austin Rome Seoul Bangkok Toronto London Beijing LA and San Juan I look
for stays booked 30 and 90 days in advance the total cash price is divided
by the amount of points required reduced by 10% and voila we have our presented
valuation so why 10% it is admittedly arbitrary
I call it my reduction factor it's meant to offset things like the risk of future
devaluations and the general hassle involved with award stays as opposed to
cash comparing the value of a Hilton Honors point to competitor's offerings
is like comparing a grounded 737 max - a beautiful 747 rotating into the sunset
over the Pacific in other words it looks pretty bad in life second place is the
first loser but second to last is the first winner and that's right where
Hilton Honors falls from best to worst we've got a World of Hyatt at 1.38¢
per point Marriott Bonvoy one point one one
Choice Privileges 0.71 and then Hilton Honors at about half that 0.35 cents per
point in last place is IHG Rewards Club their points are only worth 0.29 cents
each but truth being told one can actually glean a little more value from
IHG than their low valuation suggests in that case poor Award availability
meant a bunch of zeros got averaged into otherwise decent redemptions the same
cannot be said for Hilton for those interested in the theoretical over the
realistic let's talk about our range and distribution of hypotheticals our best
for the month comes from a week-long stay at the Hilton Toronto booked 90
days in advance this was available for two thousand five hundred fifty seven
dollars in cash or three hundred sixty thousand points giving us a relatively
respectable Redemption value of 0.7 one cents per point let's consider for a
moment that American Express Membership Rewards transfer at a rate of one to two
meaning one thousand Amex points nets one two thousand Hilton Honors points at
a redemption rate and ratio just mentioned this means we'd be redeeming
for one point for two cents each not fantastic by any stretch but at least
not pathetic our worst Redemption comes from the
Aleph Rome a week here was advertised at two thousand seventy two dollars the
award price get this 1 million one hundred twenty two thousand points that
works out to a value of just .18 cents each that's a bigger rip off than
pay-per-view porn at a hotel that also has Wi-Fi seeing that made me wonder how
dumb the folks managing the Hilton program think the traveling public is
but then again I have witnessed herds of people taking time out of their day to
wait in line at Costco for a free sample of beef jerky about the size of one's
thumbnail so you never know what's going through people's heads if these two
represent the best and worst we could do what about everything else for that
we'll take a look at our normal distribution or the bell curve this
chart represents the likelihood of a given value relative to others in the
case of Hilton Honors it presents as a very narrow peak this means there isn't
much variability in Redemption rates going one standard deviation in either
direction gives us an undiscovered range of 0.23 to 0.54 cents using the
empirical rule of Statistics we can then say that 68% of all hypothetical
redemptions should fall in this range unlike many other hotel loyalty programs
Hilton Honors uses dynamic pricing meaning that award rates change with
demand and cash prices for example looking at week-long stays at the Hilton Austin
and we saw pricing vary from a low of 360 thousand points to a high of 834
thousand same hotel same room choice same amount
of nights and the amount of points required increased by 131 percent just
by varying dates meanwhile the cash price only increased 11% the sad part
about this news is that we can't really say as a general rule when to book for
maximum Redemption value normally when talking about tier based programs ones
that tie award pricing to hotel categories we say that redemption values
are best when cash prices are high but we just can't do that here it really is
just case-by-case now those willing to show loyalty to the
program will be rewarded with elite tier benefits
Hilton Honors maintains four levels general member silver gold and
and common to all membership tiers are a guaranteed member discount on bookings
points on stays waived resort fees digital check-in a digital key in room
Wi-Fi a free additional guest late checkouts and free transfers of points
of what we'll call the standard benefits I only consider one to be particularly
valuable at the basic level waived resort fees I can't think of anything
that pits consumers against hoteliers more than these obnoxious obligatory
add-ons it's gotten so bad that a few states Attorney General's have sued the
big chains over them of course I stand on the side of travelers in considering
the practice of hiding resort fees until the booking process has begun to cross
the line into false advertising in any case I'm glad to see Hilton waive these
on awards days I'll be even happier to see them lose in court
moving up to silver elite which is earned after four stays ten nights or
25,000 Hilton Honors base points we've got a fifth night free which is huge in
addition one receives two free bottles of water at some locations which is sad
they even have to advertise finally one now has access to rollover elite tier
nights and a 20% bonus on stays gold is up next its earned after 20 stays forty
nights or 75,000 points at this tier level one now receives an 80% points
bonus on stays and has access to space available room upgrades after surveying
myself and a friend I can confidently say that 100% of the sample population
agree this is the most important benefit offered to loyal guests that said I'm
not really a fan of the fact that Hilton sets the advice of admission so high
twenty stays or forty nights World of Hyatt offers this perk at the
Explorist level available after thirty nights Marriott Bonvoy makes it even
easier upgrades are available at goal old which is earned after twenty-five
nights so I consider the 40 that Hilton requires to be a bit ridiculous although
it is matched by fellow garbage loyalty program IHG rewards club also
requiring 40 finally at this hop is Diamond elite it's earned after 30 stays
60 nights or 120 thousand points we're now up to a 100 percent points bonus on
stays in addition to all the benefits previously mentioned one gets lounge
access a 48 hour room guarantee and elite status gifting nothing here is
exciting except maybe the ability to extend one status basically if you earn
Diamond elite you can one time only extend it they claim it's to help with
big life events that might interfere with one's baile ability to enjoy the
status and it is nice but and there's always a but it comes with one big
asterisk one must have been a diamond elite for at least three years and have
stayed at least 250 nights so it's not exactly a perk meant for everyone the
final thing I wanted to touch on before continuing is Hilton's current status
match offers if one isn't elite at a competing brand they'll match to gold
for for stays or to diamond for 8 truth being told I always liked the idea of
status matching it's like the very essence of double dipping multiple
benefits for a single effort and moving on
although Hilton doesn't give you much for them when their time to turn in they
do make them relatively easy to earn as a basic member you'll earn 10 points per
dollar spent if you place any faith in my valuations of 0.35 cents per piece
this means you'll be earning a 3 point 5 percent return on spend if this is paid
for with a Chase Sapphire Reserve earning 3 Ultimate Rewards per dollar
worth 2 point one nine cents apiece our combined return
spend is now a little over 10% finally if what happens to be diamond delete one
will earn an additional ten points per dollar the bottom line being everyone
from brand new members to top-tier elites should be earning a 10 to 13
point 5 percent return on stays alternatively Hilton Honors is a
transfer partner of American Express one receives two Hilton Honors points for
every Membership Reward at face value a shion's this means one is gleaning 0.7
cents per point transferred pretty terrible really even using our best
redemption 0.71 cents in the 2x multiplier a one point four two cent
redemption still fall short of the two point two six cents value I place on
each membership reward the takeaway here is that there are very few if any
reasons to move points from American Express to Hilton you'll get much more
value by moving those points to Marriott Bonvoy
holding out for a three cent or better redemption at an airline partner our
credit card options include the basic Hilton Honors card with no annual fee
the $95 Hilton Honors Surpass card from American Express and the $450 Hilton
Honors Aspire I did a comparison between that last one the aspire back in
December and found it to compare favorably to the now-defunct SPG Luxury
Card also from American Express because this isn't a card review video I won't
go into depth here but for me the sweet spot is the Surpass card for $95 this is
especially true if one does not carry a premium card that gives them lounge
access this card provides a Priority Pass Select membership one of the very
few sub $100 cards to do so though this perk is limited to just ten visits
furthermore you'll earn instant Hilton Honors gold status the first here which
give gives a one access to room upgrades finally the current signup bonus of
130,000 points plus a free weekend night is worth seven hundred five dollars the
big caveat is that it's a terrible everyday spender earning only three
points per dollar a return on spend of just one point zero five percent that's
exceeded by any card earning Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate
Rewards or Citi ThankYou points there are a few other ways to earn methods I
won't waste any time on things like shopping and dining partners it's not
that they're not useful it's just that those same partners are also partnered
with more lucrative award programs let's take Hilton Honors dining for
example with email notifications opted in you'll earn five points per dollar or
1.75 percent alternatively one could make that same purchase using United
MileagePlus dining portal for three points per dollar or three point five
four percent at a one point one eight cent per point value when it comes time
to turn in once points for something of value you don't have a whole lot of
options other than award stays and Hilton gift cards Hilton does partner
with Amazon and could one can shop with points there but the redemption rate is
horrible it's five hundred points per dollar or point two cents I guess if you
were really upset at someone you could transfer a hundred thousand of their
Membership Rewards points worth two thousand two hundred sixty dollars over
to Hilton and then pay with points on Amazon netting a value of just four
hundred dollars a nice quick way to destroy eighteen hundred and sixty
dollars in value and that will about do or for today if you found any of this
useful a like sub or especially a share will be greatly appreciated if not you
know where that thumbs down button is okay take care